Please Forgive My Carelessness! / Renewed in Hope

Please forgive me!  I apologize for being unclear in my bulletin article two weeks ago about merging.  Let’s look at my mistake.

Two weeks ago, in my article entitled “Preparing for the Merging of our Parishes” I wrote “Merging our parishes—in other words, becoming one parish—does not mean any of our parish churches will close.  The plan is that all our churches will remain open with their original name, likely even with our current Mass schedule.”  

Beacons of Light Value:  Using Resources Wisely
Please know that a key Beacons of Light goal will always be a better utilization of all resources in parish life.  That goal will never change, because without that goal, more important Beacons goals will not be achieved, for example having full church buildings and energy-filled liturgies.  Clearly, the Beacons goal of using resources wisely means among other things that one or more of our church buildings will close.

When I wrote the article weeks ago, I assumed this essential Beacons goal/value and I assumed the reader would read the article in light of its topic:  merging our parishes.  Let me explain.

Early Beacons Missteps
For the first two years of Beacons of Light, we struggled to wrestle with the closing of church buildings very prematurely.   This was a mistake.  We asked a smart person who knew a lot about the values of church properties to value our properties, with the goal of ranking each property with an eye toward selling some of them.  We even received unsolicited inquiries from outside parties to buy some of our properties.  The only serious one is from Linden Grove School for a portion of the unused land at St. Saviour, which I will write an article about soon as an update.

Interestingly, the person we asked to value our properties likely didn’t get far and certainly didn’t offer a report!  This was the case in part because he was doing it as somewhat of a favor and, while we offered to make a payment upfront, he didn’t ask and we never did.  In my mind, aside from the very difficult job of comparing church properties and buildings, he was intuitive and smart enough to realize that his report would likely be used to justify closing church buildings and…I don’t fault him a bit for opting out!!

The Essence of the Merging Parishes Article
The main point of the article from two weeks ago is that we need to focus our attention on becoming one parish first.   As unity grows and reaches a higher point, together, we will discern what is best in all ways, including which parish buildings will close.  Again, one last summary:  We don’t need to close churches before we merge and it is wise not to do so.  

Lifelong Faith Formation: Our Parish Mission
Last week you saw the bulletin page about our upcoming parish Mission.   Please read the following article about the mission from our Evangelization Team (Deacon Royce, Becky Linser, and Cari Craver)…and please plan to attend!
 
Sincerely and with Love in Christ,
Fr. Pat
 
 
Renewed In Hope: 
Our Parish Lenten Mission
March 2-4
 
Pope Francis proclaimed 2025 as the Jubilee Year of Hope.  The biblical jubilee year is a time of forgiveness, celebration, and restoration that occurs every 50 years.  Land was returned, debts were forgiven, and slaves were set free.
 
In this Jubilee Year of Hope, we invite you to renew your faith, seek the forgiveness of sins, and return to God in this year of favor. It is our desire that through this Lenten Mission God will lead us to share the Good News with our family, friends and neighbors.
 
Catholic speaker, musician, and author, Chris Bray will lead our Lenten Mission through a series of talks aimed at helping us to refocus and renew our faith and help us to strengthen our ability to share our faith journey.  Through song and personal stories, Chris will guide us down a path to a stronger relationship with Christ.
The 3-night mission will cover the following topics: Encounter Christ More Deeply, Transformed by The Holy Spirit, Commissioned to Share the Gospel.  As each session has its own intrinsic value, we invite you to attend as many as you are able.  
 
The first two nights will end with Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Adoration is an opportunity to be face to face with Jesus in the Eucharist, where we give Jesus our undivided attention.  At the conclusion of night 3, we will celebrate the burning of last year’s palms, which will be used the next day for Ash Wednesday.  Deacon Bill and the Holy Trinity choir will lead us in a short prayer service immediately following the Lenten Mission.  We will then process out of the church to bury the Alleluia and burn the palms.   This is a time-honored tradition at Holy Trinity. Refreshments will be served during the burning of the palms so hang out and get to know someone new!
 
All sessions will begin at 6:30pm and will last 60-75 minutes.  
Sunday March 2^nd St John the Evangelist
Monday March 3^rd Church of the Resurrection
Tuesday March 4^th Holy Trinity Church
 
A free will offering will be taken at each session to defray the cost of the event.
 
We look forward to seeing you as our Crescent Family becomes Renewed in Hope!