Town Hall Session Question and Dr. Martin Luther King

Thanks to those who are following the reports on the Town Hall Listening Sessions.  See the summary report on our website (crescentparishes.org/beacons-of-light). 

The question I would like to answer this week is:

• How will we ensure the respect and preservation of the diversity, culture, and traditions unique to each parish?    

Diversity, Culture and Traditions of Current Parishes
Wonderfully, one of the most common statements declared by participants at the town halls was that we need to preserve the diverse cultures present in our family of parishes.  There will be at least two important prerequisites to this endeavor.  1. Discernment and 2. Sacrifice.

1. First, we need to discern the cultural value or practice that needs to be preserved.  In that sense, the value will be tested, like gold is tested for quality.  For, what I think is an essential cultural value of my parish might in fact be a small tradition or practice that is important, but not an essential value.  This might include some minor liturgical practice, or a tradition around seasons of the year like Christmas. 

An example of this might be “My parish values the devotion of praying the Rosary before Mass.”  It could be that other parishes value praying the rosary together too, but perhaps it’s after Mass instead of before.  See below for more on this.

At the town halls, the most commonly mentioned examples of preserving unique cultures were the Black Catholic Experience at the Church of the Resurrection and the Spanish-speaking ministry at Holy Trinity.  We can see that both of these examples are rich and complex cultural practices of the Faith and need great consideration as to how to not only preserve but foster those values and practices in our one parish. 
 

2. Sacrifice is the second dimension of what will be required as we preserve uniqueness.  As in the rosary example above, a new parish will likely have to make a decision about when the Rosary is prayed.  The value is the rosary, not when the rosary is prayed.  Therefore, sacrifice will be a needed experience for those who are asked to pray at a different time.  Of course, our faith is built on Jesus’ sacrifice…and so will the founding of our new Parish.  

May the Lord help us be wise in the discernment and sacrifice that will be part of preserving essential cultures and values in our new parish.

In all the considerations regarding diversity and preservation of culture and traditions, the recommendation of informed, wise and courageous parish leaders such as Pastoral Council and Liturgy Commission will be essential.  May they inquire among parishioners and may parishioners communicate with them.  In addition, the Parish Leadership Team and Parish Staff will help to preserve essential culture and tradition.
Communion to the Homebound and Nursing Homes

Please see the article below as parish staff works to improve our ministry to the homebound and those in nursing homes.  Thanks to those who offer names to our offices to make sure friends and family meet Christ regularly!

Nativity School Principal and Racism.
As we celebrated the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Junior ‘s ministry and call in Jesus hosted by the MLK Committee at COR at St. Saviour this past Monday, look to page 9 of the bulletin to find Nativity School Principal, Jeff Warren’s article to Nativity School Families on the same topic.

Sincerely and with Love in Christ,
Fr. Pat

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Dear Crescent Parishioners,

For those unable to attend Mass due to various circumstances, the outreach of Communion to our homebound offers compassion and spiritual nourishment as our devoted ministers bring the comfort of God's Word, Holy Communion, and the presence of our Crescent Parishes community.

We are grateful for the dedication of Linda Smith, Fr. Jerry, and Sr. Janet who are leading this wonderful ministry in our Crescent Parishes.  We also express our many thanks to all those who currently serve and will serve as extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion for our homebound parishioners.  Communion to the homebound in our Crescent Parishes would not be possible without them!

If you know of someone in our Crescent Family who is homebound,
hospitalized, or a resident of a local nursing home and would like to receive Communion, or if you are interested in helping with our Communion to the homebound ministry, please call any parish office or fill out the form on our website at crescentparishes.org/communion and Linda Smith will reach out to assign a homebound minister.  

With gratitude and blessings,

Meg Anderson
Director of Stewardship and Outreach


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Dear Nativity Families,

On Monday, our country honors the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. While we have made significant progress since the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s, we still have a long way to go. This is true for us as a society and for us as a Church. The US Bishops have published five pastoral letters since 1942 denouncing the evil of racism. Most recently, in 2018, they published the pastoral letter “Open Wide Our Hearts.” In that letter, they reflected on some of the ways that racism continues to plague our society and our culture:
With the positive changes that arose from the civil rights movement and related civil rights legislation, some may believe that racism is no longer a major affliction of our society— that it is only found in the hearts of individuals who can be dismissed as ignorant or unenlightened. But racism still profoundly affects our culture, and it has no place in the Christian heart. This evil causes great harm to its victims, and it corrupts the souls of those who harbor racist or prejudicial thoughts. The persistence of the evil of racism is why we are writing this letter now. People are still being harmed, so action is still needed.

The bishops go on to challenge each of us to examine our consciences to consider the degree to which the fruits of the Holy Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control) are present in our attitudes about race. None of us are immune to the effects of the racism that continues to permeate our culture. All of us are sinners in need of conversion. Challenging us to open our hearts to Christ, the US Bishops wrote:

In this regard, each of us should adopt the words of Pope Francis as our own: let no one “think that this invitation is not meant for him or her.”  All of us are in need of personal, ongoing conversion. Our churches and our civic and social institutions are in need of ongoing reform. If racism is confronted by addressing its causes and the injustice it produces, then healing can occur.

As Catholics, we are called to help our society reject the evil of racism and move towards more fully recognizing the dignity of each person since all of us are made in the image and likeness of God. In this effort, we can ask for the prayers of the six African American Catholics who are currently being considered for Sainthood (Venerable Pierre Toussaint, Servant of God Mother Mary Lange, Venerable Henriette Delille, Venerable Augustus Tolton, Servant of God Julia Greeley, and Sr. Thea Bowman). I encourage you to join me in asking them to pray for us.

Jeff Warren
Principal 
Nativity School