 Fr.
Tom's Tomes July 9, 2006
This weekend I would like to welcome Fr. Brad Offutt who has come to be at St. Columban’s for confessions and Saturday evening Mass this Saturday. I will be witnessing a marriage at Immaculate Conception Parish in Montrose, Missouri. Fr Brad and I were at Kenrick Seminary in St. Louis for a couple of years. Fr. Brad is a wonderful priest for our diocese and enjoys his ministry of priesthood. Currently Fr. Brad is the Chancellor for the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph but his heart is with the people of the diocese. I know Fr. Brad would enjoy being a pastor in a rural parish. I would ask you to welcome him and make him feel at home with us. Next Saturday, July 15, 2006 there will not be confessions from 4:00 to 5:00 pm. There will be confessions on Sunday morning from 9:15 am until 9:30 am. It happens that next Saturday I have been asked to be at two weddings for children of two of my high school classmates. I attended St. John’s High School Seminary in 1974 with a class of 12. Coincidentally both of their children scheduled a wedding on the same day. I will be in Warrensburg at 10 am and then in Jefferson City at 1 pm for weddings. I should be back in Chillicothe for the 5:30 pm evening Mass. Just hope and pray there is nothing to stop me in my return trip. Last Sunday’s bulletin invited people who would be interested in being on the parish council for St. Columban’s to please let me know. The parish council will be concerned with the ministries for the people who we serve as the Catholic Church in Chillicothe. This is a very important ministry in the parish. It is an opportunity to evaluate the current ministries and then to see where we need to continue to spread the ministries for our people. At this time I have only one person who has volunteered to be on the newly formed parish council. I am open to all who would like to serve in this capacity within our parish. All who volunteer will be invited to be on the parish pastoral council, to take part in the training for the parish pastoral council and to help form ministries for the future of our parish. This week I would also like to let you know that I believe if a person wants to be a member of St. Columban parish the following is necessary. First, the person needs to be registered with the parish. It is necessary for all who consider themselves to be members to have filled out a parish registration card. Secondly, I believe the person should be attending Mass on a regular basis. According to my understanding of our faith this means weekly. People have gotten into a routine where I think they believe that if they come when they want to this makes them a parishioner. To be a parishioner means we should be attending Mass weekly to pray to God and to pray for our needs and the needs of others. Being a parish community means we gather once a week together to pray to God. A person should not excuse themselves lightly from this obligation. Now there are those members of our parish community who are elderly and are physically not able to make it to Mass on Sundays. This I can understand. However if a person is going places without help from others during the week then they can make it to Mass on Sunday. Third, I believe a parishioner is one who is supporting the parish by contributing 5% of their income to the local parish, 1% to the Diocese of Kansas City - St. Joseph, and 4% to charities of your choice. Stewardship of our financial resources, time and talent is an obligation from God to return to God the blessings we have received. Again we are responsible to God for what God has given to us. Once a person has begun a job the individual should begin to support the parish. Even if a person is working a part time job it is good to contribute to the support of their parish. Parish registration is important. All Catholics should be registered and should be attending the parish they belong to. As students go off to college they need to enroll in the local Neuman Center and become an active part of the Catholic Community on the college campus. After college an individual needs to register in the parish in which they reside or the parish of their choice. It should be noted that once an individual moves from the parish they are not considered parishioners of this parish anymore and they should register at the local parish of their new residence. It is important for Catholics not to be registered only on the parish census but to be assisting in promoting and developing the local parish community. At this time in the history of the Catholic Church parishioners are needed more and more to help with the ministry needs of the parish. There is a connection between the priest and parishioners to form the best parish it can be. With the shortage of priests it is important to realize priests schedules can become very busy. Priest would like to be available at the drop of a coin to help others but this is no longer always possible. I would once again remind parishioners that with being both pastor and principal, as well as having other diocesan obligations, in the future it is going to be difficult to always fulfill the schedule of others. God bless you this week. |