 Fr.
Tom's Tomes July 31, 2005
Every time a pastor
changes he brings with him his own ideas of the way he is pastor. This
weekend at the Masses I have spoken about how I plan to do things for
this coming year.
I am very happy to be here at St. Columban. The people of the parish are
very friendly and have welcomed me with open arms. I wish I could
remember the names of more parishioners but I am sure the longer I am
here the more I will be able to call parishioners by their name.
As pastor I believe it is important for me to be available for
sacraments. Weekend and daily Mass is important to me as it is the
source and summit of our faith. Receiving the Eucharist, going to
Communion, brings us in close contact with Jesus Christ. I believe we
need to attend Mass as often as possible because Jesus strengthens us
through the Eucharist to do his work. As pastor I am also responsible
for the other sacraments which include the Sacraments of Reconciliation,
Baptism, Marriage, Anointing of the Sick and Confirmation. The way I go
about as pastor is to know that this area of a parish ministry is the
area that only I or an ordained deacon or priest is able to do. There
fore, when I schedule meetings, if there is a need for me to preside at
one of the sacraments, the sacrament takes precedence over attending a
meeting. I have found in my last parish at times I would have to cancel
meetings due to emergencies of going to the hospital or of being at wake
services or events connected with pastoral duties.
I believe the parish is the entity from which all missions of the parish
proceed. Here at St. Columban we have Bishop Hogan Early Learning Center
and Bishop Hogan Elementary School as missions. The parish is the
overall entity which provides for the mission of Catholic Education. As
I know of at this time Catholic Education at St. Columban is shared
through Bishop Hogan Early Learning Center, Bishop Hogan Elementary
School, St. Columban CCD classes, Confirmation studies for high school
youth, and a youth group. These ministries of education share the same
facilities with one another. The parish is responsible for the
facilities used by all the ministries of Catholic education. All of
these ministries are important. to our parish.
This year I will be focusing the majority of my time and energy in
learning about St. Columban parish and the ministries of the Early
Learning Center and the Catholic Grade School. Because there is not
currently a full time principal for our parish school, I will be the
interim principal of the school. These are two important and very time
consuming tasks. For the first year it is important for me to learn the
parish and its parishioners. The Catholic grade school is also beginning
to implement multi aged classrooms in which children of different ages
will be learning with one another. Our grade school will begin
curriculum mapping which will assist our teaching staff to evaluate and
implement strong academic teaching skills.
Besides the two major parts of the parish we will continue with our CCD
program, Sacramental program, Confirmation preparation and youth group.
There are many volunteers working already in these areas and we will
continue to invite others to participate with these activities.
A new group I would like to get started is a group called "Job
Squad". This would be a group of people who volunteer to help with
different projects around our parish grounds which need to be done. In
the past I have experienced individuals who are retired and others whose
job requirements allow them to help out the pastor. One afternoon a
month this group will meet and help me with cleaning, fixing, painting,
light electrical, plumbing or what ever it may be to keep our parish
grounds and buildings in good shape. It seems there is always something
needing fixed or cleaned and the Job Squad will meet to perform such
jobs. Again this would be utilizing the skills and talents of the
parishioners to help keep our parish going.
Also I am implementing the policy that if a person or organization needs
to use the building, or people would like to rent the gym or cafeteria,
you need to call Kim at the parish office. Since the parish is the
umbrella under which all of the facilities fall the parish will now keep
track of use and rental of the buildings.
It is also my policy that if you use the parish facilities, if you
unlock a door you are responsible to lock the door, if you turn on a
light when you leave you turn the light off, if you use something you
return it to the proper location which you found it. Many people use our
parish buildings and furnishings and in order to make sure it is there
for the next person to use you return what you use and borrow exactly
where you found it. There will not be a custodian or someone coming
behind you to put back what you used.
I will continue to monitor and evaluate the expenses of St. Columban and
its ministries. I know there is a need to control expenses so the
expenses do not exceed the income of the parish and its ministries. In a
few months I will be addressing this information in a homily and column.
At this time I am still too new to make any decisions in this area.
Another specific thing I will be looking at is the telephone system at
the rectory. It seems a little hard for me to use. I have not taken the
time to learn all about it yet but it could be in the future three or
four months there might be a change with the phones. I do know that
people from the Chancery to local parishioners have commented on the
phone system. Please be patient and give me time to evaluate what would
be a good solution and to have a solution which will be of good benefit
to all who are involved.
Hopefully this is a recap of what my homily was about.
May God bless you this week. |