27th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Cycle A
October 4-5,
2014 All 8 Masses
Saint Margaret Parish, Bel Air
Pope Francis
Last
December, Time magazine named Pope
Francis the Person of the Year.
Time’s
decision to do that reflected how Pope Francis has connected with so many
people throughout the world. And this is
true regardless of religious background.
Well,
soon before Time’s decision, last
November, Pope Francis issued a
beautiful statement called The Joy of the
Gospel. This morning I want to quote
just a few sentences from this.
Pope
Francis says: “The Church is called to be
the house of the Father, with doors wide open…Everyone can share in some way in
the life of the Church; everyone can be part of the community, nor should the
doors of the sacraments be closed for simply any reason…
“These convictions have pastoral consequences
that we are called to consider with prudence and boldness.” They are just a few
of the many direct, heartfelt thoughts of the Pope.
I do
not know where this will be taking the Church.
We will see, but for now we, locally, need to try to take account of
Pope Francis’ words and spirit.
Parish Plan
Beginning
this past May, a special parish committee has been at work.
Three
men and three women are working with me as a Planning Committee to develop a
new plan for the parish. We have had a
plan, but it is now time to renew that and chart our direction for the next
three years.
The
Committee’s discussions have been focused almost exclusively on the gospel and faith
– on having this enriched in ourselves and on bringing this to those we are not
reaching very well. The Committee is
trying to heed Pope Francis’ call to proceed “with prudence and boldness.”
Priorities
The
plan is not finished, but I want to give you a sense of the priorities that are
emerging.
1)
Effective ministry to our youth. 2) Effective ministry to our young
adults. 3) Faith enrichment for the
parents of all children. 4) Engaging
those who are not actively participating in the parish. And 5) Using today’s social communications in
ways that are appropriate.
No
question, we will continue to do all the other things that are essential and
valuable. I am simply saying that, at this moment, we
probably need to focus especially on the areas that I mentioned.
To use
Pope Francis’ words, we will have to be “prudent
and bold” in those ministries.
Offertory Giving
Now, I don’t want to disappoint you, so I will say it: your
financial commitment is needed.
Within the past week, each of us received a letter from me
about this. As you know, our giving to
the offertory collection makes our ministry possible.
We as a parish do great things already. We have even greater potential.
So, I ask for your financial support. In my letter, I asked each of us for a
specific amount of increase in offertory giving.
Some of us will be able to do that. Some of us will be able to maintain what we
are now giving and some of us may need to cut back.
What I believe is that if each of us just does what we
can, we as a parish will be fine. We
will have the finances to do our spiritual mission and we will even be able to
focus more on the areas of priority that I mentioned.
Commitment Card
Some of you have already completed and returned your
Commitment Card.
I thank you and am very grateful for that. Some of you have probably brought your card
with you today – wonderful!
If you have not yet had a chance to complete a Commitment
Card, I ask that you do that right now.
I would ask those at the end of the rows to pass the cards and pencils
down to one another.
These Cards are important because they are a visible,
tangible expression of what we intend to contribute this year to the
offertory. They also help us to be
assured that the parish budget is realistic.
So, please complete the Cards and then place them in the
collection basket when it comes around in a few minutes. Finally, I thank you.
I am very grateful for your steady, generous support of
Saint Margaret’s. With that, together we
are doing the Lord’s work.
Again, I thank you.
And may the Lord enlighten and guide us in all that we do!
