All three priests newly destined to live in the RocKenRo grouping succeeded at moving in to his designated rooms. We’re all still unpacking, but we’re here.
We activated a plan for assigning priests and deacons to Masses. It’s complicated, but I count it a success thus far inasmuch as we got a priest to every Mass. My hope is that this week we’ll develop the system so as to accommodate scheduling the priests for funerals in each of the three RocKenRo parishes. Baptisms and weddings are also underway.
We discovered that we need to recruit volunteers at Holy Trinity and St. Malachy to accommodate the new daily Mass schedules at each location. Especially at St. Malachy’s, we also need to recruit people to take responsibility for daily and weekly tasks previously assumed by the departing pastors. Rosemary Corsetti and others have been straining to coordinate this effort, so if Rosemary or someone else asks you to help, please help!
We learned that the St. Malachy pastoral council has focused largely on evangelization projects such as the Speaker Series. But I need a pastoral council also to advise me on matters arising On Mission! especially as they apply to St. Malachy. My plan is to split the pastoral council between those who will focus on evangelization and those who will focus on advising me. Perhaps some will do both, but in the meanwhile, this transition is a good opportunity for St. Malachy parishioners to join either group, depending upon their interests and motivations. Email me if you think you could contribute to either effort.
These days, in the Catholic Church, when you think of staffing or volunteering, you should also think of the Safe Environment program. Please be prepared to help by going through the program and extending the Church’s vigilance against potential harm to minors. And if you’ve already completed the program, please be equally diligent about staying current. Otherwise—well, let’s just say no one can volunteer in a public capacity in the Church without satisfying the conditions of the Safe Environment program.
A lot of the initial transition work has been administrative, and therefore fell disproportionately on the business managers, who carried the extra burden well this week. Thank you, MaryAnn Jones, Lisa Davis, and Bonnie Amendola!
As always, if you think I need to know something, tell me: Write me a note or send me and email. Daylight savings time ends next week, Sunday, November 4. Please remember to set your clocks back one hour next weekend, or you’ll arrive very early for Mass.
—Fr. Dave
