Volunteers On Mission!
Last week I announced a volunteer appreciation event for March 3. I neglected to mention this event is for volunteers over 21 years of age: Young volunteers receive alternative expressions of appreciation. Again, if you’re a volunteer and haven’t received an invitation by email, please advise your parish receptionist. If you wish to volunteer, check also with your parish office concerning the Safe Environment program.
Meanwhile, I’m in need of specialized help from people in the social sciences or with the relevant training and experience. If you’re familiar with interviews oriented toward narrative analysis or appreciative inquiry, or you know someone who is, please alert me. My hope is to develop a team of people to conduct a series of such interviews at each parish and then synthesize a narrative reflecting the results. The emerging narratives will be included in the parish profiles used to frame our common mission.
As always, as we strive to implement On Mission for The Church Alive!, I welcome feedback. If there’s something you think I and my advisors need to know, please speak up by writing a note or sending an email to me, my staff, or my councilors. Please don’t see me before or after Mass about anything of long term importance: It may seem convenient for you, but odds are I won’t be able to mount an appropriate response on those occasions.
Next week, February 21 to 24, Pope Francis will be meeting with representatives of the bishops’ conferences from around the world. The goal of the meeting seems to be to help the Pope and bishops come to a common understanding of the problem. It’s a neuralgic matter for us in the Church of Pittsburgh, who last year experienced the simultaneous crises of the Pennsylvania Grand Jury report and the scandals surrounding Archbishop McCarrick and his colleagues. So let’s remember in prayer all affected persons and the bishops at a Holy Hour on Sunday, February 17, at 5:00 p.m. at Holy Trinity Parish.
—Fr. Dave
