A Status Update on the Family Survey and a Reflection on Diversity

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Christ is risen! I pray that you all had a joyful Easter and benefitted spiritually from the sacred time through which we have just passed. Today, we remember God’s mercy in a special way. Mercy is God’s greatest act and His most Divine attribute. May we receive His mercy and become witnesses to His mercy for the world! Through His wounds we are healed, and become ministers for the healing of others.

On May 1, I will officially assume the mantle of leadership for our Family of Parishes. First and foremost, I want to ask all of you for your prayers. Second, I want to invite all of you to a Vespers service at Assumption Parish on the evening of May 1, with Fr. Jan Schmidt, the Dean, who will officiate the ritual of installing me as pastor. Please look for more details in Mass announcements and the adjacent page of this bulletin.

I am excited about the future for our Family of Parishes. I know that a lot of work needs to be done, and I enjoy a challenge. Let me give you a few updates. The results of the pew surveys have been tabulated and are being analyzed for patterns and trends. Some of that information will be put to use right away in revising the Mass schedule and some of it will be utilized later in harmonizing diverse parish experiences and cultures. We will soon be reorganizing the staff in order to be more efficient and responsible stewards of our human and structural resources. The goal is to create an organizational structure that reflects the idea that we have a mission, and is most effective in accomplishing that mission. Mission-oriented structures follow the Catholic principles of solidarity and subsidiarity and the common good.

I want to write a few words about the beauty of diversity. I know that our parishes are very diverse. God is infinite, and the diversity of His creation is an expression of the variety and multiplicity of that beauty. Diversity can be a source of strength when it offers different perspectives and broader experiences to form a wider knowledge base. God is also One in Three, and so the diversity of creation is united through love that is fruitful as it unites. Where love is, there is God, and there is new life. We can come together united in one mission by the One Body we receive and become and always bring new life to more people as we bring them into the Church.

The practice of hospitality is an expression of the unifying power of the belief that we all have the Divine within us and that we are made in His Image and Likeness. Thus the practice of hospitality unites diversity and unity into the harmony of love and peace. Christians ought to be known especially for their hospitality! Let us all strive to embody this ideal.

This is a bigger-picture vision. In future columns, I will elaborate more practically the strengths of mission-oriented parishes, and how we can accomplish that practically here.

Yours in Christ,
Fr. Henry