Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church

Dear Good People of Saint Mary,

We have just recently completed compiling all the responses you graciously gave to our Parish Life Weekend call for ministry participation in parish groups and ministries. Thank you. If you haven’t heard from someone already, it is now the work of our group and ministry leaders to contact all you who are interested in actively participating in various activities in the parish and you should be hearing from someone soon. If you don’t, please give us a kind reminder.

Of the nearly 4,900 catalogues that were mailed to registered families, we received 765 responses, all very different, each beautiful in its expression. You see, a tangible commitment is more likely to be carried out than an “I’ll get to it” in a rare moment of calm. But the overwhelming sense that I get as I read through your comments, nearly all of which were kind and constructive this year (thank you again!) is that there is a remarkable amount of love, charity, involvement, service, commitment that could never be measured by a survey or quantified into a total analysis of “who we are.” I am humbled by the sheer immensity of the ways our people serve one another and never mention it or are never recognized for it.

Although the 765 responses, which constitute a 15% response rate, would be considered an excellent return for a direct mail piece to strangers, I think they are probably only scratching the surface of what we go about doing quietly in the name of Christ. Because the Church is not a professional association of dues-paying members and does not require any sort of annual report of our activities, we are not accustomed to the idea that it might actually be important for the benefit of all the faithful that we share what we are doing at this point in our lives, and how we are living the Gospel.

I would like to include here one such response I received attached to a returned commitment card. It was so inspiring to me, I called up this person and asked if I could use it in the bulletin. Her message was for me, itself, a work of ministry and I hope it illustrates for you this idea of what I am talking about. You just never know where people are coming from, and what they are dealing with at the present time.

Dear Fr. Don,
 
My husband and I have been in the parish for the last three years. We are both graduates of Jesuit universities where we were deeply formed in service. I have participated in many ministries during our parish lives in Boston. Now, retired and in our early 70s, I am a 24/7 caregiver for my husband who has had Parkinson’s disease for the past 20 years.

 

We were Eucharistic Ministers from 1976 to 1987. My husband has been rector in Cursillo many times and both of us on teams as well. I sponsored a candidate for RCIA. I was president of a parish organization and my goal was to sponsor a Laotian family from a refugee camp in Thailand. They eventually moved to Rhode Island and one of their sons graduated from Providence College. We were active members of the “Voice of the Faithful” in Boston when we were stunned by the sexual abuse scandal. I could go on and on!

 

My desire is to attend daily Mass (which was my habit) and be involved in as many parish activities as possible. Unfortunately, or fortunately, my altar is at my husband’s side – helping him live as normal a life as possible for as long as possible. Thus, the limited offering of time, talent, and treasure.
 
In Christ’s love.

And she signed her name. I wanted to share her message with the whole parish as a word of encouragement and inspiration for all of us in this Advent of hope-filled waiting. Trust in the deep goodness which God has placed in your hearts, and let this goodness become visible in you as we prepare for Jesus’ coming.

God bless you.

Dear Good People of Saint Mary,

Mostly I just write the bulletin article in the office. Sometimes, it’s from a cool place like Jerusalem or Italy. Today it’s from the hospital.

As I had mentioned at Masses a couple weeks ago I had some surgery scheduled to fix some lingering effects from my semicolon procedure almost two years ago. I guess it may have been a little optimistic to think I’d actually be back to work in three days, but we gave it our best shot. I actually came home in four, but learned quickly that I had sleeping guts that just wouldn’t wake up and found myself back in the hospital the next day, last Saturday night. Since then all I can do is just wait it out. I’m still here…it has been painful and miserable but things seem to be finally waking up and I hope to be out by midweek and get on with life. I’m sorry to all who have been looking for me or needed something from me while I’ve been out of commission. We will gather it all up again soon and go back to work and get done what needs to be done. If anyone calls me “sleepy guts” I’ll call you back last!

It has been an interesting experience watching the parish remotely, as it were. You can learn things from other perspectives. For example, every once in a while I like to just attend Mass as a “normal” person. You learn new things about celebration styles (how others do it), you watch how people respond, or not, there is a lot to be learned.

As I’ve been watching our communications to you I realize that they are particularly heavy on the asking side this year. It is the season of giving, to be sure, and we receive a large number of solicitations each year for the parish to support just about every cause and project you could imagine. The churches have become easy solutions for people who need funds and lack creativity, and the expectation is often that we do their promotion and collection for them, as well. We try to help people help themselves when it comes to these solicitations, and you don’t hear about them officially from us.

Even with regard to things so vitally important to the life of the Diocese like Catholic Charities. This year it almost seems like a second Bishop’s Lenten Appeal. This is an indication that it is truly that important – and requires our attention. Professionals in this area say that today this is the only way we get anyone’s attention for a collection so necessary as this is. But something inside me mourns the fact of it.

So I ask your patience and earnest support for one further collection this year, our annual Special Christmas Charities Collection. We take the second collection and divide it three ways, traditionally: one third goes to a particular need of our Oblate Sisters of Saint Francis de Sales (worldwide), one third to a Bethlehem charity, and one third to an ongoing local social concern that involves many of our parishioners.

This year, we ask your second collection donation next weekend to support:

1. The needs of the Oblate Sisters’ Father Brisson Institute in Alausi, Ecuador. Following a flood, the roof of the school was so damaged that continued deterioration of the property has continued. They recently applied for and received a grant for a new roof and are rebuilding – much work on walls and ceilings will follow and our parish can make a significant contribution to this.

2. We will continue to give an annual donation to the Creche Orphanage in Bethlehem, Palestine (could there be a more perfect Christmas charity?). The 120 or so orphans who are cared for by the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul since 1884 are provided additional medical possibilities through donations such as ours.

3. Community Dinners in Fredericksburg have become one of the most successful and popular ministries among our many parishioners, and all churches in town. Our annual Christmas collection pays our parish’s three dinners a month which we prepare and serve.

God bless you.

Dear Good People of Saint Mary,

This year with the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas being so short, with the Thanksgiving holiday and the First Sunday of Advent on the same weekend, it almost seems like we are invited to begin the new Year of Grace 2014 with an action of thanks. The word “thanksgiving,” when translated into Spanish becomes, literally, “accion de gracias,” action of thanks. We often consider our thankfulness at this time of year for all that we have been given, but might sometimes not include the second part of the word that might become more obvious if we put a space in the middle. Thanks Giving. It is an active word, an action in which we might participate fully.

If you were to go to your spiritual director he or she might suggest this as a meditation for the new year: consciously add to the familiar exercise of Thanks an active consideration of what your Giving might look like and how you might carry that out in the season of Advent. Consider one meditation each week:

Week One.

I consider all those who have cared for me: parents, family, friends. Maybe teachers, colleagues, religious or clergy. Those who taught me how to care. Heavenly Father I am thankful for them. Now help me to consider who in my life depends on me for care. Am I a caring person? I will find one person each day and reach out to them in a loving, perhaps unexpected, way. May my caring remind them of God, whose fullness of care we will see at Christmas.

Week Two.

I consider all those who have assisted me in times of need. Even all those whose assistance was not known by me personally, those who give anonymously to the greater good from whom I have found hope. Heavenly Father I am thankful for them. Now help me to consider who in my life might need my help. Am I able? Even if they may not learn of my involvement in their life? I will find one person each day and reach out to them at their moment of need, maybe a moment of doubt or weakness, a time when the road seems too long or the burden too heavy. May my help remind them of God, whose unsolicited concern we will see at Christmas.

Week Three.

I consider all those who have been patient with me (only God knows how often!) and have forgiven me when I have offended. Heavenly Father I am thankful for them.  Now help me to consider those in my life who may be challenging who still need my attention; who seek my forgiveness. Am I a patient, forgiving person? Am I willing to bear others’ wrongs patiently? I will find one person each day who I haven’t contacted in a while and find the strength to make amends where necessary. May my heart remind them of God’s desire for reconciliation with us which we will see at Christmas.

Week Four.

One of the hardest tasks for our culture today is learning not to be selfish, to place others first. I consider all those who have sacrificed their security, their comfort, their safety for me. Heavenly Father I am thankful for them. Now help me to consider who in my life might need my selflessness. Am I able? Teach me the way of self-emptying love.  I will find one person each day and figure some way to give of myself. May my sacrifice help remind them of God’s self-emptying love which is the meaning of Christmas.

Now there’s a plan. God bless you.

Dear Good People of Saint Mary,

Every year we come to the Solemnity of Christ the King and we give a pause and consider what the end of time will be like. Christ our King and our judge will take some role as facilitator of justice as we pass from one age to the next, and we will be given the eternal reward of our goodness, or the corresponding eternal emptiness which will simply correspond to the level of life which we have chosen to live in God in this world.

We realize that there is still time to change. This is why God gives us the gift of time, because we can change. Pope John Paul II said that the person who is most perfect in this world is the one who has changed most often. That is also why God has given us the Church, because we need a safe place to belong while we look into that change. It is not an easy thing, it most often requires the support and prayers of a loving community.

I think, sometimes, that God will deal most harshly with those who have adopted an attitude that doesn’t seek renewal alongside others, who stand in judgment of sinners rather than extending the kind of love that alone is able to break through the division of sin and its devastation, touch the hearts of those who are struggling and welcome them home. Still remembering that home is a place of change, it is often too difficult for so many to try to open that door alone.

Yesterday I had a chance to go to Manarola, Italy, one of the most beautiful places on earth, I’m thinking. (As I write this I am in Siena, another of those places.) You should Google Manarola for images of this place, one of the world heritage sites because of its unparalleled beauty. So it was Sunday, and we worked our day in the Cinque Terre around getting to Mass at 11 in Manarola.

There is only one Mass for the whole region. There was only one Sunday Mass, and 34 people attended. I suddenly began thinking about how much we consider the end times to be a time of the few faithful who will remain, and the so many who will have either given up or denied the faith when faced with one of the several deadly isms of our day — individualism, secularism, pluralism, humanism, even indifferentism (we could also include stupidism) — the so-called “sacred remnant” who will still be paying attention on the last day when the Lord calls.

Mass in Manarola reminded me of that idea. Where are all the people? It has become a nervous joke in Europe. Where has everyone gone?

It worries me that we might not be so far behind in the United States.

Well, I refuse to accept the “sacred remnant” idea. To do so would be to give into the same kind of lack of regard that so many have shown in setting aside their faith. We have to be people who continue to fight and speak up and do our best to live the values we believe so that others might look again.

As I looked around that church I wondered why it has gotten to this point? The priest seemed engaged. I don’t speak fluent Italian but I got the gist of his good homily. The music was thin, but there was a lively group of six children in the front who sat together and helped with the Mass, bringing up the gifts, offering the prayers of the faithful. All in all, it was a beautiful Mass, it just wasn’t attended.

You and I have a lot to do at the end of the day in order to make sure that more than only a few make it to the finish line. We simply can’t settle for the minimal returns of a few faithful members in the Body of Christ when the personal investment of God is so great in the hopes of yielding a fruitful return. It is not okay what is happening in our world — and, though we aren’t powerful to make any real global change, we can start with our own houses and families, and get the word out to our parish.

God bless you.