The New Parish
In May I announced I would be moving to a new assignment (see my homily for the Fifth Sunday of Easter and my previous post, “Working For a Better Future”. In those posts I explained my reasons for moving to a new parish. I was tired and found myself not able to work on some of the things God has been calling me to do. The day before I moved, I posted another article, “Change Leads to Reflection.” reflecting on how I was feeling in the midst of change.
Now, after three weeks at my new assignment, I am just beginning to adjust to life at St. Louis Church in Pittsford, NY. It seems appropriate to fill you in on how things have been going.
Of course, one of the first things to attend is unpacking. I am blessed in unpacking in that I don’t have a lot of stuff. I don’t have any furniture to move and all my clothes fit in one large closet. My most numerous possessions are books. There is one or two boxes of engineering, math, and science books and the rest (some 15-18 more boxes) are all books about faith.
Besides unpacking, I have been continually meeting new people. In terms of Sunday attendance, St. Louis is three times the size of my old parish. I am just starting to remember a few names of the people I see frequently. Yet, there are always connections.
The first “connection” I will mention is discovering a parishioner here who used to be a parishioner in another parish I served at in 2010-2012. Without recognizing her, when she said her last name, it rang a bell but I didn’t know from where. As she continued to talk, the light bulb came on and I asked her who “Bob…last name” was to her. She said Bob was her husband and that he died three months ago. May he rest in peace. Then she remembered me.
That is just one of several similar connections. One of the deacons here was a parishioner at Assumption where I did my pastoral year (before he became a deacon).
The “surprise connection” here was meeting two (adult) brothers who I had not met before but when I heard their last name, I asked where they were from. The answer was Corning to which I said I met their parents through another priest shortly after I was ordained. Then they mentioned their mother’s maiden name. It turns out I know their grandmother from when I was in Elmira, an uncle and aunt from my home parish, and another aunt and uncle from another parish where I was pastor. It’s a small world!
Among the ministerial things I have been doing, of course, is saying Mass. I say Mass in the parish Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and average two Masses for Sunday. What is a little different is there is on Tuesdays I say Mass at a nearby Carmelite Monastery. It is a good and holy place. It is a privilege to say Mass for them.
The schedule for the Sacrament of Reconciliation is the most frequent I have ever experienced. Confessions are scheduled before Mass during the week on the days when I say Mass. The schedule is for 30 minutes each day but it seems to go up to forty minutes on a frequent basis. Then, of course, there are confessions Saturday afternoon that either the pastor or I hear. It is a good thing I consider it a privilege and a grace to hear confessions!
In terms of the evangelization work that I love, I have been working on two things. The first is a presentation that will be offered in person for parishioners near the end of August where I tell my journey of faith so they can get to know me. For those who already know me, you probably know that I don’t like the attention to be on me. To God be the glory. In an effort to make the telling of my journey point others to God, while speaking with our Faith Formation staff here, I was blessed with the words of 1 Peter 3:15, “Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope.” I hope to use this verse to tell my journey in a way that helps others see what God is offering them and why I love to learn more and teach about our faith. For my blog readers I am trying to decide if I can either record the in-person presentation so I can put the recording on my website afterwards or if I should offer it as a live webinar. I know some of you who are regular readers of my blog already know what my journey has been like.
The other evangelization work I have been working on since my arrival is outreach to those we don’t see in church. I am very grateful to finally have the time to formally work on this ministry that I have been longing for. In two weeks, I have typed twenty pages of ideas. Please pray for this ministry!
For future evangelization work and without the responsibilities of being a pastor, I think the Lord may be calling me to explore podcasting. The parish here already has a good in-person adult faith formation ministry. It seems podcasting might be a good way to reach out to people who are not able to participate in the current adult faith formation activities. So, all I need to do now is learn how to do podcasting. Please pray that God sends me some help with the know-how for podcasting if this is what He wants me to do.
The one other ministry that I hope to continue here is ProLife ministry. I know there is an interest for it here and I am certain that the world needs it. God just hasn’t told me what form of ProLife ministry to do here yet. I hope He does soon! Again, I ask for your prayers for this.
Peace,
Fr. Jeff