St. Patrick our Patron Saint

Friends

    Peace be with you. 

    Some of you may have noticed that there’s been an addition to our parish staff. Parishioner Lynn Ties has begun as our front desk staff member. The reason for this is because eventually, Laura Prendergast will be stepping back so she can take care of her baby after she gives birth. Even though we all hate the idea of Laura not working here at St. Patrick’s, we feel like Lynn is a great addition to our staff. One way to look at this position that Fr. Dave Schatz taught me, is as a “minister of first impressions”. They answer the door and the phone, meaning that they are the first impression a lot of people have of St. Patrick’s Church in general and our staff in particular. It’ll be hard to say goodbye to Laura when the time comes, but I take consolation knowing that I’ll have a new baby parishioner to hold before and after Mass. And I’m glad to welcome Lynn to take on this role because of her deep love and knowledge of St. Patrick’s Church and our parishioners. The fact that her grandkids may visit and say “Hi” to me is definitely a perk too!

    This Monday is St. Patrick’s Day, our patronal feast day, and we’re celebrating in our new way, with a Holy Hoolie. It’ll be a little more subdued than last year but we’ll have Mass and a celebration afterwards. I hope you can join us. In next week’s bulletin column, I’ll be talking about a book I recently used at Coffee Klatch called From Christendom to Apostolic Age. In my mind, our slow transformation of how we celebrate St. Patrick is based on some of the principles of this book. It says that, in the past thirty years (or so), the relationship of the Catholic Church to the larger world has fundamentally changed. It’s not a good thing or a bad thing, it’s just the climate we are living in. In the past, the fundamental movement of the larger culture was in line with the Catholic Church. Now, culture is largely against us. I’ll explain this in greater detail next week but the result is that we need to focus on presenting the basic teachings of our faith whenever and however we can. As much as we like social events, there are so many elements within the world demonizing us that we are losing ground by not seeking to present the faith at every possible opportunity. This doesn’t mean they can’t be entertaining events. It just means we need to make sure we are catechizing whenever we can. That’s why we start with Mass and enjoy some food and games afterwards. We do hope to have a band next year, but we need to be picky and make sure they explore both our Irish heritage and our Catholic heritage. 

    I hope you’re having a holy lent and know of my prayers for you.