Message from Father Mike
August 14, 2022
Dear Parishioners,
The more relaxed season of summer draws closer to the start of the school year and the business of Fall. For those who worship at Saint Bartholomew Church, summer will conclude without us ever being able to use the air conditioning system. The parts needed to repair that aged system still have not arrived. We are also waiting for items needed to upgrade the sound system at Saint Bart’s. The dreaded words “back order” can be applied to everything. When I tried to order lighter weight vestments for our sacristies, I found that even they are on back order. I suppose that we should not be surprised to find so many shortages in parts and supplies. Because of Covid 19, the world was forced to shut down for a year. I suppose that it will take time to get things rolling once again.
Last week, I announced that the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, ordinarily a Holy Day of Obligation, falls this year on a Monday. I reminded you that when the Holy Days of January 1, August 15, and November 1 fall on a Monday or Saturday, the obligation to attend Mass is dispensed. However, the beauty of each of these liturgical celebrations should move us to want to voluntarily attend Mass on these feasts. On Monday, August 15, the Solemnity of the Assumption of Our Lady into heaven, Mass will be offered at both Saint Pascal and Saint Bartholomew at 8:30 AM.
As you know, we are in the process of reorganizing the ministries of the united parish of Our Lady of the Rosary. In the Spring, we held what we called a Ministry Fair after the 10:00 AM Sunday Mass at both Saint Bartholomew and Saint Pascal Church. At these Ministry Fairs, we listened to those who had participated in a variety of ministries at the original three parishes. I shared with both groups my hope to build a new structure of parish ministries on both our own experiences in the original parishes and the insights shared with us by other communities united in the Renew My Church process. I found especially helpful the work of Father James Mallon, a Canadian priest who successfully united five parishes into one.
Father Mallon argues that successful parishes have five systems at work within them: Worship, Evangelization, Discipleship, Fellowship, and Ministry. In our reflection, we observed that these categories of ministry systems correspond to that which we began thirty years ago to use in the Archdiocese of Chicago in organizing our ministries: Worship, Evangelization (Outreach), Formation, Parish Life, and Service. At our Ministry Fairs, we were able to identify parishioners who would like to continue serving in the parish ministries that are to be linked to the parish structure through the five systems of ministry teams.
Since Summer began, Maria Arrez, our Director of Lifelong Formation, Johanna Ortegon, our Director of Liturgy and Music, Tony Lopez, our Director of Operations, and I began to meet to discuss how we would reorganize these ministries. Many of them have not been operational since the Lockdown began. Others risked being lost because of the closing of the original parishes and the change of personnel. We decided to focus our attention first on the liturgical ministries, then on the service ministries, as these seemed to have had the most participants.
In my next communication, I will share with you the developments of the Worship Team or System.
Fr. Mike O’Connell
.
Dear Parishioners,
The more relaxed season of summer draws closer to the start of the school year and the business of Fall. For those who worship at Saint Bartholomew Church, summer will conclude without us ever being able to use the air conditioning system. The parts needed to repair that aged system still have not arrived. We are also waiting for items needed to upgrade the sound system at Saint Bart’s. The dreaded words “back order” can be applied to everything. When I tried to order lighter weight vestments for our sacristies, I found that even they are on back order. I suppose that we should not be surprised to find so many shortages in parts and supplies. Because of Covid 19, the world was forced to shut down for a year. I suppose that it will take time to get things rolling once again.
Last week, I announced that the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, ordinarily a Holy Day of Obligation, falls this year on a Monday. I reminded you that when the Holy Days of January 1, August 15, and November 1 fall on a Monday or Saturday, the obligation to attend Mass is dispensed. However, the beauty of each of these liturgical celebrations should move us to want to voluntarily attend Mass on these feasts. On Monday, August 15, the Solemnity of the Assumption of Our Lady into heaven, Mass will be offered at both Saint Pascal and Saint Bartholomew at 8:30 AM.
As you know, we are in the process of reorganizing the ministries of the united parish of Our Lady of the Rosary. In the Spring, we held what we called a Ministry Fair after the 10:00 AM Sunday Mass at both Saint Bartholomew and Saint Pascal Church. At these Ministry Fairs, we listened to those who had participated in a variety of ministries at the original three parishes. I shared with both groups my hope to build a new structure of parish ministries on both our own experiences in the original parishes and the insights shared with us by other communities united in the Renew My Church process. I found especially helpful the work of Father James Mallon, a Canadian priest who successfully united five parishes into one.
Father Mallon argues that successful parishes have five systems at work within them: Worship, Evangelization, Discipleship, Fellowship, and Ministry. In our reflection, we observed that these categories of ministry systems correspond to that which we began thirty years ago to use in the Archdiocese of Chicago in organizing our ministries: Worship, Evangelization (Outreach), Formation, Parish Life, and Service. At our Ministry Fairs, we were able to identify parishioners who would like to continue serving in the parish ministries that are to be linked to the parish structure through the five systems of ministry teams.
Since Summer began, Maria Arrez, our Director of Lifelong Formation, Johanna Ortegon, our Director of Liturgy and Music, Tony Lopez, our Director of Operations, and I began to meet to discuss how we would reorganize these ministries. Many of them have not been operational since the Lockdown began. Others risked being lost because of the closing of the original parishes and the change of personnel. We decided to focus our attention first on the liturgical ministries, then on the service ministries, as these seemed to have had the most participants.
In my next communication, I will share with you the developments of the Worship Team or System.
Fr. Mike O’Connell
.
