As individuals, we belong to the Lord as members of that faith community which we call the Church. Hopefully, on a regular basis, we experience Church as members of a specific faith community, called a parish. While from time to time and for good reasons we attend Mass and help out with activities in a neighboring parish, the Diocese directs us to register in a specific parish community.
We can appreciate what the Diocese expects of us as we look at our civic lives. While many of us are American citizens, we reside primarily in one State, or at least consider one state to be our home. This offers us the opportunity to take a sense of ownership in the state that we call our home. Citizenship in a particular state offers both benefits and responsibilities.
This experience is applicable to our lives as Catholic Christians. Benefits of identifying ourselves with a specific parish community include the following: a sense of being spiritually at home, preparation and formation to celebrate the Sacraments, specific opportunities to learn how the Catholic Faith relates to daily living and distinctive opportunities to serve others both within and beyond our parish.
Our more recent Ministry Fairs offered an excellent opportunity for each Parish to express in unique ways who we are as a parish and what the Lord wants us to be about. Hopefully, a perception that was left with persons who attended our Ministry Fairs is that both St. Mary and Resurrection Parishes exist to meet specific needs of persons in the light of our Faith. Perhaps even long-time members of each Parish became aware of the wide variety of ministries and groups from which one might benefit and through which one might serve others. As individuals, we can strengthen a sense of ownership in a given parish by becoming involved in at least one ministry or group. Opportunities were offered for persons to sign up for specific groups or ministries.
Additional hoped-for effects of the Ministry Fairs are the following: 1) Seeds were sown in the lives of persons who attended. Perhaps, even though a number of us may not have signed up for a specific ministry or group, an awareness and perhaps a desire was formed to learn more about a given group or ministry. The names of contact persons for the various groups and ministries can be obtained by calling the parish office. 2) In addition to making people aware of what each parish presently has to offer, persons, particularly those who have lived in other parishes, became aware of what each of our Parishes does not presently offer. This awareness can serve as the basis for developing new ministries or groups in our parishes.
Perhaps, as some have expressed, a Ministry Fair might become an annual event in the life of one or of both parishes. This possibility challenges each ministry/group to continue to reflect upon who they are and what the Lord wants them to be about.
Reviewing our Ministry Fairs offers a meaningful setting for considering a vital aspect of our response to the Lord for His generosity and goodness to us, namely that of financial sacrificial giving. Hopefully, our financial giving to our Parish expresses our love for the Lord and for the support and strength that He would offer us in and through our Parishes to live and to witness in a proactive way to our Faith in our community and in the world.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Fr. Nelson Beaver – Pastor