Dear Parishioners,
In my years of priesthood, I’ve had the privilege of knowing many people, including parents of newborn children. One of those is especially memorable for me because the young mother gave birth to triplets. She and her husband were ecstatic with the three new additions to their family, but also very aware they would bring new challenges different from even having twins. Visually, the challenges became very clear to me the first time I saw mom tending to her three loved ones, but being limited with only two hands. She learned to move quickly and enjoy the moments of rest.
The same is somewhat true for me! I’m learning to be pastor of three parishes. It is much harder than when I was pastor of twinned parishes. That was somewhat easy compared to this. The work load for the pastor of our tripled parishes (me) is one of the most demanding in our diocese. As with all large parishes, the pastor must rely on both employees and parishioners to effectively guide the parishes in the direction that God intends. In the case of our tripled parishes, we need cooks, cleaners, builders, mechanics, teachers, counselors, accountants, managers, directors, and office personnel.
After much observation and consultation, I have determined that we are in need of two new job positions to help me in serving all three parishes. As you can easily imagine, the demands on me are much greater than there are hours in the day and night! I’m a firm believer in hard work and long hours, but that needs to remain within realistic limits. As a result, I’ve begun the process of recruiting and hiring a Finance Manager and a Facilities Manager who will simultaneously direct and manage relevant operations in all three parishes. Each manager will work with the staff at our three parishes to effectively and efficiently serve the needs of the parishes.
The effect of the two new positions and the employee reporting structure is to create two “departments” among the three parishes. One will handle all the financial tasks and the other will handle custodial and maintenance needs. Each of these are essential to the successful functioning of our three parishes for the future. Each parish will benefit in that, collectively, we can provide the services needed that our parishes cannot individually afford. Employees benefit in that they can focus more on their individual strengths and benefit from team collaboration and support.
Please pray that we find the right persons for these important employee positions. If you know of someone who may be a qualified candidate for either of these jobs, have them contact me through any of our three parishes. I’m always grateful for the prayers and support you give me and the other priests and the staff members of our parishes. We have a good team of people and I am happy to work with them each day.
Gratefully,
Fr. Miller
Pastor