Dear Parishioners:
The Divine Office is an inexhaustible source of material for meditation and reflection. I was reminded recently of the centrality of the Sunday celebration of Christ’s resurrection. “The Christian faithful ought to gather together, so that by listening to the word of God and sharing in the Holy Eucharist they may recall the passion, death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus and give thanks to God who has given them a new birth with a lively hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The Lord’s day is therefore the first and greatest festival, one to be set before the loving devotion of the faithful and impressed upon it, so that it may be also a day of joy and of freedom from work.” (Vatican II) Our parish planning team is eager to build on our present Sunday Mass experience and make it an even more amazing celebration of Jesus’ death and resurrection.
The two parish families of St. Dominic and St. George came together on Saturday, January 20th with Msgr. Stehly, Vicar General of the Archdiocese, to discuss the positives and negatives of merging our parishes. It appeared there was equal representation from both parishes and every parishioner who wanted to speak had the opportunity to do so. The concerns expressed, the questions asked and the responses shared were honest, frank and cordial. The concern of many St. Dominic Savio people centered on maintaining a Sunday Mass in the church. The experience of most pastors and parishes is that an arrangement of two Mass locations ensures the parishes never comes together, but remains separate communities. The goal of the vision team is to gather as one parish family around one altar and pulpit with one priest to worship the one God. Several folks from both parishes spoke of the benefits that came to them when they had to move and become new members of parishes during their lifetime. Difficult as those changes were, each new parish experience enriched their lives.
For more than six months, I have wanted to combine the bulletins of both parishes since we have been “twins” for over a year. It seems like a good idea if for no other reason than both parishes receive the same information at the same time. But prudence dictated that we not do so in order to avoid creating the impression that merging the parishes “is a done deal.” It is not a done deal and will only be a done deal when Archbishop Carlson decides what is best. I have decided to go ahead and have one bulletin at this time because the majority of twinning parishes do share one common bulletin. By combining our bulletins we will have more opportunities for fellowship on both campuses and can see all the great activities each parish has to offer.