As I write this pastor's column, we are in the midst of having four funeral Masses in four days. After being made aware of a funeral Mass at St. Mary's in Hot Springs last week where I was told there was a large gathering of family of the deceased, Richard West, but only four or five parishioners from St. Mary's there, I witnessed, in our church on Monday, the funeral of Robert Kindelsperger a longtime parishioner of Sacred Heart Parish where only three family members were present and around twenty from our parish family. I decided then, and even more so after Dale Auten's funeral on Tuesday (where there were more VFW members than Sacred Heart members present), that I would devote a column again to the importance of our parishioners coming and participating in the funeral Masses of our brothers and sisters in the Lord. When Jesus said in the sermon on the mountain, "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted, he was referring not only to comfort coming from God, but also comfort coming from his faith-filled followers (who are truly blessed for just being there). Participating in funeral Masses heeds one of the corporal works of Mercy (to bury the dead), and also two of the spiritual works of mercy, (to comfort those who mourn and pray for the living and deceased).
In the earliest days of the Church, Christians literally risked their lives to make sure a deceased brother or sister in Christ was liturically cared for and was given a proper burial. Obviously, we are under no such peril when we come to a funeral Mass, though in these COVID times we do have to take more precautions to protect ourselves and potentially those around us. There's also the opportunity at funeral Masses to hear scripture passage and sing songs that strengthen us in our hope of Resurrection and life after we breathe our last breath in this world. Perhaps coming to funeral Masses of not only people we know but also people we have never met can remind us of the life we are called to live as followers of Christ, knowing that we have a chance, (always with the grace of God) to change where we need to change and strengthen the good that we are doing as baptized and confirmed believers.
We are truly blessed with a varity of bereavement people (including our Ladies of the Sacred Heart and Resurrection choir) who are involved in a wonderful and often needed ministry in this parish. I pray that more of you will reflect on the blessings that come to and through those who participate in the final liturgical rites of their brothers and sisters of the Lord who have passed from life into or toward the life that is with our crucified and risen Lord and all the saints forever!
In the earliest days of the Church, Christians literally risked their lives to make sure a deceased brother or sister in Christ was liturically cared for and was given a proper burial. Obviously, we are under no such peril when we come to a funeral Mass, though in these COVID times we do have to take more precautions to protect ourselves and potentially those around us. There's also the opportunity at funeral Masses to hear scripture passage and sing songs that strengthen us in our hope of Resurrection and life after we breathe our last breath in this world. Perhaps coming to funeral Masses of not only people we know but also people we have never met can remind us of the life we are called to live as followers of Christ, knowing that we have a chance, (always with the grace of God) to change where we need to change and strengthen the good that we are doing as baptized and confirmed believers.
We are truly blessed with a varity of bereavement people (including our Ladies of the Sacred Heart and Resurrection choir) who are involved in a wonderful and often needed ministry in this parish. I pray that more of you will reflect on the blessings that come to and through those who participate in the final liturgical rites of their brothers and sisters of the Lord who have passed from life into or toward the life that is with our crucified and risen Lord and all the saints forever!
Any priest will tell you that it is much easier to come to know somebody by name when you see them often and/or when you see them for more than a few seconds or few minutes because you are working with them.
Our Very Important Parishioner (V.I.P.) for the month of September is someone whose name sooner than later came to me when I saw her both because I saw her often (at daily Mass) AND because she has been an active member of Sacred Heart Church in the years I have been here (and probably before I came here). Her name is Paula Doyle. While I'm sure I will not cover all of her activity and ministry in this parish, I can certainly attest to her readiness to step up to volunteer herself and answer the call when asked to take on something that needs an able person to do it.
Firstly, Paula is an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion at Mass and is regularly serving in this ministry. She has been a valued facilitator in many of our bible and Catholic study programs. She has served for a considerable time on our education commission and has given valued input as we discuss future educational and spritual opportunities for our parishioners. Through a committee of the Lady's of the Sacred Heart she was the key player in organizing and seeing through the "Walking With Purpose" scripture study program that brought over 100 ladies of the parish together and into small groups to help among other things to grow in their relationship with the Lord and each other. She is a licensed spiritual director was has made herself available for individual spiritual direction for parishioners who would like a listening guiding hand in their spiritual journey. She was the one who arranged to have Cackie Upchurch come recently to give a wonderful day of reflection to around 100 people who came to listen to Cackie speak about "The Road To Emmaus." The whole parish was blessed when she took over as coordinator of the Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration Ministry from our first coordinator Roger Bresnahan, who became too ill to continue to do it. She did a splendid job in the years she accepted this position.
I'm sure I'm missing something, but I hope you see that Paula has been a great blessing to this parish in many ways and for a long time. She has also been a loving and supportive wife to her husband Ed who has been, and continues to be, an active parishioner at Sacred Heart, as an E.M. and Catechist in our REY youth program, a leader in our Knights of Columbus as past Grand Knight and now as Faithful Navigator of our Assembly.
Please say thank you to Paula and Ed when you see them and if by chance you don't know them, look them up in the pictorial directory and thank them for their service to the Lord and our wonderful parish.
Our Very Important Parishioner (V.I.P.) for the month of September is someone whose name sooner than later came to me when I saw her both because I saw her often (at daily Mass) AND because she has been an active member of Sacred Heart Church in the years I have been here (and probably before I came here). Her name is Paula Doyle. While I'm sure I will not cover all of her activity and ministry in this parish, I can certainly attest to her readiness to step up to volunteer herself and answer the call when asked to take on something that needs an able person to do it.
Firstly, Paula is an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion at Mass and is regularly serving in this ministry. She has been a valued facilitator in many of our bible and Catholic study programs. She has served for a considerable time on our education commission and has given valued input as we discuss future educational and spritual opportunities for our parishioners. Through a committee of the Lady's of the Sacred Heart she was the key player in organizing and seeing through the "Walking With Purpose" scripture study program that brought over 100 ladies of the parish together and into small groups to help among other things to grow in their relationship with the Lord and each other. She is a licensed spiritual director was has made herself available for individual spiritual direction for parishioners who would like a listening guiding hand in their spiritual journey. She was the one who arranged to have Cackie Upchurch come recently to give a wonderful day of reflection to around 100 people who came to listen to Cackie speak about "The Road To Emmaus." The whole parish was blessed when she took over as coordinator of the Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration Ministry from our first coordinator Roger Bresnahan, who became too ill to continue to do it. She did a splendid job in the years she accepted this position.
I'm sure I'm missing something, but I hope you see that Paula has been a great blessing to this parish in many ways and for a long time. She has also been a loving and supportive wife to her husband Ed who has been, and continues to be, an active parishioner at Sacred Heart, as an E.M. and Catechist in our REY youth program, a leader in our Knights of Columbus as past Grand Knight and now as Faithful Navigator of our Assembly.
Please say thank you to Paula and Ed when you see them and if by chance you don't know them, look them up in the pictorial directory and thank them for their service to the Lord and our wonderful parish.
"The numbers have been down." These words have been spoken over and over again during the pandemic in a variety of areas that saw a downturn due to the reality of people staying close or closer to home and not interacting with others in social and commercial settings. I would guess this would hold true in the number of new "converts" to the Catholic Faith. Many of those who start the journey of faith that leads them to some or all of the Sacraments of Initiation start the journey not primarily because of something they read, but rather because of people they know or meet who are faith-filled who inspire others through their words and especially by their actions of faith, hope, and love to seek Jesus Christ and the eternal life he promises through his Word and the sacraments that draw the believer closer to the Lord. The process of conversion and formation is done with the knowledge, support and example of Catholic communities that are supposed to play an important role in bringing the person fully into the Church community and all that it does to give withness to Jesus Christ.
Sadly, it was not the coronavirus outbreak and its persistence for such a long time that led to only one person, Kim Bailey to make a profession of faith and be Confirmed and receive her First Communion at the Easter Vigil at Sacred Heart this year. The reality is that in my eleven years here as your pastor, we have baptized and/or Confirmed an average of less than one new adult Catholic a year. This, of course, has to in part with the reality of an "older" population in the Village when compared to most communities out there, many of whom are either currently practicing a faith in a church community, or for various reasons have discontinued practicing their faith (including many Catholics as I have found out), and a relatively small number of those who have never been influenced by faith-filled people and need to be evangelized.
We cannot just wait for people to come knocking at our door or the doors of the church expressing either explicitly or implicitly a spiritual hunger (which everyone has within them). Professing our faith in God not only at Mass with fellow believers, but among people who don't have the "rock of faith" helping them through good times and difficult times (especially the death of a loved one), can lead people to ask, to seek and to find what the Lord and not anyone or anything in the world can give them. Please don't hesitate to call me (my cell phone is on the home page of our website) if you want to tell me about someone who needs Christ in their life and who might be open to hearing about him and the Church that seeks to follow him. We recently heard St. Peter in a Sunday Gospel reading (Jn 6:68) say, when speaking to Jesus "you have the words of everlasting life." Hopefully we say and live those words throughout our life and do what we can to lead others to say them and live them as well!
Sadly, it was not the coronavirus outbreak and its persistence for such a long time that led to only one person, Kim Bailey to make a profession of faith and be Confirmed and receive her First Communion at the Easter Vigil at Sacred Heart this year. The reality is that in my eleven years here as your pastor, we have baptized and/or Confirmed an average of less than one new adult Catholic a year. This, of course, has to in part with the reality of an "older" population in the Village when compared to most communities out there, many of whom are either currently practicing a faith in a church community, or for various reasons have discontinued practicing their faith (including many Catholics as I have found out), and a relatively small number of those who have never been influenced by faith-filled people and need to be evangelized.
We cannot just wait for people to come knocking at our door or the doors of the church expressing either explicitly or implicitly a spiritual hunger (which everyone has within them). Professing our faith in God not only at Mass with fellow believers, but among people who don't have the "rock of faith" helping them through good times and difficult times (especially the death of a loved one), can lead people to ask, to seek and to find what the Lord and not anyone or anything in the world can give them. Please don't hesitate to call me (my cell phone is on the home page of our website) if you want to tell me about someone who needs Christ in their life and who might be open to hearing about him and the Church that seeks to follow him. We recently heard St. Peter in a Sunday Gospel reading (Jn 6:68) say, when speaking to Jesus "you have the words of everlasting life." Hopefully we say and live those words throughout our life and do what we can to lead others to say them and live them as well!