VIII. A New Tabernacle and Its Placement in the Church
In addition to donations for kneelers and their installation in mid-October, we also received a very generous donation the first month I arrived here, June 2006. This donation was for the purchase of a new tabernacle for the reservation of the Blessed Sacrament. The thought was: “If we are not moving forward with the Faith on the Hill renovations, let us at least get a new tabernacle.” I received the donation and made it clear that I wasn’t sure when this would be possible. I had just arrived and didn’t want to make too many large changes within my first year, although some were necessary. At the close of my first year as pastor, on the Feast of Corpus Christi, I preached about this. At the time, I said that this is not something I wanted to impose but something I hoped the parish would desire and ask for. I would never want the Blessed Sacrament’s presence in our midst to become a dividing issue. I asked for feedback and was overwhelmed with the positive response. Still, I wanted to go slow. I ordered original, custom designs and presented them a year later at the recent potlucks over the summer. Once again, the response was very positive indeed and we have decided to move forward with the purchase of a new tabernacle and a new placement in the sanctuary of the Church. It will be installed, hopefully, on the First Sunday of Advent. The reasons for this are many.
The General Instruction on the Roman Missal (the official directory on all things liturgical for the Roman Rite) states that the tabernacle is to be made of solid materials with a lock, easily identifiable and beautiful to symbolize the Divine Presence within. It also says that its placement should be prominent, central, easily identifiable, suitable decorated and in a place suitable for prayer. It does allow its placement outside of the main sanctuary but only for churches that are tourist destinations with heavy amounts of non-Catholic traffic unaware of the sacredness of the Eucharist.
At the time of the renovation of the church after the fire, much thought went into the placement of the tabernacle. First, there was a desire to have the tabernacle accessible all day for prayer but a hesitation of having the main area of the church unlocked for that time given the recent arson. It seems, however, that starting a fire or vandalism is just as easy in the vestibule as it would be in the main body of the Church. In the new arrangement, the main body of the church will remain open for prayer all day. Some other areas of the church not currently locked will be in the future.
More than that, there were liturgical theories that advocated for a “special space” only for the tabernacle, hoping to avoid the above mentioned “tourist traffic” and a desire for a heightened sense of the sacredness of the Lord’s presence. The experience throughout the universal church, especially in the United States, has been very different than expected. The placement of the tabernacle outside of the sanctuary has not led to a heightened awareness of the sacredness of the Eucharist but a de-emphasis on the Real Presence of Jesus, devotion to the Eucharist and a loss of reverence within our church before and after Mass. It was all unintentional but there are many, many Catholics that don’t know what the Eucharist is, what the tabernacle is and some in our church who don’t know where our tabernacle is located. This is especially alarming given the centrality of the Eucharist to our faith as Catholics and the importance of the Eucharist in the architecture of the Church. Church architecture, as you know, is meant to be a Word about God and our faith, not simply useful as a place for gathering. It should be a place different from the normal world we inhabit, a sacred space that takes us out of the ordinary into the supernatural and heavenly. The physical aspects matter almost as much as the spiritual. The current arrangement does not speak adequately or clearly about the centrality of the Eucharist in our life and worship as Catholics and leaves the main body of our church empty of Him who makes it holy and set apart.
Lastly, after an almost exclusive emphasis on the so-called “verticality” or focus on God in worship prior to the Second Vatican Council, there was a huge swing to emphasize the “horizontal” aspect of worship, that is, our coming together as the Body of Christ and our union with each other in Him. Sometimes, however, this happened just as exclusively as before, but on the other end of the spectrum. Right now, the Church throughout the world is finding its proper balance between focus on God and community, between the vertical and horizontal, between a welcoming atmosphere and a sense of prayer, reverence and sacredness inside the sanctuary. This is the type of balance we are attempting, both are necessary and both are possible.
The purpose of the Mass is to worship God first and foremost and as a result of that, we are sanctified, made holy, and unified as the Body of Christ in a community. The second flows from and is dependent upon the first aspect. It is vitally important for our continued spiritual renewal that the Eucharist occupy the central place in our hearts, our lives, our plans, our community and therefore, in our church.
The new placement of the tabernacle will probably mean many things for our lives together. In some ways, we will need to learn and adjust together as we go, reminding ourselves of His presence in the church, when to genuflect and what not, that I will write about in future columns.
IX. Conclusion
The “state of our parish” is strong! Our mission at the University of Colorado is being renewed, the numbers of families and students are growing again, we are solvent financially (at least this past year!), our future looks bright as we continue our efforts at developing relationships with alumni, parents and friends of our ministry and we are celebrating our 100th anniversary of campus ministry, our 40th as a parish and our 20th since our rebuilding. As we make changes to enhance our spiritual lives together with new kneelers and a re-emphasis on the importance of the Eucharist, my hope and prayer is that we will be moved to grow in our faith, enthusiasm for our mission, growth in love for Jesus and others, service to others and begin to think strategically about our future and those who will follow us. We have difficulties and challenges, but God is faithful and here with us. He can do more than we can ask or imagine…if we let Him.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Summer Parish Potlucks and The State of the Parish: Part IV
VII: The Installation of Kneelers
In my last column, I mentioned that we have serious capital improvement needs around the parish campus and called for the beginning of a discussion on the scope and form of these future improvements. In my view, we are still three to five years from being able to do anything on a large scale. This is much longer than I originally anticipated when I first arrived at St. Thomas. In my original mind-frame, I was content to wait on the installation of kneelers in the church until we were able to do something more comprehensive. I have changed my mind, however, because of the length of time necessary to execute a future capital campaign and renovation of the church. It is something that needs to be addressed immediately and for a number of reasons.
As a reminder, this is something that was announced by Father Paul Huesing, anticipated in the Faith on the Hill renovation and confirmed by me when I first arrived here and at the beginning of my second year here. Kneeling during the Eucharistic Prayer and in anticipation of the reception of Holy Communion, is the posture prescribed by the General Instruction on the Roman Missal (the official directory on the celebration of the Mass) for the Catholic Church in the United States. Since we belong to a universal Catholic Church, and especially since we have so many visitors and students from other Catholic Churches where kneeling is the norm, it is very important that we celebrate Mass as the Church intends. The Mass does not belong to me, the clergy or to any individual person and our personal preferences. It belongs to the whole church and the faithful have the right to celebrate the Mass as it is, not as we would have it. This is not to say that we have had it wrong all these years. When the church was renovated in 1988 it wasn’t totally clear whether kneelers were necessary in official Church thinking but more than that we couldn’t afford it. Now, it is clear that this is the expectation from the Church and we can afford it.
More than all of this, however, I firmly believe that kneelers will deepen, renew, increase and reenergize our Eucharistic devotion, awe and reverence. The Eucharist is the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, really, truly and substantially present in our midst. Our God comes to visit us and it is normal and natural that we should humble ourselves before him and worship him in our bodies and our posture as well as our soul. In other words, the posture matches and is appropriate to what is going on at that time in the liturgy and expresses what we want going on in our hearts and community.
I have presented this at three potlucks over the course of the summer and will address it and questions about it on September 27th at the last potluck. Although there were some who clearly did not agree or voiced concerns about this, the vast majority of those present were affirming, in agreement and excited.
We will be installing kneelers in the Church sometime in mid-October. We will be securing the pews to the floor as they are currently laid out in the Church and attaching the kneelers to the existing pews. This will necessitate the removal of one pew from most sections to create more room for kneeling. We will lose some seating, but not a significant amount. The entire cost of this improvement is being paid for by two, non-solicited, donors and not from the offertory collection. Father Peter and I will be addressing this at Mass before the installation of the kneelers to remind everyone of when to kneel! In case you are wondering, it is after the “Holy, Holy, Holy” until the “Great Amen” and again after the “Lamb of God” until the priest receives communion. After that, you are still free to sit or kneel. Of course, those who are unable to kneel are not required to do so and will simply sit during these times.
I realize that change is oftentimes difficult, but I think that after time, it can also lead to a new way of being, a new way of seeing things, a new way of worshiping. I ask everyone to remain open to the Holy Spirit and His movement in our hearts. He is always able to surprise us. As always, I am available to listen to your questions and concerns and to talk about things but hope that you will rejoice with me in the new capacity of our church to accommodate the Roman Rite of which we are a part.
In my last column, I mentioned that we have serious capital improvement needs around the parish campus and called for the beginning of a discussion on the scope and form of these future improvements. In my view, we are still three to five years from being able to do anything on a large scale. This is much longer than I originally anticipated when I first arrived at St. Thomas. In my original mind-frame, I was content to wait on the installation of kneelers in the church until we were able to do something more comprehensive. I have changed my mind, however, because of the length of time necessary to execute a future capital campaign and renovation of the church. It is something that needs to be addressed immediately and for a number of reasons.
As a reminder, this is something that was announced by Father Paul Huesing, anticipated in the Faith on the Hill renovation and confirmed by me when I first arrived here and at the beginning of my second year here. Kneeling during the Eucharistic Prayer and in anticipation of the reception of Holy Communion, is the posture prescribed by the General Instruction on the Roman Missal (the official directory on the celebration of the Mass) for the Catholic Church in the United States. Since we belong to a universal Catholic Church, and especially since we have so many visitors and students from other Catholic Churches where kneeling is the norm, it is very important that we celebrate Mass as the Church intends. The Mass does not belong to me, the clergy or to any individual person and our personal preferences. It belongs to the whole church and the faithful have the right to celebrate the Mass as it is, not as we would have it. This is not to say that we have had it wrong all these years. When the church was renovated in 1988 it wasn’t totally clear whether kneelers were necessary in official Church thinking but more than that we couldn’t afford it. Now, it is clear that this is the expectation from the Church and we can afford it.
More than all of this, however, I firmly believe that kneelers will deepen, renew, increase and reenergize our Eucharistic devotion, awe and reverence. The Eucharist is the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, really, truly and substantially present in our midst. Our God comes to visit us and it is normal and natural that we should humble ourselves before him and worship him in our bodies and our posture as well as our soul. In other words, the posture matches and is appropriate to what is going on at that time in the liturgy and expresses what we want going on in our hearts and community.
I have presented this at three potlucks over the course of the summer and will address it and questions about it on September 27th at the last potluck. Although there were some who clearly did not agree or voiced concerns about this, the vast majority of those present were affirming, in agreement and excited.
We will be installing kneelers in the Church sometime in mid-October. We will be securing the pews to the floor as they are currently laid out in the Church and attaching the kneelers to the existing pews. This will necessitate the removal of one pew from most sections to create more room for kneeling. We will lose some seating, but not a significant amount. The entire cost of this improvement is being paid for by two, non-solicited, donors and not from the offertory collection. Father Peter and I will be addressing this at Mass before the installation of the kneelers to remind everyone of when to kneel! In case you are wondering, it is after the “Holy, Holy, Holy” until the “Great Amen” and again after the “Lamb of God” until the priest receives communion. After that, you are still free to sit or kneel. Of course, those who are unable to kneel are not required to do so and will simply sit during these times.
I realize that change is oftentimes difficult, but I think that after time, it can also lead to a new way of being, a new way of seeing things, a new way of worshiping. I ask everyone to remain open to the Holy Spirit and His movement in our hearts. He is always able to surprise us. As always, I am available to listen to your questions and concerns and to talk about things but hope that you will rejoice with me in the new capacity of our church to accommodate the Roman Rite of which we are a part.
Summer Parish Potlucks and The State of the Parish: Part III
V. The Centennial Year
Toward these ends, we are preparing to celebrate our centennial year of campus ministry at the University of Colorado. It was in the 1908-09 school year that Father Agatho Strittmeyer OSB began the Newman Club. Forty years ago, 1968, St. Thomas Aquinas was elevated to the status of a parish to serve the needs of the University better and it was twenty years ago, 1988, that our church was rededicated after the fire. One hundred year, forty year and twenty year milestones…seems like a year for a celebration! We have many things planned for to mark this year but it will be anchored by three events. The first is an all parish Mass on Norlin Quadrangle on September 7th at Noon with the Archbishop as the main celebrant and, hopefully, some Paulist priests as concelebrants. We are hoping for at least 2500 to be in attendance. The second event will be a party in honor of the Feast of St. Thomas Aquinas in the beginning of February and the third will be a closing Mass and appreciation dinner for all of our volunteers and benefactors.
The goal of this is celebrate, to be grateful to God for all the blessings he has bestowed upon on us but also to look forward into the future, toward all those things that He wants to accomplish through us. Included in this will be to think strategically about our future, especially in terms of our facilities.
VI. Strategic Planning
We are so blessed by all those who have gone before us in providing us with a church, rectory, youth house, student center, pastoral center and foodbank. We have the privilege, opportunity and responsibility to make sure that we do the same for ourselves and those who follow us. The buildings are aging and need many improvements, repairs and renovations. This is very necessary and we should all recognize and embrace it. What these improvements and renovations look like is very much up to all of us. This is your parish but it also belongs to all those who come after us.
For those of you who are new to the parish, and those who participated and contributed, I’d like to address Faith on the Hill in this context. Faith on the Hill was a beautiful and ambitious plan of Fr. Paul Huesing and many parishioners to address the many capital needs of our parish and an accompanying capital campaign. The plan was a great idea, it addressed all of our needs, and I support its aims. However, the plan and campaign didn’t work out as well as was hoped and for a number of reasons. The plan was very expensive. The neighborhood and city, in order to halt the project, declared our property “historical.” Furthermore, the campaign wasn’t supported by enough parishioners and pledges. In the end, it raised $1.1 million over a three year period, the goal had been $3.5 million. By the time I arrived in June, 2006 the money had all been spent on fundraising, architectural costs and a house two doors down from the church. The house was to be demolished in order to expand south along 14th Street but halted by the city. Also, the needs of the parish changed dramatically during the campaign with the purchase of the new student center by the Archdiocese for our use. This greatly alleviated our space needs and called into question the size and scope of our renovations. Lastly, the number of resident community members and students began decreasing in 2001, again, lessening the need for such a big project in many minds.
As I mentioned, I support the aims of Faith on the Hill and see its value. The house on 14th Street will never be used for anything other than the capital improvements for which it was intended, either by selling it and using the money for capital improvements or demolishing it for expansion. If I am convinced that the vast majority of parishioners support it, that it is possible and that we can afford it, I will support it and fight the city to make it a reality to the best of my ability. But I am very skeptical of its practicality and feasibility.
This is not the end of the story, however, I believe that we can address the same needs in an excellent manner but on a much smaller scale. I have a number of ideas, as do others, of how to do this. This is not something that needs to be addressed right now, but rather a conversation that needs to be started. Looking at our capital needs, the discussion that is needed, the planning and the fundraising, it is clear that we will not be able to do anything on a large scale for many years, most likely three to five years. In the meantime, there are some pressing and urgent needs.
Toward these ends, we are preparing to celebrate our centennial year of campus ministry at the University of Colorado. It was in the 1908-09 school year that Father Agatho Strittmeyer OSB began the Newman Club. Forty years ago, 1968, St. Thomas Aquinas was elevated to the status of a parish to serve the needs of the University better and it was twenty years ago, 1988, that our church was rededicated after the fire. One hundred year, forty year and twenty year milestones…seems like a year for a celebration! We have many things planned for to mark this year but it will be anchored by three events. The first is an all parish Mass on Norlin Quadrangle on September 7th at Noon with the Archbishop as the main celebrant and, hopefully, some Paulist priests as concelebrants. We are hoping for at least 2500 to be in attendance. The second event will be a party in honor of the Feast of St. Thomas Aquinas in the beginning of February and the third will be a closing Mass and appreciation dinner for all of our volunteers and benefactors.
The goal of this is celebrate, to be grateful to God for all the blessings he has bestowed upon on us but also to look forward into the future, toward all those things that He wants to accomplish through us. Included in this will be to think strategically about our future, especially in terms of our facilities.
VI. Strategic Planning
We are so blessed by all those who have gone before us in providing us with a church, rectory, youth house, student center, pastoral center and foodbank. We have the privilege, opportunity and responsibility to make sure that we do the same for ourselves and those who follow us. The buildings are aging and need many improvements, repairs and renovations. This is very necessary and we should all recognize and embrace it. What these improvements and renovations look like is very much up to all of us. This is your parish but it also belongs to all those who come after us.
For those of you who are new to the parish, and those who participated and contributed, I’d like to address Faith on the Hill in this context. Faith on the Hill was a beautiful and ambitious plan of Fr. Paul Huesing and many parishioners to address the many capital needs of our parish and an accompanying capital campaign. The plan was a great idea, it addressed all of our needs, and I support its aims. However, the plan and campaign didn’t work out as well as was hoped and for a number of reasons. The plan was very expensive. The neighborhood and city, in order to halt the project, declared our property “historical.” Furthermore, the campaign wasn’t supported by enough parishioners and pledges. In the end, it raised $1.1 million over a three year period, the goal had been $3.5 million. By the time I arrived in June, 2006 the money had all been spent on fundraising, architectural costs and a house two doors down from the church. The house was to be demolished in order to expand south along 14th Street but halted by the city. Also, the needs of the parish changed dramatically during the campaign with the purchase of the new student center by the Archdiocese for our use. This greatly alleviated our space needs and called into question the size and scope of our renovations. Lastly, the number of resident community members and students began decreasing in 2001, again, lessening the need for such a big project in many minds.
As I mentioned, I support the aims of Faith on the Hill and see its value. The house on 14th Street will never be used for anything other than the capital improvements for which it was intended, either by selling it and using the money for capital improvements or demolishing it for expansion. If I am convinced that the vast majority of parishioners support it, that it is possible and that we can afford it, I will support it and fight the city to make it a reality to the best of my ability. But I am very skeptical of its practicality and feasibility.
This is not the end of the story, however, I believe that we can address the same needs in an excellent manner but on a much smaller scale. I have a number of ideas, as do others, of how to do this. This is not something that needs to be addressed right now, but rather a conversation that needs to be started. Looking at our capital needs, the discussion that is needed, the planning and the fundraising, it is clear that we will not be able to do anything on a large scale for many years, most likely three to five years. In the meantime, there are some pressing and urgent needs.
Summer Parish Potlucks and The State of the Parish: Part II
III. The Success of our Development Program
In setting out to build relationships with Catholic CU alumni, parents of our students, parishioners, and friends of our ministry, we have come a long way in one year. In order to adequately reflect the inclusive nature of our mission, that it doesn’t only refer to parishioners but includes all of those connected with Catholicism at the University of Colorado, we have tweaked our name and branding to the “St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Center.” This has enable us to invite, include and welcome all those connected with our mission without canonically changing our status as a parish. We started the year with zero names in our database and have increased it to 5200. To these 5200 we have sent out a great deal of information in letters and our newsletter and have contacted many for face to face visits. The purpose of these is to build relationships and partners for our ministry: to help us with advice on campus ministry, volunteer, pray for us and help us financially. We set out to raise $165,000 outside of the offertory collection, to take pressure off needing to provide for everything from the offertory and to grow campus ministry. I am happy to announce that we met our goal for the first year and received an additional $50,000 immediately following the end of the fiscal year. In addition to this, our Electronic Funds Transfer program within the parish has tripled over this past year providing a new stability and growth to our offertory income. For the first time in six years we ended the fiscal year with a small surplus. We intend to continue in our efforts in the coming year and hope to raise $400,000 outside of the offertory for campus ministry. This frees up the offertory monies so that they can be used to strengthen our already thriving ministries aimed at the whole parish, things such as our renewed Parish Council, Liturgy of the Word for Children, youth group, foodbank and liturgical ministries. In late September the Finance Council will present a complete report of this past fiscal year.
The focus on and growth of campus ministry and our development efforts does not mean, in any way, the lessening, shrinking or dissolution of normal parish ministries, rather it enables us to enhance them. They are complementary and reciprocal. We are seeing and will continue to see that fidelity to our primary mission in campus ministry benefits everyone.
IV. The Vision for Campus Ministry
The relational and financial aspect presented above is not the end or goal, it is a symbol of our priorities and our current and coming success. Having an excellent, dynamic and holistic campus ministry program is the goal. With that in mind, we have structured campus ministry with a framework of “the four areas of formation”, written about by Pope John Paul the Great, in order to evaluate our existing programs and to plan for the future. Thinking in terms of the four areas of formation, the human, intellectual, spiritual and apostolic, we have been able to look at what we offer, where we are lacking and begin to add ministry to suit the needs of all who come to us. This year we have added ministry through the on-campus lecture series, adult education, bookstore and library in the area of intellectual formation. We are planning to offer academic courses for credit in Church history and theology in the near future. In human formation we have increased our offerings in social activities to build community, instituted Friday movie nights, Theology of the Body classes, studies on the nature and dignity of women, and formed men and women’s groups of accountability and prayer. In spiritual formation the Buffalo Awakening Retreats, FOCUS Bible Studies and discipleship program’s continue to be strong and grow but we have also added hours of Confession, Adoration, spiritual direction, hosted vocational discernment events and are planning a new silent retreat program. In apostolic formation we continue to provide opportunities to serve the university, Boulder community and wider world through mission trips, reaching out in the dorms and on campus, pro-life activity and service projects to the poor and marginalized in the community.
There are 28,000 students at the University of Colorado and we are only reaching a small fraction of them. Some of our primary goals are to be more visible on campus, more engaged with the university and bold in witness so as to give everyone an opportunity to know about us and through us, Jesus Christ and His Catholic Church.
In setting out to build relationships with Catholic CU alumni, parents of our students, parishioners, and friends of our ministry, we have come a long way in one year. In order to adequately reflect the inclusive nature of our mission, that it doesn’t only refer to parishioners but includes all of those connected with Catholicism at the University of Colorado, we have tweaked our name and branding to the “St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Center.” This has enable us to invite, include and welcome all those connected with our mission without canonically changing our status as a parish. We started the year with zero names in our database and have increased it to 5200. To these 5200 we have sent out a great deal of information in letters and our newsletter and have contacted many for face to face visits. The purpose of these is to build relationships and partners for our ministry: to help us with advice on campus ministry, volunteer, pray for us and help us financially. We set out to raise $165,000 outside of the offertory collection, to take pressure off needing to provide for everything from the offertory and to grow campus ministry. I am happy to announce that we met our goal for the first year and received an additional $50,000 immediately following the end of the fiscal year. In addition to this, our Electronic Funds Transfer program within the parish has tripled over this past year providing a new stability and growth to our offertory income. For the first time in six years we ended the fiscal year with a small surplus. We intend to continue in our efforts in the coming year and hope to raise $400,000 outside of the offertory for campus ministry. This frees up the offertory monies so that they can be used to strengthen our already thriving ministries aimed at the whole parish, things such as our renewed Parish Council, Liturgy of the Word for Children, youth group, foodbank and liturgical ministries. In late September the Finance Council will present a complete report of this past fiscal year.
The focus on and growth of campus ministry and our development efforts does not mean, in any way, the lessening, shrinking or dissolution of normal parish ministries, rather it enables us to enhance them. They are complementary and reciprocal. We are seeing and will continue to see that fidelity to our primary mission in campus ministry benefits everyone.
IV. The Vision for Campus Ministry
The relational and financial aspect presented above is not the end or goal, it is a symbol of our priorities and our current and coming success. Having an excellent, dynamic and holistic campus ministry program is the goal. With that in mind, we have structured campus ministry with a framework of “the four areas of formation”, written about by Pope John Paul the Great, in order to evaluate our existing programs and to plan for the future. Thinking in terms of the four areas of formation, the human, intellectual, spiritual and apostolic, we have been able to look at what we offer, where we are lacking and begin to add ministry to suit the needs of all who come to us. This year we have added ministry through the on-campus lecture series, adult education, bookstore and library in the area of intellectual formation. We are planning to offer academic courses for credit in Church history and theology in the near future. In human formation we have increased our offerings in social activities to build community, instituted Friday movie nights, Theology of the Body classes, studies on the nature and dignity of women, and formed men and women’s groups of accountability and prayer. In spiritual formation the Buffalo Awakening Retreats, FOCUS Bible Studies and discipleship program’s continue to be strong and grow but we have also added hours of Confession, Adoration, spiritual direction, hosted vocational discernment events and are planning a new silent retreat program. In apostolic formation we continue to provide opportunities to serve the university, Boulder community and wider world through mission trips, reaching out in the dorms and on campus, pro-life activity and service projects to the poor and marginalized in the community.
There are 28,000 students at the University of Colorado and we are only reaching a small fraction of them. Some of our primary goals are to be more visible on campus, more engaged with the university and bold in witness so as to give everyone an opportunity to know about us and through us, Jesus Christ and His Catholic Church.
Summer Parish Potlucks and The State of the Parish: Part I
I. Introduction
Praised be Jesus Christ, now and forever! As you know, we have had a series of parish potlucks this summer, as we did last year, in order to provide me an opportunity to present on the “state” of the parish, the accomplishments and developments of the past year, and to discuss with you some future plans and receive your feedback. I have found these to be wonderful experiences that increase communication, collaboration and community. We will continue to use these as the forum for major decisions affecting us at the parish.
I realize because of summer travel schedules and other responsibilities that many of you were unable to make one of them. Therefore, I plan to use this column for the next several weeks as an forum to present the same material. Unfortunately, it isn’t as interactive or dynamic but we will have to make due. To all those that came and gave feedback, thank you for your participation and enthusiasm.
This past year has indeed been a great one, for me personally, but more importantly for the parish. This year’s discussion was framed by last years’ “recasting of our mission” and “vision for the future.” If you recall last year, we talked about the nature of our mission—that we were established to serve the University of Colorado, that we are the campus ministry parish. Indeed, Boulder does not need four parishes, we exist specifically to care for the spiritual, intellectual and evangelical needs of the flagship university of our state. Everyone is welcome at St. Tom’s. But it is also true that if we put our mission to the university first, if we order our “loves” properly, then all of our “loves” will find their proper place and flourish. By being faithful to our primary mission, everyone who calls St. Tom’s home will flourish. As you will see in future columns, this is exactly what is happening.
Toward this end of recasting our mission and vision, the Parish Council revised the parish mission statement and along with the Finance Council and Parish Staff approved the hiring of Petrus Development, a consulting firm dedicated to the renewal of Catholic campus ministry in the United States.
II. The Development of Relationships
One of the unique things about being a campus ministry parish is that our ‘faithful’ include many more people than those that attend our church on Sunday. Our community includes the Catholic alumni of CU, the parents of our students, those who long to see a vibrant Catholic community at CU along with all those that choose St. Tom’s as a parish. It is our responsibility to be as inclusive as possible, to involve all those who have a stake in our mission and to develop a relationship with them, enlisting their support in various ways: spiritually, financially, personally. Thus, we hired Petrus Development to help us in these efforts and a Director of Development, Megan Dillon. The goal is nothing short of building up a world class campus ministry, proportionate in excellence to the University of Colorado.
I look forward to writing to you next week to tell you of the success we have had in these things this past year as well as many other aspects of our life together. You might want to keep this insert to join up with the forthcoming columns.
Praised be Jesus Christ, now and forever! As you know, we have had a series of parish potlucks this summer, as we did last year, in order to provide me an opportunity to present on the “state” of the parish, the accomplishments and developments of the past year, and to discuss with you some future plans and receive your feedback. I have found these to be wonderful experiences that increase communication, collaboration and community. We will continue to use these as the forum for major decisions affecting us at the parish.
I realize because of summer travel schedules and other responsibilities that many of you were unable to make one of them. Therefore, I plan to use this column for the next several weeks as an forum to present the same material. Unfortunately, it isn’t as interactive or dynamic but we will have to make due. To all those that came and gave feedback, thank you for your participation and enthusiasm.
This past year has indeed been a great one, for me personally, but more importantly for the parish. This year’s discussion was framed by last years’ “recasting of our mission” and “vision for the future.” If you recall last year, we talked about the nature of our mission—that we were established to serve the University of Colorado, that we are the campus ministry parish. Indeed, Boulder does not need four parishes, we exist specifically to care for the spiritual, intellectual and evangelical needs of the flagship university of our state. Everyone is welcome at St. Tom’s. But it is also true that if we put our mission to the university first, if we order our “loves” properly, then all of our “loves” will find their proper place and flourish. By being faithful to our primary mission, everyone who calls St. Tom’s home will flourish. As you will see in future columns, this is exactly what is happening.
Toward this end of recasting our mission and vision, the Parish Council revised the parish mission statement and along with the Finance Council and Parish Staff approved the hiring of Petrus Development, a consulting firm dedicated to the renewal of Catholic campus ministry in the United States.
II. The Development of Relationships
One of the unique things about being a campus ministry parish is that our ‘faithful’ include many more people than those that attend our church on Sunday. Our community includes the Catholic alumni of CU, the parents of our students, those who long to see a vibrant Catholic community at CU along with all those that choose St. Tom’s as a parish. It is our responsibility to be as inclusive as possible, to involve all those who have a stake in our mission and to develop a relationship with them, enlisting their support in various ways: spiritually, financially, personally. Thus, we hired Petrus Development to help us in these efforts and a Director of Development, Megan Dillon. The goal is nothing short of building up a world class campus ministry, proportionate in excellence to the University of Colorado.
I look forward to writing to you next week to tell you of the success we have had in these things this past year as well as many other aspects of our life together. You might want to keep this insert to join up with the forthcoming columns.
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