My Dear Parishioners,
Praised be Jesus Christ, now and forever! As I am sure you know, for the past few years we have tried to increase communication and participation in important matters and decisions facing the parish. To this end, we have begun this column, blogs, increased the usability of our website and most importantly in my mind, had a series of “State of the Parish” potlucks throughout the summer months with a presentation and time for questions and input. We had our first of two potlucks on June 17th and had a good turn out. The amount of material presented was substantially less than in years past and so we mostly just had a good time! The second one will be August 12th at 6:00 p.m. I hope you will be able to join us. For those of you who are not able to attend either event, I am publishing a summary of its content this week and next.
A Year In Review
This past year has been truly eventful. In September, we began our 100th year of Catholic Campus ministry at the University of Colorado and celebrated with two primary events: an open-air Mass on Norlin Quadrangle and the January debate between Dinesh D’Souza and Christopher Hitchens. Both events drew crowds of over 2000. October saw a substantial updating and renewal of the church with the addition of kneelers and a new tabernacle. These changes have added substantially to an atmosphere of prayer and a renewed focus on Christ in our midst. In addition to these “big” events, there are so many day-to-day events that are so rich and beautiful that make me so proud to be the pastor of such an excellent parish with truly fine and holy people. I am especially pleased with the excellent staff we have here at St. Thomas. The Religious Education, Sacramental Preparation, Music Ministry and Youth Ministry programs continue to flourish and indeed are growing. Thank you to Patty, Myrna, Judy and the Parish Council!
Campus ministry, the focus of our mission, is flourishing and growing as well both in quantity of students and the quality of ministry. The amount of student participation in Sunday Mass, FOCUS Bible Studies and leadership training, Buffalo Awakening, theological education, outreach on campus, Eucharistic Adoration, Daily Mass and Confession have all increased this year. We have also continued to refine our approach and expand our options so as to reach more students with different “tastes” and needs. A huge thank you to Father Peter, Matt Boettger, Kelsey Wicks, Hilary Rowe and the FOCUS team, Megan Dillon and Margaret Stortz for all of their hard work and creativity.
Our parish, both students and families, is growing and is on much firmer financial footing than in recent years past. Although these are not the only indicators, three of the biggest are the Sunday Mass attendance, the offertory collection and our efforts at developing relationships with alumni, parents and friends of our ministry asking them to contribute to the mission. Here is a brief look at the numbers:
Sunday Mass Average 2007: 950 (Oct); 2008: 1120(Oct); 2009: 1190(Mar)
Offertory Collection 2007: $ 643,700; 2008: $ 664,000; 2009: $ 688,000(est)
Advancement Income: 2007: $ 0; 2008: $ 165,000; 2009: $ 345,000(est)
I am giving these numbers in order to thank you for your generosity and commitment to the Lord Jesus, Sunday Mass and the ministry of this parish. This parish is entirely dependent upon you and you have shown your love. I would especially like to thank all of you who, despite the difficult economic conditions, have committed to weekly electronic giving or been consistent in your offertory contribution as the basket passes and those who were extraordinarily generous during the “matching gift collection” in March. It is due to these factors, especially the matching gift collection, that we are ahead of our budget projections for the offertory for this year. A final financial report for Fiscal Year 2009 will be given to the parish in September. Last year we ended positive after many years “in the red”, we are hoping for the same this year. A special thank you to Terry Shroba, our office manager, Phil Perez our business manager, our Finance Council (Steve King, Betty Valent, Don and Rose Boselli and Dennis Maloney), Megan Dillon, our director of development and the Monday morning money counters.
Many Partings
As I mentioned above in several places, we have been blessed with an extraordinary staff, deeply committed to the intellectual, spiritual, social and apostolic excellence of our ministry to the University of Colorado and broader Boulder community. While staff turnover is quite normal especially in university ministry, we have also been blessed with staff longevity. But this summer, we are saying goodbye to three wonderful staff members. The longest serving is, of course, Myrna Deemy who has retired after 19 years of excellent service. I am so grateful for her and her ministry among us. We miss her already and are currently looking for a replacement. This has proven quite difficult as she combines so many disparate talents and gifts. As of this writing, I have offered the position to someone, please pray that he accepts! If he doesn’t, we will continue to interview until we find the right person for our parish.
As you probably know, Kelsey Wicks, who has worked in campus ministry for two years, has discerned a call from God to enter the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecelia in Nashville, Tennessee. We will greatly miss her and her smile, but are proud to send her forth to such a noble calling. We have hired a successor for Kelsey’s job: Bob Siemens who will join us in August from Sioux Falls, SD along with his wife and five children. I can’t wait for you all to meet this wonderful man and his family.
Margaret Stortz has worked as the office manager at the student center for the past year. She recently decided to pursue missionary work with the Salesians in Bolivia. I suppose if we are to lose staff members, losing them to the convent and missionary work is the best way! I am grateful for Margaret and her time among us. You will see an advertisement for this position in the Denver Catholic Register throughout the month of July and we hope to have someone in place before the beginning of the school year.
Hopes for the Future
One of the reasons my presentation at the potluck was shorter than in years past is because there are no “grand” plans for the coming year. We plan to focus on the continue growth and refinement of our current ministries. With that being said, there are two major issues that I hope we can continue discussing and hopefully come to some resolutions by next summer.
As you may know, in April we began a discussion on the future of the food bank, its potentialities and facilities. As a result of that potluck, we have established a “task force” to evaluate this ministry, the facilities and all the possible options for the future. I am very pleased with the results so far and hope to update you as soon as there is anything concrete to report. Thank you to all the members of the task force (Agnes Stupp, Judy Cardell, Mike Freece, Patty Quinn, Dennis Creese, Pat Coates and Karen Harrison).
Finally, we have been discussing our current facilities and their many needs for years. I have placed that discussion on the back-burner for three years now. I am hoping to re-open the discussion at some point this year. Please do some dreaming and come up with some ideas!
I am blessed to be the pastor of St. Thomas Aquinas. Thank you very much for your continued support, love and prayers. Please know that I keep you in my daily prayers and long for all of us to reach our full happiness and potential, holiness in Jesus Christ. With prayers and blessings, I remain
Your brother in Christ,
Father Kevin Augustyn
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Monday, June 15, 2009
The Vocation to the Priesthood
Here is a column I wrote this morning for the upcoming ENDOW (Education on the Nature and Dignity of Women) Newsletter. Hope they don't mind me publishing it early!
I love being a priest. In fact, it is a far greater reality and joy than I ever imagined while in the seminary. It has its challenges: being overworked, fatigue, frustrations with spiritual apathy in myself and others, scandals within the Church, negative influences within the culture, and my own inadequacies and sins among other things. But after five years of priesthood, I continue to discover that God is in charge, it is His Church and that He is able to make up for all that is lacking in us.
I didn’t always want to be a priest. I had never thought about it seriously until I was 19 years old. And even then, it was a very difficult process of discernment with many mental and spiritual obstacles to overcome over the course of the next seven years. To explain all the influences and the winding path of my discernment would be a long story, and tedious reading. But a few things are worth mentioning in this context. I grew up in a Catholic family that faithfully attended Mass on Sundays and Catholic schools. I was surrounded by Catholics and Catholic culture. Yet, I deeply misunderstood the Catholic Church. I thought it was an institution, albeit an extraordinary one, but still just an institution.
Two events changed this for me and contributed mightily to my embracing of my vocation as a priest. The first was my mother’s prayers, or rather my discovery of my mother’s prayers. Like St. Monica, she prayed for her wayward son every day; that he would embrace the Catholic faith more deeply and find his vocation. When both of these things began to happen in my life, my mother simply said to me, “I have been praying for this every day.” Unfortunately, due to the overly-privatized nature of Catholics with regard to their faith, this was news to me. I often wonder if I had known this earlier it might have saved me from many bad decisions. Be that as it may, when I heard this it changed my life. I finally had a sense of the “communion of saints,” the interconnection and sharing of spiritual goods we possess because of our belonging to Christ. In other words, I realized that the Church is not merely an institution but something far greater, namely, the “Mystical Body of Christ.” God heard my mother’s plea, my mother’s prayers had deeply impacted my life, brought about a complete change of direction. Finding about them did as well.
The second event is similar. During my sophomore year of college I took a class called The Theology of the Church whose main textbook was Henri de Lubac’s Splendor of the Church. This book opened my eyes to something I had totally missed: the Church was not primarily an “it,” the Church was a “she,” the Bride of Christ. I finally realized Christ “gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her…that he might present the Church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle…that she might be holy and without blemish” (Eph 5: 25-270). With this discovery came others. Namely, it is this same spotless bride that is on pilgrimage through history, mud-stained by the tumults of history, by persecutions and by the sins of her own members. Furthermore, I realized that to be a priest is to be a bridegroom of the Church for Christ. When I realized all of this, I fell in love with the Church, with her beauty and her plight, and wanted to give myself to her, to marry her, to serve her and only her on behalf of Jesus.
At present, I find myself as the pastor of the University of Colorado-Boulder with thousands of young Catholics in my care. Some of these young people have enthusiastically embraced their faith while others have drifted away or even rejected Jesus and His Church. It is an enormous gift and task to try to bring the Catholic Faith to the university; it is filled with great joy and much sadness. Despite the sadness and challenges, I am very grateful to Jesus for the Church, the Mystical Body of Christ and His Bride, for my mother’s prayers, good theology classes and for the share in his priesthood that he has given me.
I love being a priest. In fact, it is a far greater reality and joy than I ever imagined while in the seminary. It has its challenges: being overworked, fatigue, frustrations with spiritual apathy in myself and others, scandals within the Church, negative influences within the culture, and my own inadequacies and sins among other things. But after five years of priesthood, I continue to discover that God is in charge, it is His Church and that He is able to make up for all that is lacking in us.
I didn’t always want to be a priest. I had never thought about it seriously until I was 19 years old. And even then, it was a very difficult process of discernment with many mental and spiritual obstacles to overcome over the course of the next seven years. To explain all the influences and the winding path of my discernment would be a long story, and tedious reading. But a few things are worth mentioning in this context. I grew up in a Catholic family that faithfully attended Mass on Sundays and Catholic schools. I was surrounded by Catholics and Catholic culture. Yet, I deeply misunderstood the Catholic Church. I thought it was an institution, albeit an extraordinary one, but still just an institution.
Two events changed this for me and contributed mightily to my embracing of my vocation as a priest. The first was my mother’s prayers, or rather my discovery of my mother’s prayers. Like St. Monica, she prayed for her wayward son every day; that he would embrace the Catholic faith more deeply and find his vocation. When both of these things began to happen in my life, my mother simply said to me, “I have been praying for this every day.” Unfortunately, due to the overly-privatized nature of Catholics with regard to their faith, this was news to me. I often wonder if I had known this earlier it might have saved me from many bad decisions. Be that as it may, when I heard this it changed my life. I finally had a sense of the “communion of saints,” the interconnection and sharing of spiritual goods we possess because of our belonging to Christ. In other words, I realized that the Church is not merely an institution but something far greater, namely, the “Mystical Body of Christ.” God heard my mother’s plea, my mother’s prayers had deeply impacted my life, brought about a complete change of direction. Finding about them did as well.
The second event is similar. During my sophomore year of college I took a class called The Theology of the Church whose main textbook was Henri de Lubac’s Splendor of the Church. This book opened my eyes to something I had totally missed: the Church was not primarily an “it,” the Church was a “she,” the Bride of Christ. I finally realized Christ “gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her…that he might present the Church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle…that she might be holy and without blemish” (Eph 5: 25-270). With this discovery came others. Namely, it is this same spotless bride that is on pilgrimage through history, mud-stained by the tumults of history, by persecutions and by the sins of her own members. Furthermore, I realized that to be a priest is to be a bridegroom of the Church for Christ. When I realized all of this, I fell in love with the Church, with her beauty and her plight, and wanted to give myself to her, to marry her, to serve her and only her on behalf of Jesus.
At present, I find myself as the pastor of the University of Colorado-Boulder with thousands of young Catholics in my care. Some of these young people have enthusiastically embraced their faith while others have drifted away or even rejected Jesus and His Church. It is an enormous gift and task to try to bring the Catholic Faith to the university; it is filled with great joy and much sadness. Despite the sadness and challenges, I am very grateful to Jesus for the Church, the Mystical Body of Christ and His Bride, for my mother’s prayers, good theology classes and for the share in his priesthood that he has given me.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
The Solemnity of Holy Trinity Homily
Holy Trinity Sunday is always the dread of seminarians and even priests. We had an entire five credit course at the seminary aimed at providing us with material for preaching so that we didn’t just say it was a mystery and sit down. I wish I could do that but this doctrine is at the height and heart of our faith as Catholics.
Sometimes I do think it would be best if I simply acknowledged the mystery and sat down. It is so difficult because the formal theology on the Trinity, while extremely interesting, is difficult to bring down to the level of practical Christian living. It seems so abstract, so foreign to our normal ways of thinking. Of all the doctrines of the Church, this seems to be the one that has the least impact on how we live our lives as Christians. We are usually content to stick with our favorite person of the Trinity and hope that he communicates well with the others.
But nothing could be further from the truth, from the reality. In reality, it is the highest teachings that that have the most impact on the lesser ones. This is preeminently true of our faith in the Most Blessed Trinity. In fact, I think that is why the Church has us celebrate this solemnity: to remind us that if understood and taken seriously, faith in the Holy Trinity has a tremendous impact on how we see the world and how we live our lives as Christians in the here and now.
We believe that God is not solitary, that at the source of reality, of the universe, is not an aloneness or an impersonal force. Rather, we believe that the one and only God is an eternal exchange of life and love and that that exchange of life and love spills over into creation and into us. God has revealed his innermost secret: that at the source of reality, God is a family or communion of persons, eternal self-giving and fruitfulness. The Father communicates the entire divine nature, except “being the Father,” to the Son, the Son reciprocates the gift and the love between the two is itself a person, the Holy Spirit.
By ourselves, by our reason, we can know THAT God is, that he exists and even that he is One. But by ourselves, we cannot know WHO God is. That he has to reveal, stoop down, so to speak, and teach us. Because he has “let us in,” we are able to know him and thus we are able to be in relationship with him; we are able to cry out Abba Father! as sons and daughters.
This should change everything, our worldview and our life. I would like to point out three ways that this should be so.
First, this belief is the source of an especially Catholic way of seeing the world. Because God is both one in essence and a family of persons, both one and many, both unity and diversity, both infinite and personal, both truth and love, both community and individuals we should always be a “BOTH/AND” type of people. In God, all these things are unified. In our lives they are in tension, and usually separated by sin and sloppy thinking. As a redeemed people, who belong to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, One God in Three Persons, we have the task to reunite within ourselves, through God’s grace, those things so easily separated: the one and the many, unity of faith and diversity of gifts, body and soul, faith and reason, the human and the divine, the institutional Church and the people of God, respect for the individual and the common good, firmness and gentleness, truth and love and the list goes on and on. It is this type of thinking, this BOTH/AND thinking that makes us such outcasts in the current political process and scene. Have you noticed how one-sided and crazy things seem to us and how we never quite fit in? It is faith in the Trinity that flows down into our thinking and makes us sane!
Second, because the One God is a Trinity of Persons human life and salvation is inherently communal in nature. Because the source of reality is a communion of persons, so too is the human race, so too is the Church. In other words, God forms a human family in creation and in salvation history because that is what God is. Family is what God does, because that is what God is. This, of course, has huge implications. It means that we are not merely saved as individuals but are always save within the community, within the ecclesia. We are saved because we are incorporated, either implicitly or explicitly, into God’s covenantal family, the Church. The subject of salvation is God’s family, the Church. If we are saved, it is because we belong to her.
Thus, the goal of the Church’s ministry can never be simply about individuals. It has to be about the formation of the community and a culture: a family that worships God in the unity of faith with all of our individual differences and gifts. From this flows the importance of marriage and family, that primordial community that is at the foundation of creation, the Church and society. The Church will never abandon the importance of marriage and family in any of these sectors as it is tied up with our very identity flowing from the Trinity. In other words, if the source of reality is a Family, the source of the Church and broader society is the family. If marriage and family fail, we fail.
Third, if God is an eternal exchange of life and love then at the source of reality is self-giving fruitfulness, not individual selfishness or strife. Since creation and especially the human person are meant to “image” God, we are called to live that same type of self-giving love. His self-giving fruitfulness is meant to “spill over” into our lives so that we can live as God lives, and be our true selves. How does one do this? By living for the other, by spending ourselves, our gifts, resources, time, energies, sorrows, joys for the Other and the other. If we give ourselves to God, we are able to then truly give ourselves to others.
Our ways of thinking and living are supposed to flow from the fact that God is an eternal exchange of life and love, to mirror that reality within ourselves, the Church and society. Our world has a desperate need to hear such good news! It is not something we can keep to ourselves. But first, we need to contemplate this, to incorporate it into our worldview, the way we see the Church and the world. Then, like God, it will “spill over” into all those that we meet.
Sometimes I do think it would be best if I simply acknowledged the mystery and sat down. It is so difficult because the formal theology on the Trinity, while extremely interesting, is difficult to bring down to the level of practical Christian living. It seems so abstract, so foreign to our normal ways of thinking. Of all the doctrines of the Church, this seems to be the one that has the least impact on how we live our lives as Christians. We are usually content to stick with our favorite person of the Trinity and hope that he communicates well with the others.
But nothing could be further from the truth, from the reality. In reality, it is the highest teachings that that have the most impact on the lesser ones. This is preeminently true of our faith in the Most Blessed Trinity. In fact, I think that is why the Church has us celebrate this solemnity: to remind us that if understood and taken seriously, faith in the Holy Trinity has a tremendous impact on how we see the world and how we live our lives as Christians in the here and now.
We believe that God is not solitary, that at the source of reality, of the universe, is not an aloneness or an impersonal force. Rather, we believe that the one and only God is an eternal exchange of life and love and that that exchange of life and love spills over into creation and into us. God has revealed his innermost secret: that at the source of reality, God is a family or communion of persons, eternal self-giving and fruitfulness. The Father communicates the entire divine nature, except “being the Father,” to the Son, the Son reciprocates the gift and the love between the two is itself a person, the Holy Spirit.
By ourselves, by our reason, we can know THAT God is, that he exists and even that he is One. But by ourselves, we cannot know WHO God is. That he has to reveal, stoop down, so to speak, and teach us. Because he has “let us in,” we are able to know him and thus we are able to be in relationship with him; we are able to cry out Abba Father! as sons and daughters.
This should change everything, our worldview and our life. I would like to point out three ways that this should be so.
First, this belief is the source of an especially Catholic way of seeing the world. Because God is both one in essence and a family of persons, both one and many, both unity and diversity, both infinite and personal, both truth and love, both community and individuals we should always be a “BOTH/AND” type of people. In God, all these things are unified. In our lives they are in tension, and usually separated by sin and sloppy thinking. As a redeemed people, who belong to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, One God in Three Persons, we have the task to reunite within ourselves, through God’s grace, those things so easily separated: the one and the many, unity of faith and diversity of gifts, body and soul, faith and reason, the human and the divine, the institutional Church and the people of God, respect for the individual and the common good, firmness and gentleness, truth and love and the list goes on and on. It is this type of thinking, this BOTH/AND thinking that makes us such outcasts in the current political process and scene. Have you noticed how one-sided and crazy things seem to us and how we never quite fit in? It is faith in the Trinity that flows down into our thinking and makes us sane!
Second, because the One God is a Trinity of Persons human life and salvation is inherently communal in nature. Because the source of reality is a communion of persons, so too is the human race, so too is the Church. In other words, God forms a human family in creation and in salvation history because that is what God is. Family is what God does, because that is what God is. This, of course, has huge implications. It means that we are not merely saved as individuals but are always save within the community, within the ecclesia. We are saved because we are incorporated, either implicitly or explicitly, into God’s covenantal family, the Church. The subject of salvation is God’s family, the Church. If we are saved, it is because we belong to her.
Thus, the goal of the Church’s ministry can never be simply about individuals. It has to be about the formation of the community and a culture: a family that worships God in the unity of faith with all of our individual differences and gifts. From this flows the importance of marriage and family, that primordial community that is at the foundation of creation, the Church and society. The Church will never abandon the importance of marriage and family in any of these sectors as it is tied up with our very identity flowing from the Trinity. In other words, if the source of reality is a Family, the source of the Church and broader society is the family. If marriage and family fail, we fail.
Third, if God is an eternal exchange of life and love then at the source of reality is self-giving fruitfulness, not individual selfishness or strife. Since creation and especially the human person are meant to “image” God, we are called to live that same type of self-giving love. His self-giving fruitfulness is meant to “spill over” into our lives so that we can live as God lives, and be our true selves. How does one do this? By living for the other, by spending ourselves, our gifts, resources, time, energies, sorrows, joys for the Other and the other. If we give ourselves to God, we are able to then truly give ourselves to others.
Our ways of thinking and living are supposed to flow from the fact that God is an eternal exchange of life and love, to mirror that reality within ourselves, the Church and society. Our world has a desperate need to hear such good news! It is not something we can keep to ourselves. But first, we need to contemplate this, to incorporate it into our worldview, the way we see the Church and the world. Then, like God, it will “spill over” into all those that we meet.
Homily for the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity
Nevermind, it is as hard as I thought! For some reason, it won't let me copy my text. Will do so when I find help!
I'm Back
Dear Friends,
It has been a long time since I have posted. Like many things, it seems harder than it really is. Now that Totus Tuus training is over (and my review of St. Thomas Aquinas on the virtues) I plan on posting on a regular basis. I am going to start with once a week and see how it goes. This week for Holy Trinity Sunday I actually wrote an outline for my homily (I usually "write" it in my head). Thus, translating it into text didn't take that long.
It has been a long time since I have posted. Like many things, it seems harder than it really is. Now that Totus Tuus training is over (and my review of St. Thomas Aquinas on the virtues) I plan on posting on a regular basis. I am going to start with once a week and see how it goes. This week for Holy Trinity Sunday I actually wrote an outline for my homily (I usually "write" it in my head). Thus, translating it into text didn't take that long.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
A Very Generous Offer and A Significant Challenge
Praised be Jesus Christ, now and forever! Last week, I presented to the parish our financial situation through the first six months of our fiscal year, the period ending January 31, 2009. As I mentioned, we are a bit behind this year because of two factors. The first is the cost (some of it anticipated, some not) of two very large and very successful events held on campus: the Open-Air Mass on Norlin Quadrangle and the “Great Debate” featuring Dinesh D’Souza and Christopher Hitchens on the place of God and religion in the world. These events were part of our Centennial Celebration of Campus Ministry at the University of Colorado and were more than worth the expense incurred. They have radically increased our visibility and significance on campus: through them we have been able to reach far more students with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and have had many “doors,” on campus and among benefactors, opened to us. We should be very proud of these events. The second factor is that our offertory and development efforts fell behind budget at Christmas time. I still have great confidence that we will reach our goals this year and meet all of our expenses. It will require, however, generosity on our part and on the part of all of our benefactors.
Towards all of this, I have great news! Two very generous donors have offered to “match” dollar for dollar our Sunday collection on the weekend of March 14th and 15th, up to $25,000, as a gift to our campus ministry program. Our normal collection on that weekend is approximately $15,000. It will take some doing to get to the goal of $25,000, but it is a challenge that I think we can meet!
I can’t tell you how important this will be, if we can get full participation from the community, for strengthening the Sunday offertory and helping campus ministry in its efforts at growth and excellence. We will be much closer to reaching our goals for this year and in the future.
Please consider making an extraordinary gift to the offertory on that weekend through cash, check, credit card or filling out an Electronic Funds Transfer pledge card (the first 6 months will be counted toward the challenge). Greater participation in our automatic giving program will also help us with steady income and easier planning far into the future. If you have not done so before, please consider signing up for this program.
The ushers will be passing out cards stating the challenge this weekend at all the Masses and will do the same on the weekend of the collection. If you wish to use your credit card, please use the back of these cards for your name, address, phone number, email address, credit card number and expiration date and simply drop them in the collection. The cards for our EFT program are located in your pew pockets and in the vestibule. Once they have been filled out, they can be dropped in the collection. Participation in this challenge will be possible through Monday evening March 16, and we will announce the results on the website, in the bulletin and from the pulpit the next weekend.
This is a wonderful opportunity and challenge for us. It should make us grateful for our unique mission at the University of Colorado and grateful that so many people care deeply about its success. I trust that you will join me in gratitude and prayers for all of our benefactors, both those who attend here regularly and those who, while belonging to other parishes, are invested in the future of the Catholic Faith at the University of Colorado. Please be as generous as you can for the sake of our parish and campus ministry programs.
Towards all of this, I have great news! Two very generous donors have offered to “match” dollar for dollar our Sunday collection on the weekend of March 14th and 15th, up to $25,000, as a gift to our campus ministry program. Our normal collection on that weekend is approximately $15,000. It will take some doing to get to the goal of $25,000, but it is a challenge that I think we can meet!
I can’t tell you how important this will be, if we can get full participation from the community, for strengthening the Sunday offertory and helping campus ministry in its efforts at growth and excellence. We will be much closer to reaching our goals for this year and in the future.
Please consider making an extraordinary gift to the offertory on that weekend through cash, check, credit card or filling out an Electronic Funds Transfer pledge card (the first 6 months will be counted toward the challenge). Greater participation in our automatic giving program will also help us with steady income and easier planning far into the future. If you have not done so before, please consider signing up for this program.
The ushers will be passing out cards stating the challenge this weekend at all the Masses and will do the same on the weekend of the collection. If you wish to use your credit card, please use the back of these cards for your name, address, phone number, email address, credit card number and expiration date and simply drop them in the collection. The cards for our EFT program are located in your pew pockets and in the vestibule. Once they have been filled out, they can be dropped in the collection. Participation in this challenge will be possible through Monday evening March 16, and we will announce the results on the website, in the bulletin and from the pulpit the next weekend.
This is a wonderful opportunity and challenge for us. It should make us grateful for our unique mission at the University of Colorado and grateful that so many people care deeply about its success. I trust that you will join me in gratitude and prayers for all of our benefactors, both those who attend here regularly and those who, while belonging to other parishes, are invested in the future of the Catholic Faith at the University of Colorado. Please be as generous as you can for the sake of our parish and campus ministry programs.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Summer Parish Potlucks and The State of the Parish: Part V
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.
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.
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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