I will be in Chicago this week from Sunday afternoon until Friday afternoon. This is the next-to-last unit in the course for pastors learning to supervise transitional deacons.
You will recall that our parish received an extremely generous bequest a couple of years ago. We tithed on that bequest when it was first received. We are now making plans to spend a good portion on a new building. More information will be forthcoming on that. In the meantime, after discussion with the parish finance council, we have decided to share our blessings with parishes that struggle. We are going to give away the interest which we have earned on that bequest over the past year. After consulting the bishop and looking at the greatest needs in our diocese, we are making the following donations:
Our Lady of Hungary Parish, South Bend, $100,000
St. John Parish, South Bend, $100,000
St. Henry Parish, Fort Wayne, $30,000
St. Therese Parish, Fort Wayne, $30,000
Queen of Angels Parish, Fort Wayne, $15,000
Seminary in Uganda, $15,000
Men’s Discernment House, Fort Wayne, $10,000
The two South Bend parishes are both located in rough neighborhoods. Each has a school and they are struggling to pay their bills. The Discernment House was renovated with donated funds and a lot of volunteer labor, but they have now found that their insurance company is dropping coverage unless they can replace their asbestos siding. The seminary in Uganda is in need of a new roof over the school building and also over the pit latrine. I’m especially sympathetic on that one!
We are just two weeks away from our “Parish Consultation” event, part of the diocesan synod. You can sign up on the sheets in the Gathering Space or with a click at the top of our parish website. It should be a very interesting event, just an hour and a half, 2:00-3:30 on Feb. 22.
