Since several people have commented that they have not seen Deacon Tom in a while, I think it is time to tell people that Deacon Tom asked to take a leave of absence at the end of May.  His health is fine, but there were some things going on in his life that he thought he should give more attention to at this time.  I am sure he would appreciate some prayers.

That being said, I thought it might be a good time to give a “State of the Parish Clergy.”  Let’s start with Deacon Dan.  According to Canon Law, all clergy must submit a letter of retirement at age 75, which Deacon Dan did a several years ago.  The Bishop allows, with the pastor’s permission, retired deacon’s to request to have their faculties extended on a yearly basis.  I am very grateful that Deacon Dan makes this request each year, because he is very active since he is also retired from his “day job.”  Of course he assists at Masses and preaches, but he and his wife, Barbara, meet with the families of all the deceased to help them plan the funerals, he does most of the wakes and graveside committals, and he visits many of our homebound.  He is also very involved in prison ministry for the Diocese.  He might be the oldest of the parish clergy but he is also the most spry.

Deacon Bill is also rather spry, but next month he is going to need to take some time off when he goes in for a knee replacement.  My biggest concern with him is that he will rush back to work and ministry too quickly, before he is fully healed.  That is just the kind of man he is, always eager to help in any ways that he can.  He runs the Polish Kitchen each year, with a team of helpers, so successfully each year; even taking a week off from his “day job” to do all the prep.  He handles most of the baptism preps, with Bill and Donna Malinowski,  and does a lot of convalidations.

Deacon Jim assists nearly everyday at daily Mass, in addition to the weekend Masses.  He has taken on the training and scheduling of the Altar Servers, and now with Deacon Tom on leave, the EMHCs and Lectors as well.  This is a more challenging task than you might think because he does his best to accommodate everyone’s special requests and preferences.  Recently he has had some health issues, which have slowed him up some, and he still has a “day job” that takes up time.

Then there is me.  I am doing so much better than last year, healthwise.  While I obviously still have weight to lose, the weight loss I have already achieved has given me so much more energy, and has allowed me to say goodbye to several prescriptions and my CPAP.  However, for the past few months I have been having increasing pain in my knees -- too much soccer when I was young, and too much weight when I was older.  I am hoping to avoid knee replacement for as long as possible, but it means I am not as spry as I would like to be (my ambition is to be as spry as Deacon Dan).

I say all this because I want the parish to know that the clergy are working very hard, and we love to do so, but we are getting slower and we need help.  We could use more EMHCs, Lectors, Altar Servers, and ushers.  I know that both the Adult Choir and Folk Group are always looking for new members and even musicians.  I know that I have asked several people to help, and even take some leadership, only to be told no.  We have tremendous volunteers heading up the Casey Club, Altar Rosary, the Holy Name Society, but they all need some new and young blood.  There is a small number of people who seem to volunteer for everything, and while I greatly appreciate them and all they do, I do not want to keep calling on the same group all the time.  Please, think about volunteering for something in the parish, even if it is just one thing.

Also, please be patient with us.  To be honest, I was disappointed with how some reacted to the new liturgical ministers’ schedule last weekend.  Since the person who used to do that has left, Deacon Jim volunteered to take charge of it.  Since it is getting more complicated, and the Diocese has made available a computer program that does liturgical ministry scheduling, we decided to use it.  Deacon Jim has spent a lot of time learning how it works (and apparently does not always work), and to set it up with our ministers.  This was the first schedule we used it for, and we are discovering kinks.  Some people it over scheduled, while others were not scheduled at all.  Please let Deacon Jim know if there are problems with your schedule, and I know that he is going to try to work out all the kinks.  Some might be on our end, needing to put preferences in differently, and some might be with the actual program in which case he will work with the company.  Please know that it was never anyone’s intention to leave a minister off the schedule or to over schedule anyone.  We love and appreciate all of you.  Be patient, kind, and understanding.  If we need to redo the schedule for September we will.

As Saint Teresa of Avila said, “All will be well.”