FM's Message | Sunday, November 19th, 2023

Whenever I am asked about my time here, I think about the beginning of Catholic life in Salem. It was officially begun in 1826, and the building we are in was built in 1859 using part of the torn-down wooden church initially built for worship in 1826. Eventually, St. James (1891, rebuilt 1898) and all the other churches were built to accommodate the growing faith in this area. We go back a long way and there have been times when I am sure that pastors prepared things and invested in building and buying land with an eye for the future. It is humbling to think that we are that future they had in mind.

I believe we have come a long way from where we were when I first arrived in 2017. The journey has been a path of twists and turns, successes and mistakes. Overall, what I see is a church that is reading the signs of the times and is addressing the present reality and preparing for the future. It as Bishop St. Oscar Romero has said, “a future not our own.” The seeds of evangelization and healing that we are planting we hope will one day show growth, just as we continue to water what we have and harvest the fruit of the present labors. And that is what I would like you all to consider as we begin this new liturgical year next week.

We are a people who recognize that our time is a gift from God and that some of it can be used in the parish, to great positive effect. I have the privilege of meeting with many people over the course of the weeks and months and am always impressed by the people who come here and why. When asked, there are many people who volunteer their time willingly to help us achieve a plan or a program, making a sacrifice of time that helps us to accomplish all that we have done. What we hope is that everyone will be able to say “I give this time to the parish as part of my discipleship.” What I hope to see is that after thinking and reflecting on your gifts, you will then make a decision to join one of the many groups that serve, in hidden or public ways, to make the church more vibrant, welcoming, and a place of growth in discipleship.

My vision is that we would continue to build on the good work that has given us a reputation of hospitality, welcome, and opportunity to use one’s discovered gifts for the church. My hope is that we will have two teams for the Alpha program so that each session will have new leaders and helpers. I also hope that we can even further develop all the liturgical ministries so that each person serving will serve just once a month. Most importantly I hope that there will emerge people who will use some time each month to host a group of friends or an Alpha table alumni study and or support group. There is a lot to do and learn as we grow in our faith and continue to be a presence of healing and evangelization in Salem. These small groups we hope will be all those who are interested in deepening the understanding of our faith and strengthening the parish social fabric.

I remember early on as we were getting ready to launch the parish into the principles of Divine Renovation. One of the women in an early podcast said “You have all the gifts you need in your parish right now, You must call them forth and use them”. The podcast participants, which was made up of a small group of parishioners from St. Benedict Parish in Halifax, Nova Scotia, were sharing their experience and it is something I have never forgotten. Our next step is to ask you to prayerfully consider how you will offer your time, talent, and treasure to the Lord through our parish. Please fill out the forms provided to you next week and we will be contacting you. Thanks for your consideration.

Building news: This week and next we will see the trees at IC being treated. There will be some trimming of the firs so that they are less likely to fall from their own weight. The sugar maples along the walk will be cleaned and one major branch that is ailing will be taken down. The Norway maples (the three closest to Union Street) need a lot of work. One will be taken down completely and the others will be trimmed. The last project will be to transfer the small fir tree next to the garage to the place where the cherry wood tree was. We also will do some work cleaning out the churches. There are broken tables and chairs that are taking up space we could use for other purposes. Finally, this past week we had an emergency repair of the cross on the top of the steeple. There were high winds that broke a plastic covering