6/19/2022

Over the last two weeks we have lowered our deficit from ca. $58k to $33k. Congratulations! Many thanks to all who have helped. Let us see what we can do as we close out the fiscal year at the end of this month, and as we go forward into the new fiscal year in July. THANK YOU!
June 18th at 10 AM Randy Holtman and Michael Casteel were ordained Permanent Deacons. Congratulations to them and their families. As I announced last week at Mass, Randy is assigned to split his service between our parish and St. Rose of Lima parish in Savannah and its mission in Forest City, while Michael is assigned here only. Both men have families and jobs, so they are not employed full time by the church. That makes their generosity all the more obvious.
So the question may be asked: What do deacons do? Originally in the Bible they did what needed to be done, particularly in order to allow the apostles to preach the Word of God (Acts 6:1-15). In that sense, the key word for a Deacon’s work is SERVICE. The Catechism of the Catholic Church #1570 says that deacons “assist the bishop and priests in the celebration of the divine mysteries, above all the Eucharist, in the distribution of Holy Communion, in assisting at and blessing marriages, in the proclamation of the Gospel and preaching, in presiding over funerals, and in dedicating themselves to the various ministries of charity.” For example, when there is a deacon assisting at Mass, he is considered to be an “Ordinary” minister of communion, as opposed to “Extraordinary” ministers, and so takes precedence. Liturgically deacons may give blessings (e.g. bless marriages, graves), perform funerals, baptize, read the Gospel, and preach at Mass. They do NOT say Mass, give absolution in Confession, Anoint the Sick, or Confirm.
So these two men are a welcome addition to our staff. One of the things that our two new deacons bring to the parish is a knowledge of Theology. They have been attending classes for five years learning about the Church, dogma, scripture, some Canon Law, and history. They are not experts, but they do have some added background. In the past, I have sent people to learn about the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, not only to teach our children, but to raise the level of theological awareness among our laity. As the number of priests dwindles, more and more lay people will be needed to take over parish jobs, even ministries. Permanent Deacons are one way of compensating for the priest shortage, but also a laity who knows their theology can make a big difference in a parish like ours. A well-educated, knowledgeable laity will be an asset in the future – in fact, it already is.
Let us continue to be thankful to our God for the many blessings this parish has received, this week in particular for the generosity of our two new deacons. A blessed feast of Corpus Christito all of you!

Fr. Albert, OSB