This week will mark one month since Father Torreto left for the Philippines. It is also a couple of months since Father Wiseman left for Kodiak. That is a great deal of change in any parish, particularly in a parish like Saint Andrew's which faces large challenges.
Despite these changes which are beyond both your and my control the people of St. Andrew's have welcomed Father Joseph and I with great warmth and appreciation. It is a mark both of your faith and your deep appreciation of the Church. Speaking for myself I am grateful for this welcome.
Because of the challenges faced by Saint Andrew's I have struggled with how to most effectively communicate about our situation. Personally, I am reluctant to use our Sunday worship and the homily time for anything other than proper liturgical preaching. Our Sunday celebration of the Eucharist and the proclamation of the Word of God during it are privileged moments for deepening our faith. While at times there may be a need for 'business' talk during the homily it is my hope that it can be minimized. As well, the homily does not allow for questions or dialogue which is most important. The bulletin and printed fliers provide for some information to be distributed but this too has its limits. It is my hope that this blog will become a useful vehicle to communicate timely, factual and complete information.
I want to keep the framework for the blog simple. As things come up I will publish information here. As well, anyone may submit a question to me at my email address standymoore@gmail.com and I will attempt to answer the question here as best I can. If you have a question chances are others have that question as well and a response is in order.
Parishioners of Saint Andrew's may register as a user on this blog site and may comment on any of the posts on the blog. While I am comfortable with a wide range of view points it is important that the view points be germane to what is being discussed, based on the facts, respectfully presented and signed by the individual who submits them. We can have and express strong opinion while at the same time doing so in Christian charity. While I don't anticipate this will be a problem I am compelled to note that posts which fail in either respect or charity will not be posted or will be removed.
My hope is that this blog will function as a place where we can communicate accurate information and promote unity in the parish.
Tomorrow (Tuesday, the 8th) I will be addressing some questions that have been asked about the July 1, 2008 - June 30, 2009 financial statements that were distributed to the parish last weekend. It is clear that there are still some questions.
God's blessing on your day.
Father Moore
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The pastor's forum for exchange of information and ideas amongst the staff and parishioners of Saint Andrews as we work through our current challenges.
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- Fr. Steven C. Moore
- Eagle River, Alaska, United States
- Father Steven Moore is a priest of the Archdiocese of Anchorage who was ordained in 1976. He currently serves as Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Anchorage and as pastor of St. Benedict's Church. In January of 2010 he was asked to serve as pastor of St Andrew's while Father Ben Torretto is on sabbatical.
2 comments:
Thank you for doing this Fr. Moore. I would like to suggest you edit your blog a little closer and change the font color to something more readable. I, for one, fully support talking about finances a tad more from the pulpit. These are desperate times for us, and I feel a little politeness could give way to some simple respect for the truth of the situation. I have often felt that not enough has been said as to how much exact money parishioners should be giving. I also support the old fashioned way of creating a team to go house to house to those who seem to be contributing on the low side, meet with them and hear their story. Yes this is mercenary. But we're dealing with a strictly mercenary situation. Believe me, I know how difficult this whole project is for you. If things begin to get you down, remember you have many who support your efforts.
Jim Y.
Father Moore,
Thank you for opening this dialogue. I am grateful that you are redirecting puplit reflections back onto the Word of God. I have two teeenagers that i struggle to keep engaged and frankly, money talks do not inspire them. I agree with Jim that we should take this issue to the parishners directly (as was done on the original campaign) and explore options to give the parish members an opportunity to take more stake in the game through purchase of bonds or other instruments to raise money. Thank you for your efforts to provide more detail and info to the parish and we support you through prayer in resolution of the money issues.
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