October 19, 2014
In my two earlier letters this fall, I challenged all of us to respond to Pope Francis’s call to become “missionary disciples” and suggested some areas of discipleship and evangelization I see as key components for us. These two letters are posted on the parish website: www.stfrancisholland.org
In my earlier letters, I also let you know that we would begin our discipleship effort with a New Life Retreat November 21-23; please plan to attend.
My next two letters will focus on the specific directions I believe our parish needs to move if we are to be faithful to this critical call. Exactly how can we respond to this challenge?
The New Evangelization calls each of us to deepen our faith, believe in the Gospel message, and go forth to proclaim the Gospel. The focus of the New Evangelization calls all Catholics to be evangelized and then go forth to evangelize. United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
After consulting with the Pastoral Council, the Finance Council, an ad hoc Stewardship Task force, and the diocesan Stewardship Coordinator, I have decided to hire a person to serve as Evangelism and Stewardship Coordinator at St. Francis. At the international conference on evangelization I recently attended, we were challenged to review our priorities and structures; this review strengthened my belief that we should pursue hiring such a coordinator. The Evangelism and Stewardship Coordinator will direct the efforts of our parish to impact the Holland-Zeeland community by calling people to deepen their faith, readying hearts to welcome Jesus through outreach programs, organizing volunteers, and cultivating discipleship. I will share more information about this position in my next letter.
Can we afford to do this?
- I will not use offertory donations to pay for this position.
- We will share this position with the St. Benedict Forum at Hope College http://saintbenedictforum.org/ The Forum has funding to support a half-time position; I will raise the funds needed for the other half independently—our current budget will not be affected.
- I believe that the real question is “Can we afford NOT to do this?” Maintaining the status quo and leaving things just as they are will not help us grow into the disciples God is challenging us to become.
Once again, I ask for your prayers.
God bless,
Fr. Charlie
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