Summertime and Stewardship

Dear Parishioners,

The sunshine has finally arrived, school is out, and vacation time is upon us! Yea! As stewards, it is important to remind us all about our faith-filled response to our time, talent, treasure, and tradition.

Time
Summer is a time for nurturing our wellbeing. Spend time in prayer. Go camping. Read that book you’ve been wanting to get to. Go for a day trip. Whatever it is that energizes you which you haven’t been able to do, take out time to make it happen. In addition, ponder on how you can give of your time to a ministry that you’ve wanted to be part of. Volunteer somewhere that could use the extra help while people are on vacations. Even our adoration chapel needs extra people to fill in the gaps that always occur due to summer trips.

Talent
Where is your talent? Do you sing? Do you like teens or young children? Do you find joy in visiting the sick? Is gardening or landscaping your thing? Seek out people who are involved in a ministry you like. For example, our choirs are always in need of extra voices. Why not try volunteering your time with a particular group? During summer, some choirs practice just prior to Mass. As you may already know, we are in need to help fill in the gap while John Robles in on sick leave. Maybe you could help with your fix-it skills?

Treasure
As you go camping or traveling, please remember that St. Anne’s still has responsibilities to pay our bills. Consider how you can maintain your financial commitment to your community of faith. One such method is our automatic giving program via what the banks call ACH. See Alan Crews, our business manager, for more information. Now you can leave for vacation and not worry about you financial commitment to the Church.

In the coming year, we will be starting our part of the Archdiocesan Capital Campaign. This is in addition to our ongoing Parish Offertory Program, Archbishop’s Catholic Appeal, and other required special collections. More information about the capital campaign will be forthcoming, but it is important to begin thinking about your own financial commitments and the variety of opportunities to give. Nobody likes surprises. So, please know that between September and January, our parish will be joining the other parishes of the Archdiocese in a process to replenish needed funds at the Archdiocesan level.

Tradition
Recreation is important to our mind, body, and spirit. Please take time to plan some time to do something fun that will help you be created anew. Remember the trips you once found so moving and foundational to your own youth? Don’t forget the traditions you’ve been given, and share them with your family. Maybe create new ones. Consider a special evening out with the family or family meal in the backyard. Begin a movie night or invite neighbors over for an evening barbecue. Plan an early morning or late evening walk together. Get out the bicycles and go for a ride. Visit friends from the past. Share or create new traditions for your family.

Summertime is a wonderful time to be recreated, to share your gifts, and to thank God for all that he has given us. May this summer be safe and full of joy and adventure as you live out your faith as a steward of the gifts God has given you!

Blessings,


Fr. William Holtzinger
Pastor

Goodbye & Best Wishes!

Dear Parishioners,

Next weekend, we say goodbye to several people on staff. Fr. Paschal will be officially assigned to St. Philip Benizi Church in Redland near Oregon City. Hans will be finishing his tenure and moving to Mount Angel Seminary to begin studies for the priesthood. Jeanette and Mark will be officially leaving as payed staff due to budget constraints. All four of these people are wonderful and faithful servants who have completed their tenures with a spirit of service and grace.

Next weekend, June 27th, after the 11 AM Mass, I invite you to join the me and the rest of the community in saying goodbye and best wishes on the next chapter of these amazing people’s lives. They will be greatly missed. I am very thankful for their service to St. Anne’s and pray for each of them in the respective new steps. Again, I invite you to come and share in thanking them for their faithful work to St. Anne’s. Well done, good and faithful servants!

Blessings,


Fr. William Holtzinger
Pastor

Vocations & Liturgy Schedule

Dear Parishioners,

Vocations

This weekend Archbishop Vlazny ordained six men to the priesthood. This is wonderful news. They are Ysrael Bien, Henry Guillen-Vega, Raul Marquez, Robert Wolf, Mark Kissner, and Joseph Nguyen. Please keep them in your prayers.
Here is Southern Oregon, we have a history of receiving newly ordained priests. As of this writing, Fr. Paschal’s replacement is still in Uganda. I have no idea if and when he will arrive. Needless to say, while this is a large ordination class, we still are behind in our ability to staff parishes with enough priests. I have spoken to the Archbishop about our concern about replacing Fr. Paschal to which he sympathized and promised to work with Fr. Brennan, the vicar of clergy, who is in charge of priest placements to continue to problem solve this issue. I trust it will all fall together as it needs to be. Please note that Parochial Vicars (think assistant priests) don’t remain so for very long before they become pastors. In years past, these men would be Parochial Vicars for many years, learning the skills necessary to shepherd a parish. On your part, please keep vocations to the priesthood high on your list of intentions. Parents, you need to encourage your sons to consider this vocation. Without priests, we have no Eucharist. But, I am no alarmist. I believe that God is raising up more and more men to this noble and heroic vocation. May our parish be fertile ground to encourage vocations.

Liturgy Schedule Issues

Since my arrival, it has become obviously clear that there are many issues which need to be solved. One of these is the competition that our Children’s Faith Formation has with our 9:30 AM Mass. Children in our Hispanic community are having to decide whether to send their children to classes or go to Mass. This is unjust. Mass is the source and summit of our faith. Yet, if our children don’t have the opportunity to learn about their faith, then we are complicit in furthering the ignorance of our youngsters making them fodder for other religions or secularism.
Second is the desire for St. Patrick to return to a Sunday Mass. Many of their elderly are not able to make it to Mass when it is dark in the winter. Also, due to sports on Saturday’s, many families do not come to Mass when there is a conflict.
Third, is the best use of our priests. While we have three priests which allow us to cover all six Masses in three locations, we need to be prepared for two priest. In addition, we need to create a flexible schedule that allows us to more easily get a substitute when one of us is sick or out of town.

Opportunities

In addition to these issues, I think we have several opportunities if we craft a schedule that has more time between the Masses. It will allow us to host adult faith formation opportunities between the Masses, relieve our traffic flow between Masses, and afford people with better chances for better parking. For families with children, while their kids are in class, there will be an opportunity to grow deeper in their own faith. Our priests will also have more chance to share in fellowship at coffee and donuts instead of rushing off to the next Mass. I hope to introduce a monthly series I have previously called “Catholicism 101” which explores the basics of our faith as well as current topics.

Liturgy Schedule Change

To these ends I have been pondering on many different scenarios that will allow for all of these to happen. I’ve been speaking with all the councils of all three Churches, discussing the ramifications of one schedule idea over another with staff members. I have been discussing at length various options with our priests as well as those of the vicariate. There is no schedule that is a total win-win. But, there are a few ideas that would solve many of these ideas. I have not yet come to a decision as to what will happen, but I hope to announce a decision by the beginning of July. One thing that is very seriously being looked at is moving the Spanish Mass to another day or time. It is the smallest of our Masses and sits during “prime time” when our children are attending Faith Formation. If this happens, that segment of our community will need our prayers and encouragement. Again, nothing is set in stone, but I ask for your support and not your criticism. The hope is to make the liturgy schedule change effective come the beginning of September. That will allow us to figure out the kinks and how to solve them.

Change Is Hard, But Love Conquers Fear

With any change comes fear. It wasn’t that long ago when Fr. Karl was alone here and he had no parochial vicar. I don’t believe that will happen in the immediate future, but we must be prepared for the day when we have only two priests, for which we will all need to step up and help out even more. We are privileged to have the priests we do with such a shortage ongoing around us. I am very grateful for the Archbishop’s understanding for the need to have at least two priests here.
In my ten years of priestly service, I have noticed that often people are okay with change as long as it effects others and not themselves. In our current situation, I ask you to pray for wisdom and guidance for me and flexibility and openness for all those who may be dissatisfied with whatever comes their way. Instead of a glass half empty, I believe that these changes will fill our cup to overflowing. It reminds me of something I once heard and have repeated many times in my homilies. When you are in love, your zip code doesn’t matter. Neither does the time of day. I believe that we have many wonderful opportunities to grow in our faith. God bless you all.

Yours in Christ,

Fr. William Holtzinger
Pastor