YEAR TO DATE OFFERTORY
Parish Leaders on both finance committee and pastoral council have recommended that we include year to-date offertory giving along with the weekly offertory information. This recommendation comes primarily from the people of the parish, who have offered feedback, worried about Incarnation’s offertory giving. Thanks to those who did so. Leaders are listening. We will be doing that soon. The year-to-date giving number will be helpful to see a more realistic picture of giving, since the “weekly budgeted” number seems to fall short more weeks than not. The weekly budgeted number does not reflect significantly larger collections, for example at Christmas and Easter. Wonderfully, as finance committee will be reporting, for the second quarter in a row, offertory giving is up at
Incarnation, a trend not experienced in over ten years! Thanks to so many wonderful stewards at Incarnation. Your generosity of time, talent and treasure is
a blessing to Jesus and his body, the Church…and is downright inspiring to me!! First Article at Crescent Parishes I don’t want anyone to think that I’m two-timing
Incarnation Parishioners. However, after the Beacons of Light pastor assignments were made, the next weekend (last weekend,) I made a contribution to the bulletins of the parishes I was appointed pastor. Some have been asking me about the parishes. That article below provides a bit of background.
Sincerely and with Love in Christ,
Fr. Pat
Nicknames
Dear Holy Trinity, St. John, Nativity, Resurrection and St. Savior Parishioners, (Crescent Parishioners) Nicknames are endearing names with a story behind
them. Let me tell you the “how?” and “why?” behind the nickname I have for our parishes: Crescent Parishes. First the “how.”
How the Nickname Crescent Parishes?
When I was named pastor of our parishes in mid December, I started to sleuth around a bit on-line. I checked out websites and read bulletins…and still do. I
went to Google Maps and “starred” or made our five parishes my “favorites.” A few weeks later, after lunch nearby at Outback with mom, I used those favorites with Google maps and we drove the circuit of the parishes, checking out everything we could from the car. Since mom is eighty-eight, we didn’t get out and walk around.
What I noticed from the map is that the locations of our parishes resemble a crescent moon on the northeast side of Cincinnati mirroring I-71. Try it for yourself.
Therefore, as Beacons of Light rolls out, when asked where I’m being sent, I say something like, “The parishes make up a crescent moon on the northeast side of
Cincinnati, just north of I-71.” Actually, there is a lot to be said about crescent moons and our Catholic Faith, but that’s another story for another bulletin article! What about the “why” of the nickname?
Why the Nickname Crescent Parishes?
The reason why I’d appreciate a nickname for our parishes is that it’s easier than listing the parishes. For example, when I write a bulletin article, which I will do
faithfully each week, if I write, as above, “Dear Holy Trinity, St. John…..” in each bulletin, half the available words for the article will be taken up by the greeting!! Indeed, I exaggerate…but not so much. Let me share a thought about bulletin articles.
An Unknowing Blogger and Image of St. Paul
When I became a pastor twenty years ago, at that time the youngest pastor in the Archdiocese, without knowing it, I became a blogger. While I don’t do social media, a marketing company we recently hired at Incarnation Church called my weekly bulletin article a “blog”…and so it is. Go figure, I was “blogging” before I knew what blogging was!
Since that time also, as an Immaculate Conception, Botkins, parishioner Mike Gehrlich once said of me, “Your writing reminds me of St. Paul. You do in the bulletin what Paul did in his letters to his churches,” 1) Proclaim the Good News of Jesus, 2) Thank and encourage God’s holy people, 3) Reflect on the Faith, and 4) Call God’s people to greater unity, conversion and holiness! In all that, Mike said, “You lead us and we learn about you.” No offense Therefore I hope I don’t offend anyone by using the nickname “crescent parishes” or “east Cincinnati crescent parishes” until we can create a better nickname for ourselves!
Our Call
Thanks to those who keep informed about the goals of Beacons of Light on the Beacons of Light website! Our goals for the future include becoming more vibrant and united parishes. As the light of a crescent moon is always increasing, as the light of Jesus increases in us, we will be a Beacon of Light to the people of our surrounding neighborhoods and to each other! Joyful in Leaders and God’s Holy People I am joyful at having been named pastor of our parishes! I am also joyful to have two awesome and well experienced pastors, Fr. Jerry Garner and Fr. Dave Lehkuhl, with us. I still have lots to learn about so many things, especially pastoring and managing staff, and I am going to look to them for guidance! Finally, and most especially, it will be a joy to begin to know and rely on so many smart, holy and hard-working staff, parish leaders and parishioners at our “crescent” parishes.
Sincerely and with Love in Christ,
Fr. Pat