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When I was young, my mother had two ways of cleaning. One
was "corner clean," which meant that no speck of dust would dare remain
in our house. The other method was "a lick and a promise." Over the past
year, I realized that much of my pastoring was becoming more of a lick
and a promise than a careful, prayerful, studied approach and plan of
action meant to lead to the best results. I have to attribute that
dwindling to my age and my health. My energy and stamina are not what
they once were. But three parishes working
together as a cluster need more than what I am capable of. There have
been some areas of growth and cooperative effort and much more
interaction among parishioners of all three parishes.
Some months ago, I met with Archbishop Kurtz at my
request to talk about my pastoring our three parishes and my desire to
be considered when clergy changes take place in the spring of 2012. He
listened and accepted my self-assessment and my request. So in June, I
will be leaving St. Therese, Holy Family and St. Elizabeth.
The reasons for clustering parishes remain valid:
population shifts, neighborhoods in transition, etc. My transfer is only
a part of this. Within the same time frame, the pastor of Our Mother of
Sorrows will retire. This provides an opportunity to rearrange our
clustering: St. Elizabeth with St. Therese and Our Mother of Sorrows
with a new pastor to be named in June, 2012. Holy Family will then
cluster with St. Stephen Martyr, with Fr. Harry Gelthaus as pastor. One
advantage of this is a more equitable peer-to-peer relationship with our
parishes as they are.
I do appreciate and thank the members of all our
parishes for your prayers and support. Which, by the way, I could still
use (and appreciate) into the future.
Last changes made01/26/2012.
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