St. Mary’s Open Meeting
Join St. Mary's Open Meeting on Sunday, November 13, 2022, and participate in various spiritual opportunities such as Eucharistic Revival, Diocesan Synod, Parish Mission, and more. Learn about initiatives to strengthen faith and community bonds.
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Presentation Transcript
St. Marys Open Meeting Sunday, November 13, 2022
OPENING STEWARDSHIP PRAYER Dear Jesus, help me understand that my parish is composed of people like me. I help make it what it is. It will be friendly if I am. Its pews will be filled if I help fill them. It will do great work if I work. It will be prayerful if I pray. It will make generous gifts to many causes if I am a generous giver. It will bring others into worship if I invite and bring them in. It will be a place of loyalty and love, of fearlessness and faith, of compassion, charity, and mercy, if I who help make it what it is am filled with these things. Therefore, I ask you for the grace I need to dedicate myself to the task of being all things that I want my parish to be. Amen.
Part One: Eucharistic Revival A three-year initiative by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops An effort in response to the continued lowering percentage of Catholics who believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist Will culminate in a national Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis, IN July 17- 21, 2024: the Diocese will be putting a delegation together as a pilgrimage trip Anyone can sign up at Eucharisticrevival.org for content and updates
Eucharistic Revival Diocesan Phase Fargodiocese.net/revival = Additional Resources and Video Links November New Earth issue Inviting Parishes to form teams of Lay Eucharistic Missionaries
Eucharistic Revival Parish Phase Let s consider our own commitment to prayer What is the place of Eucharistic Adoration in our faith lives? What levels of outreach could we be doing that we have not done? Transition of falling away to falling off $1,000/week analogy
Upcoming Spiritual Opportunity City-Wide Parish Mission March 5-7, 2023 Led by Fr. Craig Vasek, priest of the Diocese of Crookston and designated Eucharistic Revival Preacher Events will take place at St. Mary s, St. Michael s, and Holy Family on consecutive days Adoration, talks, confessions
Part Two: Diocesan Synod A synod is a meeting of the Faithful to discuss pertinent matters This is the first one Fargo will have held since 1950 (we re overdue) The purpose is not to make big changes for change s sake, but to deliberate where the Holy Spirit is leading us as a local Church The Synod Assembly will be in Fargo April 11-13, 2024: every single parish is to have at least one delegate present and participating
Diocesan Synod Process Individual Surveys due by November 27: we have paper copies available for those who choose not to do it online Regional listening sessions with Bishop Folda throughout the diocese: our local meeting will be at St. Michael s February 2, 2023, and everyone is welcome to attend I will be appointing a parish Synod Delegate in the next couple of months: please notify me if you are interested or want to recommend someone
Diocesan Synod Process The listening sessions will generate questions and topic areas to bring to the Synod Assembly, with parish and Deanery-level consultation The Dean of our Deanery is Msgr. Dennis Skonseng, Pastor in Hillsboro and Argusville Fargodiocese.net/synod has a downloadable parish leadership workbook for your own reference This process will be a means of reengagement and renewal for Catholics 2025 will be a Jubilee Year of implementing the results of the Synod
Part Three: Sanctuary Restoration We are privileged to have one of the most beautiful parish churches in our diocese This is a time to appreciate the sacrificial giving of our ancestors who made such a beautiful worship space for the St. Mary s faith community a priority (esp. stained-glass windows) The terminology is important; this is not simply a renovation or updating, but the returning of our church sanctuary to its former grandeur and a harmonizing with the existing interior and architecture The last major change in our sanctuary took place in the mid-1960 s under Msgr. Boyle, as part of the Vatican II liturgical reforms Fr. Dan had an estimate for this project of over $300,000 done in 2016 but decided to wait because of other necessary parish projects as well as his imminent retirement
Sanctuary Restoration Process This kind of parish project requires close oversight by Bishop Folda and diocesan Building Committee that assists him We have retained a liturgical consultant recommended by the Bishop named Paige Stransky [New Jerusalem Designs, Colorado Springs, CO] Ms. Stransky is also helping with the projects at Holy Cross in West Fargo and St. Benedict s in Horace She will coordinate both the design and the actual work to be done We have formed an Ad Hoc Subcommittee for the Restoration of volunteer parishioners who will meet with Ms. Stransky and Mr. Earl Wilhelm, the Diocesan Properties Manager, every 1-2 months
Sanctuary Restoration Details We will replace the existing granite appointments/furnishings (altar, ambo, baptismal font, presider s chair We will replace the black tile flooring and slate steps We will remove the single-step platform around the altar in order to put the sanctuary on a single level We will move the tabernacle to the center of the apse (where the presider s chair currently is) with a reredos raised a couple feet above the main altar We will relocate the baptismal font to the archway where the tabernacle currently is We may do some updating of pillar bases and repositioning of lighting We will NOT be changing any of the nave seating
Sanctuary Restoration Timetable Ms. Stransky will provide us with a poster/rendering once we reach that point in the process (early 2023) There will be at least one parish open meeting to receive wider feedback on the working designs/renderings Pending diocesan approval, my hope is to commence the work in January 2024 with completion a few months later We will use the church basement as a temporary worship space while construction is being done
Sanctuary Restoration Funding We will need to conduct a Capital Campaign in the Fall of 2023 (launching in October) There will be a silent phase of the campaign in early 2023 to solicit larger gifts from major donor sources and lower the overall amount we need to ask for The general number we are looking to raise is $500,000 to cover the construction costs, materials, and design contract We plan to work with an outside company to conduct the parish-wide campaign; they do not charge the parish directly if they raise an amount above a certain level toward our goal We will receive pledges to be paid in monthly installments over 3-5 years in addition to single gifts We will form a separate account through the Diocese to gain interest as the funds come in
St. Marys Parish Financial Snapshot We have a local account through Alerus with a varying balance into which we place offertory contributions and pay bills, payroll, etc. We have approximately $400,000 in our Diocesan Deposit and Loan Fund, which currently draws 2.75% interest (the rate gets adjusted according to market forces) This is our rainy-day fund for unexpected major expenses or repairs: when possible, we try to add to it if we have a large balance in the local Alerus account We have a principal of nearly $200,000 in our parish endowment: each year we can decide to either withdraw the spendable earnings (a rolling average of 5-5.5%) or roll it back in to the total Moral of the story: there is money for us to work with, but we cannot clean out our coffers to make the sanctuary restoration happen
Action Plan We will need to reach out to as many parishioners as possible in 2023, and especially contact marginal or inactive households Our primary focus will be evangelization and pastoral care; from that, questions of stewardship of treasure will flow (asking for money will come much later in the discussion) I will be recruiting volunteer teams to help with this effort CAN WE DO THIS? We need to have a candid parish-wide conversation
