April 15, 2012
Divine Mercy
The gift…the divine mercy of the Lord…this is the blessed gift on this Octave day of Easter. For eight days, the Catholic Church has offered the Easter proclamation: the One who died…He lives! In Him…the Risen Lord, we have received the Lord’s divine mercy. Rejoice…and give thanks to God!
Our survey’s results
A bit more than ten percent of all registered adults took part in our online survey…an amazing number of participants. Please know that we will hold two town hall meetings to hear about the results of the survey from the professional that designed it for us. Please join me on either the 18th or the 26th of April to hear about what the survey results say about us. These town hall meetings will be held in Corbett Hall and each begins at 7:30 PM.
Our survey’s results: your personal praises and your heart-felt concerns
Along with the questions on the survey, there was an opportunity for the thousand adults that took part in the survey to write down their anonymous comments, aboutwhat they liked best at Saint Brigid and about what they liked least at Saint Brigid. Please know that I have read every one of these “praises” and “challenges”; and I am thankful for each one of you that offered comments of either variety.
Over the next several months, I will hope to use a part of this weekly column to share some of these comments with all of you reading these words. Even if you did not take part in the survey, you might find the “praises” and “challenges” of others an interesting window into the spirituality of our parish family. As we used to say…stay tuned!
Our new Pastoral Council: will you serve?
Please consider filling out an application for membership on our new Pastoral Council (seen in this bulletin and online at www.saintbrigid.org. The new Council will have twelve members: one member of the Finance Council will serve, as will one staff member. The other ten seats will be reserved for at-large members…women and men just like you. Call or contact me with any question on this new Council (dtalley@saintbrigid.org). The deadline for turning in an application is the 30th of this month.
Our deacons
Our deacons will be preaching at all the Masses this weekend. They do this approximately once every month. To dispel a few misconceptions seen in the “challenges” portion of the personal comments of the survey:
The men of the restored Order of Deacons are clerics of the Church (and not part of the lay-faithful). We are blessed to have extraordinary men at Saint Brigid in diakoniafor us: Deacons Dennis, Jim, Leo, Tom, David and Henry.
The vestments that our deacons wear each Sunday are proper to them. These vestments, known as dalmatics are nearly identical with the chasubles worn by the celebrant-priest. The difference in traditional style: the deacon’s dalmatics have sleeves. The priest’s chasubles do not.
Our deacons are ordinary ministers of Baptism. They also serve at weddings and funerals. By the grace of their ordination, our deacons assist in the distribution of Holy Communion at Mass. Some of our lay-faithful serve alongside the deacons and celebrant-priest, as extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion.
AMDG