February 8, 2009

Dear friends in life and in ministry . . .

It has been a very busy but satisfying weekend.

On Saturday, our regional pastoral planning group met with parish council members from five area churches to try to reach consensus on a plan for our future. We agreed that now is the time to move forward collaboratively. St. Mary's (my parish) and St. Gabriel's Church in Hammondsport agreed to begin a process in July 2009 that will lead to us becoming clustered under a single pastoral leader in July 2010 - with a vision of becoming a single parish (with two worship sites) in July 2012.

Meanwhile, the three church ABC cluster with churches in Addison, Bradford and Campbell, NY will set the process in motion to become a new parish (with three worship sites) by July 2010.

I realize that these decisions may be of little interest to people outside of my area - but Catholics everywhere are experiencing church closings and clustering. In many diocese, the effective parishes have had no say in planning their future. The edict just comes from the Bishop's office - and that's it.

In contrast, our bishop has elected to respect the ability of faith filed people to do the right thing to ensure that not only their communities, but all Catholics have access to the Eucharist. It is a good thing for us, and a good idea for the Church.

Public Policy Weekend
It is Public Policy Sunday in Roman Catholic and Episcopal Churches. This year's focus is health care. This morning, Linda Crowe (head nurse at the Health Ministry of the Southern Tier's Bath Center) and I shared the pulpit at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Bath and Good Shepherd Episcopal Church in Savona, NY. God is so good to give me these opportunities. I am blessed.

Lands of the Bible Cruise Informational Meetings
Patty and I have scheduled informational meetings in Bath, Corning and Elmira for people interested in our Lands of the Bible Cruise in November. I hope that many of you are considering joining us on this wonderful journey.

Saturday, February 21, 1:30 p.m. at St. Mary's, O'Malley Hall in Bath
Sunday, February 22, 1:30 p.m. at the Corning Public Library's Small Meeting Room in Corning
Monday, February 23, 7:00 p.m. at St. Joseph's Hospital's Cusick Meeting Room in Elmira

You can RSVP or get immediate information by contacting us by email or telephone (607-426-1100).

God's abundant blessings on you and those you love,
Deacon Ray

February 8, 2009

Transition Process begins in Parish and Region

There is a lot happening within the parish and within our region that I want to share with you. In this column I’ll provide information on a transition that you are probably already aware of (my retirement) and some potential movement on transitions that may be in our not so long term future.

Bishop Clark Accepts My Retirement Request

In mid January, I wrote to Bishop Matthew Clark to officially state my desire to retire as pastoral administrator of St. Mary’s effective June 30, 2009. Last week I received a letter from the Bishop accepting my request. If it is God’s will, I’ll continue to serve as a permanent deacon until 2019 (my 75th birthday) in a new, unpaid diaconal assignment.

Parish Profile Submitted to Diocese*

On Friday, I submitted a profile of our parish to the Priest Personnel Committee. The profile, which includes information on our parish staff, lay ministries, building and grounds, finances, etc., will be available to all priests and current or potential pastoral administrators who may be interested in applying for the position of pastoral leader of St. Mary’s. The profile will also include comments from our staff, Parish Council, Finance Council and parishioners.

On Tuesday evening, Fr. Dan Holland of the Priest Personnel Committee will meet with our Parish Council to outline the transition procedures and seek their input on the qualities that they would hope for in their next pastoral leader. The, on Wednesday morning, Barbara Pedeville of the Diocese’s Human Resources Department will meet with our professional and volunteer staff members to offer similar input. Later that day, I will meet personally with Mrs. Pedeville to offer my perspective.

The Posting of Parish Openings

The next step in the process will occur in late February or early March when notice of the 1st Round of parish leadership openings is posted and distributed to all priests and potential pastoral administrators. They will have about two weeks to red our parish profile and discern whether or not to express interest in the position. This is done by letter to the Committee’s director, Fr. Michael Conboy.

Priest Personnel Makes Its Recommendation to Bishop Clark

A week or so after the application period expires, the Priest Personnel Committee will meet to discuss openings throughout the Diocese and review the profiles of those who have expressed interest in each opening. Based on these discussions, the Committee will try to find the best available fit between candidates and parish profiles and make recommendations to Bishop Clark - who will make the final decision as to who is appointed where.

After making his decisions, the Bishop will personally contact those to be appointed and invite them to accept the position. (Note: All appointmentsbecome effective on the last Tuesday of June at 6:00 p.m.). He will also call the current pastoral leader (in this case me) so that parishioners can be informed of the appointment on the next weekend (or sooner if the grapevine is as effective as ours.)

Over the ensuing months the newly appointed pastoral leaders will meet with the outgoing leaders, parish staff and councils to insure a smooth transition.

Regional Considerations

In the midst of our individual parish’s transition to new leadership, it is important for you to know that our Central Steuben Catholic Parishes are linked also in a state of transition. As parishes and planning throughout the Diocese of Rochester (and nationwide) are linking with neighboring parishes to form clusters and multi-site parishes, until now, the CSCP (the ABC parish of Addison, Bradford and Campbell, St. Gabriel’s and St. Mary’s) have been under very little pressure to do so. All this could change as transitions and other challenges facing us over the next few years come into clearer focus.

Councils Meet with CSCP Planners

On Saturday morning, members of Parish Councils, Finance Committees and staffs from all five CSCP parishes met to review several rapidly approaching transitions which may speed up decisions facing our mutual future. These include my retirement on June 30, the end of St. Gabriel’s pastoral administrator Maureen O’Neil’s first term in June, 2010 and Bishop Clark’s retirement in 2012. There is no assurance that the next Bishop of Rochester will continue to involve local parishes in the decision-making process that we have come to expect. There is also no assurance that a different bishop would allow small parishes such as ours to stand alone or even share a priest.

Several other challenges will face our parishes in the foreseeable future. For one, the notion that CSCP parishes can rely on the availability of two priests and one retired priest indefinitely, is unrealistic. Within the next few years, fifteen priests will retire. One will be ordained.

Another fact cannot escape our attention. St. Mary’s and St. Gabriel’s - two of the Southern Tier’s smaller parishes. are among only six stand-alone parishes remaining in the Southern Tier and Ithaca. Throughout the Diocese, only huge parishes with 2,000 or more households remain un-clustered. It is clear that the “writing is on the wall.”

As I write this article, it is not assured that a consensus can be reached on how we will proceed and, if so, on what timetable. Be assured however that you will hear more on this issue very soon.

Saint Mary’s Stewardship Campaign

Stewardship Commitment Forms continue to be received and the results compiled. To date about 80 of our 350 households have returned the form - so you can see we have a way to go. If you have not as yet returned yours,
please do so this week.

On the very positive side, many parishioners have increased their financial commitment to our parish and many have also committed to continue their current ministries, If you indicated a desire to try a new ministry, someone from that ministry will contact you.

Public Policy Sunday
Today (Sunday), I’ve been invited to preach with Linda Crowe, of the Bath Health Ministry at St. Thomas Episcopal Church’s Public Policy Sunday. Bob Colomaio will speak after Communion here at St. Mary’s.

Have a good week. Serve one another well.
.Deacon Ray

Lands of the Bible Cruise

On November 11, 2009, you are invited to join Deacon Ray and Pat Defendorf and pastoral leaders from throughout the Diocese on a twelve-day Cruise to the “Lands of the Bible”.

Our itinerary includes an over-night flight to Athens where we will visit the Acropolis and the biblical city of Corinth before boarding the mv Cristal, a new 471 passenger cruise ship. We’ll dock at Port Said for a visit to Cairo (the Egyptian Museum and the Pyramids at Giza) then on to the port of Ashod in Israel. For two days we’ll visit sites in Jerusalem and Bethlehem returning to the ship each evening for dinner and overnight.

Our next port is Haifa where we’ll disembark to tour the Galilee with stops at the Mount of the Beatitudes, Tabgha (the site of the miracle of the loaves and fish), a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee and renew our baptismal vows at the Jordan River.

After a day at sea we’ll visit the Isle of Patmos where John wrote Revelations and then to Ephesus, Turkey where St. Paul established a Christian community on his first missionary journey. After a visit to Piraeus we’ll return to Athens for our return trip home.

The price of this journey of a lifetime(including roundtrip airfare, chartered cruise ship, guided shore excursions, daily breakfast, lunch and dinner while aboard ship, study guide, entrance fees and deluxe motorcoaches), starts at $2398 plus taxes, tips and fees.

Follow this link to download our itinerary:
http://www.deaconray.com/travel.htm

This cruise is expected to sell out so early reservations are very important. For more information and a brochure, please contact me by email or phone (607-426-1100).

Serve one another well!

(Click Here For Sent To Serve Archives)

Bulletin: February 8, 2009