Never again
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.
As we celebrate the Easter Tridium, I expect my mind will often slip into the questioning of how a parish in general, and St. Gerard Majella in particular, should manage ourselves. Yet another Pastor of our church has disappeared with no goodbyes and no explanation.
If the past is anything to go by, (think ‘Fr. Randy Thomas’) we will not know the reason for this. Because it is important to us and because we care and we are friends in this together, we will talk, share information and speculate. So the chat will bubble away, like some untended broth in the back kitchen, giving off a faint odour – or perhaps eventually a big stink. In any case, to my mind, there will be little hope of resolution . . . if the past is anything to go by.
Our collective emotions will be all over the place. Some of us, to whom Fr. George pastored and taught so well, are saddened and hurt. Some of us, who had concerns, will wonder what we should have done differently.
Personally, I felt that I had no voice in the administration of the parish. Furthermore, I did not feel anyone really did, including the Parish Leadership Team. I stand to be corrected, if I am off-base.
As long as the reasons are kept quiet, it will be hard to hope for a resolution of any type. As long as the reasons are kept quiet, the chances are good that mistakes will be repeated in other parishes. Whether the administration comes clean or not, I hope we can take a hard look at our responsibilities and ‘admonish one another with all wisdom’.
I do not want to go through this again. I want to do better as a parishioner. I want my children to be proud of being Catholic.
The Word does dwell in us richly. We have much to be grateful for. Let’s take courage in that and go forward.
