The Bishop Visits St. G.M.
It was good to have Bishop Plouffe come and celebrate with us this Sunday. His willingness to come was a message, stronger than his words themselves, that his thoughts are with us. The readings were about Thomas with his friends in the upper room, doubting in the Resurrection. The readings also recounted the powerful evangelization that began shortly afterwards and the unity of the Christian community in Jerusalem.
The Bishop reflected on this in the context of our having no pastor now.
Bishop Plouffe spoke of his faith in this parish. It is strong and has a bright future. The area is growing and our parish ought to grow too. Like the apostles leaving the upper room to preach the gospel, this parish has the job of evangelizing the P-Patch. He says he won’t give up on us, especially since we have the most expensive parking-lot in the diocese. 
He spoke of Fr. George as a great homilist and George asked his superior for the leave. As a member of the Basilian congregation the Bishop must tread carefully and respect the wishes of the order. He warned us of gossip. It remains to be seen if Fr. George would return.
The parish seems rudderless right now. There has been little to no direction given as to how to manage ourselves or deal with questions. The parish office will handle questions, as best it can, it seems. Apart from that, we are on auto-pilot.
But, the Bishop promised we would not be left without a shepherd. This coming Friday Fr. Doherty will come to be with us for 2 months. Beyond that time frame, we will just have to see how things work out.
If this summary has missed anything, please feel free to comment.
