Welcome, Fr. Sam
Today our parish was blessed to have Fr. Sam from Nigeria presiding over mass. His warm heart and message triumphed over any troubles speaking in English. Today was the first time I saw a priest go down every aisle, shaking hands during the peace prayer. His humble nature and genuine enthusiasm was infectious. I noticed some people couldn’t stop smiling during his homily.
Too bad the church was half empty.
Fr. Sam comes to us from Italy, where I imagine he was studying. During my time in Bangladesh, it was common for priests to go to Italy for their studies and to learn other languages.
So how did he end up at St. Gerard’s for one month, you ask? Well it might be God’s timing, or perhaps being in the right place at the wrong time. Fr. Sam told me he was visiting a friend in Sudbury, when the Bishop asked him to fill in. He’s currently on “vacation”.
Fr. Sam’s willingness and generosity of spirit is a great example for all of us.
In return, I encourage each of us to help make Fr. Sam’s vacation in Sault Ste. Marie a pleasant and memorable one. Please consider taking some time to be with him so he isn’t too lonely. Those with some extra time might show him some of the sights around town, or perhaps take a drive up north of the Sault.
Or it could be something small to us but a big favour to him. I left him my phone number in case he ever needs something or has a question.
Just call the parish to arrange something. 949-0435
Maybe we could even arrange an informal gathering of people from our parish for a Sunday picnic lunch or a hike at Hiawatha.
Got some ideas? Please share them via comments.
Happy birthday, Fr. George
Fr. George, I hope you are able to spend your day with people you love. Know that you are loved by the parishioners of St. Gerard’s. We remember you every week in the prayers of intentions.
According to Facebook, you’ll have plenty of candles on your cake this year (48) – keep a fire extinguisher handy. (haha).
Everyone is invited to add their birthday message for Fr. George by clicking on the “Add Comment” link below. I’ll send a message via Facebook to Fr. George to let him know about it. There are other ways to send him a message also.
Disrespect
Does the Bishop care about the morale of the parish?
Last Sunday, we found out *at mass* via an announcement read at the end that Fr. Brendan was moving on, having completed a month of fill-in for the Bishop at our parish. That’s right, no advance warning, no way for people to prepare themselves for another transition.
It gets even better, or worse depending on your level of cynicism.
Who is supposed to be coming next? Will this be a permanent pastor or temporary?
“No one knows, not even Jesus” as my good pastor friend told me last night. Well, we do know now. Veronica, our parish secretary didn’t know this morning, but I found out from another priest at the 11th hour that Bishop Plouffe assigned Yet Another Priest (YAP), an African fellow to the parish for a month. I didn’t get the name.
Fr. Hamish was kept busy, showing the guy where (and perhaps how) to buy groceries and other life essentials. The African pastor doesn’t have a car, either so taxis are his only means of getting around.
I am looking forward to meeting him, and helping him out in whatever way I can. Our family, having lived overseas in Bangladesh for 2.5 years, has a soft spot for immigrants and visitors from other cultures. Hopefully I can get to know him over dinner – no doubt he’ll be happy for someone to cook. In Africa, men do not do housework. He might even be accustomed to having hired help. Let’s hope for his sake someone comes to clean the toilets.
More on the new pastor later.
So here we are, 2 months after Fr. George left suddenly. Two months of rent-a-priests coming in, and another month coming up. After that, we’re off to mingle with St. Jerome’s for a month, effectively giving Bishop Plouffe another two months to delay the inevitable. It’s not like new options are going to turn up.
The Bishop seems to think all that matters is there is someone here to consecrate mass. If that is the case, we all might as well go to St. Jerome’s.
Meanwhile, parish attendance continues to drop as morale goes unchecked. What the Bishop is doing is disrespectful and uncaring for the parishioners of St. Gerard. Besides procrastinating, we’re neither consulted nor communicated to on the matter. We deserve better, and the Bishop ought to be told this can’t continue from leadership within the parish. Right now, the Parish Leadership Team (PLT) seems the logical choice, in the absence of a parish council.
That reminds me I need to write about our PLT, something I keep putting off.
Enough with band-aid solutions. We need to move forward, which includes dealing constructively with the recent past.
Nelson Mandela, a South African, once said “It is better to lead from behind and to put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front line when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership.”
We need visible leadership, either from a pastor or from a parish executive, ideally from both.
Should you feel inspired to contact the Bishop directly, you can call him at 705-674-2727 ext. 222 or email jlplouffe@diocesecentre.com. If you do, please let me know. I’d like to keep a running total.
Mass of Unity
Last Friday, the downtown area was packed with Catholics from all over as the Huron Superior Catholic District School Board celebrated its 10th anniversary with a mass at the Steelback Centre.
I caught a few glimpses of St. Gerard parishioners past, present and maybe future from the SooToday article.
If you were there, please share your thoughts and pictures with the rest of us by adding a comment below.
Marty Frolick (left, guitar), teacher at St. Mary’s and plays at the 5:00 pm Saturday mass. Marty and I used to attend St. Gregory of Nyssa in Echo Bay before it closed. The very talented Claryssa Webb on violin, daughter of Peggy and Bill Webb, former long-time members of St. Gerard. The Frolicks are also a talented musical bunch. Marty’s brother Mark is there too (look for his head is resting on Fr. Hamish Currie’s arm).
My good friend Fr. Eric Pannike (left) and temporary St. Gerard pastor Fr. Brendan Connelly. Is this a photo of present and future? We should know in 2-3 weeks.
Presence
Thought and quote for today from one of my favourite inspirational authors. May our time at Eucharist together draw us closer to one another and to Christ:
Precisely where we feel most present to each other we experience deeply the absence of those we love. And precisely at moments of great loss we can discover a news sense of closeness and intimacy. This is also what the Eucharist is about. We announce the presence of Christ among us until he comes again! There is both presence and absence, closeness, and distance, an experience of at-homeness on the way home.
- Henri J.M. Nouwen
Sabbatical Journey
Smartest goalie in the NHL
At this time of year the sounds of Hockey Night in Canada can be heard in neighbourhoods across the country. Here in the Sault and especially at St. Gerard, we can cheer on one of our own, Marty Turco of the Dallas Stars. Marty, called the smartest goalie in hockey by loud mouth Don Cherry is having an exceptional playoff run so far, carrying his team into the second round and now leading the San Jose Sharks two games to none.
I don’t know Marty that well. My memories of him come from the time he was at the parish during the NHL hockey strike back in 2005. He played in the parish ball hockey tournament and perhaps to be fair I don’t think he played in net. 
He certainly didn’t act like anyone special – you’d hardly even know he was there. A nice part about the Sault is that someone famous like him can come to mass each week and not be the centre of attention.
So I’m thinking that if Marty and the Stars can get to the Stanley Cup Finals, we’re going to have organize a big screen party at the parish to watch one of the games. Anyone else interested in going to an event like this?
The Legacy
After mass on Sunday, I was approached by Rico Bruni, a former member of the Parish Leadership Team, a liturgical minister and all-around nice guy. He thanked me for the blog (now to encourage him to comment – still needing some courageous souls for that), and then he shared what he felt were some good changes Fr. George had introduced. I list them here, with some of my additional thoughts:
- Making (little) people feel special at celebrations. Remember how the First Communion kids would stand on either side of him behind the altar while Fr. George read the Eucharistic Prayer? They all had this “Wow, we’re up here with Father! This is cool!” look on their faces. Then, when it was time for each child to receive communion for the first time, his / her whole family would come up beside them, while all eyes were watching that blessed host pop quickly (or sometimes not so quickly) into that little mouth. We’d all clap together as a sign of support. I wasn’t that fond of the clapping, and not just because my boy would wake up from the noise, but most people seemed to like it. And who can forget each baptized baby held aloft, like Simba in the Lion King?Or the times the kids come up at the start of mass, and Fr. George asks them questions to which he gets all kinds of answers?Or passing out the children’s bulletins at the end of mass, the kids running down the aisles to get their copy, as if Father might run out of copies before they reached him?Yes, this was one of Fr. George’s gifts. He knew how to make children feel special. He probably also figured out that kids interested in going to mass bring adults who are only moderately interested.
- Organizing the Eucharistic ministers for Communion. Rico is going to have to explain this again as I don’t remember it fully, but he was saying something like the distribution of the Body and Blood is very orderly and efficient, the way that Fr. George organized things. I have to agree. Fr. George paid attention to every little detail, and made sure everything flowed well. Even the people in the opening procession came in on his signal, like downhill skiers in the starting gate, waiting for the beep to sound. In some ways things were almost too perfect, too clinical, but never disorderly.
We should take the time to recognize the positive contributions Fr. George gave to our parish, ones that are worth keeping, and then work to keep them. When our parish is used to doing things a certain way, and that way seems good, why not continue to maintain those traditions?
I thought about that as I observed Fr. Brendan’s very low-key approach to First Communion this past weekend, lacking anything celebratory really. It’s frustrating to see every new priest come in with his own ways of doing things and expecting the parish to change directions, even if it’s 180 degrees from how things were done. Why can’t the priest integrate himself into the parish, instead of the other way around? Isn’t it better to maintain the current direction, especially during an already difficult transition time? More on that in a post later this week.
So please take a moment to help our parish identify what Fr. George’s legacy should be, that we might continue to do those things that we feel bring life to the community. I will collect all comments and promise that Fr. Brendan, Veronica our secretary and any PLT-like committee (should one get formed again) will receive a copy.
You are an important part of this parish, and I’ll hoist you over my head at mass to prove it if necessary, or die trying.
Advice for the interim pastor
In case you haven’t heard, Bishop Plouffe announced on the weekend that Fr. Brendan Doherty will be pastoring at St. Gerard’s for the next two months, while we wait and see if Fr. George wants to come back (a topic for another blog post) or the Bishop finds a replacement. He comes from Our Lady of Peace in Capreol who get a priest lured out of retirement in return.
I remember Fr. Brendan a little bit from the early days of DeoWeb, the web system that never quite took off in the Diocese. He seemed like a friendly guy, and I remember how he supported efforts for his parish to communicate online. He didn’t know much about using computers, but there he was in the training class, a student willing to learn. Too bad he had me for a teacher.
Fr. Brendan is a member of the Congregation of the Precious Blood, so it is only a matter of time before he too will move out of the diocese. Perhaps that is what made him an ideal interim pastor – maybe his time was almost up anyways.
Fr. Brendan, since you are being given a difficult assignment, I thought I’d offer you a few tips, hopefully Spirit-led for your first days on the job:
- Let the people in the parish lead for you. There are people at St. Gerard’s who have been there for 10, 15 years. They’ve seen it all, and know how to keep things running. You’ll keep your stress levels down by leaning on some very good people, who are also happy to lead things, but you have to let them know that’s ok. If a parish was the mafia, the parish priest is the godfather. Give them your blessing and watch the Spirit move.
- Take time to listen. People need to work through feelings, concerns, doubts, uncertainties. You may not have answers, but that’s ok, we don’t expect you to. We need someone as part of the Church hierarchy to sit down over a cup of coffee after mass, to meet with people in groups and to simply walk with us right now.
- Be open and address concerns where you can. Finances, for instance. Who is looking after them? Who looked after them when Fr. George was here, for that matter? I know some people are concerned about how parish money is being handled. Take concerns seriously. Keep people informed about what is going on. Work to rebuild trust in the people.
That’s it for now. If I think of anything else, I’ll let you know. Perhaps some other people will leave comments here that may assist you as well. Maybe they’ll tell you to ignore me completely. Probably good advice.
Thank-you for accepting this assignment and being willing to shepherd a very special flock.
Looking for a shepherd
Fr. Eric, a good friend and model of the kind of shepherd St. Gerard needs.
One question on a lot of people’s minds is who will be the next pastor for St. Gerard’s? If the Bishop has a plan, no one seems to know what it is. The options that I’ve heard for finding another priest come down to:
- Bringing in another priest from outside the Diocese. Fr. George is a Basilian, not a diocesan priest, on loan to the Diocese. It’s possible that another Basilian or a priest from another order could be assigned to St. Gerard’s. A number of priests currently in the diocese have originated from other continents, Africa in particular.The challenge here is time. Finding an available priest elsewhere takes time, and I would imagine there aren’t so many to come by.
- Merging St. Gerard’s with another parish, or at minimum share a pastor. With fewer priests to go around, maybe St. Gerard’s will have to share a pastor, or even close. The sad truth is just a few weeks ago, St. Gerard’s and St. Jerome’s had shared masses at *one* parish that weren’t even filled to capacity. This disappoints me, considering these two parishes are two of the largest in town. I can’t see this happening except maybe in the short term. Given the recent experience with St. Jerome’s, we might end up going to St. Jerome’s for masses while a longer term plan is worked on. That wouldn’t be so bad, in my opinion. At least that way a decision wouldn’t be rushed, and hopefully increases the odds of a better outcome. Going this route makes the option of finding a priest from outside the Diocese more plausible.
- Re-assigning a pastor from another parish in the Diocese. There are parishes struggling with attendance, and whose future are in doubt. The St. Gerard crisis provides Bishop Plouffe with an opportunity to make the tough step of closing down a parish, or at least to cut down on pastoral services to a parish. Solve two problems instead of one? The priest is someone well known to the Bishop and potentially to many parishioners of St. Gerard. If the Bishop has to close down a parish in the next few years anyways, this gives him a viable excuse. This option requires guts. The question is whether the Bishop has the stomach to deal with the emotional trauma of a parish closing on top of everything else.
More importantly though, is what style of priest does our parish family need right now? I would like to see someone who is a facilitator, who gives people real responsibility, and who is willing to deal with issues openly. What are your thoughts? I’ll compile responses shared both in comments and sent to me personally with both the Bishop and with whatever parish committee gets formed to deal with the transition. Ok, I’ll share them with the Bishop at least.
Breaking news: Bishop presiding over mass this weekend
I just found out from Veronica, our parish secretary the Bishop Plouffe will be at all the masses this weekend. That’s good news, considering the mess that occurred the weekend after Fr. George left. The Bishop’s hand picked priest failed to show, and there was no representative from the Diocese to show support and ensure things got looked after. It’s important for the people of our parish to know we are supported by the Bishop, especially since this isn’t the first priest at St. Gerard’s to leave without notice.
My hope is the Bishop will, in addition to offering words of support and encouragement, plant the seeds for dialogue with parishioners. When your parish priest of 6 years just leaves all of a sudden, I think you deserve to know some of the circumstances. May he take time to listen and answer questions after mass, at least informally. Even better would be a time of questions right at the end of mass… any wagers on that one?
Unfortunately I’ll be out of town, in Sudbury ironically for a family trip, so I’ll need you all to be my eyes and ears. Please share your thoughts on the Bishop’s presence over the weekend by posting comments here. How was his visit helpful or not, did he meet your expectations?
No, there isn’t a plan yet for beyond this weekend that I know of. Veronica certainly doesn’t know.
Fr. Hamish apparently has jurisdiction over St. Gerard’s in the interim.
As a side note, I had expected a small committee of parishioners might be formed to deal with the current situation (remember, there is no Parish Leadership Team). I know my good friend Fr. Eric had made that suggestion but it appears the Bishop or Fr. Hamish has other ideas. Fr. Hamish is not allowing any meetings to occur at the parish at this time, outside of the regular parish activities, perhaps at the request of the Bishop. Is this another example of parishioners having no say in the affairs of their parish, or is it necessary prudence?
