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Dear Friends in Christ,
One of the important goals of the “Partners in the Gospel Planning Process” is to renew Catholic life by sharing resources to help us more effectively proclaim the gospel of Christ. Within our family of parishes, we are blessed with numerous material resources, including churches, halls, and schools. Our most important resource, however, is the People of God, called and gifted for a variety of ministries in our life as a faith community. Within our overall community, I would like to highlight the role of women in various parish ministries.
It is obvious to anyone who carefully looks that the vast majority of ministries, volunteer and paid, in our church are served by women. This is nothing new. What is new in recent decades is the recognition that many women possess the gifts of pastoral leadership. These gifts are essential to the revitalization of church life in our time. We have a history of such leadership in our own family of parishes. Assumption Parish was led for many years by Sr. Kay Lewis OP, and St. Catherine Parish by Victoria Ries, both of whom served as Pastoral Life Directors or, in essence, lay pastors. Our present parish staff is made up almost exclusively of gifted and generous women. They are a true blessing to us!
The recent Assembly for a Synodal Church held in Rome said in paragraph 60 of its final official document, “There is no reason that should prevent women from carrying out leadership roles in the church, including the question of women’s access to diaconal ministry, which remains open.” This is something I wholeheartedly support and hope to see come to life. In the meantime, we will seek to utilize the leadership gifts of women in every way already allowed by canon law.
This weekend, we celebrate the legacy of St. Phoebe, a deacon in the early church. To help us with this special focus, we are privileged to welcome three young women in our community who will offer reflections on the Word of God following the homily at each of our Masses. They are all graduates of our parish schools and are presently students at Bishop Blanchet High School.
St. Phoebe…pray for us! Live Jesus in our hearts…forever!
Fr. William Heric, Pastor