Mixed news
Kasia March 26th, 2007
I’m always one to want to hear the bad news first (so as to end on a positive note, I suppose), so I’m going to start with the unfortunate news and then move on to the good.
Father John is being transferred as of July 1. As far as I’m concerned it’s sad news for everyone except the parish that’s getting him, although I suppose they may not see it that way at first – after all, they’ve probably had their current pastor for some time, and may very well be sorry to see him leave. With that said, however, I’m trying to focus on the fact that this is in God’s hands, and to pray that His will be done, whatever that may be.
The truly joyous news is that my parents now both know, and are being very supportive about the whole thing so far. I confess myself surprised, and a little nervous (as though the proverbial other shoe hasn’t dropped yet), but very, very grateful. Deo gratias!
And one other piece of interesting news is that I got a line on a job that might answer a prayer I’ve been carrying in my heart for some time. The position isn’t even open yet, but it’s a very real possibility for me. So again, His will be done.
Where’s Fr. John going this time, and who will take over at St. A’s?
Bummer – having been at my parish now for 12 years, it is always sad when a priest comes, is a great guy and wonderful minister, and then you have to say goodbye.
He is going to Our Lady of Good Counsel in Plymouth, so not that far. I am curious what the job opening is….
Yes, I am in bed, no, I am not up and about, I promise!!! Did C and J get off ok? Everything packed etc???
Send them my love, and I will mail them soon.
xxx
N
DJ,
As Nina said, he’s being sent to OLGC. We don’t yet know who’s taking over at St. A’s – last I heard there hadn’t even been a decision made. However, although Fr. John is possibly the saddest of the whole bunch of us sad folks right now, he did say that he’s sure it will be someone excellent, as he’s seen Our Lady of Guadalupe’s hand in this as well as his other moves. For myself, I am alternating between sadness and resignation. I suppose this is a sort of grieving process like anything else, so I guess it’s natural that it isn’t perfectly linear (though it still irks me that it isn’t, because I LIKE for things to be linear!).
I guess if he’s wrong and we get a really dreadful pastor to replace him, I could always move over to SS. Cyril & Methodius…
Nina, the job is an administrative assistant position. I don’t want to say too much, because it’s not even officially open yet, but the benefits would seem to be an answer to prayer. Not only would my take-home pay increase (the salary is about the same as my current salary, and there are fewer out-of-pocket expenses like parking and health insurance premiums), but more importantly, I would have a tuition assistance benefit that could be used at any public university in Michigan.
The reason that’s important is this: I’ve felt called to teach for most of my life. When I went to college, however, my father said “Not on my dime” – he felt that it was a bad career choice, having spent the better part of 40 years teaching in public schools himself – so I didn’t pursue it. Now I’m feeling increasingly brought back to that, despite my best efforts to find another path that ‘fits’, but the program here at my university has entrance requirements that I have been unable to meet thus far (it entails paid work experience that I can’t afford to get, as it would be a huge pay cut and I would be unable to pay my bills). If I don’t pursue the degree here, my tuition benefit doesn’t cover it, and I’m in that awkward place salary-wise where I make too much for anyone to want to give me money, but I don’t make enough to be able to pay out-of-pocket for tuition.
So a few months ago I threw up my hands and said “Lord, I’ve been trying to figure this out for myself, and I just can’t see a way to make it happen. If this is what You want me to do – and I think it is, but I could be wrong – then You will have to make a way for me to do it.” And then I went back to eating my grass.
Then Friday evening I heard about this job.
I’m sure the priest who gets assigned to St. A’s will be a good one. At least, I pray that will be the case, for the sake of you and my other friends who worship there.
One of my co-workers once told me that Fr. John is the only reason he stays at St. A’s. Honestly, I hope he eventually says the same of whoever replaces him.
If you decide to move to SS C&M, we’ll make room for you in our pew – and I’d bet that we could convince L. to come to Mass with us if she knew you were going to be there… not to put any pressure on you or anything
Well…
St. A’s is a wonderful parish, and while I’m sure that Fr. John has been a significant factor in our development, I should think it was a very good parish before. There are a lot of fantastic people there. And provided our new pastor, whoever he is, doesn’t decide to shake things up for the sake of shaking them (after all, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it), I’m pretty sure St. A’s will continue to be a wonderful parish.
Fr. John said something that really struck me on Sunday. He was talking about how, when he was first ordained and was out at Divine Child, his mother used to love to go see him celebrate Mass there. (His parents live somewhere near St. A’s – nowhere near DC.) One day, as she was driving out to Dearborn for Mass, she felt God speaking to her, asking “Whose son are you going to see? Mine? Or yours?”
Following from that, the thing I have to keep saying to myself is that while Fr. John has been an extraordinary pastor at St. A’s, and while I’m very disappointed to not be able to benefit more from his pastorship and mentoring, ultimately it is Christ whom I need to look to for everything, not His representatives. Maybe this is a good reminder of that.
And DJ – don’t tempt me!
OK, I promise – I won’t tempt you any further. Really, I don’t want anyone to leave St. A’s, because I’m sure it will continue to be a solid parish after Fr. John leaves.
I’ve spent a lot of time talking to a co-worker and St. A’s parishioner, and he is cautiously optimistic. He asked a lot of questions about our parish, but I reassured him that he should stay for now, and leave only if the new pastor doesn’t accurately present the faith. He has children in catechism over there, and since that appears to be directed mostly by laypeople, it should continue to be solid for them.
I’ve found a wonderful novena to St. John Vianney, my confirmation saint and the patron of priests. I’m going to pray this novena for the intention of Fr. John’s transition and for a suitable replacement at St. A’s. A lot of people are apparently very apprehensive about this whole deal, and understandably so.
I love the story about Fr. John’s mother. I’m going to pass it along to my co-worker.
I remember the transition from Fr. Ken to Fr. John. We were all apprehensive then, too.
My wife asked a similar question…when Fr. John leaves, should we look for a different parish, one closer to home? I think we asked the same thing when Fr. Ken went to Our Lady Star of the Sea.
The parish is much more than just the pastor. It needs to be. It’s you and me and the family that always sits up front and the guy who is habitually late and…
I don’t drive from Roseville to Troy on Sundays because of Fr. John. (Well, lately I haven’t been driving to Troy on Sundays at all…St. Edmund’s is much closer, and we have to split up going to Mass since Lily can’t go out yet.) That said, should the new priest be uninspiring or not-quite-Catholic-enough-for-me, we’ll consider officially changing parishes.
I’ll be praying for you. My home parish (well, former… I’ve moved out of the area) got a new pastor 2 years ago this July. Things rapidly fell apart. He was very rude, very abrasive, right from the first day. He immediately started cancelling programs, firing employees, and so much more. Needless to say, people left the parish in droves.
Obviously, this is a rare occurrence, worse case scendario sort of thing, so don’t worry too much. Still, I’m still a little jaded after seeing this happen to the parish I grew up in. I’ll be praying for you guys, and for all those priests and parishes that will be shuffling around come July.
We attend St. Anastasia as well and this week has been an emotional roller-coaster! Your comments are so refreshing. Yes, Fr. John has been an incredible asset to the parish but it’s not all about him. I guess now is the time for us to find that we can swim without him … but another 3 years, at least, would have been nice!
Welcome to the parish and the Catholic Church. I’m planning to attend the Vigil Saturday night to see you and your fellow catechumens welcomed into the Church. How exciting!!
We found out today that the new pastor will be Fr. J.J. Mech, currently the pastor of Our Lady of Loretto in Redford Township. If you think we’ve got it bad, Our Lady of Loretto just found out that their school will be closing at the end of this school year, and now their pastor of 7 years is leaving, too! We should definitely keep them in our prayers.
Thanks Michael! Glad you’re planning to attend the vigil…I can’t speak for all of my fellow candidates and catechumens, but I for one am getting pleasantly nervous…
If anyone else wants to come to the vigil at St. A’s, feel free. And come up and introduce yourself to me at the reception if we haven’t met in person already! I’ll either be in a sort of warm clay-red or a medium French blue…look for a really pale girl in dark-framed glasses!
Kasia
Hey-Just wanted you to know that I am praying for you this wonderful weekend. You have been on my mind all Holy Week~
Welcome to the Fold
Blessings,
Cris
I’ll be thinking about you tomorrow night too! It’s just a year since I was received into the Catholic Church, and I’m sure you’ll be as happy as I was – congratulations!
Have a blessed Easter, Kasia.
I, unfortunately, won’t be able to witness the wonderful event tonight, since it’ll be slightly crowded and Lily isn’t allowed out in crowded churches. (Although we took her to Good Friday Mass…from 2:15 until the end. We made it in time for the Veneration of the Cross.)
God bless you this special day.
I thought I spotted your wife and Lily, Kheldar!!!
(Actually, I spotted a woman with a baby and a pulse-oximeter-backpack-type-thing and surmised that it must be your wife and Lily…coming up to venerate the Cross…yup…)
That was probably her. If she was herding another girl at the same time and had a tall, balding guy walking in front of her carrying yet another girl and directing a young boy, then it was us, yeah.
Hello Everyone, I have been reading your responses to getting a new pastor at St Anastasia. I would like to let you know that you will be receiving our priest from Our Lady of Loretto in Redford. We have been very saddened by this news of losing our priest also. Father JJ is a wonderful man. We have grown to admire,respect,trust and love him very much in the 7 years he has been with us. He will be deeply missed here. I hope that you will welcome him into your parish as you would want Father John welcomed into his new parish. He has done a lot for our parish. He has brought in many new catholics myself included. He has a great spirit that I hope does not get broken. May God Bless all of you.
Hello Everyone, I have been reading your responses to losing Father John. I am a parishner and a school parent at Our Lady of Loretto in Redford. You will be getting our Priest Father JJ. I really appreciate you keeping us in your prayers as we sure could use them right now. We have been devasted with the news of his leaving along with our school closing. The archdioces could not have picked a better time to throw this at us also. We had hardly recovered from losing our school and now they are taking our priest. Whom we admire, respect, adore , trust and love very much. Please be kind to him. He is a wonderful man. He has a great spirit that I hope will not be crushed. Please give him a chance. May God Bless all of you at St. Anastasia.
Hi Kelley,
Thank you for commenting. I have heard very good things about Fr. JJ so far, and I know that we at St. A’s will do our best to make his transition smooth and welcoming, just as you at OLL will do for your new pastor, and as I hope OLGC will do for Fr. John. I for one am still grieving the impending loss of Fr. John, but trust that Fr. JJ is every bit as good as everyone has said.
One reason it is so difficult for me personally is that Fr. John was instrumental in bringing me into the Church – which I know you can understand, since Fr. JJ brought you in. I certainly will pray for you specifically, and for OLL, just as I trust you will pray for us. Also, I understand what you mean about broken spirits, as I worry about how frequently the Archdiocese has seen fit to move Fr. John – I know that the Son of Man had no place to lay His head, and that our priests are often called to emulate Our Lord in that respect, but I still worry that great, holy and dynamic priests like Fr. John will burn out.
I’m glad you came by – hope to see you again. Please feel free to e-mail me if you want to talk.
Kasia
Hi Kasia, Thank you so much for your note. It has been reassuring to read the above comments and to hear from you. The more that I read and hear about St. A’s the more it looks like father JJ is going to a wonderful place. From what I have read it sounds like you all care very deeply about each other. OLL is a very small parish only about 300 registered families. We are like a family. everyone knows and cares about everyone else. I know St A’s is much bigger than that but it seems like it is the same kind of community as OLL. Just on a much bigger scale. At first I had just decided that I would leave. My children are now going to be attending another catholic school in the area and I was just going to join that one. But, I also after hearing about our new priest am going to give him the benefit of the doubt. and give him a chance. and welcome him as I would want father JJ welcomed. Again, May God Bless all of you.