ST. ELIZABETH OF THE TRINITY UNIFICATION COMMITTEE UPDATES
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UPDATE ON JULY 26, 2020
SOME HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE PASTOR’S DESK
New guidelines have been released by the Archdiocese regarding Religious Education, check the bulletin and Kathleen Driscoll’s page for registration and FAQ’s. While we will retain the scheduled time for RE on Sunday’s after the 9 am Mass, individual grade/classes will not attend on site every week but more like once a month. We are adapting the schedule and with the help of the Archdiocese, developing more remote learning possibilities for RE.
Every three weeks the bulletin will have a newsletter page that includes Frequently Asked Questions posed and answered by the different subcommittee members of the Unification Committee. We will begin planning training for all liturgical ministers from all three merging parishes, with input from the deacons, so everyone that is interested gets the same formation and training and can be scheduled. If you have any interest in being an usher, lector, extraordinary minister of Holy Communion, minister of care, etc… please let Jim Madura know. Fr. McCarthy will still train altar servers in the spring if the Covid guidelines allow for it.
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UPDATE ON JULY 15, 2020
THE CORNERSTONE NEWSLETTER – FATHER MIKE ANSWERS YOUR QUESTIONS
What is going on with our new Parish? Our new Pastor, Father Mike Grisolano, and Kathy Collins, Operations Director, with the help of the Unification Committee, have been working nonstop getting everything ready. As members of our new parish, you are the cornerstone upon which we will build a vibrant new community of worshippers and ministers of the Lord’s work. Here are a few question and answers to help you understand more about what is happening.
CLICK HERE TO SEE NEWSLETTER (PDF) – JULY 15, 2020
And some highlights from the Pastor’s Desk…
- Hopefully, you were able to meet our new associate pastor, Fr. Lukas Ouda, when he introduced himself after Communion at the Masses this weekend. He has moved in physically, but let’s make sure he feels right at home from the start!
- The Archdiocese has announced the guidelines for the reopening of Catholic schools. Some of the Covid safety requirements for the children will be that all students and staff will wear masks throughout the day except when they eat lunch in their classroom or are socially distanced outside. Dr. Kristine Hillmann has already been updating school families through the new school website: stelizabethtrinityschool.org and via email.
- I am very pleased to present another new employee for a new role. Kathleen Driscoll will be the new Director of Children’s Faith Formation. The goal of this new role will be to unify the youth from RE and school in their confirmation years and after through even more service, social and faith-based activities which Mike Wuich will be helping with too. This new RE role was a bit ambitious and is also a fulltime job. The part-time DRE’s of the merging parishes were not able to teach two religion classes every day on top of running the RE program along with their other commitments.
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UPDATE ON BULLETIN DATED JUNE 7, 2020
THE MASS SCHEDULE SUB-COMMITTEE
The main task of this group is to consider the future Mass schedule. The recommendation from this group is that we have a consistent daily Mass time, although we have not finalized the time, 8:30 am seems most likely. Given priest availability it was also suggested that a 7:00 pm evening Mass be offered once a week, on a day to be determined.
The proposed weekend Mass schedule is as follows: Saturday at 5:00 pm (with confessions before at 3:30 pm to 4:30 pm). Sunday Masses at 7:30 am, 9:00 am, 11:00 am in English and the Spanish Mass at 1:00 pm.
Baptisms will be on periodic Saturdays at noon in Spanish. Baptisms in English will be on periodic Sundays after the 11:00 am Mass.
THE FACILITIES SUB-COMMITTEE
This committee is in the information gathering phase. They are talking to leaders of all groups and organizations in the three parishes. They are finding out how often they meet, how many attend their meetings, what kind of space they need for each meeting and if they have items that need to be stored between meetings. They will then determine the appropriate meeting space on the current St. Tars campus that each group might use.
This group will also be tasked with the inventorying of the non-sacramental property of St. Cornelius and St. Thecla.
THE COMMUNICATIONS SUB-COMMITTEE
They have composed a parish prayer inspired by the writings of St. Elizabeth of the Trinity. In the near future we will be praying this at the end of Masses, parish meetings, at school, etc.
The proposed version of the prayer is the following:
St. Elizabeth of the Trinity Parish Prayer
O God, Trinity whom we adore, may we be emptied of self-seeking. Fill us with your love.
Guide us with Your wisdom so that we might learn from You: to be humble, to be patient, to be forgiving, to be understanding, to work towards peace, and to speak the truth in love.
Help us, Holy Trinity, to gratefully embrace Your will. May a deep faith in You be enkindled in our hearts, so that we can be Your light to the world.
We ask this in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The committee is also working on how best to communicate what the new parish will be doing in its initial months, both to the local community and beyond.