October 1, 2025, 12:00 PM
I’ll be honest. I’ve never had to write these particular words before.
The words that go with the beginning of a parish linkage. Sure, I’ve experienced the move of St. Lawrence and St. Boniface from linkage into merger. But that’s a different shift. Those two parishes had plenty of time to practice. The move from independent parish to a linked parish will prove to be a new venture.
Neither Fr. Dias nor I can promise to make everyone happy. You won’t always have Mass at the time that works best for you, in the building you love, with the music you prefer. You might feel you don’t see enough of your priests. (We will try to alternate presiding over the 6 weekend Masses in 4 worship spaces. And, as the parish linkage with two priests in our area, we do have a responsibility to provide a substitute priest when someone else in our region is suddenly away or sick.)
But we can promise that the Eucharist will be celebrated, that the Most Blessed Sacrament will be reserved in our churches and chapels. We’ll continue to offer confessions on Mondays and Thursdays (with a slightly expanded time at St. Ann’s – it’s a convenience to us to have both churches on a 5:30–7pm schedule!). Children and adults will be baptized. We’ll support our Catholic school system and our religious education programs. We’ll encourage our young people to grow in their faith – and, please God, discern appropriate vocations to religious life and priesthood. We’ll accompany you and your families in times of sickness and grief. We’ll help couples celebrate Catholic marriages. We’ll keep before us Christ’s challenge to meet him in the poor and hungry, the sick and imprisoned.
Pray for us. Pray for our parish communities. Pray the Holy Spirit to guide us all to wise and loving decisions. Let’s not forget our holy patrons. Ask St. Ann, surprised to become the grandmother of God when she had rather lost hope, to encourage us all. Beg St. Lawrence and St. Boniface, men of the sanctuary who discovered how costly preaching Christ could be, to strengthen us to bear all crosses for Christ’s sake. Remember always the words of the archangel to Our Lady: “All things are possible with God.”
Fr. McCreary
