Monday, January 11, 2010
Dearest Brethren in Christ,
Later today a series of meetings and discussions are to take place about the future of our parish Saint Thomas More. There has been much confusion, anger, and sorrow surrounding the issue of Rev. Charles Fanelli being transferred at the end of his six year term, on July 1st, 2010. Let me start out by saying this, while the diocese may not have given what we would consider adequate reasons for transferring Father Fanelli, they are well within their canonical rights to transfer any priest at the end of their six year term. The fact of the matter is, pastors leave, priest move, and we as a parish community have to accept this fact, and Father Fanelli was destined to leave or retire at some point just as we move from place to place and retire.
Regarding any feelings of sadness, anger, confusion, they are all justified feelings and no one disputes this. The way this transfer is happening is beyond comprehension, but we must respond with prayer and most of all dignity. We are members of one Church, and as a Church father once said “where the BISHOP is there is the Catholic Church” and we must be obedient to the decisions of our Vicar! At the meeting tonight at 7PM for the parish and 6PM for those on the Parish Council and Finance Committee, representatives of the Archbishop of Chicago, namely Bishop Garcia-Siller, vicariate V auxiliary, the dean of our area Father Conde, pastor of Christ the King, and one or more members of the priest placement board will be present. They are meeting with is to discus the future of our parish and what type of characteristics we want in a new pastor. It is probably more than appropriate to respectfully show support for Father Fanelli and to let them know that we as a community would like to see Father Fanelli remain for another six years, but be respectful and also let them know that if it is not possible for our current pastor to remain then we have some qualities in mind. This meeting is not a time to tell the Bishop that we feel persecuted or “picked on” or to be undignified because as I said before, priests are transferred and in addition we will only make the situation worse for Father Fanelli and for ourselves.
We as a parish have a golden opportunity to make the best out of this situation. This is a time of regeneration for our parish and any new pastor we get we MUST show him respect and honor for he is a vicar of Christ just as Father Fanelli and Father Brankin before him are vicars of Christ. Let is invoke our Blessed Mother for protection over all God’s holy priests and let us call on the Holy Spirit to guide us into the Light of Christ!
Be blessed!
Later today a series of meetings and discussions are to take place about the future of our parish Saint Thomas More. There has been much confusion, anger, and sorrow surrounding the issue of Rev. Charles Fanelli being transferred at the end of his six year term, on July 1st, 2010. Let me start out by saying this, while the diocese may not have given what we would consider adequate reasons for transferring Father Fanelli, they are well within their canonical rights to transfer any priest at the end of their six year term. The fact of the matter is, pastors leave, priest move, and we as a parish community have to accept this fact, and Father Fanelli was destined to leave or retire at some point just as we move from place to place and retire.
Regarding any feelings of sadness, anger, confusion, they are all justified feelings and no one disputes this. The way this transfer is happening is beyond comprehension, but we must respond with prayer and most of all dignity. We are members of one Church, and as a Church father once said “where the BISHOP is there is the Catholic Church” and we must be obedient to the decisions of our Vicar! At the meeting tonight at 7PM for the parish and 6PM for those on the Parish Council and Finance Committee, representatives of the Archbishop of Chicago, namely Bishop Garcia-Siller, vicariate V auxiliary, the dean of our area Father Conde, pastor of Christ the King, and one or more members of the priest placement board will be present. They are meeting with is to discus the future of our parish and what type of characteristics we want in a new pastor. It is probably more than appropriate to respectfully show support for Father Fanelli and to let them know that we as a community would like to see Father Fanelli remain for another six years, but be respectful and also let them know that if it is not possible for our current pastor to remain then we have some qualities in mind. This meeting is not a time to tell the Bishop that we feel persecuted or “picked on” or to be undignified because as I said before, priests are transferred and in addition we will only make the situation worse for Father Fanelli and for ourselves.
We as a parish have a golden opportunity to make the best out of this situation. This is a time of regeneration for our parish and any new pastor we get we MUST show him respect and honor for he is a vicar of Christ just as Father Fanelli and Father Brankin before him are vicars of Christ. Let is invoke our Blessed Mother for protection over all God’s holy priests and let us call on the Holy Spirit to guide us into the Light of Christ!
Be blessed!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Categories
- Bible (1)
- Catholic teaching (2)
- Church (1)
- evangelization (1)
- Father Fanelli (1)
- Parish (1)
- Pastor (1)
- Tommy More (1)