“You can’t start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading your last one.” ~ Unknown
Well, folks, this is it. Today is the Second Sunday of Easter: Divine Mercy Sunday. This is also the weekend that the Diocese of Gary will announce the assignment changes that will become effective July 1st. That, of course, includes us as I will be leaving June 30th, retiring after twenty-three years as your pastor.
Change is exciting. Change is scary. Change is a complex emotional rollercoaster. Change is, well, change. Out with the old, in with the new and all that stuff.
When people are confronted with change, they can become rigid and unaccepting. I encourage you not to do that. For one thing, there’s no way you’re getting out of the change, so go for it. Don’t dwell on the past and, in the process, hinder the new pastor from moving forward, perhaps in different directions than you have gone before.
While there has been nothing officially announced as of the transmission of this bulletin to the printer, I have been told that our parish will receive both a new pastor as well as an associate pastor. By the time you read this column, those names should have been released by the diocese and you can begin thinking about the opportunities that await you. Yes. That’s what I said. Opportunities.
While change can be scary or confusing or a hundred other emotions, change can also bring opportunity. Look to the direction that will be given the parish beginning July 1st and see where it can and will take you. We are always being called to become better versions of ourselves mentally, physically, and spiritually and becoming those better versions requires change.
Know that, while you are going through the processes of change here at the parish, I will be praying for you that the Lord give you a calming Spirit to accept all that will take place. Embrace the change with an open mind and open heart and trust in God.
That’s always the key, always the solution: trust in God.
When we trust in ourselves, we fail. When we trust in our plans, we stumble and fall. But when we trust in the Lord, He leads us through all things to a brighter future.
I will be going through my own change beginning July 1st. I have been a priest assigned to parishes, many with schools, for forty-three years. To walk away from all of that is, in one sense, a relief since I will not have administrative duties. Yet, on the other hand, it’s a bit disconcerting since I am a bit of a workaholic and change is, well, change. Let’s do this together.
FAITH ACTION: Pray that God gives you the grace to accept change and pray for the priests who are preparing to come to our parish July 1st.