Putting in the final work for TIF, for now

Hello! I hope everyone’s had a wonderful spring so far.

The Together in Faith planning committee is winding down its work before summer goes full force. This past Thursday, the group met to discuss how we would go about making the final recommendations. Taking a close look at finances, ministries and activities at SS. Peter and Paul, and the other parishes in our planning group (St. Aloysius, St. Patrick, Our Lady of the Rosary), has better prepared to make suggestions about where our parishes should go from here.

As an example, some of the questions we’re being asked to respond to: What are some best practices that should be duplicated? What recommendations could be made about future mergers? We’ll look at all the data we’ve analyzed over the past few months and submit our answers, which will then all be compiled. Then, they go to the big man in charge, the Archbishop, for him and his people to analyze and get back to us.

So, we ask that you continue to keep the committee in your prayers for the next few weeks as we make our final recommendations. There’s still a lot of work to do.

-Kristin Lukowski, parish council member, Together in Faith committee member

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Together in Faith meetings back in session

Hello! Things have been quiet over these past few weeks as the parish got back to normal from Lent and Easter. As we move through the Easter season, meetings and other activities are picking up again.

This Thursday was our first Together in Faith meeting in a month, and we’re starting to work on the “final recommendations” we’ll be putting together for the archbishop. This past week, we discussed the finances is our parish group (SS. Peter and Paul, St. Aloysius, St. Patrick, Our Lady of the Rosary), including where parishes get their money from (fundraising, grants, collections). We also discussed evangelization efforts at the parishes, youth and young adult activities, and other ministries.

The Together in Faith committees only meet three more times before the final recommendations are made, so we have a lot of work yet to do. In the next few weeks, we’ll be looking at important parish activities, best practices, and condition of existing buildings. As always, we ask you keep the planning group in your prayers.

-Kristin Lukowski, Together in Faith committee member, parish council member

Jesuits in the news

Happy Easter! It’s been a busy couple of weeks, but I hope your Easter season continues to be blessed.

I came across this news story about Jesuits: Fewer Jesuit priests this Easter, but more people learning Jesuit ideals. Here’s a snippet:

The trend of fewer priests isn’t unique to the Washington region or to the Jesuits. The number of Catholic priests in the United States has been falling for decades.

But even as the Jesuits brace for near-extinction in this part of the world, their ideals are spreading.

The lack of new priests, they say, must be part of God’s vision for lay people. So rather than mourn, the Jesuits have been busy building an elaborate system for passing along their beliefs and unique meditative rituals, imaginative prayer known as the “spiritual exercises.”

Share your thoughts.

-Kristin Lukowski