Dear Parishioners,

On July 22-23 we will be hosting two seminarians of the diocese here in our parishes. The idea is that these seminaries get to know different parts of the diocese. They will be speaking after all the masses. We are also planning a special event on Saturday, July 22 at 10 a.m. at St. Mary’s. The seminarians will be sharing some of their vocation story and offer a short reflection on Eucharistic Adoration. Soon we will be inaugurating our new adoration chapel and the seminarian’s reflections on the Eucharistic Adoration will help us understand more about Eucharistic Adoration. Please come to this special event and meet the seminarians. A light lunch will be served afterward.

 

We had an All Parish Finance Council meeting on June 28. I encourage you to take a look at the minutes of the meeting which are posted online and at the parishes. There were several reports presented. The fiscal year ended June 30 so in the next few months we will be compiling an annual parish report that will be available to the parishes some time in September.

Of special note, I have compiled and presented to the Finance Council a document entitled Consolidating and Downsizing. This document is included in this bulletin (linked at the bottom) on the next page. I encourage you to take a look at this document. It is a reality check for us in South Stevens County and meant to get a discussion going in regards to the future viability of our parishes.

The question for our parishes is: Should we or can we maintain 4 locations (churches) given the present and foreseeable future demographics and limited resources? In the fall I plan to have open sessions to continue a discussion on this topic.