State of the Parish Letter                                                                                                                      January 25, 2007

Greetings All.

As we end January and move into Lent, I want to give you some updates and feedback about the life of our parish community.  I no longer consider myself a “newbie”, after seven months with you as your pastor.  Know that I am grateful for the welcome and trust you have given me.  It is a pleasure being here and I give thanks to God daily for the privilege of being a priest and for serving in this parish.  I remain inspired so often by the example of many of our parishioners and by the vitality of the parish as a whole.

Our Pastoral Council has been undertaking the process of a comprehensive evaluation of all our parish ministries and activities.  During the Fall we contacted each of our ministry leaders to determine what is working, what needs adjustment, and overall the effectiveness of the ministry.  With only a few exceptions they have found the ministries functioning well and effectively—thanks to the dedication of many of you!  The Pastoral Council is expanding that evaluation process to look at the 5 major areas of parish life:  Education, Worship, Community Outreach, Administration/Facilities, and Community Building.  All of this will aid us in planning for the future and assuring our parish will remain faithful to the mission we have as a Catholic community.

The Administrative Council continues to provide excellent and skillful direction for the good stewardship of our resources.  As you remember this Fall we did our annual Offertory Drive and asked for pledges for the consistent financial support of the parish.  Response has been good with our weekly collections consistently meeting our budgeted goal.  Thank You!  As promised, we have eliminated all of the other parish fundraisers and are using the offertory to support all our ministries.  Your generosity has allowed us to go ahead with the purchase of the modular building currently housing our Community Outreach, which we have leased for the past three years.  The council has also completed a careful assessment of ways of reducing the sun glare through our church windows and will be proceeding with a window tinting process in the next few weeks.  We have also received bids on completing the elevator and if all continues to go well financially will be tackling that this summer.  Additionally, your generous response to the “Building a Legacy” fund gets us very close to retiring our debt on the church!  We are making plans to do a mortgage burning in conjunction with our International Festival this spring.  Again, your continued and consistent generosity is needed and if all continues, we will be able to pull this off. 

Our school continues to be a wonderful source of education, character building, and evangelization.  This fall they went through the accreditation process and received a very positive assessment.  Currently our efforts are directed to assure the long-term financial stability of the school.  My experience over the nearly 25 years I have pastored has shown a consistent need in our Catholic schools to walk the delicate balance between providing a wonderful education that is affordable to all, and being prudent in the financial and resource management to assure the school can continue into the future. 

Finally, on a more personal note, some of you know that we sold the house the parish has owned for the past six years over on 173rd avenue and have purchased a home right down the driveway from the parish.  This allows me to be more present to the many activities of the parish and to pastor more effectively.  (My first 5 months here I logged 2,200 miles on my bike just going back and forth between the house and the parish).  This works much better for me and my ability to serve the parish community!

I am confident and excited about the future of Holy Trinity parish.  May this upcoming season of Lent be a time of renewal for us as individuals and as a parish.  Our mission statement describes well our purpose:  “We, the people of Holy Trinity Parish, guided by the Holy Spirit and following the example of Jesus, will actively serve others with hospitality and be an evangelizing community to our brothers and sisters, and so promote the Reign of God and the Body of Christ.”

Blessings.

Fr. Dave

Saturday: 5:30 pm
Sunday: 8:00 am, 9:30 am, 11:15 am
T, Th, Fr: 8:15 main the chapel
W: 8:45 am school mass in the church

Holy Days: 9:00 am, 7:00 pm

Reconciliation
saturday: 4-5 pm