Pastor’s Letter: September 18, 2022

Pastor’s Letter: September 18, 2022

16 Sep 2022 | Posted by: chadmin

The September 18 bulletin is now available online. 

Dear friend,

The Diocese of Peoria launched the Annual Diocesan Appeal for 2022. As opposed to previous years with the pledge card in the pew at Mass, the Diocese mailed pledge cards to each registered family. Bishop Lou hopes this method will ease some of the pressure of running the appeal on the local parishes. The Diocesan Goal this year is $6.3 million with $123,773 being the goal for St. Philomena Parish. The Diocesan Appeal seeks to fund the ordinary operation of the Diocese and programs particular to the Bishop. As the pledge cards were mailed to your home we will use the bulletin and weekly emails to reach out to you for participation.

In his April Easter Letter, Bishop Lou articulated his 5 Foundations to his Episcopacy in the Peoria Diocese. You can read the letter here: thecatholicpost.com/2022/04/17/  The Bishop has included these 5 Foundations: Evangelization, Eucharist, Discipleship, Vocations, and Archbishop Fulton Sheen in the Annual Diocesan Appeal.  Videos were created to illustrate these Five Foundations along with a direct message from Bishop Lou:  cdop.org/offices/development-stewardship/ada/. Please prayerfully consider a pledge and donation to help St. Philomena Parish fulfill our goal to the Annual Diocesan Appeal for 2022.

The Gospel this weekend contains one of the common themes of the Gospel: Stewardship. Christian stewardship is based on the belief that all creation, including all of our individual gifts and talents, is a direct creative gift from God. God has made us stewards of His divine gifts. The notion of Christian judgement is simply an assessment by God of how well we used those gifts. Jesus said “the person who is trustworthy in very small matters is also trustworthy in great ones.” Of course this is true about the opposite as well. If we lie about little things, we will be tempted to lie about big things. Essentially Jesus calls us to be consistent and authentic in using our gifts for the good. Jesus also said the lamp of the body is the eye, if the eye is dark then everything in us would be dark. The eye represents what we choose to let in, what we choose to think about and decide.  Jesus wants us to be all in with our goodness. Our thoughts, words, actions all begin with the inner self that must be authentically bound to Christ. The person who joins the soul to Christ makes decisions as a good steward of God’s gifts to serve Him faithfully without faltering. May the Lord give us consistently good hearts.

We held our initial RCIA class last Tuesday for those desiring to receive sacraments in the Church. If you or someone you know would like to be baptized, confirmed or receive Eucharist, feel most welcome to join us Tuesday nights at 6:30pm in the Banquet Room. You can email the parish office at parish@stphils.com for more information.

God bless,

Father David