Pastor’s Letter & August 2 Bulletin

Pastor’s Letter & August 2 Bulletin

31 Jul 2020 | Posted by: chadmin

The August 2 bulletin is available online. 

July 29, 2020

Dear friends,

This past week, our new Coadjutor Bishop, Louis Tylka was ordained a Bishop at St. Mary’s Cathedral. I was blessed to be present at St. Peter’s in Rome when John Paul II ordained several Bishops. It’s truly a beautiful liturgy. The use of oil to consecrate the Bishop, the calling of the Holy Spirit to place the indelible mark and guide the Bishop, and the use of the Gospel Book to invite the truth of Jesus Christ to the Bishop’s ministry are all elements of the liturgy that symbolically represent what we believe our Bishops are entrusted to do for our Church. A Coadjutor Bishop will automatically become the Bishop of a Diocese when the current Bishop retires. Bishop Jenky, as with all Bishops, is required to submit his resignation when he reaches the age of 75, about a year and half from now. Until Bishop Jenky retires, Bishop Tylka will serve the Diocese of Peoria with a role similar to the Vicar General, who assists the ordinary Bishop in the day-to-day operation of the Diocese. The goal of the Coadjutor position is to allow some time for the new Bishop to learn the Diocese and settle into Diocese governance, before having full authority of daily operation. A few weeks ago, Bishop Tylka joined the Junior Clergy on retreat in Springfield. We had some question and answer time with him as well as some social time. While it is difficult to begin the goodbye process to Bishop Jenky, there is some excitement for the priests to begin knowing the Bishop that will guide our Diocese for many years to come. Please pray for Bishop Tylka as he begins this new service to our Local Church. Bishop Tylka took the motto, “Go Make Disciples.” May this motto be not only a service to our future Ordinary, but also an invitation to each of us, as we continue our walk of faith.

We continue our plans to reopen school in August. The last two weeks, we held two First Communion Masses for our 2^nd graders from last year. It was a true blessing to witness the joy in our children receiving Holy Communion, and a reminder how much I miss seeing the kids. Our school is a wonderful environment of learning, that helps guide the kids to a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ and one another. As we develop all the protocols to keep our students and teachers healthy and safe, please continue to pray for commonsensical approaches to our communal service of our kids. We recently learned that IESA has canceled fall sports. The Diocese of Peoria and St. Philomena are also moving forward with an abundance of caution while seeking to provide our children with a healthy learning environment. Everything is a balancing act! Almost all extracurricular and communal activities are limited at this time. In the spring, we had to cancel a planned 75^th anniversary party of St. Philomena Parish. We are hoping to incorporate this theme into the St. Philomena School Auction this year. With the limitations on numbers, we are organizing a school auction in November that will be a combination of a smaller group for in-person dining in the Parish Center, with an online element to include as many parishioners as possible. Special thanks to all those that are working creatively to organize a School Auction that we meet some of our fundraising needs while facing the challenges of the current pandemic. More details will come soon as to how you can help us support and grow our school. It truly takes a team to think through how to best support our school and celebrate our community. As with all things nowadays, we will do our best and hope that our communal support will maintain our love of God and one another.

God bless,

Father David