Pastor’s Letter: June 11, 2023

Pastor’s Letter: June 11, 2023

9 Jun 2023 | Posted by: chadmin

The June 11 bulletin is available online.

Dear friend,

Fr. Daniel Dionesotes will officially begin his first priestly assignment at St. Philomena this Wednesday June 14, 2023 at noon. The Diocese of Peoria has the tradition of ordaining new priests the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. The new priests have a few weeks before an official assignment to vacation, see family, or attend ordinations of friends from seminary. The two most common questions of received in the last few weeks since Bishop Lou appointed Fr. Daniel to St. Philomena are: what is a Parochial Vicar and what will Father prefer to be called. Father informed me that he will prefer to go by Father Daniel in his priestly ministry. In Canon Law, the Parochial Vicar assists the role of the Pastor in all duties at the Parish. A few have asked if his assignment is more or less related to the school. This is an interesting question based on the title, but there are actually no limitations or distinctions for a Parochial Vicar to assist in the Pastor’s duties at a Parish. Receiving a Parochial Vicar will be a great assistance to me with the public ministry schedule as we will share the Mass schedule, but it will also allow Fr. Daniel to both learn from this community and use his gifts and talents in ways to expand our ministry. Essentially a Parochial Vicar can assist a Pastor with all the day-to-day operations of a Parish and School. I am deeply grateful to Bishop Lou for assigning Fr. Daniel to St. Philomena. I know Father will find a nice home and beautiful Parish Community at St. Philomena. I am hopeful you will join me in not only welcoming Fr. Daniel, but also in helping him adjust to priestly life and use his gifts and talents at the service of the Parish.

We do have a few summer projects on campus this summer. As part of the cleanup from the water damage from the sprinkler head that froze at Christmas in my office, the basement floor of the Parish Center is being replaced. Our insurance company was concerned about the possible development of mold under the floor over time. The floor will be the same type of athletic floor that was damaged. As you have likely noticed, we have completed the refinishing of the pews in church and are now working on the flooring. The vinyl was replaced in the two side sections a while ago. This past week, all the pews were removed in the middle-right pew section and the vinyl replaced. This next week the vinyl will be replaced under the middle-left pews. After the pews are fastened to the floor, the carpet in the church will be replaced. Thank you for your patience with this project. This summer we are installing a new intercom and phone system. This replacement will modernize all of our internal communications for staff. We are also in the process of updating our HVAC controllers and door fob controllers to improve our efficiency and have easier access with future updates. Have a great week.

God bless,

Father David