Pastor’s Letter: September 8, 2024

Pastor’s Letter: September 8, 2024

6 Sep 2024 | Posted by: chadmin

Dear  St. Philomena Parish Family,

Blessings to you all this day! I hope everyone enjoyed a great Labor Day. We would often joke on the farm that Labor Day was a day that kept us free to do extra work around the farm! =) While this Labor Day was pretty light in terms of workload, my folks and I did get a chance to do a few odds and ends and enjoy the day together. I think often of the lessons learned in our family setting: working hard, doing our best quality work, being aware of what others need and how we can help them, just to name a few. Another lesson that stands out is how often working together brings joy and lightens the load. Whether it was baling hay or a construction project, we would often gather a work crew of family and neighbors to accomplish the task at hand…and of course enjoy a nice meal together when the work was finished!

Labor Day weekend also signals the kick off for football season (everyone keeps asking what kind of football updates I’ll be sharing!), and I am thinking back to my first season as chaplain for Illinois Football—2007 when the team won several big games (including against #1 undefeated Ohio State in Columbus) and ended up playing in the Rose Bowl Jan 1, 2008. There were many great players on that team, including several who went on to pro careers in the NFL. There were also many role players, including a number of guys who mostly never saw the field, who played a critical role in practice, helping to strengthen the starting players. I remember a coach once talking with a player who was an undersized lineman. That player would often get roughed up during practice, but always showed up and gave his best effort. The coach pulled him aside to thank him for all he had done to help the team be successful. The player was surprised, but the coach emphasized how his involvement and hard work helped push the other players to be better.

As we come up on our Annual Diocesan Appeal weekend, we have a wonderful opportunity as a parish family to come together in service for our Diocese and all the people of Central Illinois. We might be tempted to think our contribution won’t make that much difference or that there are others who can do more. Similarly to the farm workers and sports teams, the secret to a successful appeal for our parish is that everyone does their best and joins together. We are doing some amazing work in this parish to help hearts grow closer to Christ! The fruits of our school and parish ministries are very evident within the walls of our building and in our area. Yet, it is also true that there are more people to reach outside our walls. Our ADA contributions help make that outreach possible. Our contributions help strengthen the outreach of our Diocese in places that don’t have the strong foundation we have here. We are investing in the future of our Diocese and we are working together to do our part to support the work of helping grow disciples of Jesus Christ.

As always, any funds raised above our parish goal are returned to the parish. Thanks to your generosity, our parish last year exceeded the goal and has been receiving rebate checks from the Diocese which we have been using to assist school students who need financial aid (so far a little more than $8,000). That is, the investment our parish family made in our Diocese last year is yielding fruit right back here for our school students. Our parish goal this year is $129,352…a bit higher than last year’s $128,402. Know that every gift is important, and that each gift is going to support the work of evangelization, both for our Diocese and our parish. I have only been pastor here a short while, but have already come to know our parish as welcoming, generous, prayerful, and willing to do what is needed for the good of others. Know of my thanks for all those who support our Annual Diocesan Appeal and that I send you all my blessing this day!

In Christ,

Father Luke