Homily for the Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B
Exodus 16.2-4, 12-15 Psalm 78 Ephesians 4.17, 20-24 John 6.24-35
Each year, I like to give an update on the life and ministries of the parish – something of a State of the Parish report. Most of the time, the report falls around the time of our patronal feast day, the Feast of Our Lady of Perpetual Help on June 27. But because of our parish-sponsored pilgrimage this past summer, the State of the Parish report has been left until now. And because there are so many exciting things and major projects going on in our parish, I am going to divide the report into two parts. This week, I’d like to give you an update on the Legacy for our Mission Capital Campaign and our capital projects, and next week I plan to give an update on our parish ministries and organizations. It is important for all of us to know the plan and vision of our parish, how we live as members of the Body of Christ in this particular local community. The community is the heart of our spiritual lives, and it always has been – from the community of Israelites who grumbled and complained to Moses about their lack of food to the crowd gathered around Jesus who wanted to know what they could do to accomplish the works of God. More on how we can build a loving, faithful, and prayerful community will come in next week’s update on our parish ministries. But first, the more practical, tangible update on our parish facilities.
Two-and-a-half years ago, our launched our parish portion of the Legacy for Our Mission Capital Campaign. This campaign has been conducted in all 150 parishes of the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. After deducting campaign expenses and one year’s worth of the United Catholic Appeal, all contributions to the campaign are split 50/50 between the parish and the Archdiocese. As of June 30, 2009, our parishioners have pledged $1,178,384 for the campaign and we had received $796,767 in cash toward those pledges, or 67% of the total pledged amount. Most pledges were scheduled to be paid over a three-year period, and we have one year left – so we are right on track. Here in our parish, we have had several smaller projects that have been funded by the Capital Campaign. Over the past two years, we have upgraded Wagner Hall, the church basement, and its kitchen; we have purchased new computers for the school and parish office; we have installed a new sound system here in church; the bells in our bell tower have been repaired; and, most recently, the skylights here in church that had been leaking for many years have been replaced. These projects have all been important and needed upgrades to our facilities. Now, however, we are ready to proceed with what has probably been the most anticipated construction project funded by the capital campaign.
In just a few weeks, construction will begin on the installation of a handicapped-accessible restroom on the main level of the church, upgrades to the church narthex or gathering area, and replacement of the interior and exterior doors at the three entrances to the church. Since our church was built in 1966, one of its main downfalls has been the lack of a restroom on this level or easy access to the restrooms in the basement. Right now, the only way to get to the restrooms is to go down the stairs off of the narthex or to use the outside ramp on the west side of the building. Having a restroom on this level is a convenience, certainly, but it is also a matter of hospitality and welcome. The new restroom will be completely handicapped-accessible and will be constructed in the area that is now the cry room. At the same time, we will be adding ventilation ducts to the narthex so that it can be air conditioned, which it is not now, and the doors between the narthex and the main part of the church will be replaced with glass doors. This will allow the entire narthex to be used by parents of young children if they need a place to walk with their child or take them when they are crying. But with these upgrades, people in the narthex will be able to participate more directly in the Mass. We will also be replacing all of the exterior doors at the three main entrances of the church. These doors are original to the building and have been in need of replacement for some time. The doors are not weather tight, so air and rain can come through them easily, and the locking mechanisms on many of the doors are difficult to use. They will be replaced with a similar style of door but ones which will help us save on heating and air-conditioning costs and will be more secure. But there's more.
While the construction in the narthex and at the entrances is being done, we will also be installing our new Baptismal Font here in the sanctuary. You may recall that almost a year ago we received an anonymous donation for the specific purpose on a new baptismal font. Our parishioner Ray Day designed the font, and our architect from Luckett and Farley took Ray’s design and made it build-able. The font will be located here in the sanctuary, in the same place as the current font, and will be in the shape of a cross made out of marble, some of which will come from pieces of the former communion rail. There will be an upper font for the baptism of infants and a lower font that can be used for the baptism of adults. There is also a designated area in the font to hold the Holy Oils that are used in various sacraments. Because of the size and shape of the font, we were going to need to rework some of the steps into the sanctuary and some of the flooring as well. So we decided to take this opportunity to redo the entire sanctuary floor. Some of the steps will be reconfigured, especially here by the ambo, to make walking around the ambo and font safer – you can already see the lines of the new steps marked on the floor. We will also be replacing the carpeting with a hardwood floor that will bring added durability and ease of care to the sanctuary as well as a more polished look to the area. The sanctuary upgrades and new flooring are being paid for by a portion of an estate that the parish received last year. Half of this estate was placed into our school endowment, and the rest was made available for future needs of the parish. Even after this project is completed, we will still have money left from this estate for future needs.
It is important to know that all of these projects are being funded by what we call designated gifts – the restroom, narthex, and doors are being paid for by the capital campaign, which asked for donations for these specific purposes. The baptismal font and sanctuary area are being paid for by a private donation and an estate. We are not using any of our regular operating funds or money from regular weekly collections for these projects – the money we receive on a weekly basis is used for our parish ministries and the regular, ongoing needs of our parish. Also, at a time when our economy is still trying to recover from a recession, we are blessed to be able to put money back into the economy, giving work to many people, including parishioners, whose businesses have been struggling in the recession. At the same time, through your generosity, we are able to award more need-based financial aid to school families this year than we ever have in the past, mainly through the success of the Kingdom Builders Tuition Assistance Program. Our St. Vincent de Paul Society, Soup Kitchens, and other Christian Service ministries continue to be active in reaching out to our community. And our ministries continue to flourish and to bring disciples to Christ. There is much good news to share about our parish ministries – but more on that next week.
In the church narthex and by the music area here at the front of the church, you can see drawings of both the baptismal font and the new restroom. Construction for both of these projects is scheduled to begin in the next few weeks. During the time of construction, we will continue to have our Saturday evening and Sunday morning Masses here in the church, but all Masses during the week and other events scheduled for the church or Wagner Hall during the week will be moved to other locations – a full list of locations will be in the bulletin and on the parish website.
Finally, one announcement that is not related to any of our facilities or capital projects. A few months ago, I announced that Fr. Matthew Joy Choorapanthiyil would be living here at our parish priests’ residence three days a week while he served as part-time chaplain at Providence High School. The rest of the week, Fr. Matthew would be the administrator of three parishes in Perry County, Indiana. Since that announcement was made, we have been blessed to have a new priest move into our Archdiocese from New Hampshire in order to be closer to family. Archbishop Daniel has assigned this new priest to the three parishes in Perry County. So that means that Fr. Matthew has been freed up to be full-time chaplain at Providence High School with residence here at OLPH full time as well. He will be at Providence Monday through Friday each week. On the weekends, he will be helping out with Masses in parts of our deanery where priests have multiple parishes and also with the Indian Catholic community in Louisville. He will also occasionally be available to fill in for Masses here when I am away. Fr. Matthew will be moving in next week, and we look forward to welcoming him to our parish community.
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