From the pastor’s desk—Aug. 22, 2021
In a little less than one month, on Sunday September 19th, we will have a unique and important event in the life of Sacred Heart Parish as we transition into life with a new pastor. On this date at 10:45am we will hold our first Town Hall event. This bi-lingual event will be open to all parishioners and will be held in our parish hall (following social distancing guidelines.)
The Town Hall will be an opportunity to speak to three questions meant to aid myself, our staff, and our parish council how to best serve the needs of our parish. It will not be a time for questions and answers, a debate, or presenting any set agenda of a future vision for the parish. It will be a time simply for us to respectfully listen to one another’s responses and experiences. All responses will be translated into both Spanish or English and recorded so that the parish leadership may be able to refer back to the points brought up in their future planning.
The three questions for the Town Hall are simply: What does Sacred Heart Parish do well? What are your dreams for our parish? and What could we do better? It is our hope and expectation that any response will reflect the values of our Christian faith and we will not use it to judge or condemn specific individuals. As such, it is best that we will refer to actions, not people by name.
We understand in our current situation with the Coronavirus pandemic that some parishioners may not be comfortable to participate in a large gathering of people, and for that reason, if you would like to respond to these questions in writing and submit them to our parish office, you are welcome to do so.
This bi-lingual style event is meant to remind us that we are one parish and for those who may think two languages is too confusing or complicated, I would share that the last one of these I assisted with was in 3 languages and we were pleasantly surprised how smoothly it went. I look forward to hearing your experiences, dreams, and ideas and if you have any further questions, feel free to contact me in our parish office.
All for Jesus with Mary,
Fr. Ray Smith, Parochial Administrator