Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Dear Parishioners,
On March 3rd we will be having our second leadership training day. One of the main goals of the strategic plan that was written by the Parish Council a couple years ago was that new leaders needed to be raised up in our church. In August, we had a day long training session that was presented by senior parish leaders. The day was well received, and some fruit has come from the effort. Some participants have stepped up to take on new responsibilities in our parish.
There were presentations on the theology and history of lay ministry in the Catholic church. Participants took part in exercises to build leadership skills. The story of various lay leaders in the history of Sacred Heart was also presented. We have had many fine lay leaders throughout our long history. From the very beginning people have stepped up when called to lead ministry initiatives at Sacred Heart. Without lay leadership our parish would not be where it is today.
What we now need is for a new generation of leaders to come forward. This will be key to whether Sacred Heart remains a vibrant community or not. We need input from young people. We need leaders for the various constituencies in our very diverse parish so that we can meet a wide variety of needs.
If you feel like you might want to be a leader at Sacred Heart you are invited to the session on March 3rd. It is only eight hours, but one day could change your life. You may become a stronger disciple of Jesus. If you are interested in attending, call Denise Maynard at 309-762-3227.
Jesus needs you!
Blessings,
Fr. Mark
P.S. I like to remind people every so often that hospitals are not good at recording religious affiliation. They are also not very good at noting who belongs to what parish. If you are in the hospital or know someone who is in the hospital, please call us otherwise we cannot visit them. We have had very few people reported as being in the hospital the last few weeks. This seems strange since it is cold and flu season. Fr. Matthew and I cannot visit if we are unaware of someone’s sickness. Please call us.
P.P.S. We have had a recent meeting with the company that will be upgrading the sound system in the church. The main speaker has finally been made and shipped. We hope to finally have the work completed in a couple of weeks. Hopefully, there will be a noticeable difference in the quality of sound and everyone will be able to understand readers, preachers and others better in church. This is one of the main complaints we receive about our worship space.