Palm Sunday of the Passion of The Lord
Dear Parishioners,
A major initiative for Moline, Coal Valley, and Orion parishes and for Seton School will be taking place in April and May. The Steier Group will be conducting a feasibility study for our area. This announcement has been made before, but the time draws nearer.
Each institution is considering capital improvements to their facilities. The work being contemplated is not superfluous, but represents much needed renovations, repairs and some new space. People may ask why we need to look at such capital improvements. Others might say there are other ministerial needs. We are kind of looking at the chicken or the egg question. You cannot initiate new ministries if the windows are falling out of buildings or the furnace does not work or if there is not enough space. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, churches and schools do have capital needs. If we could operate without buildings, it would be something that I might like. I could spend my time preaching and teaching the gospel. I would have to do it in the open air which might be faithful to Jesus’ example, but that is not the way the modern church operates. I doubt if I would draw a crowd on a cold March day. Even Mother Teresa had to worry about buildings and property as she served the poorest of the poor. Her worries about leaking roofs and cramped space kept her up at night.
The parishes and Seton school have pressing needs. That has become very apparent as we have worked together on this study. At Sacred Heart we would like to explain the study and present information. All the questions we are dealing with have not been answered. We have done a lot of work and there is much to do. In the interest of transparency, we would like to have some informational meetings on April 10th and 11th at Culemans Hall at 7 p.m. Members or our facilities committee and of our Development Committee will make brief presentations on the planning we have done. These are open meetings and I would encourage anyone who is interested to come and participate. This could be an important moment for the church in our area. Please mark your calendar for one of these two nights. Each night will present the same information.
No decisions have been made yet. The Steier study with its interviews, questionnaires and analysis will let us know what the opinions of local Catholics are. These meetings will provide more input. Let’s pray that the Holy Spirit will guide our efforts as we look to the future of our local church.
Blessings,
Fr. Mark
P.S. Today we begin Holy Week by celebrating Passion Sunday. The Holy Week liturgies are inspirational. I encourage everyone to come to the Mass of the Lord’s Supper Thursday, the celebration of the Lord’s Passion Friday and the Easter Vigil on Saturday. We begin Holy Week with a Reconciliation Service this Monday night at 7 p.m. If you have not celebrated this sacrament in Lent, this is a chance to do so. We also will have confessions before and after the Stations of the Cross on Wednesday until all have had a chance to receive the Sacrament. There will be no scheduled confessions during the celebration of the Triduum on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.