Praying for Theives and a Positive Response- Father Kevin Louis's Bulletin Column - January 14, 2007
On Monday of this week I leave for the week-long Pastors National Development Congress in Phoenix, Arizona. Every January since 1987 the national development firm Richard Garrigan and Associates of Omaha, Nebraska, has conducted this workshop that is specifically designed for Catholic priests who are pastors. According to its promotional materials, “the Congress is dedicated to providing practical concepts of development for Catholic parishes. Emphasizing the spiritual nature of parish life, the Congress is designed for priests seeking new directions in visioning, planning, marketing and funding parish and educational ministries.” The goal of the Congress, then, is to give us pastors the background, training and experience to help us effectively to lead our parishes through the important issues related to development: advancing stewardship, strategic planning, sacrificial giving, endowment, capital campaigns, public relations, and planned giving. I look forward to participating in this Congress and acquiring some additional practical knowledge and skills that will help me to be a better Pastor to you!
At the conclusion of this Congress I will fly to
Angela Salscheider, the reporter from WSAW-TV Channel 7 who interviewed me about the theft of the Baby Jesus from our outdoor manger scene, was genuinely disturbed that someone would commit such a crime. That has been the common reaction as people have spoken with me about it. Although, of course, in the grand scheme of things, it is not such a big deal. After all, we have family members and friends, for example, who are in harm’s way in
Saint Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD) noted that God, “because He is supremely good, would never allow any evil whatsoever to exist in His works if He were not so all-powerful and good as to cause good to emerge from evil itself” (Enchiridion, 3, 11). One of our parishioners, fourth-grader Natalie Jakusz, daughter of Bob and Angie Jakusz, was really troubled that someone stole Jesus from our nativity scene. She went home from Mass that weekend, holed herself up in her room for several hours, and began making earrings. You see the plan she had hatched was to sell these homemade earrings at church and then donate all the proceeds towards purchasing a replacement for the stolen statue. After Mass this past weekend, Natalie – with a smile even bigger than her usual beautiful grin – presented me with the $38.00 she made from the sale of her earrings in the Saint Faustina Room. Thank you, Natalie, for drawing good out of the evil of the theft. Thanks for being an excellent role model for all of us – instead of just complaining about an evil or a problem, you actually did something, and did something positive. “To such belongs the
Saint Peter, pray for us! Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us!