All of us have a story that is unique. As people of faith, we believe that each of our life experiences reveal God's personal, unique and unrepeatable love, almost always in a messy, complicated manner. After resisting it for my first years as a priest, I have come to believe that we learn the lessons of faith best through real-life stories. For better or worse, God has blessed me with many special experiences, both from my ten years of traveling the world during my education and my more than ten years as a priest. I do not share all of them when I preach, but only those that I think give us reasons for hope and joy in this vale of tears. To be honest, I do get tired of talking about myself sometimes. My siblings might find that hard to believe.
One of the great consolations of my ministry as a priest has been having the opportunity to hear about the lives of my parishioners, especially of shut-in parishioners who have reached fullness of years. Unfortunately, due to the wide range of ordinary parish responsibilities, my academic work, a major building project, and the time necessary to become acquainted with parish and school staff, I have not had anything like the time necessary to listen to your stories.
When discussing my frustration on this score with Kelly Scher, Saint Paul's Development (and really communication Director), we decided that it would be a good idea to combine coffee, which is among my favorite things in life, and more intimate conversation with parishioners. At Saint Paul, these coffees with the pastor will be after the 10am Masses on April 14 (t-z), 28 (p-s), May 19 (l-o) , June 9 (h-k), 23 (e-g) and 30 (a-d) in the narthex. At Holy Family, they will be April 13 (p-z), May 18 (h-o), and July 6 (a-g) in the rectory. I hope that each of these coffees draws between 15 and 25 people.
While I expect to be here in Grant County for at least a decade, I do not want to waste any more time in getting this process into full gear.