St. Gertrude Catholic Parish

So the days dwindle down to a precious few ¦ Joe Swearingen goes off to God. The summer solstice comes as Joe goes. The longest day. Our longing (what a strange word for such a plangent feeling) for summer and what it brings. All of this is the background white noise for our entrance into the glory and the warmth. Your parish is gearing up her welcome for the new pastor. Next week he will have the Masses in Church. The official installation as pastor will take place in the fall. He is raring to go!Fr. Paul Clifford was buried last Tuesday from St. Ignatius. Many remember him as a lovely pastor, a great counselor, and a pillar of strength at Loyola Academy. He had a wonderful send-off at our neighbor church.

Fr. David Pavlik will take over as pastor of St. Ita come July 1. He is coming from St. Roman Church (23rd and Washtenaw) and was a long time seminary professor.

Fr. Jim Barrett will be the new pastor at St. Margaret Mary. He too will begin on July 1. Our own Fr. Dom Grassi has been administrator there for the past four months.

Fr. Jeremy Thomas was made pastor of St. Jerome about a year ago and Fr. Dominic Ha has been pastor at St. Henry for 3 or 4 years. So the local parishes have really had a fresh start. Opportunities for cooperation and planning are rife. I hope that someone calls the laity together to see what new horizons might be explored.

There are many areas in the archdiocese which are affected by this big change of July 1. It was a gamble for the human resource departments to make such a personnel revolution. I was hoping that there was more of a plan and more consultation about the needs of the people, but I pray that this start will give some local planning a jump start. God knows we have a great deal of talent around here. I’m saving my final words for next week’s bulletin.

WK

Filed under: Dear Saint Gertrude