Parish meetings

Well, As a parish, we are going through some tough times. At first glance, it might look like we are in financial straits, but I think the difficulty goes much deeper. A couple of months ago, our fearless leader sent out a letter to all the families stating that we were no longer able to continue our high school tuition program. Up till now we have been paying all the parishioners' high school tuition with the expectation that they would contribute much of that back to the parish.

Anyway, we had the first of two meetings on this subject last night, and I went. There were two presentations, one by our building and renovation coordinator and the other was by the head of our finance committee. We have been talking about replacing a building lost in a fire several months ago, and the proposal included a couple of other additions to the campus. Couple that with a somewhat grim financial report, many people were quite upset. After nearly three hours of talking, questioning, reporting and (ahem) mudslinging, I had to leave. There's only so much a guy can take, you know? (BTW.. if someone made one more crack about the music, I dont know what I would have done.. lol)

It's hard to run an organization that tries to take care of hundreds of people. Chances are, any decision you make is going to piss off someone, and probably many people. I would not want to be in Deacon Ed's position. He is trying to do the best thing for the parish, the WHOLE parish. Not an easy task. I hope we can eventually "turn the corner" with this and really become a community, working together for everyone's good. For now, we are trying to address all the concerns and keep moving forward. May God help us.

Think about the future!

I had a rough couple of days recently. Not bad days per se, just really busy. We've had a lot of excitement around here with different events and services. Fr. Attila just got back from vacation as well, which adds to the excitement.

Yesterday, we hosted the diocesan Golden Jubilee mass. For those of you who dont know what that is, it's the celebration of wedding anniversaries for couples who have been together more than 50 years. It was quite impressive to see how many couple came (close to 600 people in total). Our choir put on a mini concert for those who came early, and we had a very nice celebration of love and commitment. The bishop presided, and came out towards the end of the service and recognized each couple by name and had them stand up. As they progressed - 50 - 55 - 60 - 61 - ... - 68, I was just amazed. What would it feel like to be with someone for 68 years of your life? I know I have no chance of ever reaching that as I would have to live to at least 102. As I looked at each couple standing up, I saw this glow in their eyes. Either it was because they were simply being recognized, or maybe it was because they were being recognized for something that has just become part of their life. I wonder when the time comes when you just cant think of doing anything else. Does it ever really cross their minds? Each couple just seemed to fit together, like they were MEANT to be there.



The other big event was a funeral we had this morning. Funerals always tend to get to me in one way or another. When the wife of the man who died called me, she had a dstinct quiver in her voice. I tried to be as calming as I could, assuring her that the family's wishes would be met in the best way I could make it happen. Last night was the memorial service. Hearing about the creativity and passion this man inspired was a blessing for me. He seemed like someone I would have enjoyed getting to know. That got me thinking even more about how I am going to be remembered some day. Are people going to cry when I'm not here? Are they going to remember my corny jokes and quick wit (as if I had any of that to begin with). Are they going to feel inspired by my life in the way this man's family and friends were inspired? I dont know. That makes me really want to make a difference in the world in some way. Or maybe just make a difference in my own family (some day) or church or community or city. Who knows?



All I know is, I have a lot of living to do, and I'm ready to get to it. Speaking of which... back to work.

New Music

Who knew writing a piece of music could be this intensive. I have writen many peices before, but this one I'm writing now is amazingly complex.

A while back, Fr. Attila and I sat down and discussed what we could do to make liturgy and prayer more interesting for our school kids. One of those ideas was to use one of the Eucharistic Prayers for children. We decided I was going to write a new musical setting for that prayer and teach it to everyone involved - musicians, choir, ALL the school kids, and Fr. Attila (who has no small part in this).

I sat down months ago to begin. Once I had all the chord progressions down with the melody and ALL the words, I sent it off to a man in the parish who does some arranging for us. I got the second draft of the arrangement back this weekend, and it is really looking neat. I am so excited, yet kinda worn out by this process. Going through and evaluating a peice of music is hard. I have so much respect for people who do this for a living.

Through the whole thing, though, I am very hopeful that the end result will be fantastic and help the kids to give praise even more energetically. I think this is why I am still excited about my job, too. I need a creative outlet and I have plenty of opportunity for that. I feel like I'm being led by a very creative spirit most of the time. When I'm not, it gets very heavy.

I look forward to more and more of these experiences.