ANNIVERSARY OF THE DEDICATION OF THE CHURCH
23 FEBRUARY 2020
King
David had wanted to build a beautiful temple to the Lord. But, through his prophet Nathan, God told him
that his son Solomon would build the temple.
The first reading from the second Book of Chronicles describes the
dedication ceremony of the temple built by Solomon. Solomon pulls out all of the stops, has a
grand procession into the Temple with wonderful music, and fills the Temple
with clouds of incense.
We can
identify with these details, because that is exactly what we did three years
ago when Bishop Rhoades dedicated our new church. Today, we give thanks to God for all the
sacrifices made by so many parishioners to make our beautiful new church a
reality. We also pay attention to a
particular detail in the center aisle.
The second to the last Covenant represents the promise that God made to
David. Although his son would build the
physical temple, God would raise up from David a descendant who would form his
people into a spiritual temple.
Simon Peter
points to the fulfillment of that promise in today’s Gospel. He identifies Jesus as the promised
Messiah. In return for his statement of
faith, Jesus makes Simon the rock upon whom he builds his Church. Another image pictures Peter holding the keys
of the kingdom on the Triumphal Arch.
Saint Paul
reminds us that we are that temple. We
are the Body of Christ, built on the foundation laid by Peter and the other
Apostles. As a parish, we have adopted
stewardship as a way of living our identity as Christ’s Body. During the past few years, we have not wholly
emphasized the importance of stewardship of sacrificial giving. We have put
more energy into stewardship of prayer and service; because we wanted to make
it clear that stewardship is not only about money. In addition, much of our focus regarding a
commitment to financial giving has been on the capital campaign. But, regular sacrificial giving is an
integral third leg of the three-legged stool of stewardship as a way of life.
In an effort to be as transparent as possible, we have been careful to publish
the financial needs of the parish, which have grown with new facilities and new
programs. We now have a unique
opportunity to “sprint to the finish” to conclude the Behold, I Make All Things New capital campaign. Once the entire
expansion project of our facilities is fully funded, we can better direct our
focus on funding the needs of the parish which truly fulfill our mission of
renewing all things in Christ.
You would expect me to say all of
these things. For that reason, I have
invited Bill Doyle, a normal parishioner with the same first name, to talk
about his family’s commitment to sacrificial giving. I invite you to read carefully the materials
we have provided for you. Please pick up
your packet in the Parish Life Center after Mass. Please reflect on his talk as you prayerfully
consider your commitment to stewardship of sacrificial giving for the next
year. All of us will be invited at all
the Masses next weekend to renew our commitment.
Thanks Father Bill …
I was honored when Fr. Bill and Betsy Quinn asked if I would
offer a brief reflection on our support of St Pius. My wife Mary Lynn and I and our 4 daughters have
been parishioners here at St Pius since 2006.
We love the parish, and it is a central part of our lives.
We are truly blessed to be part of this community, and are
happy to be involved in it in many different ways. That involvement also means supporting the
parish with our financial gifts.
As we raised our children and made financial decisions for
our family, I always tried to manage our gifts to all our charitable interests
alongside the education of our girls and our fundamental commitment to the
parish.
For me and Mary Lynn St Pius receives the largest share of
our gifts every year. That includes both
our monthly gifts to the parish and our gifts made over the years for parish
building campaigns. We are proud of that support, and whenever we
walk into the church I am filled with awe at the gift that God has given us to
be part of St Pius.
We support the parish because we know that everything we
have is a gift from God and we are called to share those gifts generously with
others. As one of my favorite prayers – the Prayer of St. Francis – tells us – “It
is in giving that we receive.“
I love that our parish ministries extend into the community,
and I love that we have so many programs offered within the parish. From our support of St. Adalbert to St
Vincent DePaul, from our youth programs to our music ministry, from Baptisms to
Funerals, and everything in between, St Pius is here to help nurture the faith
lives of our families in every way. I
want to be sure the parish has the resources to always be able to do all of that,
and to do it well. I trust our parish
staff and our parish leadership across all our ministries – and I know that
they strive always to make great use of all our gifts to fulfill the mission of
our parish – to renew all things in Christ.
We make our gifts to the parish through electronic giving
each month. We are making the decision
to support St Pius as a key part of our overall family financial plan – and not
just randomly week by week or month by month.
For us that has been important – our support is intentional and we
manage the amount we give very specifically.
If you are already supporting the parish, and almost two
thirds of you are – thank you. I hope you
might prayerfully consider the level of your support, and if now might be a
time to consider increasing it. If you
have not yet been supportive of the parish, I hope you might consider now as a
time to become a contributing member of the parish, at whatever level could be
right for you. Every gift matters, as
every gift builds up the faith community of St Pius.
We are thankful to God that we are part of the St Pius
community, and thankful to Him that we are able to support the parish. May God continue to bless this special
parish community, and may He bless each of our families within it.
Thank you …
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