More on Fr. Kurt
Please continue to join me in welcoming Fr. Kurt Boras to our Holy Family Community. You can learn more about Kurt by accessing my bulletin article from last week, August 23, on our website. Kurt will be a resident priest with us, meaning he will live here in the rectory and pray with us while presiding at some of our Masses and assist with other sacraments as his schedule permits, but his full-time responsibility will be as a Vicar for Priests for the Archdiocese of Chicago. I have known Kurt for 38 years as we are classmates, both ordained by Cardinal Bernardin in 1986 and went through the major seminary in Mundelein together.
As a Vicar for Priests, Fr. Kurt will be a support for all of the priests of the Archdiocese. He will travel to parishes and have major responsibilities beyond Holy Family. I was a resident at St. John of the Cross in Western Springs while assuming my full-time duties as one of the Vocation Directors for the Archdiocese from 1987-1995. Like I felt during those years of my priesthood, Kurt will treasure being connected with us in the celebration of the sacraments and in a very limited way beyond, but please remember his primary responsibility lies with the larger Archdiocese. This distinguishes him from a full-time Associate Pastor.
More on Expanded Re-Opening
Thank you to so many of you for your understanding and consideration for the new protocols and procedures as we continue on a path to offer all of the sacraments, but particularly weekend Masses to more of you. I know it is foreign to us but the registration system is still the best way to manage the attendance, not only for the gathering itself but, God forbid, should anyone be exposed to the virus and not know it, the registration system would help greatly in the contact tracing efforts to identify those exposed.
If you register for Mass and cannot attend, please be considerate of others and cancel your reservation, enabling others to attend. Remember, you can register for Mass by simply calling the Main Office and Debbie will take your registration. The online process continues to be very efficient as well. Just a reminder, as you see the presiders removing their masks periodically and musicians and cantors not wearing them during Mass, it is because they are a significant distance away from the congregation, thus allowing extra safe distancing.
We are in need of additional Ushers and Greeters to expand our Mass offerings both in size and number. Greeters must be pleasant, kind and welcoming. Ushers must be able to escort parishioners and visitors into the church so the ability to be mobile is required.
More on the Gospel
Discipleship is growing in importance these days as an example of how to live our faith. Many more books on parish life and parish mission statements include an emphasis on being disciples. We are reading from and hearing from the Gospel of Matthew at Mass this liturgical year and discipleship is one of the major themes of that Gospel, so its impact is timely now.
Discipleship has its ups and downs and when Jesus calls the early followers to discipleship, sometimes it seems almost impossible to do what he asks them, and us, to do. If we listen carefully we hear very lofty requirements for the title Disciple.
In last week’s Gospel passage from Matthew, Peter was praised for being open to the divine revelation regarding the deepest identity of Jesus, prompting praise and a name change. This week we hear Jesus telling Peter he is equivalent to Satan and an obstacle because he is not thinking in a divine manner.
In the classic triple statement that is so often repeated in the scriptures, Matthew tells us that the Jesus’ requirements for discipleship are: denying one’s self, picking up the cross, and following Jesus.
This is so significant for the Gospel of Matthew and for us that I would like to start a series of articles in this space expanding on the various recent Gospel passages and how they invite us into discipleship. Look for them the next few weeks.