Dear Parishioners,

You’ve likely heard the friars speak recently about upcoming changes to the structure of the order across the U.S. After being asked by several parishioners, I thought I would give everyone an update of what is happening. A campaign regarding revitalization and restructuring is ongoing, with Franciscans from all six American provinces discussing ways to create new energy within Franciscan life in the U.S., as well as modifications to the governing structures for the Order of Friars Minor here.

While the number of religious is growing in Asia and Africa, it is dropping in Europe and in the U.S. Provinces that once were comprised of more than a thousand are now down to only a few hundred. Restructuring may allow more of the money generously donated to the Franciscans by the people of God to be dedicated to our works. For instance, there are savings which can be gained by combining vocation offices, accounting offices, communication offices, etc.

Last week, Henry, Zack and myself attended a gathering in Kansas City, MO for the Franciscan friars throughout the United States aged 65 and younger. Holy Name Province, which covers the majority of the east coast, including our parish, was one of the six provinces present at the meetings. The gathering was a blessing, and served as a chance for us to reconnect with or meet new friars from other provinces.

This process actually began in 2018, when the provinces of St. Barbara, Holy Name, Our Lady of Guadalupe, St. John the Baptist, Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and Sacred Heart gathered in their respective extraordinary chapters and voted on whether or not to petition the Minister General and the General Definitory to allow these six provinces to form a new, singular province. All six provinces voted yes. Since then, each of the provinces have worked towards this revitalization and restructuring goal. Franciscan vocation and formation teams have been working interprovincially for years, standing as a model of how the different provinces can work together.

Last week’s gathering and meetings allows us to shape what we hope the new province will look like. The friars today are much more diverse in race, culture, language, and in many other ways. We need a province that will reflect that diversity. A prevailing result of the meetings over the last four years has been the friars excitement about this new opportunity to come together as one. It is an opportunity to renew and revitalize our Franciscan charism and our fraternal life together.

From most people’s perspective on the outside, not much will change. Many of the same parishes will be staffed by many of the same friars. For us friars, there will be a much richer variety of possible ministry opportunities available. A young man may want to serve in a California mission, or with migrants on the southern border, or in one of our colleges and universities, or in different parish settings, or with different language groups, or in direct service to the poor, or some mixture of these ministries during his life. No longer will he be restricted to those ministries available only in the area of the country served by his current province.

In May, the name for this new U.S. OFM province was announced as Our Lady of Guadalupe Province. The name reflects St. Francis of Assisi’s devotion to the blessed mother and represents the patron saints of the Americas. Many of our ministries here at Sacred Heart already celebrate this important feast day. Our liturgy committee decided even before the naming of the new province that the parish would celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe this December. In the past we have had special celebrations of this feast day, but they were one of many aspects of our parish life that was paused during the pandemic. I hope everyone will come join us in December as we reintegrate this parish tradition with new meaning and significance to our order.

Also recently announced was the location for the new provincialate (headquarters). Atlanta, GA was chosen for ease of access and weather. The new provincial office will also look to expand its ministry in the Atlanta metro area where much of the administration will soon be located.

The Chapter of Unity, the gathering where the six provinces will become one, will be held in Kansas City in October 2023.

Peace and all good,
Fr. Mike

Dear parishioners,

The Saints of God, the Lord be with you!

Today’s first reading from the book of Genesis (18:1-10) recounts the story of Abraham and Sarah giving hospitality to three strangers. In the ancient world, the gift of hospitality was
the norm, not the exception.

On reading this story, I couldn’t help but gaze on one of my favorite icons by the 15th century Russian master Andrei Rublev, who depicts this scene as Three divine beings, pictured as angels, seated around a table. At the head of the table to the left, is God the Father, in the center, the Son, and to the right the Holy Spirit, with the wings of all three forming an open circle, which may symbolize spiritual unity, peace, and mutual love.

What’s interesting is that the circle is not closed, but open, and some art historians suggest that the small rectangle on the side of the table facing the viewer may have held a mirror, thus making the viewer part of the scene. This first reading, as well as the Rublev icon, pairs well with today’s well known Gospel reading (Lk 10:38-42) of Martha and Mary, offering hospitality to Jesus.

Martha takes on the burden of doing all the serving, while Mary sits at the feet of Jesus listening to Him speak. Despite the protestations of Martha, Jesus will not require Mary to leave her place and help her sister since, “Mary has chosen the better part.”

I don’t know about you, but often I come to Mass burdened with my own personal struggles, family issues, ministerial demands, or worrisome world and national issues facing all of us. The worst thing I can do is to feel so overwhelmed that I begin to skip my morning private prayer, the friar’s communal morning and evening prayer, or the celebration of the Eucharist. I’ve discovered that when most burdened by whatever, the Lord kindly offers me the opportunity to spend time in His presence.

Though my burdens don’t magically disappear, prayer seems to sanctify them, and they seem to lose some of their heaviness. By responding to the Lord’s invitation to spend time with Him, I am given renewed strength as well as the understanding that I am part of a holy community that will help carry what I cannot carry by myself.

As we celebrate this weekend’s liturgy, whether in person or via the live stream, let us remember that the God of holy hospitality invites us to come even with our burdens and sin. Let us remember that our encounter with Christ today can change us more and more into His image if we let Him. Then, to imitate that great open circle of holy hospitality in the Rublev icon, let us offer and invite someone to share and sit at our table to be refreshed, restored, and renewed.

Peace and all good,
Fr. Steve

Dear parishioners,

This week’s Gospel delivers a branched or layered look into the principles of our faith, wherein Jesus provides us with tenets through the Greatest Commandment, and backs it up through parable with the Good Samaritan. It’s so fitting that the law scholar approaching or questioning Jesus calls him “Teacher,” because that is exactly the way anyone in that selfless profession would approach their student. They would explain the necessary information, then work them through a hypothetical or real-world scenario in which they could apply the information they just learned.

It’s so simply applied, yet so poignant, to see Jesus readily act as a teacher. He provides the scholar the tools for which to achieve his end goal of salvation, but He does not go so far as to over explain or provide too much context. I’ve always admired how casual this scripture reading ends, as if He were to shrug His shoulders when telling the scholar, “Go and do likewise.” I’d half-expect that Luke left out the part where Jesus patted the scholar on the back, saying, “Go get ’em, kid!”

We have a very good opportunity within our parish community here at Sacred Heart to embody that line: “Go and do likewise.” Many of us on the staff are doing just that, taking the relative downtime of the summer months to prepare the parish for larger aspects of the liturgical and event calendars following the season’s conclusion, working to ensure you can join us in the “likewise.”

It’s no secret that so much of a Catholic parish’s calendar is dictated by the school calendars of their local area. This gives our Faith Formation staff the opportunity to plan their programs for the upcoming 2022/2023 catechetical year. Much of what they hope to accomplish with their students and catechumens is already ready to go. Registration for Family and Adult Faith Formation, sacramental preparation, and RCIA was made available recently through the parish website.

Event planning is working at a breakneck pace, with the addition of our new event coordinator. The staff is reinvigorating several events that were discontinued in the face of the pandemic, including “new parishioner welcome” meals, ministry fairs, volunteer appreciation luncheons, and new offerings, like “Theology on Tap.” An event planning committee is being reinvigorated as well. Those wishing to assist with events like our Fall Festival and Cookies with St. Nick, among others, will have the opportunity to reengage with the parish in this new group via monthly meetings starting in late August.

Our event and communications staff are working in concert to finalize details for parish listening sessions, alongside the friars and members of our parish advisory board. In a previous letter, I mentioned the need to provide a platform for parishioners to directly engage with our friars regarding long range plans and vision, and these sessions will provide that and more. Invitations for specific sessions will be released this month, with multiple sessions being hosted throughout August, culminating in an open session in late August and the launch of a parish-wide survey. We hope to have as much participation as possible in this endeavor.

Many ministries are also preparing their new offerings. A new women’s prayer group is being formed. A new racial justice committee has held their initial meeting, and are gathering a plan for programming as the friars continue to assist the implementation of a broader JPIC ministry within the parish. Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation being a principle tenet of the Franciscan charism, it will be great to see where this new group takes their ministry.

While this summary of our parish’s current objectives is just a small glance, I hope this is enough information for you, our parishioners, to “do likewise” alongside us.

Peace and all good,
Rob Boelke

By Rob Boelke, Manager of Communications

When introducing Fr. Casey Cole, OFM, and Fr. Tito Serrano, OFM, at the beginning of our parish mission this past Monday evening, I asked the pair of friars how the start of their ambitious tour was going, seeing as Tampa was just their second stop following the kickoff in Miami just days before. “There’s been a southern Florida cloud gently hovering over our  trip so far,” Fr. Casey stated. “Every part of our trip has had a little bit of ‘rain’ or a little bit of ‘slipping here, forgetting something there,’ but it has been great.”

Fast forward about 20 seconds, and he thought there was another cloud, as Fr. Tito’s microphone was fighting against him. Motioning to the congregation of more than 100 in attendance, Fr. Casey exclaimed, “we make plans and God laughs, and that’s what we are praying for.” Fr. Tito eventually figured things out (he forgot to turn it on) and thus began an evening of discourse that we rarely get to have in our parishes these days. One of openness and civil discourse, humility and humanity. I certainly hope their visit to Sacred Heart set a tone for their summer tour.

Watch the Full Mission Session Here:

Casey and Tito are on a pilgrimage more so than a tour, however. You’ll have seen in our advertisements over these last few months that the pair of young friars are visiting each and every Major League ballpark this summer, marrying ministry and their passion for the sport of baseball. When I asked where their passion for baseball emanates, Fr. Casey provided insight into this mission’s focus on evangelization in untraditional settings. “Who doesn’t love baseball? It gets in your bones…it brings people together. There is something spiritual about it, almost like a church. You have the fraternal aspect; you spend a lot of time sitting with your brothers in the dugout. For some, that may call it boring, but I call it quality time. The beauty of the stadiums attracts us as well. They are kind of like cathedrals, each slightly different, some ornate, some big, some beautiful. They are hubs for cities, and they house tradition. No other sport has the tradition that baseball does, rooted in something much bigger than yourself.”

“We are putting ourselves out there,” Fr. Tito mentioned as the discussion turned to the goals for their interactions at the stadiums. “We’re hoping people will approach us. You don’t go to a baseball game dressed like this (in their habits) unless you want that attention.” Fr. Casey interjected, “Oh, look the Padres are in town. You’ll get kids asking if it is Star Wars night. These (jokes) are pretty popular.” Tito continued, “You’ll get that look from people thinking, ‘Can I?’ (approach) and we say ‘Of course you can!’”

Fr. Casey then told us about one interaction in particular from their first game in Miami that exemplified their mission. “We were in the bathroom and a young guy, 19 years old, came up to us saying he wanted to talk to us, but not in here.” I remarked that I was glad the gentleman in question made such an important distinction, as the congregation laughed. Fr. Casey went on to explain that the man had really been struggling with his faith, with his parent’s faith and culture, and that he felt disconcerted. “He had some real questions for us, and he ended up hugging us after. It was great!”

Similar to the interactions they anticipate on having in each ballpark this summer, we had questions prepared for Casey and Tito, covering topics that face the modern Church, both specific to Sacred Heart and on an broader scale. We discussed how to grow alongside the population moving into our parish boundaries. We examined how to invite back our family or friends who have fallen away from the Church, and how to do so with dignity and respect for their experience. We talked about divisiveness, and how civil discourse and listening can help you connect with those who have a different worldview. And just like the encounter with the fan in Miami, it was great.

On behalf of the parish, I thank Fr. Casey and Fr. Tito for their time, honesty, and compassion during this visit, and I hope we see them again soon. And thank you to our parishioners who made the trip out to the church during a Monday evening rainstorm to join us.