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Rooted in Faith ~ Forward in Hope

Sharing the Sacrifice, the Burden, and the Mission

This Fr. Gerry Creedon homily was delivered at St. Charles on June 15, 2003

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY! Don't do all of the work around the house today. I would also like to extend a Happy Father's Day to Father Mendez. This week I am recognized for 35 years in the priesthood, but he is on his 43rd year in ministry. How come he doesn't have any gray hair? I think it is because he doesn't have the burden of fundraising!

I am here today not only to wish you a Happy Father's Day but also to complete the weekend of commitment to the Rooted in Faith ~ Forward in Hope Capital Campaign. The good news is that this is an end of IF we achieve our goal! You will help me achieve our goal today.

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I looked out the window yesterday morning I couldn't believe what I saw, my oldest sister Therese walking in for 9:00 AM Mass. I discovered that 2 sisters and 2 brothers had arrived to celebrate my anniversary. It has me thinking about family. When my father died, my mother used to knock on his office door and say, "no more Santa". My father was like St Nicholas, not only at Christmas time but also throughout the year. He was a generous man. Like all parents who are kind to their kids, my family learned to be generous and to share. There were 14 of us in 6 bedrooms. We shared beds, books, shirts and especially socks.

Church and family have much in common. We call God "Father, Son, Spirit." God isn't an isolated individual sitting alone in his lonely, golden throne in the heavens. God is interaction and relationship. The spirit is given to us so that we might share the dynamism of God's life as a family that interacts, shares faith, prayer and our substance, even mundane things like money.

You are not here as an isolated collection of individuals, each in her own chair. We sit in pews together to rub elbows and to share. I now invite the fundraisers to come forward and share pledge cards with you. There are pencils in your pews.

We have raised $1.8 million from just 379 households and there are over 2,000 registered families. That means that 15% of our parish families helped us reach 80% of our goal. The average gift is $78 a month a day, 2.56 a day for 5 years.

We have volunteers who have been working for months to reach out personally to all of you. They have been calling you, meeting you at church, and knocking at your door. We wanted to get the word out in person; however, we have not been able to reach all of you. This weekend we take the opportunity to reach out to all of our worshipers, the registered and unregistered. This is not a parish of elites where a few wealthy people take care of the business for everyone. Not at all. We are ALL called to participate.

The purpose of this campaign is to complete our community center. It is on target for a November opening. It will provide an opportunity to bring all of our diverse community together. This campaign reaches out to the larger church. There are plans for building a community shelter through Catholic Charities, endowment for catholic schools, a residence for aging priests and finally a retreat center.

Some of you said you are not giving because you disagree with the bishop, but wait a minute; do you refuse the mail because you don't like the mailman? If you don't like me, give because of Fr. Mendez and if you don't like either of us, give because of Sister Benedict. Better still do it for God! Let's remove all of the obstacles to participation.

Let me show you what to do. There's a box on this card for everybody. We are on the 10-yard line with 80% and we want to move the ball to the end line. What will move us? First there is a place for your name, address and phone number. Our records don't keep up with the mobility of the parish.

The scale on the back shows what you can give by spreading payments out over time. For example, $100 a month yields a $6,000 contribution and $50 a month gives you a commitment of $3,000. I signed on for $100 a month. You might say easy for me because I don't have any kids. Well, it could pay for two golf games a month!

Mark one of the boxes. Say yes and make a pledge. Some people have been generous and made pledges of up to $50,000. I asked someone to consider $25,000 and he said he was giving $30,000! This is wonderful, but not everyone is gifted with those resources. The widow's mite, said Jesus, is as important as a millionaire's $100,000. Participation at whatever level is what we need. Say yes.

If you have already made a pledge, write in Amen. If you are still not sure because something is happening in your life and you want more time to pray about it, just mark it and we will get back to you. Some people have been praying for three months and now is the time for prayer to be turned into action. Some people like to pray a lot. We prefer for you to make a decision and let us know and then we won't bother you. If you are going through a financial crisis and don't want to be bothered by anyone that is fine. However, we would prefer to reserve the NO Box for visitors from Ireland or from Queen of Peace, who have already made their pledge there!

Put in your total 5-year gift. We will give you monthly reminders through the mail. We ask you not to make pledges to Rooted in Faith ~ Forward in Hope through the offertory.

Why are we doing all of this? We are a family. We want to do the work of the Lord together. We want to share equally the sacrifice, the burden, and the mission.

Now two of our volunteers who have been working for us for months Mimi Fitzgerald and Monica Craven, will collect the cards. They have done a fantastic job and a lot of work. I hope to God that next Sunday I can celebrate my anniversary by preaching about other things than money, such as peace and justice! You'll help me if you have filled out a pledge.

Some people haven't written anything yet; they are reluctant to use the pencil. We have to make an act of faith. Hope and pray they I don't have to go back to the bishop and say we are the only parish in the diocese that did not make our goal. I hope I'll be able to go back in a couple weeks to say we reached our goal. That would be wonderful.

Our Parish Treasurer and Chairman of the Finance Committee, Charlie Sullivan, is here and he knows that if we are not successful in this effort, we are going to have pay off a loan and cut back on our programs. We do not want to do that. We want to go on tithing and supporting all of our ministries. Help us out.

This is a marvelous parish and Fr. Mendez and I are delighted that the bishop has given us at least another year of service with you. You have been generous and I know that this weekend we will complete this goal and get on with the work of the church's ministry.

  or  2003 Homilies