Easter Is All Around Us

Dear Parishioners,

Happy Easter! Christ is risen! Alleluia! Alleluia! It is possible because Christ first suffered, died, and rose from the dead, making possible eternal life for us all. This process of suffering, death, and resurrection is also called the Paschal Mystery in theological terms. If we look about, it is all around us.

First, look at nature. Winter is officially ended (though maybe someone needs to remind Mother Nature), and from the places where dead plants and leaves once were, the first shoots of flowers are peaking through the soil and buds are clearly seen on the trees.

Look at our new church being built. This journey for our parish is not one simply of human hands, but of prayers, and most of all God’s blessing.  Despite our doubts and disbelief, God has made it possible.  But, we all had to make the journey of suffering, death, and resurrection: suffering in the sacrifice of financial giving to make a new church a reality, death to the old building as it was being demolished, and now we are experiencing the resurrection clearly seen by gazing at the bright yellow shell of a new building coming out of the ground.

Most importantly, look at our lives. All of us have come to us this Easter bearing the burdens of many sufferings and deaths. Loved ones have died since we were here last year. Close friends have moved away or we moved away. Some marriages have been struggling, or worse, broken apart. A new sickness or physical issue has made itself present. The faith of someone who is close has been shaken or abandoned. Again, all of us have come with suffering and death.  But, remember that this is not the end of the story. We must remember that our sufferings and deaths can be redemptive if we join the to that of Christ’s. As much as these things hurt, we must bring them to Him! How? Let him know of your pain. Just tell him. But, also listen and be open. Allow Jesus to touch that pain, so to begin the healing. Let Jesus into the death that has occurred so you can rise from your ashes. We must remember that our Lord desires to heal us. It is for this reason he came. He wants to give us a joy that is beyond our understanding and circumstances. We just need to let him in. By doing so, we can experience an Easter of our own, not despite our sufferings and deaths, but through them.

If you have been away from your Faith and the Church due to some kind of suffering, please return.  Know that our Lord has not abandoned you, but wants you to share your sufferings with him. He knows all of it. He walked that path before you. And he opened the way to rise above it. But, it requires letting go of control, anger, hurt, resentment, addiction, unforgiveness, fear, and past sins. The Sacrament of Reconciliation (aka Confession) is a good start. Regardless of what has kept you away, know that you are welcome to come home to your Church, your Faith, your Lord who is waiting for you with open arms.  If you’ve been away for so long that you are unsure how to return, we have a wonderful gathering that begins this Tuesday at 6:30 PM in room 1 of our Parish Center.  We call it, “Welcome Home Catholics,” and it is an informal way to explore the things that you may have forgotten or just need to be encouraged about. This Easter, come home.  Do not let anything get in your way. This may very well be the beginning of a new start of joy and meaning by reconnecting with your Faith.

Easter is all around us. It is in nature, our church, and deep in our lives.  A new beginning is before us. Through Christ’s suffering, death, and resurrection, new possibilities of life and joy abound. Easter is a time to rejoice in this gift of Salvation. So it is right and just that we lift up our hearts and voices in praise, knowing that Christ has made all things new.  And we know that God wants us all to experience it, for Easter is all around us. Alleluia! Alleluia!

Blessings,

Fr. William Holtzinger
Pastor

Church Building Now Empty

Dear Parishioners,

This past week has been an important yet emotional step in our journey to our new church building. Thank you to all the many people who came this past week to help prepare our church by preserving all the items that are important to us while also removing the items that needed to be thrown away or given away for other noble purposes. 

While Tuesday was our official day for the “Church Clean Out Work Day,” we had many people come on Monday to help us get ahead in this needed task. On this following Monday (June 26), the church building will be off limits to all as asbestos abatement begins. It is scheduled to last for two weeks.  At the time this posting went live, we have a demolition date for July 10th. I don't know what time this will be, but keep your eyes peeled to our parish Facebook and Twitter feeds for the latest. 

In addition to preparing the church building for demolition, we have settled into a routine for daily Mass. If you come to daily Mass, each parishioner needs to immediately take notice that they will be responsible for placing a host in the paten to be brought forward at the Preparation of the Gifts.  This is one benefits of no longer having two entrances and two sides to our gathering space. Now, we can more easily fulfill the Church’s guidelines that tell us that the hosts to be brought forward should only be the ones needed for the community at that Mass. As for Sunday celebrations, our sacristans will continue to get rough counts of those who have come for Mass and make sure the number of hosts is appropriate. In addition, we continue to have a reserved number of hosts for the sick in our Tabernacle so that our Homebound Ministers can bring Christ to the sick.

As always, please keep this courageous and faith-filled enterprise in your prayers.  And, again, thank you to all who gave of their time and talent this past week to help prepare the church for asbestos abatement.

Blessings,

Fr. William Holtzinger
Pastor

Honoring Our Past, Part 4

Dear Parishioners,

Another way to honor our past, is to simply share your memories of events in the current church as well as those when we were located on 7th Street. I have loved hearing how things were built, rebuilt, renovated, fixed, etc. I love to hear about the various ministries, movements, and events that have taken place here at St. Anne in the past.  I know some basics about how the Charismatic Renewal took root in our parish, how our youth program hosted a national gathering of REACH youth ministers, how the school was created and fostered, the difficulties encountered with unexpected underground springs during the construction of the extra wing for the school, how funds were raised in the “Two-by-Two” capital campaign for the Parish Center and how it was built, and the colorful stories of our former priests and on and on. If you have any photos you would like to share, it would be wonderful to make a collage for people to see.

Conceptual Elevation Rendering of St. Anne, July 31, 1956

A few weeks ago, I went looking through our collection of old drawings and plans that dated just before 1960.  What I found was quite surprising.  Below are two renderings of a potential church building and campus that was dated to July 31, 1956.  It is a mission style structure with a very ambitious master plan including classrooms for a school, a rectory, and convent. Clearly, Fr. Kelly had some big ideas for the future.  I wonder if anyone today was ever shown these drawings and if so, I wonder if they are still alive today.  Let me know if you ever saw this plan before, as I would be curious to hear why it was scrapped. 

Master Plan renderings of conceptual new church, July 31, 1956

While this plan never moved beyond conceptual drawings, it reminds me of the myriad of conceptual drawings our current Core Building Committee reviewed from S & B James Construction.  In the end, as with our current plan, dreams had to come down to reality and something more modest was chosen, something that was affordable and functional.

Blessings,

Fr. William Holtzinger
Pastor

Honoring Our Past, Part 2

Dear Parishioners,

I previously wrote in this column about some of our past with regards to standing on the shoulders of giants such as Fr. Kelly and Madeline Grimes.  I also shared history about some of the remodeling that had been done in our current church.  Without our past, we would have no orientation about our present or future.  Yet, at the same time, if we stay in the past, we run the risk of being paralyzed into doing nothing about the needs of the present or future.  This time around, I would like to focus on one individual whom I had the privilege to speak to at length regarding the history of our parish, Bob Busch.

St. Anne Floor Plan ca. 1960

As I asked Bob some questions about the history and changes that have happened and the remodeling that has taken place in our church, he jokingly shared, “We’ve remodeled that church a hundred times.”  As you might remember, I have shared that in the process of analyzing the current church building, the first thing that was noted was that the stress on the roof was great due to the sheer weight of the ceramic tiles. What I didn’t know, but Bob shared, was that he personally delivered all those red tiles from Portland to Grants Pass and assisted in installing them. He shared that they were incredibly heavy, and the work to put them on the roof was difficult. He reminisced about how the original building had no wood anywhere, just cinder block and steel.  After Fr. Kelly moved on, his successor, Fr. Singleton, hired an architect to bring some beauty into the church, thus the steel ribs in the ceiling were covered in redwood paneling and the back of the sanctuary was ribbed with oak paneling.  One can still see the remnants of the wood from the sanctuary just above the walkway entrance behind the sanctuary.  Also, (this one is mostly for us men), did you know that the door to the men’s bathroom had to be custom made, for the doorway was smaller than a standard doorway? Bob also shared with me that the parish had two altars installed at the present church, one out front, which is the one we see today, and another one behind (located behind our current work sacristy behind the previously mentioned walkway. It was raised up to make a high altar which could be seen through sliding glass doors.  Daily Mass was originally offered in there with the congregation located in what is now the Reconciliation Chapel.  In those days, he reported, few attended daily Mass.

Stay tuned for some more tidbits and treasures of our past in a coming bulletin.

Blessings,

Fr. William Holtzinger
Pastor

Honoring Our Past Pt. 1

Dear Parishioners,

This past week, I received a great question via Facebook about our “Honoring Our Past ~ Building Our Future” capital campaign.  The question was framed by recognizing how we have been putting a lot of energy in describing the future building, but what about honoring the past?  This parishioner offered this question with the spirit that continues to show our faith, hope, and love for our Lord and the due respect that our forbears deserve.  Thank you for the important question.

First of all, it is reasonable that we spend so much focus on the future at this juncture, lest we fail due to paralysis about the past.  With everything, there is a season and time.  That being said, I’d like to honor our past and encourage us all to do the same in our own particular ways.

Honoring our past begins with recognizing that we are standing on the shoulders of those who went before us and some who are still here today. In my time, I think of Madeline Grimes who was our liturgy coordinator for so many years and who passed on 2013.  She shared with me many stories about the parish’s previous church on C street and Fr. Kelly and the priests who came after. She brought up several times the events of our past as well as the desire to “fix” the church. She told me about the gatherings about remodeling our current church, the plans that were drawn up in 1994 which moved the pews into a sweeping fan around the altar (a viable option), and the unfortunate yelling, arguing, and lack of charity that the project brought out.  Hey!  With the good comes some bad at times. The result was a retrofit of the sanctuary which we gratefully have today. Did you know that the Ambo where the Scriptures are proclaimed was constructed by cutting the main alter shorter and using that piece for the vertical support of the Ambo?  Notice, today, the top of the altar (aka mesa) is the same green marble as the vertical part of the Ambo?  Give yourself a pat on the back if you already knew that. I’m just so grateful that the three years our Core Building Committee met to pray, think, and plan for a new church were so life-giving, diverse with ideas and discussion, and thankfully without any divisive fireworks. Our Core building Committee revisited the plans of 1994 and discerned that the community would prefer a more traditional than modern approach to the new church.

In the coming weeks, I will offer more thoughts and history of our parish and how we can be honor our past while also building our future.

Blessings,

Fr. William Holtzinger
Pastor

New Church Building Update

Dear Parishioners,

Once again, as a manner of transparency and high communications, I would simply like to give you an update to our new church building project.  Here’s a brief history.

 After determining needs and wants over the course of several years, myself along with the Core Building Committee along with the Administrative Council called upon S & B James of White City to draw several plans for a new church which included site plans. The idea of simply remodeling the current building was reflected upon, but continually introduced more problems than it solved.  So, a new building has always been our focus. We did a feasibility study in view of the plan we felt was the best solution to answer almost all concerns brought forward. But, it soon became clear that our dreams when compared to our fundraising potential didn’t match.  So, we concluded that, knowing our potential for fundraising, we would then have S & B James draw up a new plan that would come within our financial reach.  Such a drawing would cut out some of the items we dreamed about, but would focus on the one main goal of this whole project: a better liturgical space worthy of the Sacred Liturgy which had all the pews in one direction. 

Thus, a very rough drawing of a basic rectangular building meeting our basic needs has been draw.  As a rough draft we will soon be reflecting more deeply on this drawing before we bring it before the parish community.  

The Archdiocesan Building Commission will need to weigh in and give approval of our plan and fundraising efforts. Assuming all goes well with the process of finalizing a suitable drawing, we will then seek out a professional company to help with a capital campaign which would likely happen in the Fall.  Assuming that goes well, we would then seek out bids from construction companies, choose the one construction company that fit our criterion, and ground breaking could occur late Winter or early Spring.  During the building phase of this project, we expect to hold Mass in our Parish Center. It will be tight, but we can fit. Personally, I am very curious to see how that experience bonds us together more as a community. 

Again, this is the latest information regarding the building project.  I have no intention of rushing any of this so all suggested drawings and time frames are subject to change.  I have not called together our Core Building Committee for review of the new rough drawing, but will do so when S & B James is ready to discuss the ideas together.  

So, I ask that you all continue to keep this project in your prayers.  We want to do this right and with prudence.  Some people are antsy to get this going while others are very cautious.  I understand both of those points of view, as I have held both, jugging them in my mind many times.  I pray that this project, however it goes, will be a grace-filled time where we grow together as a parish in our journey towards our Lord.

Blessings,

Fr. William Holtzinger
Pastor

A Year of Gratefulness

Dear Parishioners,

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! With all the bad news in the world that covers our headlines, it is important not just to be nostalgic, but to once again, root ourselves in those things that are truly good, beautiful, and true (cf. Philippians 4:7- 9). For in these things are true joy and peace. For in these things we encounter the Good News who is Jesus Christ.

This year, for me, I look back and I am thankful for the work of all our pastoral ministers who have tirelessly worked in the vineyard with equally passionate volunteers. Events such as Joe’s Camp to Summer Bible School to the events surrounding Our Lady of Guadalupe show how much God had been working in the lives of our people. For a second year in a row, those who entered the Church through the Easter Vigil celebration, made up a group so large that the room where their classes where held was moved to a much larger one in the Parish Center. This year our sacristan crew (those who help prepare for Mass), more than tripled in size! I am so humbled to see their selfless dedication to this important task each week.

I am grateful that the Lord has blessed our school with a large increase in students which has allowed us to spread the Good News to more children and their families. The school community continued to grow in vibrancy. I am also so grateful for our wonderful teaching and administrative staff at the school. The sense of camaraderie and morale is inspiring.

I am excited about the work and direction our Core Building Committee who have taken a year to explore all the options for a new church building. Please note that I did not say renovation. In the course of our explorations, it turned out not be a significant cost difference to rebuild versus renovate the existing structure. So, early on after making that decision, we explored almost every location and arrangement of a proposed new church. In the Spring, we will have a feasibility study done in order to determine what financial potential there is in this project. I am so pleased with the discernment that has been so seriously undertaken in this task. I believe you will love what will come out of it all.

Finally, I am so very thankful for all the people who have newly come to worship here at St. Anne’s. They have helped us have new people helping with ministries. They have brought fresh eyes and ears to help us with our mission. I hope that we continue to be that church where Jesus is prophetically preached, hearts are healed, and the Mass becomes ever-more the center of our faith, for it is there that we encounter the sacrificed and risen Lord, Jesus Christ. In all, there is much for which to be grateful. May all these things give glory to God!

May God bless you all!

Fr. William Holtzinger
Pastor