New Beginnings

Dear Parishioners,

Our New Priest

This past week we said goodbye to Fr. Paschal. He was a real gift to our community and we wish him all the best in his new assignment at St. Philip Benizi Church. With the departure of Fr. Paschal, we were looking at a situation without a replacement. As providence would have it, a priest from Fr. Paschal’s diocese became free of his other duties while working in Salem and is joining us. So, we welcome Fr. Patrick Nwokeogu (pronounced Woe-kay-oh-goo) to our community of faith. I am sure you will give him our typical warm welcome and come to love him, as he is a very friendly man.

If you are a Techie-type, you can find him active on Facebook. Prior to coming to us, he completed a year of chaplaincy education (aka. Clinical Pastoral Education) in Salem. His love has been for hospital work which will be a great fit for us with all the sick visits that are needed. He’s been a priest for 14 years and a pastor several times. Being here in the United States only two years, however, is a serious cultural shift. So. we will be learning while on the job here. I am proud to say that we are a good place for a new or foreign priests to “learn the ropes.”

Parish Picnic

On a different note, I want to thank the Knights of Columbus for their work to do the heavy lifting...cooking for last week’s Parish Picnic. It is a good feeling to know that the men of our parish can come together to serve their parish community. Thank you also to those who helped out with games, set up, and take down. Thank God the weather was very cooperative. From what I understand this year’s picnic was a little scaled down from previous years. Personally, the games are good and other activities are fun, but I just thoroughly enjoyed just being with all of you. In my Listening Sessions when I arrived a year ago, I heard many times from parishioners that they would simply like to have more opportunities to get together for fun and fellowship. I think that was a mis- sion accomplished this last weekend. Thank you all!!!!

Beginning of School and Ministries

Our parish school began last week and others are about to begin. Our various ministries are also gearing up for the season. If you have grade school aged children, please make an effort to enroll them in our Children’s Faith Formation Program. For teens, our middle school, high school, and confirmation programs are getting ready to begin too. With our new liturgy schedule, we will be able to offer Adult Faith Formation classes as well. Beginning Sept. 12th, I will be starting a monthly presentation called, Catholicism 101. The first topic will be about Catholicism and Sci- ence. Keep your eyes peeled to the bulletin for information about all these potential faith formation opportunities coming your way.

Blessings,

Fr. William Holtzinger

Pastor

With Fr. Paschal's Leaving Comes Questions

Dear Parishioners,

Last week while on vacation I received news that our expected new parochial Vicar, Fr. Dominic, has yet to go his embassy to complete whatever is needed to travel to the U. S. At this point the Archdiocese feels that he won’t be here anytime soon. The Archbishop was willing to allow Fr. Paschal to stay with us for an extended period of time, but not more than two months. That time will run out at the end of this month. So, Fr. Paschal will move and go to Redland at the end of August. No priest will be coming to take his place. That means we will have me (full time) and Fr. Fister (half time) for our three parishes.

How does this effect our churches? Luckily, our new liturgy schedule will allow us two to cover all the Masses on the week- end. However, we will need to be prepared to have a communion service once in a while if no priest is available. Our weekday schedule, however will be having regular communion services, likely on Monday and Tuesday. Pastoral ministry such as communion visits or anointing will not be as readily available since I will be the only priest at the parish on a daily basis. We may have to seek out the Vicariate priests if the funeral schedule gets too busy to accommodate. Simply put, less priests means less availability compared to what the community has been accustomed.

It is unknown when Fr. Dominic will arrive. But, until he does, we must all work together to fill in gaps or help others know that there is a priest shortage and we can’t be everywhere all the time. We will simply have to think smarter not harder.

Fr. Paschal has been a wonderful blessing to us all. We have been very blessed to have had so many priests serve our community. It is truly a blessing that it has taken this long for us to also feel the impact.

What can you do? I believer that praying for more vocations is a real constructive thing to do. We need to promote the priesthood in our families. Being patient with me, Father, and the other priests you know who regularly cope with the demands that can’t always be met. And finally, be open to the Holy Spirit who may be calling you to help out in a ministry to which you’ve been reticent to involve yourself. We need to work together now more than ever... and that is a blessing for the life of any community.

God is good and his plans are for greatness. I look forward to this next chapter of our faith adventure. No fear. Just great expectations.

Thank you all for your stewardship and thank you for all your prayerful support for our priests.

Blessings,

Fr. William Holtzinger

Pastor

Immigration: What Does The Church Teach

Dear Parishioners,

At this time, immigration is in the forefront of the media due to recent actions in Arizona. Many of us are concerned for the well being of all involved and people of good will differ on how to deal with the issue. The Church has not been silent about the need for a just solution to the issues surrounding immigration. However, most people have no idea what the Church has been saying. For details of the Church’s teaching on social justice in this regard, I point you to the U.S. Bishop’s web site.

In 2003, the U.S. Bishops issued a pastoral letter entitled, Strangers No Longer: Together on the Journey of Hope (http://www.nccbuscc.org/mrs/stranger.shtml), whereby they articulated five principles that govern how the Church responds to public policy proposals relating to immigration. The principles are philosophical and theological responses taken from the Gospel teachings and the teachings of Popes. All five principles need to be held in balance, not one over the other, not one at the expense of another.

1. Persons have the right to find opportunities in their homeland
2. Persons have the right to migrate to support themselves and their families
3. Sovereign nations have a right to control their borders
4. Refugees and asylum seekers should be afforded protection
5. The human rights and the human dignity of undocumented migrants should be respected

For more information, the bishops have created an additional web site: justiceforimmigrants.org/ I also highly recommend an informative article by Bishop John C. Webster which can be found online: http://www.justiceforimmigrants.org/documents/wester-interview.pdf

As a country, this issue will not be going away anytime soon. As long as there is such contrast in poverty and wealth between borders as there is between the U.S. and Mexico, as long as there is a market for drugs here and supply south of our borders, and as long as our immigration process remains broken and our borders insecure, people will be arguing about how to solve this issue. And these are only a few of the issues amongst many in this complex situation.

Finally, please keep all those involved in your prayers. Remember to keep charity in your heart and try to see all the sides of the issues. Remember that people of good will may disagree, but we are called to put on the mind of Christ and reflect the Gospel at all times.

Blessings,

Fr. William Holtzinger
Pastor

Liturgy Schedule Change

Dear Parishioners,

As you all know, I’ve been trying to discern how we can free our Children’s Faith Formation (formerly called children’s religious ed.) from taking place at the same time as Mass as well as trying to accommodate a Sunday Mass in Cave Junction. After a rather difficult discernment which included input from the Archbishop, discussions with Esperanza, our Hispanic Minister, reflections from all the councils, advice from many parts of the parish, and His- panic ministers outside of the parish, I’ve come to a difficult conclusion. It is clear that there is no perfect solution, but in order to attempt to meet these two main concerns as well as a myriad of others that were brought forward during my discernment with all these groups, it became clear that several things would have to shift.

So below is the new liturgy schedule which takes effect on Labor day Weekend (Sept. 4/5). It frees Children’s Faith Formation from competing with Mass, allows St. Patrick of the Forest to have a Sunday Mass, creates time for adult faith formation classes between the two Masses on Sun- day as well as after the last Mass on Saturday, relieves traffic flow between the Masses on Sunday at St. Anne, and offers the greatest flexibility for scheduling priests and priest substitutes. Yes, there are issues that are intro- duced, but I believe that the benefits outweigh the costs.

I beg your patience as any change is a difficult thing. In- deed, I ask you pray for the Hispanic community, as their Mass time is potentially most disruptive to many of their well established routines. Many have communicated this very thing. However, when talking to many Hispanic Minis- ters, they had a consensus that an evening Mass was a very doable time, indeed potentially better than an early morning Mass. Clearly, some of our Spanish speakers will be unable to come to a Saturday evening Mass due to work, but I hope that many who haven’t come in the past will find the new, later time to be more accommodating. I am aware that this will be difficult, but instead of looking at the glass half empty, I encourage everyone to look at it half full. Imagine now the new possibilities that are before us. God bless you all!!

The new schedule should be announced at all the Masses this weekend. Again, this schedule does not take effect until Labor Day weekend. So, we have two months to pre- pare and adjust our own personal calendars to suit. The new schedule can be found below.

Blessings,
Fr. Bill
Pastor

St. Anne, Grants Pass
Saturday
4:00 PM Confessions
5:30 PM Mass
7:00 PM Mass(Spanish)

Sunday:
8:00 AM
11:00 AM

St. Patrick of the Forest, Cave Junction
Sunday:
10:30 AM Confessions
11:00 AM Mass

Our Lady of the River, Rogue River
Sunday:
8:30 AM Mass

Summertime and Stewardship

Dear Parishioners,

The sunshine has finally arrived, school is out, and vacation time is upon us! Yea! As stewards, it is important to remind us all about our faith-filled response to our time, talent, treasure, and tradition.

Time
Summer is a time for nurturing our wellbeing. Spend time in prayer. Go camping. Read that book you’ve been wanting to get to. Go for a day trip. Whatever it is that energizes you which you haven’t been able to do, take out time to make it happen. In addition, ponder on how you can give of your time to a ministry that you’ve wanted to be part of. Volunteer somewhere that could use the extra help while people are on vacations. Even our adoration chapel needs extra people to fill in the gaps that always occur due to summer trips.

Talent
Where is your talent? Do you sing? Do you like teens or young children? Do you find joy in visiting the sick? Is gardening or landscaping your thing? Seek out people who are involved in a ministry you like. For example, our choirs are always in need of extra voices. Why not try volunteering your time with a particular group? During summer, some choirs practice just prior to Mass. As you may already know, we are in need to help fill in the gap while John Robles in on sick leave. Maybe you could help with your fix-it skills?

Treasure
As you go camping or traveling, please remember that St. Anne’s still has responsibilities to pay our bills. Consider how you can maintain your financial commitment to your community of faith. One such method is our automatic giving program via what the banks call ACH. See Alan Crews, our business manager, for more information. Now you can leave for vacation and not worry about you financial commitment to the Church.

In the coming year, we will be starting our part of the Archdiocesan Capital Campaign. This is in addition to our ongoing Parish Offertory Program, Archbishop’s Catholic Appeal, and other required special collections. More information about the capital campaign will be forthcoming, but it is important to begin thinking about your own financial commitments and the variety of opportunities to give. Nobody likes surprises. So, please know that between September and January, our parish will be joining the other parishes of the Archdiocese in a process to replenish needed funds at the Archdiocesan level.

Tradition
Recreation is important to our mind, body, and spirit. Please take time to plan some time to do something fun that will help you be created anew. Remember the trips you once found so moving and foundational to your own youth? Don’t forget the traditions you’ve been given, and share them with your family. Maybe create new ones. Consider a special evening out with the family or family meal in the backyard. Begin a movie night or invite neighbors over for an evening barbecue. Plan an early morning or late evening walk together. Get out the bicycles and go for a ride. Visit friends from the past. Share or create new traditions for your family.

Summertime is a wonderful time to be recreated, to share your gifts, and to thank God for all that he has given us. May this summer be safe and full of joy and adventure as you live out your faith as a steward of the gifts God has given you!

Blessings,


Fr. William Holtzinger
Pastor

Goodbye & Best Wishes!

Dear Parishioners,

Next weekend, we say goodbye to several people on staff. Fr. Paschal will be officially assigned to St. Philip Benizi Church in Redland near Oregon City. Hans will be finishing his tenure and moving to Mount Angel Seminary to begin studies for the priesthood. Jeanette and Mark will be officially leaving as payed staff due to budget constraints. All four of these people are wonderful and faithful servants who have completed their tenures with a spirit of service and grace.

Next weekend, June 27th, after the 11 AM Mass, I invite you to join the me and the rest of the community in saying goodbye and best wishes on the next chapter of these amazing people’s lives. They will be greatly missed. I am very thankful for their service to St. Anne’s and pray for each of them in the respective new steps. Again, I invite you to come and share in thanking them for their faithful work to St. Anne’s. Well done, good and faithful servants!

Blessings,


Fr. William Holtzinger
Pastor

Vocations & Liturgy Schedule

Dear Parishioners,

Vocations

This weekend Archbishop Vlazny ordained six men to the priesthood. This is wonderful news. They are Ysrael Bien, Henry Guillen-Vega, Raul Marquez, Robert Wolf, Mark Kissner, and Joseph Nguyen. Please keep them in your prayers.
Here is Southern Oregon, we have a history of receiving newly ordained priests. As of this writing, Fr. Paschal’s replacement is still in Uganda. I have no idea if and when he will arrive. Needless to say, while this is a large ordination class, we still are behind in our ability to staff parishes with enough priests. I have spoken to the Archbishop about our concern about replacing Fr. Paschal to which he sympathized and promised to work with Fr. Brennan, the vicar of clergy, who is in charge of priest placements to continue to problem solve this issue. I trust it will all fall together as it needs to be. Please note that Parochial Vicars (think assistant priests) don’t remain so for very long before they become pastors. In years past, these men would be Parochial Vicars for many years, learning the skills necessary to shepherd a parish. On your part, please keep vocations to the priesthood high on your list of intentions. Parents, you need to encourage your sons to consider this vocation. Without priests, we have no Eucharist. But, I am no alarmist. I believe that God is raising up more and more men to this noble and heroic vocation. May our parish be fertile ground to encourage vocations.

Liturgy Schedule Issues

Since my arrival, it has become obviously clear that there are many issues which need to be solved. One of these is the competition that our Children’s Faith Formation has with our 9:30 AM Mass. Children in our Hispanic community are having to decide whether to send their children to classes or go to Mass. This is unjust. Mass is the source and summit of our faith. Yet, if our children don’t have the opportunity to learn about their faith, then we are complicit in furthering the ignorance of our youngsters making them fodder for other religions or secularism.
Second is the desire for St. Patrick to return to a Sunday Mass. Many of their elderly are not able to make it to Mass when it is dark in the winter. Also, due to sports on Saturday’s, many families do not come to Mass when there is a conflict.
Third, is the best use of our priests. While we have three priests which allow us to cover all six Masses in three locations, we need to be prepared for two priest. In addition, we need to create a flexible schedule that allows us to more easily get a substitute when one of us is sick or out of town.

Opportunities

In addition to these issues, I think we have several opportunities if we craft a schedule that has more time between the Masses. It will allow us to host adult faith formation opportunities between the Masses, relieve our traffic flow between Masses, and afford people with better chances for better parking. For families with children, while their kids are in class, there will be an opportunity to grow deeper in their own faith. Our priests will also have more chance to share in fellowship at coffee and donuts instead of rushing off to the next Mass. I hope to introduce a monthly series I have previously called “Catholicism 101” which explores the basics of our faith as well as current topics.

Liturgy Schedule Change

To these ends I have been pondering on many different scenarios that will allow for all of these to happen. I’ve been speaking with all the councils of all three Churches, discussing the ramifications of one schedule idea over another with staff members. I have been discussing at length various options with our priests as well as those of the vicariate. There is no schedule that is a total win-win. But, there are a few ideas that would solve many of these ideas. I have not yet come to a decision as to what will happen, but I hope to announce a decision by the beginning of July. One thing that is very seriously being looked at is moving the Spanish Mass to another day or time. It is the smallest of our Masses and sits during “prime time” when our children are attending Faith Formation. If this happens, that segment of our community will need our prayers and encouragement. Again, nothing is set in stone, but I ask for your support and not your criticism. The hope is to make the liturgy schedule change effective come the beginning of September. That will allow us to figure out the kinks and how to solve them.

Change Is Hard, But Love Conquers Fear

With any change comes fear. It wasn’t that long ago when Fr. Karl was alone here and he had no parochial vicar. I don’t believe that will happen in the immediate future, but we must be prepared for the day when we have only two priests, for which we will all need to step up and help out even more. We are privileged to have the priests we do with such a shortage ongoing around us. I am very grateful for the Archbishop’s understanding for the need to have at least two priests here.
In my ten years of priestly service, I have noticed that often people are okay with change as long as it effects others and not themselves. In our current situation, I ask you to pray for wisdom and guidance for me and flexibility and openness for all those who may be dissatisfied with whatever comes their way. Instead of a glass half empty, I believe that these changes will fill our cup to overflowing. It reminds me of something I once heard and have repeated many times in my homilies. When you are in love, your zip code doesn’t matter. Neither does the time of day. I believe that we have many wonderful opportunities to grow in our faith. God bless you all.

Yours in Christ,

Fr. William Holtzinger
Pastor

New Coordinator of Youth & Young Adult Ministry Found

Dear Parishioners,

I am glad to announce that our search for someone to carry on the min

istry that Hans Mueller has been doing for the past three years has come to a happy end. After five

months of prayer, preparation, advertising, reviewing resumes, and many, many interviews, we end our journey with Julie Mercier.

Julie will begin in early July as the Coordinator of Youth & Young Adult Ministry. She just recently graduated from Franciscan University of Steubenville, OH. She earned a degree in theology and catechetics with a concentration in youth ministry. She has experienced leading retreats and chaperoning at youth conferences. Julie was with us several weekends ago when Archbishop Vlazny was here for our confirmations. She traveled from New York for an in-depth interview (her third interview with us), and introduction to the parish and surrounding area, and concluded by leading our Sunday youth night. Needless to say, she knocked our socks off. Her love for Christ, her passion for youth, and her humility were qualities that one cannot teach. After her whirl wind trip West, she returned home with an offer for our job. After several

days of prayer and discernment, she agreed to take the position. Our

search committee and myself, as well as those who met her when she visited all praised God for her acceptance.

When she arrives, please introduce yourself to her. More importantly, she will need your help in continuing the work begun by Hans. Please pray for her and especially for courage, as it will most certainly be difficult to move so far away from her home. Let her know how friendly we are here at St. Anne. Offer your time and labor to help her build upon the foundation already here in our youth program. It takes a Church to raise our children. Let us help Julie lead our teens and young adults to grow in their Catholic faith.

Congratulations, Julie! I am so proud and honored to have you on board our pastoral staff. I pray that St. Anne will be a place where your gifts can shine and our young people will catch on fire for our Lord.

Blessings,

Fr. William Holtzinger

Pastor

Live Life!

Dear Parishioners,

The days are getting longer and temperatures warmer. The grass is growing longer and the gardens are starting to come alive. Spring has sprung, and with it, the reminder that God’s love is renewed each day (cf. Lam. 3:21-23).

In the days ahead, let us shake off our lethargy and get outside and enjoy the beauty around us. Turn off the TV and get out if you can. Take your dog for a walk. Do some gardening. Go jogging. Play frisbee golf or ride your bike. Go for a scenic drive around the area. We have such beautiful mountains and rivers. Go fishing or just dangle your feet in the water and you sun yourself. Go treat yourself out for a yogurt or ice cream. Pack a picnic and head out to the local park. Watch a baseball game. Get out the BBQ and enjoy a relaxing dinner with family and friends. There’s so much to see and do. Many people are beginning to make plans for vacation for the summer. I’m going to make sure to go camping as well as go on my annual trek to Eastern Oregon to do some star gazing at the Oregon Star Party.

What are you going to do? What gives you life? What have you been wanting to do, but have been putting it off? These ideas do not all require a large financial expenditure. Being creative is key. Some people have even done stay-cations (think stay-home-vacation).

Life is to be lived and enjoyed. Give thanks and praise to God for his amazing creation. Do not let the bad news around you dominate your energy. Taking out “sabbath time” is a critical way to be holy and healthy. It is important that we not only work, but that we rest, recreate, and enjoy the gifts that God has given us. Share your stories and joys with others. Some times too busy is too busy. I always struggle with this myself. But, year after year, God renews his beauty around us and our spirits are lifted. I am looking forward to the warm weather and blue skies. This is a gift of living in Southern Oregon. Let us enjoy rejoice and be glad in it!

Blessings,

Fr. William Holtzinger
Pastor

Abuse Is Painful Indeed

Dear Parishioners,

Thank you for your outpouring of support for me and all
priests. Thank you for your prayers for Pope Benedict. Let us also pray for the victims of abuse whose scabbed-over wounds are being torn open will all the events of late and the media frenzy swarming around it all. May we all be Christ’s healing presence.
Recently I was contacted via e-mail from someone who has since left the Catholic church in dismay over a bad experience and the scandal that continues to plague us. After responding to this hurt soul, I thought I might offer you my response as my own personal reflection for you to ponder upon. I’ve edited my letter for length as well to preserve the identity of this person from our area.

Dear (writer of the e-mail),

Thank you for your e-mail. I assume that since you’ve taken the time to speak your heart to me, I feel obliged because of love, truth, and a sincere desire for reconciliation to respond. Please indulge me as I offer you a rather lengthy e-mail.
First of all, I am saddened that no one contacted you when you first arrived at your old church. We here at St. Anne need to also review how we are receiving our new members as well as caring for those who need pastoral care. As the new pastor here, these are aspects of administration and guidance which I am working on with our community of faith. As you can imagine, we cannot please everyone all the time, and we frequently make mistakes. I like to think our church is not a museum of saints, but a hospital of sinners. Even at that, it is run by sin- ners. All Churches struggle in this regard.
Secondly, I am deeply saddened by the abuse of our young ones by priests so long ago. It is unconscionable. I agree. The reassignment of known abusers was also a horrible thing. As a priest, I am rather angry at my brother priests who have perpetrated such evil. The latest revelations about the abuse cases in Ireland continue to remind us that there is much work to be done. I feel horrible as this simply reopens the wounds of those here in the U.S. who have been abused. Prayer, penance, counseling, reconciliation, and more is needed. Our children need to be safe.
In service to the truth, I need to offer a reflection about the press. I caution you to reserve your judgments about the recent reports regarding the pope until all information has come forward. I welcome transparency and hope that all the details will be made known about the on goings of the events in question. I would caution you, however, not to believe everything you read in the papers or see on TV news. While the Church as a human institution has failed to keep our children safe in the past, and we are working to correct that, the major media groups have also failed to offer us, the public, the full story as to what has happened and how the Church has responded. The reasons as to why are debatable, but certainly the press has been anything but objective in its reporting. I’ve even been personally interviewed and taken way out of context. As such, I do not trust the newspaper or TV since they constantly fail to check their facts. This is by no means an excuse or rationalization of the evils that have been perpetrated in the name of the Church. But, we all like to pride ourselves in being well informed and able to talk intelligently about the truth. The issues are very complex and sound bites or one minute reporting just don’t honor the truth. The media has not given all the facts and has nuanced the data to fit their assumptions.They would have us believe that Cardinal Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict) has done nothing to seek out the safety of our young people and has been a central figure in the cover-ups. I would encourage you to read the Wall Street Journal article posted on our web site as well as other links there that might offer you some other insights into the “rest of the story.” Go to www.stannechurch.com and I hope that will give you more information from which to discern.
Here is an example of some things that have not been mentioned in the media. Our Archdiocese, as well as virtually all the dioceses in the U.S., require all volunteers to be background checked and annually attend a safety class to help ensure the safety of our young people. When I was in seminary (circa 1993-2000), we spent copious amounts of time learning and reflecting about the scandal of child abuse by clergy. Our seminaries work hard to screen applicants like never before. Our programs with children and youth follow strict guidelines to make sure that we all follow the highest standards of care for the safety of our young people. But, if all we watch and read is the mass media, these facts are never mentioned. I believe that the Catholic Church in the U.S. has become a model of safety for children, a lesson, unfortunately, learned through tears, humiliation , and pain. There is still a long ways to go in other countries such as Ireland. The culture and attitudes that helped to create unsafe situations for our children are still being realized. I have confidence that they will do the right thing and remove the victimizers and seek reconciliation and healing with the victims.
I welcome the full disclosure of the skeletons in our closets and pray for the full truth to be known. This will only help the victims heal and help the Church to change. This is good. Let us pray for healing of both victims of abuse as well as a reformation of the Church. Let us also acknowledge that while one instance of abuse is too many, the Church is not alone in this societal scourge. I pray the Catholic Church will be renewed and lead the way for the safety of our children who are at risk in our public schools, foster care situations, and any other groups where abuse occurs.
I am glad you have found a Church that you can call home. Please pray for the Catholic Church. Let us pray even more fervently for the healing of those victimized by abusers whether from within the Church or from other situations. If you would like to sit and talk personally, I would be very open to listening to your concerns. May God bless you in the Easter Season.

Blessings,

Fr. William Holtzinger