From the desk of the Pastor: Fr. Mike ...

 

In this weekend's bulletin, we are publishing the actual budget that finished this past June 30, 2010.  In this budget, you will be able to see exactly what was brought in as income and what our expenditures were.  We finished the year with a deficit of about $25,000.  We borrowed some funds from our savings to cover needs that we either did not anticipate, or we could not meet.  You will note that our weekly income has dropped from the previous budget year.  We also are publishing the prior year of 2009-2010 to give you an insight of the direction we are heading at this time, especially in the light the recession that affects the mountain communities.  Also, most of all the parishes of the diocese have suffered losses, and in some cases, severe losses and severe cutbacks in their operations.  Some of our Catholic schools are in crisis mode, since parishes can no longer support the schools, and the schools are totally dependent on their own ability to raise funds and must push to bring in new students.  With high employment and underemployment, fewer parents are able to place their children in our Catholic schools.  In fact, we recently saw San Joaquin Memorial High School in Fresno suffering the lowest enrollment in years, and pushing to advertise for new students.  They have even lowered the tuition, with the hopes it will stimulate interest among our Catholic families in the Fresno area.  We pray this works.

 

With regards to our own parishes, our income has fallen from one year to another.  We held all our employees to another year, but seeing the continuing decline, we no longer pay our Youth Director a stipend, we have cut our Religious Education Director hours from 30 to 20 hours a week (this also meant that she lost parish- provided health insurance for herself and family) and we have taken the part time secretary days from three to two.  We have made every effort to control travel cost, with gas reimbursements that are provided to the pastor, deacon and parish staff down considerably from last year.  The deacon and I were the only ones to attend the LA Congress this year, with me staying one less night to save on hotel and priest supply costs for that weekend.  We have closed the parish office on Fridays during the summer and we will continue this practice until further notice.  This saves on salaries and utility costs, especially with summer heat and running the two air conditioners at our rented office space.

 

This brings us to the most difficult but necessary move we will be making in the coming months.  At the time we moved to the facilities at 49430 Road 426, we were in a healthy financial situation.  The lease on the rented office space is up this November, and with the decline of income continuing well into this new year, and not seeing a better future at the present moment, we are moving our offices back to Our Lady of the Sierra Church facility.  The upper lounge will be the pastor's office.  The Religious Education Office will now be Administration Office.  The area that was used for religious education classes on the east side of the parish hall will now be cubicles for additional office space for Peggy and a conference room for small meetings.  This does mean that the hall will be smaller for general use.  There will be challenges for some of our groups.  We will add a storage building outside the kitchen area so items in the locked closets will be moved there, giving Peggy the necessary room for her religious education materials and equipment.  This may also mean that not all religious education classes will be taught on Sundays, possibly making older children classes be on Saturday or weekday evenings.  On the other hand, we will be on church grounds all the time, increasing security and being on hand when groups are present during the day.  People can once again come up the church for business and pastoral needs, not having to look for us elsewhere.    

 

We look to complete our move in mid-October to the church grounds.  This is between my pilgrimage to Rome/Europe, and when Nancy will be on her vacation in November.  As time moves on, we will keep you informed.  We ask for your patience, as we will be on top of each other at times, and we pray that someday we will be able to build our own facilities on site or purchase a house that is next to us that can be turned into offices in the future. 

 

On the other hand, we are very grateful to many of our parishioners who have made substantial contributions to some area of our budget, such as Religious Education, Youth Activities, or Liturgy.  You will note the large amount of money that it takes to send our youth to Arizona, to fund their youth activities, pizzas on Mondays at the high school and other expenditures associated with youth ministry and youth religious education.  We receive large gifts that are dedicated for this purpose alone, including memorial gifts.  We are appreciative to parishioners who have donated large gifts at whim, walking into our offices or mailing us a large check, making no demands other than it be used for whatever the parish needs. In this past year, we were gifted with a bequest from a will of a parishioner who left money to the parish.  Many that come to our parish at Christmas and Easter allow us the extra breathing room at those times of the year.

 

Most important, we cannot forget the many, many parishioners who volunteer their time to our parish.  They come to clean and repair on Wednesday mornings at OLS , they quietly care for the mission churches, they count the collections, they help with stuffing envelopes, they wash church linens, they care for the poor, they serve the youth, and they lead groups and committees.  These wonderful parishioners make it possible for the staff to save on money in so many big and little ways.  They too contribute to the budget in ways that we cannot express and we owe them all our gratitude.

 

Lastly, I am grateful to Roman Zabiki, Charles Anspach and to Roger Mercier, members of our Finance Committee.  They have been diligent in asking the right questions and giving wise advice on many issues.  They have complete access to all financial accounts and are able to see them anytime they wish in accord with diocesan statutes.  I also am grateful to Nancy Hooper, our office manager, who keeps a sharp eye on all things financial.

 

From the desk of the Pastor, Fr. Mike...

 

As mentioned in earlier bulletins, we are searching for a way to provide a Mass time for our Hispanic community on Sundays. The results I have been getting back from many people are that we should adjust the Sunday Masses at St. Joseph the Worker in North Fork and Our Lady of the Sierra Church by half an hour.  The strong consensus coming back to me is to move the afternoon Mass from Bass Lake to Sunday mornings, possibly to 9:30am.......thus we would have the Spanish Mass in the afternoon slot where we had the Bass Lake Mass.  This would give us five weekend Masses; one Saturday, and four on Sundays.  The new schedule would start in November with the change over to the winter hours.  The new winter hours would, beginning November, become our regular Mass schedule for the year.

 

WINTER HOURS:

Saturday Vigil Mass:        4:00pm at Our Lady of the Sierra, Oakhurst

Sunday Masses:              8:00am at St. Joseph the Worker, North Fork

                                        9:30am at St. Dominic Savio, Bass Lake

                                       11:30am at Our Lady of the Sierra, Oakhurst

                                         4:00pm [Spanish Mass] at Our Lady of the Sierra, Oakhurst 

  

I am open to further discussion and would like more input from as many of our parishioners as possible.  Again, the reason for the Spanish Mass in the afternoon is that most of our Spanish speaking Catholic community work in the hospitality industry in the mountain communities, and the afternoon Mass would be in between their lunch and dinner hours for those who work in restaurants, and for those who work in the hotels/motels in housekeeping: they would be finished by that time to attend Mass.  I know that the greatest inconvenience is to the Bass Lake community who have had the afternoon Mass for years.  However, this will be a greater service for our tourists who would be much more able to attend Mass in the morning as opposed to the late afternoon.  I am hoping for understanding and for all of us to reach out to the Spanish speaking Catholics who live in our mountain communities.  Presently, of all the baptisms we have in our church, the Spanish speaking baptisms far outnumber the English baptisms.  Also more and more Spanish speaking weddings are coming forth as young couples seek to marry or have their marriages revalidated.

 

I am also happy that Consuelo Mercier will undertake the ministry of outreach to the Spanish speaking, and will help in coordinating the Spanish Masses.  Her help is deeply appreciated.  She has a long history of working with the Spanish speaking in the local school district, and is familiar with many of the Spanish speaking families in the area.

 

From the desk of the Pastor, Fr. Mike:

Today is the Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady into Heaven. The Church will actually

celebrate this feast, in spite it being a Sunday, and then continue with the normal cycle

next week with the 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time.

We thank the Oblates of St. Joseph for coming to us last weekend and making us aware of

the need to extend our resources to the foreign missions. This reminder is important for

us to realize that we are one Church throughout the world and an influential community,

that we need to reach out to the poorest areas where so many missionaries are working

hard to bring Christ to so many in very difficult places and cultures. Many missionaries

like so many before, risk so much to do what they believe is their call, and we hear often

of the arrests and deaths of brave Religious men and women who have been killed for the

sake of the Gospel. Please keep our Catholic missionaries always in your prayers and

hearts as they do what we cannot do.

Please make sure that you have been able to make an appointment for a picture sitting for

our upcoming Parish Directory. I want to again thank Norm and Barb Nadeau for their

dedication and hard work in organizing the appointment picture taking schedule. This is

very hard work and so much goes on behind the scenes to make this a success.

Since we are a very small parish compared to most of the parishes in our diocese, we receive

very few intentions for the Masses that are celebrated here. We must always go to

the Chancery Office in Fresno to get extra intentions that other parishes send in since they

cannot possibly say all the Masses that are required of them. We also go begging to individual

parishes to see if they have extra intentions. If you wish to have a Mass offered for

a loved one, or for someone living who has a particular need, a birthday, an anniversary,

or for an illness, call our office and ask for a Mass to be said for them.

Today's Second Collection is taken up throughout our diocese for the maintenance of St.

John's Cathedral in Fresno, the mother church of the Diocese of Fresno. The Cathedral is

downtown, and as such, does not generate much of an income to be maintained. It is the

church from where the Bishop officially presides over the whole diocese. The cathedral

is the responsibility of the diocese and the bishop, and we all help out by generating the

funds to maintain and repair the cathedral, especially since our cathedral is well over a

hundred years old and has a lot of needs to just keep it up to standards. Your generosity

is very much appreciated today.

 

 

From the desk of the Pastor: Fr. Mike ...

 

Apostleship of the Sea of the United States of America

 

aosusa@sbcglobal.net

 

I was recently invited to join a special ministry that is provided by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, and by the Holy See, called the Apostleship of the Sea. This ministry consists of volunteer priests who serve merchant sailors, cruise ship crews and passengers.  This ministry has been in existence throughout the world for well over two hundred years.  In the United States, priests and bishops give a week or so of their year to provide sacramental services to those at sea or in ports.  This service is provided with no compensation with the exception of the ship passage, in some circumstances.  Many of the seaports, such as San Francisco, Oakland and San Pedro have full time priests who are available for merchant sailors who come ashore after many months out at sea.  Cruise ship companies now  engage the AOS directly to have priests on board many of their cruise ships to provide daily Masses for passengers and crew members.  The greater majority of the crew members of cruise ships that sail in and out the U.S. are Filipino men and women, nearly all of them Catholic.  Usually a cruise ship chaplain will celebrate two Masses daily, one for passengers and one for the crew.  The priest is also asked to provide a protestant-style service on Sundays for non-Catholics, and may even lead a Jewish community in prayer, if requested.  He is responsible to hear confessions for Catholic passengers and crew, and be available for pastoral counseling for the crew.  Not all cruise ship companies use Catholic priests, who must have the permission of their bishop to serve, and be in good standing. It is forbidden for AOS priests to witness marriages on cruise ships.  Recently Celebrity Cruises ceased using Catholic priests (since only priests are brought in to do this ministry, not Protestant ministers.)  Holland America uses the services of AOS the most of any cruise line.  About a dozen priests of the Diocese of Fresno volunteer for the AOS. Rules for priest conduct and ministries working with AOS are set by the Vatican's office of the AOS.  It is headed by a bishop.  The American AOS is headed by a priest.

 

I joined the AOS last year and am now taking my first chaplaincy cruise with Holland America to Alaska this week.  I am responsible for paying for my own way to and from the airport where the ship disembarks and returns, and in this case, it will be Seattle, WA.  I am given free passage as long as I say two Masses every day, provide confession time for passengers and crew, and be present and available for pastoral counseling.  I must pay for all incidentals that other passengers pay for, i.e. soft drinks, alcohol, etc.  The priest must also host a dinner table with passengers as he is considered a ship officer employee for the week.  

 

You probably also know that I lead tours and pilgrimages either every year or every other year.  I have been doing this for NAWAS Catholic Travel for nearly all 25 years of my priesthood.  I will be leading a pilgrimage from Oakhurst/Merced/Hanford in September to Rome and to the Passion Play in Germany.  I also provide Mass everyday on these pilgrimages, give talks, sometimes give local tours when in Rome, and hear confessions and depending on where we go, celebrate marriage anniversaries, etc.  I am the one who finds people for the tour/pilgrimage, usually those who have traveled with me before, and always new people from new parishes that I serve.   I do not pay for the tour/pilgrimage itself, since, if you will, I'm "working it", making sure everything goes well, and I am ultimately responsible for the group, from the moment they step on the plane in the US, to the moment they are home.

 

The parish I serve never pays for my vacation time or my incidental charges when serving as a chaplain on a cruise ship.  If I go to a conference/meeting/convention that is connected with the Office of Worship, the diocese pays my way.  The parish, exclusively, absorbs the cost of the Religious Education Congress which is held annually.  This enhances my pastoral ministry to the parish.  I pay for  my private vacation and any transportation that is personal.

 

Whenever I am called to celebrate a Basque Festival Mass on a Sunday, I personally pay the visiting priest his stipend for presiding at Mass here at Our Lady of the Sierra. Since I am compensated by the local Basque community, I feel that it is my personal responsibility to compensate the priest who takes my place here. The parish compensates priests when they are here because I am on vacation or away on diocesan business.  At this writing, I have  two Basque events left this year, one at the end of August and one in December.  As mentioned in an earlier bulletin, I am the only Basque speaking priest now serving in the U.S., and thus when a community wants to have a Basque Mass on a Sunday, I am notified.  Many of these Masses are now being moved to Saturdays, which will be easier for me.