PASTOR’S CORNER
For the past four months it seemed as if all we encountered was bad news. You read some articles and you would think that the end of the world is at hand. It is getting so bad that I
just skip anything that has doom and gloom written all over it. I am all for dealing with reality and the truth, but I am totally fed up by the hyperbolic hyperventilating of some journalists.
Their headlines are often just clickbait. (It’s a good word, look it up.) I was taught that you can preach a hard message, but if you cannot offer even a glimmer of hope, be quiet.
With that in mind, how about some good news!
One of the pleasant surprises I had when I came to Holy Redeemer is that we were twinned with a parish in Haiti, St. Jean de Sud. Parishioners from Holy had made a commitment to that parish for support. It wasn’t all just one way, however. We receive a lot from our sister parish: perspective, vision and joy. I was planning to make a visit there. Then Haiti’s shaky political situation intervened and then we had a global pandemic. No trip to Haiti this year. (That’s OK, I am still waiting for my passport to be renewed.)
We still wanted to do what we can to support St. Jean, especially through our Sponsor a Stu- dent program. In the past we have sponsored 170 students. But what would happen this
year with a tentative economic climate here in the states, and many of our parishioners still queasy about even coming to Sunday Mass? It looked more than a bit dire. It looked as though we may have to scale back our expectations for this year.
But that vastly underestimated the good hearted people of Holy Redeemer (and friends). I am happy to say that as of the middle of July we have collected funds to sponsor 167 students along with $1,500 in other donations for school supplies. And more is expected. Corky Bahr who oversees the project also mentioned to me that there are many new people who have participated in this effort. In other words, we may even go over our projections!
You can tell a lot about someone seeing them operate in difficult situations. Hard times often leave some people scrambling in fear and selfishness. Others, when times are demanding and grim, go above and beyond the call of duty. I think through our Sponsor a Student program, the parishioners of Holy Redeemer displayed their true natures.
And it was wondrous to behold. May God Continue to Bless this Amazing Parish.
Father Kevin