Now is our chance to choose the right side. God is holding back to give us that chance. It won’t last forever. We must take it or leave it. – C.S. Lewis
Friday, July 30, 2010
From below the fold
Mark Cook, parishioner and ASA Task Force member, is replying to a comment from this post a ways down the page. He's asking questions. Would anyone care to tackle this?
I have a friend who had made the recent committment to send her chiildren to ASA this next year. When they learned of the termination of Alene and the manner in which it was handled, they decided that they would not support ASA. This is only one example of how the decisions made at the parish level impact ASA but I tend to agree that there is a close connection. But ASA is a great educational option and I hope they are able to survive. I strongly recommend that anybody who has decided to redirect their contributions from All Saints Parish, please, please, send them to ASA. Sponsor a child!!!!!Save the school!!!!!
Thanks for that. I have heard different around the reason for them leaving but that is not important. Whatever the reason I do know that most of the time leaving a school/parish or redirecting contributions tend to hurt the school or parish more than sending a message to leadership (less money/students the more actions are required to balance the budget). As someone has stated before, now is the time that we need to pull together to work to keep our parish and school alive and growing.
Mark- How do we send a message to leadership? Nothing is working. He's not listening and people are frustrated. I think people would try anything at this point if they thought they could get through to him. Nobody wants to see the parish suffer, it's painful but many have reached the point where it's just easier to walk away.
ASA is associated with All Saints parish. If people are leaving All Saints parish because they have lost confidence in leadership then wouldn't it be a logical connection that ASA would struggle as well? If parish enrollment is on the downward trend, then we don't have the base to pull from to fill the school. We can't get new students to join ASA, it's not just current students leaving.
If ASA is in dire need of financial help, can't leadership go to the congregation and ask for help for ASA specifically to keep it going? It's a wonderful place and I want my child to be able to graduate from there! Maybe it's been done but I don't honestly remember if it was.
To get leadership to listen I would suggest a couple of things: going directly to leadership face to face, join parish council, go to the Parish Council open forum session, there are many ways to get your voice heard and to stay involved.
As far as ASA goes the leadership has gone to the paish to ask for financial help, there were messages in the bulletin and annoucements from the pulpit.
Mark, you say that we should go directly to Deacon Dean (we've already gotten lots of comments about the uselessness of talking to Dean), join the parish council (you can't just join it, right? Don't you have to be nominated, and when do they meet--we don't get much info on that) and go to open forum sessions (when do they ever publicize those). We don't just want our voice heard, we want results. If the leadership was truly behind ASA, they would be leading the charge for communicating the importance of a Catholic education, organizing ongoing fundraisers, and so forth. Instead, all they do is tell us how bad things are, and beg for more money--with never any positive results.
Are you happy? Do you voice your concerns in the way you advise us? What's the result? You are on these committees and you just gave us an answer of no hope. Again.
Honestly if leadership did ask for help for ASA, I don't remember it very distinctly so I think they should put a little more effort and emphasis behind it as the previous poster wrote. I only remember parents and students talking about ASA and Catholic education in general but leadership needs to get out there and say point blank, look everyone, we desperately need your help to keep ASA open, keep Catholic education available for our kids. Without you, we have no ASA (if that's truly the case). We attend ASA and I am not getting a warm fuzzy about school beyond 2010-2011. We couldn't even fill a kindergarten class this year.
We need a "Father Brennan". We need a leader who people trust, who people love and who will inspire people to dig deep into their pockets to save ASA. Under the present leadership, it is going to be very difficult to rally any troops. Wish things were different and am praying for a change in direction. Just a thought, could this website provide a link to a direct donation site for ASA?
It's very possible that Deacon Dean is reading comments on this this site. How about if we start a dialogue and direct our comments to him? In a nice way, tell him what our frustrations are. Perhaps the site administrator could make sure that he receives the comments. Personally, I will not meet with him again. I have said my peace on more than one occasion and I felt like I was wasting my time. But maybe if he reads the comments and isn't focusing on defending his position, it will sink in. I would think that he would be very interested in our concerns.
Deacon Dean has stated to the web administrator that he will not respond in writing on the website. His method of communication is the pulpit and the parish bulletin, and in person-to-person meetings. We hope that at least he hears of the concerns voiced on this website.
The deacon has no intentions of listening or changing his ways. As long there is no challenge from Rochester he is free to continue his goal to close churches, build a "complex" at St. Mary's, and force the congregation to outside churches. After the mess is too big to fix, it will be time for him to move to another parish and do the same thing there. Only then will we be able to call in damage control. The Diocese could care less.
I am a convert. I am totally in awe of the Catholic Church. I have never regretted my decision to leave the Protestant church. Not even the concerns of the parish today have shaken my faith. In fact, I am a better Catholic because of them. I see things in a way that perhaps many cradle Catholics don't. I see that the devil himself is attacking the faithful of this parish. Who else would work so hard to destroy a successful youth ministry? Who else would create an environment where people feel they must leave their parish? Who else would wish for someone like Alene Goodman to no longer have a position in ministry? Who else would desire such division? We must pray that Satan's plans be thwarted. We must pray for the parish leadership. We must pray that Satan will lose his influence. Only with prayer can we win this battle. Satan attacts what is working against him- the Catholic Church.
Teresa of Avila, When I was 28, I accepted that in an upper room in Jerusalem almost 2000 years ago, Jesus Christ celebrated the first mass. The Church began and it was HIS Church. I made a committment to learn more about this Church. After much study and discernment, I fell in love with the faith of this Church. I wanted to belong the "upper-room Church", which truly is the Roman Catholic Church. The state of the universal Church and most especially All Saints parish, confirms my belief in this Church. The devil himself is seeking to destroy and discredit all that work against him. The very fact that he is attacking the Church tells me that he is threatened by our faith. The only way to deal with him is to pray him away! His influence is deep in our parish. (ex.The mass has become a place of entertainment, with a diminished emphasis on the Blessed Sacrament. The role of our priests have been minimized. People are questioning the local and diocesean leadership. People are questioning their faith in general.) We cannot let Satan have his way- we must see him for who he is and for what he is trying to do. This issue is much bigger than simply poor leadership! Poor leadership is thru the influence of the one who seeks to destroy this great Church.
I have a friend who had made the recent committment to send her chiildren to ASA this next year. When they learned of the termination of Alene and the manner in which it was handled, they decided that they would not support ASA. This is only one example of how the decisions made at the parish level impact ASA but I tend to agree that there is a close connection. But ASA is a great educational option and I hope they are able to survive. I strongly recommend that anybody who has decided to redirect their contributions from All Saints Parish, please, please, send them to ASA. Sponsor a child!!!!!Save the school!!!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for that. I have heard different around the reason for them leaving but that is not important. Whatever the reason I do know that most of the time leaving a school/parish or redirecting contributions tend to hurt the school or parish more than sending a message to leadership (less money/students the more actions are required to balance the budget). As someone has stated before, now is the time that we need to pull together to work to keep our parish and school alive and growing.
ReplyDeleteMark- How do we send a message to leadership? Nothing is working. He's not listening and people are frustrated. I think people would try anything at this point if they thought they could get through to him. Nobody wants to see the parish suffer, it's painful but many have reached the point where it's just easier to walk away.
ReplyDeleteSorry, I posted in the older post
ReplyDeleteASA is associated with All Saints parish. If people are leaving All Saints parish because they have lost confidence in leadership then wouldn't it be a logical connection that ASA would struggle as well? If parish enrollment is on the downward trend, then we don't have the base to pull from to fill the school. We can't get new students to join ASA, it's not just current students leaving.
If ASA is in dire need of financial help, can't leadership go to the congregation and ask for help for ASA specifically to keep it going? It's a wonderful place and I want my child to be able to graduate from there! Maybe it's been done but I don't honestly remember if it was.
To get leadership to listen I would suggest a couple of things: going directly to leadership face to face, join parish council, go to the Parish Council open forum session, there are many ways to get your voice heard and to stay involved.
ReplyDeleteAs far as ASA goes the leadership has gone to the paish to ask for financial help, there were messages in the bulletin and annoucements from the pulpit.
Mark, you say that we should go directly to Deacon Dean (we've already gotten lots of comments about the uselessness of talking to Dean), join the parish council (you can't just join it, right? Don't you have to be nominated, and when do they meet--we don't get much info on that) and go to open forum sessions (when do they ever publicize those). We don't just want our voice heard, we want results. If the leadership was truly behind ASA, they would be leading the charge for communicating the importance of a Catholic education, organizing ongoing fundraisers, and so forth. Instead, all they do is tell us how bad things are, and beg for more money--with never any positive results.
ReplyDeleteAre you happy? Do you voice your concerns in the way you advise us? What's the result? You are on these committees and you just gave us an answer of no hope. Again.
Honestly if leadership did ask for help for ASA, I don't remember it very distinctly so I think they should put a little more effort and emphasis behind it as the previous poster wrote. I only remember parents and students talking about ASA and Catholic education in general but leadership needs to get out there and say point blank, look everyone, we desperately need your help to keep ASA open, keep Catholic education available for our kids. Without you, we have no ASA (if that's truly the case). We attend ASA and I am not getting a warm fuzzy about school beyond 2010-2011. We couldn't even fill a kindergarten class this year.
ReplyDeleteWe need a "Father Brennan". We need a leader who people trust, who people love and who will inspire people to dig deep into their pockets to save ASA. Under the present leadership, it is going to be very difficult to rally any troops. Wish things were different and am praying for a change in direction. Just a thought, could this website provide a link to a direct donation site for ASA?
ReplyDeleteRegarding the direct donation site -- we will communicate with the ASA Task Force about that.
ReplyDeleteIt's very possible that Deacon Dean is reading comments on this this site. How about if we start a dialogue and direct our comments to him? In a nice way, tell him what our frustrations are. Perhaps the site administrator could make sure that he receives the comments. Personally, I will not meet with him again. I have said my peace on more than one occasion and I felt like I was wasting my time. But maybe if he reads the comments and isn't focusing on defending his position, it will sink in. I would think that he would be very interested in our concerns.
ReplyDeleteDeacon Dean has stated to the web administrator that he will not respond in writing on the website. His method of communication is the pulpit and the parish bulletin, and in person-to-person meetings. We hope that at least he hears of the concerns voiced on this website.
ReplyDeleteThe deacon has no intentions of listening or changing his ways. As long there is no challenge from Rochester he is free to continue his goal to close churches, build a "complex" at St. Mary's, and force the congregation to outside churches. After the mess is too big to fix, it will be time for him to move to another parish and do the same thing there. Only then will we be able to call in damage control. The Diocese could care less.
ReplyDeleteI am a convert. I am totally in awe of the Catholic Church. I have never regretted my decision to leave the Protestant church. Not even the concerns of the parish today have shaken my faith. In fact, I am a better Catholic because of them. I see things in a way that perhaps many cradle Catholics don't. I see that the devil himself is attacking the faithful of this parish. Who else would work so hard to destroy a successful youth ministry? Who else would create an environment where people feel they must leave their parish? Who else would wish for someone like Alene Goodman to no longer have a position in ministry? Who else would desire such division? We must pray that Satan's plans be thwarted. We must pray for the parish leadership. We must pray that Satan will lose his influence. Only with prayer can we win this battle. Satan attacts what is working against him- the Catholic Church.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous said: I am a convert.
ReplyDeleteDo you mind sharing how long you've been a Catholic, and how you found the Catholic Church?
I, too, am a convert (2008).
How do these issues make you a better Catholic? I know many of us are struggling with our faith because of the problems.
Thanks in advance.
Teresa of Avila,
ReplyDeleteWhen I was 28, I accepted that in an upper room in Jerusalem almost 2000 years ago, Jesus Christ celebrated the first mass. The Church began and it was HIS Church. I made a committment to learn more about this Church. After much study and discernment, I fell in love with the faith of this Church. I wanted to belong the "upper-room Church", which truly is the Roman Catholic Church. The state of the universal Church and most especially All Saints parish, confirms my belief in this Church. The devil himself is seeking to destroy and discredit all that work against him. The very fact that he is attacking the Church tells me that he is threatened by our faith. The only way to deal with him is to pray him away! His influence is deep in our parish. (ex.The mass has become a place of entertainment, with a diminished emphasis on the Blessed Sacrament. The role of our priests have been minimized. People are questioning the local and diocesean leadership. People are questioning their faith in general.) We cannot let Satan have his way- we must see him for who he is and for what he is trying to do. This issue is much bigger than simply poor leadership! Poor leadership is thru the influence of the one who seeks to destroy this great Church.
Thanks for following up, Anonymous. I love the idea of the 'upper room' Church. Beautifully put.
ReplyDeleteWow, that is insightful and right to the point. What can we do to fight him(Satan) as a parish? How can we unclasp his claws?
ReplyDeletePray for Dean- for more humility and less pride.
ReplyDelete