A note from Tom

You know I was beginning to think that writing and voicing my concerns did not matter, but I visited home this weekend (it is important to note it was the weekend of 12-13 February) and I received some of the feel for when things were good and we were a Parish Family. Several people told me they agreed with what I had been saying and writing and that St. Vincent’s was too important to lose.

We talked in church and it was a very cordial and welcoming environment, which I had missed in the last visits. It seemed like the old days a bit. The Priest was warm and inviting and the surroundings were friendly and beautiful. There was a sharing and a common interest. People are still feeling the fight is hopeless, but they are expressing their love and appreciation for St. Vincent’s and all that it means to us.

They also expressed our common disbelief that this was happening and that those who have been entrusted with the care of our parish family were allowing us to lose such a beautiful church. Why have they allowed this to happen, clearly they know a church like St. Vincent’s in today’s world can never be rebuilt of replaced.

We have all grown older and grayer, but we all love our church and know that losing it is wrong and unjustifiable, no matter who puts his seal of endorsement on it. We must all Voice our opinion, our dissatisfaction and our love for this church, even if that is all we say. It is plenty. Write the diocese. If it is truly hopeless, let’s all go down together fighting for what we know is right and the church we all love.

I come home and look at all this simple beautiful building says to me without saying a word. The beautiful altar, with the statues of Jesus on the cross, Our Lady looking lovingly at us, the Sacred Heart, with hands open to embrace all, St. Vincent meeting us at the door and watching out for the little ones, St. Ann, showing Mary our church and how lovely it is. These and the other statues are life like and beautiful.

We look to the stained glass windows; does anyone know the 4 gospel writers, they are right there. We then see the pictures and stories from the new and old testament. The stations of the cross in all their beauty. We sit in our special spots, where we have chosen to sit surrounded by all this beauty and ignore for a minute someone wants to take it all from us. The education of our childhood is all around us. We have learned to love our faith here. We have learned what our faith is here. It is more than just a building. It must be saved. It is part of us and what made us who we are.

You are good people and you practice your faith at a wonderful place. I miss you and wish I could be there beside you admiring this wonderful church every week and hearing what God is saying to me without speaking a word.