There are weeks when I wish the bulletin deadline weren’t quite so early in the week. And not because I’ve wasted time or been lazy or too busy to come up with an idea. But, because sometimes something’s just happened on a Tuesday and I’d like to reflect on it with you.

Like this past week, when we had our listening session about the upcoming consolidation of St. Lawrence and St. Boniface parishes. As I write these words, that meeting hasn’t yet happened. I don’t know what people will say, what they’ll hear, what they’ll think or feel.

But, I do have something to say about the process. This conversation isn’t a new one. It evolved from Bishop Martino’s Called to Holiness and Mission, when St. Boniface and St. Lawrence parishes were linked and a partnership relationship was created with St. Ann’s.

It continued on with your lived experience of linkage. You learned to share and combine many things—religious formations programs for young people and adults, an RCIA process, a combined bulletin, a common administrative staff. We’ve learned to worship in multiple spaces. We’ve crossed that bridge to collaborate on fundraising and social activities.

Bishop Bambera furthered this process across the diocese with Vision 2030 (originally Vision 2020, until that nasty pandemic interrupted everyone’s life). Deaneries, including our own, engaged creative and challenging conversations on how to serve our parishes with a diminishing number of priests. Those conversations became the basis for diocesan planning—planning processes which brought us all to Tuesday night.

Please note: We—diocese, deanery, parish leadership—haven’t been making quick or unconsidered decisions. We don’t make knee jerk responses to complex situations. We’re striving to find a way forward amidst the realities that face Catholic parishes everywhere. Please continue to pray and work that our efforts will result in more vibrant communities, ready once more to proclaim the saving gospel of Jesus Christ.