Dear Parishioners and Friends,
This coming week I will be attending a gathering of the Franciscan Friars of the Province of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Kansas City, MO to help us prepare for our future and how we can continue to serve the church in the United States over the next several years.
Fr. Mike Johnson, who serves as the Province’s Secretary of Initial Formation, will also attend the gathering or Provincial Synod. The friars have been encouraged to invite a lay person from each of the ministries conducted or staffed by OLG Province, and Marc Sherer will represent St. Patrick-St. Anthony Parish. Marc is one of our parish’s Lay Trustees as well as chairperson of our Sister Parish Committee.
The gathering has been structured to help the friars through a discernment process that will guide our life and ministerial commitments in the future. A keynote address will be presented by Bishop John Stowe, O.F.M., Conv., who will help us read the signs of the times as Franciscans. Bishop Stowe has led the Diocese of Lexington, KY since 2015 and is considered a leader in the areas of immigration and LGBTQ rights.
The friars at St. Patrick-St. Anthony have already been involved in this synodal process of discernment by conversations that have helped us focus on different parts of our Franciscan charism, including fraternity, minority, and mission. With the help of the Holy Spirit, we have attempted to articulate as best we can how our ministry here in Hartford has borne fruit for those whom we serve.
We like to think that this parish community, together with the outreach provided through the Franciscan Center for Urban Ministry, is a model for how we can move forward over the next several years. Part of the success of our ministry here has been the vitality of lay ministry in all aspects of the life of our parish. I invite you to pray that the gathering of the friars this week will help us to continue our Franciscan mission in the years ahead.
Fr. Tim Shreenan, O.F.M.
Pastor