St Rita Catholic Church – Good News of Jesus Christ

WELCOME TO SAINT RITA PARISH!

Our mission as those called by baptism is to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ, to carry out God’s will through worship, to welcome those who seek to belong and to respond to those in need through lifelong formation, education, and service.

Stations of the Cross/Viacrucis 2022

PASTOR´S REPORT 2022

Archbishop Shelton Fabre will be celebrating a bilingual Mass at St. Rita on Monday, May 16, at 7p.m. This visitation by the newly installed Archbishop will be open to parishioners from all parishes to meet Archbishop Fabre. A list of parishes selected for Welcome Masses from April – June will be published in The Record. Archbishop will also celebrate Confirmation Masses in various parishes during these times.

The improvement in sound for the back of church was accomplished with an upgrade to our sound system. Thanks to Roger Costello and our sound engineer contractor, David Knight. This improvement is an example of how our Vision 21 Savings monies were spent.

Let us pay attention to the expenses and revenue published in the bulletin. Through February, we are keeping expenses in check by $30,000.00 to budget, but we are falling behind on revenue by $11,000.00 to budget. Please create an automatic deposit for a weekly, monthly, quarterly offering to the parish. This is called ACH, and the beauty is it gives us a constant, stable stream of income throughout the year. Otherwise, people tend to donate less over the summer. Our fiscal year ends June 30, 2022, so let us be generous.

Our parish will participate in the April 30, 2022 Stewardship Conference sponsored by the Archdiocese of Louisville to teach generous giving of time, talent, and treasure. I am inviting leaders of our Hispanic community to attend as well as English speakers. In general, pastors find that parishioners believe in several untrue myths that harm stewardship like these false statements: “The Sunday donations go to the pastor who does not deserve to be rich” (Every parish pays a standard salary to pastors). “The Archdiocese pays the bills of parishes.” (The parishes are responsible for payment of their own bills and in fact finance the operation of the Archdiocesan Offices by a standard payment depending on income. The wealthier parishes finance more than the poorer ones but equally). “A few wealthy parishioners pay the bills of the parish.” (St. Rita does not have such a benefactor. Typically, wealthy parishioners are constantly sought after by a host of charities for donations and do not underwrite a parish budget). It is true that many folks do not even know how much it costs to operate a parish. Only when it becomes clear that parishioners fund the parish operations do people begin to make regular offerings. Regular presentations of the budget like the one published in the bulletin annually help, but more education on making a parish budget is necessary.

A parish exists to praise the Lord God Almighty and proclaim the Kingdom of God calling people to conversion and belief in salvation through Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit. To gauge our effectiveness, St. Rita Parish will participate in a Synod Listening Session scheduled for May 2. Our topic will be “Companions on the Journey,” and we will ask ourselves who faithfully contributes to Saint Rita Parish and who is absent. See the handout published in the bulletin. This one-night event will generate comments to share with other parishes of the Archdiocese who will file a report with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops in August 22 to prepare for the Synod of Bishops in Rome in 2023.

The Parish Council has recommended our English-speaking members hold a five-week experience of reflection and evangelization guided by five themes, inspired by Pope Francis’s call to foster a culture of Encounter. A guidebook for facilitators of small groups is available called Creating a Culture of Encounter a Guide for Joyful Missionary Disciples US Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2019 that we will use in English and in Spanish from the week of May 19- June 23. The purpose of these small group sessions of five to twelve persons is to prepare us parishioners to go out to the “peripheries” that is to meet Catholics who feel abandoned, unheard, or disaffected from family, church, and society. The goal is to confidently approach people to listen, to help them express their voice, hopes and dreams. The fact is St. Rita parish is doing this in the Hispanic Community, and I thought as pastor our English-speaking community would profit just as much. Look for announcements at Masses in April. If your group already meets monthly or weekly at the parish, consider hosting sessions involving members of your group. Form your own group too like family members or neighbors. Ask Fr. Mike Tobin for assistance.

We welcome Fr. Jean Gonzalez

The assignment of Fr. Jean Gonzalez from Cuba, a veteran priest and pastor, to Saint Rita brings blessings and a responsibility. In the few months that we will have Fr. Jean at St. Rita, he will be learning about the American Church. He will also serve as our ambassador to the Cuban immigrant community whose numbers are swelling weekly as migrants to the United States settle in Louisville. Leaders in the archdiocese are discerning where and how best to serve the Cuban community. In my role, I will be coaching him on policies and procedures and best practices in worship and pastoral leadership for Louisville. In other words, to show Fr. Jean “the Louisville way” which means knowing our customs. I am supposed to make Fr. Jean familiar with the parishes, regions, schools and institutions of the Archdiocese including all of our Archdiocesan Offices. Our expectation is that Fr. Jean will become a permanent member of the presbyterate of the Archdiocese as he seeks permanent residency in Louisville. If he is trained adequately by June, he may be assigned as a pastor or associate pastor at a parish needing assistance. I wish that I could keep Fr. Jean for years as our Pastoral Associate for Hispanic Ministry but that is not the current plan. Please pray for me and our staff. Fulfilling our responsibility to “inculturate” or expose Fr. Jean to American priesthood is a tall order in a few months. Fr. Jean will be busy with this transition including taking classes in Advanced English. By the end of his stay, I expect to see him celebrate the Mass in English as well as Spanish. As a Louisville priest, he must be able to serve all parishioners Hispanic and Anglo, English-speaking and Spanish-Speaking. Please pray for Fr. Jean and give him a warm welcome to the United States, Louisville and the Archdiocese of Louisville not as a guest but a permanent member of our presbyterate. Fr. Jean will be staying in the rectory on the second floor.