Beacons of Light

Dear Parishioners,

Last weekend Archbishop Dennis Schnurr announced the final grouping of families of parishes in the Beacons of Light process. This is a monumental milestone for this process. There have been numerous steps leading up to this point: data gathering and analysis, consultation with priests, school officials, and laity, redrafting of groupings, and more. Planning for the next 100 years of the Archdiocese is a daunting task, yet it is edifying to see concrete steps taken which makes the future a little more clear.

For our four parishes, the grouping will remain the same. We will have two priests serving these four parishes. Our parishes won’t be grouped with any other parishes as was originally planned. Our family of parishes was adjusted due to feedback from priests and parishioners. It seems that Sacred Heart, McCartyville fits better with Holy Angels, Fort Loramie, and Newport. Also it was decided that Holy Redeemer, New Bremen fits better with the parishes in the Minster and Maria Stein area. I made the suggestion that our four parishes could be joined with Holy Rosary, St. Mary’s and St. Patrick, Glynwood, but it was decided that they fit closer with the Celina area parishes. At the end of the day, there weren’t any natural fits to be grouped with our parishes.

Some people expressed disappointment in this reality. They were hoping to be grouped with family and friends at neighboring parishes or wanted a parochial school to be part of the family. Many were joyful that our four parishes have a head start in the Beacons of Light process. There aren’t any new parishes to work with, learn about, and collaborate with.

The Beacons of Light process will still take place in our four parishes. The ultimate goal is to become a single parish, which can have multiple locations. Providentially our parishes have a great head start in this process. We are used to working together. We have a single parish council, a combined staff, unified ministries like RCIA, Alpha, Youth Ministry, Griefshare, Clothing Drive, and many many more. This will put us ahead of the curve, but there is still work to do.

One of the first items on the agenda is the appointment of the pastor and parochial vicar for our parishes. This will likely be announced sometime during the first two months of 2022. Assigning priests to these families of parishes is a massive jigsaw puzzle and will take time and consideration. Please pray for our Archbishop and all of our priests. Pray that we all be open to the will of God.

Another first item on the docket is the Mass schedule. Each priest will be allowed to offer two Masses per calendar day. Currently we have five Masses on Sundays. Basically we’ll need to reduce our Mass schedule to have two Saturday vigil Masses and four Sunday Masses. Pastoral Council and our parish staff will be evaluating possible schedules and making recommendations. There will be more details about this in the future.

Finally I would like to thank the staff and parishioners who have gotten us to this point. So many of you have been invested in the Petersburg Parishes for years. You’re hard work, dedication, and perseverance has borne fruit. Please join me in thanking those who have worked so hard to unify the Petersburg Parishes.

Please continue to pray that the Lord will lead and guide this process.

Sincerely in Christ,
Fr. Sean Wilson