Pastor’s Letter: August 17, 2025

Pastor’s Letter: August 17, 2025

15 Aug 2025 | Posted by: chadmin

Dear St. Philomena Paris Family,

Blessings to you all this day! As I am writing this, we are gearing up for our Back to School Bash and joyfully anticipating our morning drop off for the first day of school!  For those who heard my homily over the weekend…several people asked with a smile, “Father, are you ready for school to start?”  [If you missed it, I had shared that over the past two weeks about 10 people a day have asked me that question =) ].  Joyfully, the answer has been yes!

As I have mentioned a couple of times during the summer, we have been very busy with our summer projects—all of which have us in good shape and ready for the students return. I am excited to say we are nearly complete with the list of projects that Fr. David identified as things he was thinking we should address in the near future. I’ll share more about these projects in October when we have our annual pastor’s report, but for now a list of things we have been working on: Gutter/downspout work on the school and rectory, getting the parish center Bunn coffee/hot water machine serviced and running, addressing water seepage/leaking issue near the school main entrance steps, replacing an uneven section of sidewalk near the rectory, repairs to several church storm windows, replacing a broken school gym window and parish center window, a new roof for the East Jr. High section of the school, HVAC upgrades for our library and primary wing, a new chiller for the church AC system, and sealing and restriping our parking lot…among a few other smaller projects here and there. Mr. Tony also constructed cubbies for our Jr. High students which will serve for book storage and help keep our hallways more organized—I am looking forward to seeing those in use in the weeks ahead!

In addition to these physical projects, we have continued to strengthen our school safety measures and procedures. In preparation for the school year, led by Mr. Dippold, we gathered for an all staff safety summit, with our entire group of school and parish staff, including reps from our extra-curricular activities. We reviewed together safety procedures for different scenarios and responsibilities for our people. It was a wonderful opportunity to be united in doing our very best to make sure our church and school are safe places for our young people to learn and grow.

In sharing about our safety work, I thought it would also be a good opportunity to share one fruit which will benefit our Mass goers as well. Among many safety drills the school practiced last year, one was working on a tornado drill in case there was ever a need during an all school Mass. I was so impressed with our students! They listened very well and were ordered in following the plan, as well as seeing many of our older students helping the younger ones.  The drill was so successful, I included that planning in our usher renewal/training which we hosted back in March.

If we ever had a need, the priest celebrant of the Mass would share instructions with the congregation and the ushers would be stationed at key points to help give direction. We would begin from the back of church using the far outside aisles and the next aisles in from the outside (between the pews on each side of the church). We would keep the center aisle open for emergency personnel and ushers to easily move toward people that need extra assistance.   Leaving in this way, we would have four lines that will merge into two lines as we pass through the vestibule (the two north aisles become a line and the two south aisles become a line). We then move down the hallway to the link area and continue down the parish center stairwell to the lower level. If we have parish staff available, we would also direct some people to use the stairwell in the staff hallway. Of course, as we always say, we hope we would never need such a procedure, but if we do, we have a good plan in place that is organized and efficient for time. I am especially thankful to Mr. Dippold for his good leadership in this area! I also want to thank the ushers who invested the time in helping keep our congregation safe and secure. Our people are our greatest treasure!

As we kickoff this school year, know of my prayers and blessing for you all!  I am really enjoying being pastor of our parish which is so full of life and blessings. May the Lord bless us with a fruitful and joy-filled school year!

In Christ,

Father Luke