Father Fleming's Letters

December 20, 2003

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

Christmas is only a few days away. This feast of “peace and joy” is not so peaceful and joyful for many people, and for a number of reasons. Just a survey of popular Christmas songs tells the tale.

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow People who need to worry about how to pay their heating bills are dreaming of the warmth of spring time, not the next freeze that might bring snow. And the homeless don’t find much beauty in the new fallen snow nor in the slush it becomes underfoot. Lazarus House in Lawrence, an outreach effort our parish supports, is in a time of crisis. They have Christmas gifts ready for the smaller children they serve but don’t have the funds to buy gifts for the children who are 8-15 years old. I learned this from a parishioner who just sent Lazarus House a check for $1,000 and who asked me if the parish might reach out again. I have sent a parish check for $1,000. If any wish to join this effort, contributions could be dropped off at the Parish Center or mailed directly to Lazarus House, PO Box 408, Lawrence, MA 01842.
(Checks payable to Lazarus House)

I’ll Be Home for Christmas Many will find themselves away from family and friends at this time of the year. I think especially of those men and women serving in the armed forces around the world. Let us pray for them and for peace. Many others will find that their circumstances prevent them from being with family and friends at a time when we all want to be with those who are closest to us. And I think of those who, like me, have lost loved ones who were our home for Christmas for so long. Each year at Christmas Midnight Mass I think of how much I would love for my mom and dad to be here at Our Lady Parish as we pray together. How much I would love for my parents to meet you, my family in Concord, who have made me so much a part of your homes and lives. Pray with me for those who are away from family and loved ones this Christmas.

O, Little Town of Bethlehem My favorite line in this carol is, “The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight…” So many bring their hopes and fears with them to the Christmas feast, much in need of healing and consolation. It’s often difficult for people to live in the “Ho, Ho, Ho!” of this season when their hearts very much elsewhere. The burdens carried in the human heart and mind can be very heavy, indeed. Pray with me for God’s tender touch upon those hearts in need of healing this Christmas.

O Come, All Ye Faithful This old carol gathers us all together: young and old; sick and healthy; single, engaged, married, separated, and divorced; straight and gay; lame and hale; rich and poor; happy and hurting; in need and needing to give; and people of all colors – all the faithful who come to Bethlehem, to behold him, born the King of Ages, the Lord of Lords, the Prince of Peace.

The Little Drummer Boy and The Twelve Days of Christmas Nothing much to say about these two seasonal songs except that I’ll be very happy when we put them away for another year!

May your travels be safe and happy! May the Lord Jesus find a place to rest in the hearts of us all! May the new year bring you blessings and health and peace!

Sincerely,
Fr. Fleming

December 11, 2003

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
You may have seen the articles on the merging and closing of archdiocesan parishes and accompanying statistics in the December 10 edition of The Boston Globe (see below where I have presented the statistics for the 5 parishes of the Concord Cluster). You may also have read the following on page A17 on the same day: The archdiocese is expected to consider merging some small parishes in suburbs where the Catholic population is not growing, such as in the Carlisle-Concord-Lincoln area. My advice to you is to sit back, take a deep breath and relax! I want to assure you that our parish is in good shape - as the numbers below indicate.

Town

Parish

Attendance

Catholics

Sacraments

		2000	Rank	2002	Rank	01-02	Rank
Bedford	St. Michael	946	184	4,442	201	131	194
Carlisle	St. Irene	839	209	3,000	264	95	252
Concord	OLHC	1,002	168	2,700	280	87	268
Concord	St.Bernard	985	172	4,500	189	94	255
Lincoln	St. Joseph	325	337	1,200	328	45	340

• RANK compares relative size or activity of each parish among the 357 parishes of the Archdiocese of Boston
• ATTENDANCE figures are taken from the annual “count”taken in every parish over a three week period in October. Attendance figures here are from October 2000, the most current statistics available to the Globe.
• CATHOLICS is the estimated number of Catholics in each parish.
• SACRAMENTS refers to the “sacramental index” used by the archdiocese to determine how many priests should be assigned to a parish. The sacramental index is determined by computing: the number of marriages times 2, plus the number of baptisms and the number of funerals.

Note, for example, that while OLHC ranks fourth in the cluster in estimated number of parish members, we enjoy the number one spot for weekend Mass attendance. Although St. Bernard Parish estimates its population to be 1.5 times as large as OLHC, our sacramental index is equal to 93% of theirs. Several years ago St. Irene Parish in Carlisle built a new church because their original worship space could no longer accommodate their growing population. St. Michael Parish in Bedford just opened a very large parish center including a huge hall to meet the needs of its population.

Over the last several years, the Concord Cluster has known that the time will come when there will be only 3 priests available (and perhaps, eventually, fewer) to serve the 5 parishes in the Cluster. There is no scheduled time table for when we will reach that point, but we assume that it will come sooner rather than later. The parish deserving of study here is St. Joseph Parish in Lincoln. Currently, St. Joseph Parish has a priest administrator who also works in the chancery. You can see from the numbers below that St. Joseph is a very small faith community. In the past, the archdiocese has been committed to not merging or closing a parish which is the only Catholic church in its city or town. Whether or not such a commitment can be maintained remains to be seen. Lincoln may be a test case.

It is clear that a number of parishes in the archdiocese will be merged or closed. Even with input from the parish level, these changes will be wrenching for thousands of Catholic people. The crisis of sexual abuse by clergy is not the origin of this situation. Even if there had never been a crisis to face, the church would still be working with a rapidly diminishing number of priests and demographic changes whose reality has changed the “geography” of the archdiocese of Boston. Archbishop Sean is committed to not using parish funds or the sale of parish properties to fund the settlement of abuse cases. His commitment is firm and I trust it.

I have no “insider” information on what will happen. I will have more to share with you after this Tuesday’s meeting of all the priests of the archdiocese with Archbishop Sean. I can say with some confidence, however, that parishes will be merged or closed where the fruit is already dying on the tree, while parishes whose harvest is plenty will be expected and encouraged to continue to produce.

Since so many people were not with us last weekend on account of the storm, I have printed last week’s letter on the reverse side of this one.
Sincerely,
Fr. Fleming

December 5, 2003
Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Things I’ve been thinking about over the past week...

• I’ve been thinking about the hard questions a pastor is asked... Why does a loving God allow suffering? My prayers are not selfish or greedy - just unanswered: why should I pray? How could the church possibly do or say X, Y or Z? Why should I support the institutional church when it has failed us so seriously? It’s not that I don’t have responses to such questions - I do. But such questions come from real anger, hurt and confusion - feelings not easily or quickly calmed or resolved. For such emotions to be healed they need to be deeply respected - and healing, whether in the body, the mind or the soul, requires time. What will happen in the time that healing takes? Will those with such questions and pain still look to God and the church when faith and renewed hope are able to offer a healing touch to the most vulnerable places within us? These days, a pastor often finds himself in healing’s “waiting time,” waiting with the wounded for the healing that only faith can bring.

• I’ve been thinking about some of the questions raised by our high school Confirmation candidates a few weeks ago... Each year I spend an evening with them, responding to questions they have submitted anonymously. As is usually the case, they asked several questions about gays and lesbians and the church. Among the questions were these: Why do Catholics believe that gay people are going to hell? Do we have to believe this to be in good standing with the church? Why don’t Catholics like gay people? (Please note that the students’ questions are not about civil unions or the marriage of gay and lesbian couples but rather simply about gays and lesbians as human beings.) These are questions that our children are asking. Where do high school students get these ideas? How are we parents and pastors responsible for such thinking? How is the institutional church responsible? Has the argument against gay marriage fueled such thinking?

Just for the record, then, let me take this opportunity to assure you, as I assured our Confirmation students, that all people are welcome at Our Lady Help of Christians Parish. While our parish registration form asks for names, birth dates, church affiliation and sacramental history, it does not ask for information about an individual's or couple’s sexual orientation. Membership in our parish is open to all who seek to follow Christ through the prayer and ministry of the Catholic faith.

As the American Bishops wrote in their 1997 statement, Always Our Children:

All in all, it is essential to recall one basic truth. God loves every person as a unique individual. Sexual identity helps to define the unique persons we are, and one component of our sexual identity is sexual orientation. Thus, our total personhood is more encompassing than sexual orientation. Human beings see the appearance, but the Lord looks into the heart (cf. 1 Samuel 16:7). God does not love someone any less simply because he or she is homosexual. God's love is always and everywhere offered to those who are open to receiving it.

In like fashion, the love of our parish faith community is offered -always and everywhere- to all who are open to receiving it.

• I’ve been thinking about the commercialized, consumerized “holiday” frenzy that is upon us and how much I dislike it... As I get older, I become more aware of how culture and commerce have stolen Christmas from us - or perhaps put more honestly, I am upset by how willingly we have surrendered this religious feast to the market place. I’ve been thinking that if Jesus had foreseen what would become of his birthday celebration - he might well have preached against it... I’m looking for ways in my own life and prayer to focus on the birth of a child in poverty whose gift to us fits beautifully in our hearts but cannot be contained by wrapping paper and ribbons. I am more and more convinced that most of our gifts at Christmas are given to those who need them the least. A Scrooge or Grinch I have no desire to become, but how wonderful it would be if Christmas 2004 could make of me a more generous neighbor, giving more freely of my time, treasure and talent to those those who are truly in need. How might each of us stand more honestly against the commercial tide of Christmas? For a spirit of generosity, especially in the hearts of us who have more than we need, let us pray to the Lord...

Sincerely,
Fr. Fleming