Beacons and More Beacons

As we move forward with Beacons of Light, please note that we have finally settled on a financial sharing agreement. I first met with the current pastors in the Family (Fr. Shoup and Fr. Mondiek) and the business managers for each parish. From this discussion we decided to propose a financial sharing agreement for our Family of Parishes, and given that our family currently has four priests, (one priest at St. Michael and Ss. Peter & Paul, two priests at Holy Angels, and one priest at Sacred Heart) we thought it would be best to keep budgets consistent from this current fiscal year (2021-2022) to the coming fiscal year (2022-2023). A wrinkle in this plan is that the vicar at Holy Angels has 25% of his compensation paid for by Lehman Catholic where he currently serves on the faculty. With the new NW-7 Family of Parishes, no priest will be assigned to Lehman. This means that we must provide financially for the increase in expenses as a Family of Parishes. The breakdown of shared expenses would be as follows:

• St. Michael – 22.5% of shared expenses
• Holy Angels – 43% of shared expenses
• Sacred Heart – 28% of shared expenses
• Ss. Peter & Paul – 6.5% of shared expenses

The current shared expenses for the NW-7 Family of Parishes would cover priests’ compensation and compensation for employees that would serve the entirety of the NW-7 Family of Parishes. We will revisit this agreement and approve an updated financial sharing agreement by March 31, 2023.

As pastor of NW-7 (St. Michael, Ss. Peter & Paul, Sacred Heart, and Holy Angels) I will essentially experience tripled workload administratively on July 1, 2022. Because of this we will be looking to hire a Coordinator of Sacramental Life. The Coordinator of Sacramental Life will be responsible for coordinating the schedules of the four priests of the NW-7 Family of Parishes when it comes to funerals, weddings, and other relevant sacramental and parish events. This individual would also be responsible for managing the Pastor’s schedule and will aid him in implementing his pastoral vision. The position is full-time. A full job description can be found at https://resources.catholicaoc.org/job-openings. Interested candidates can send a résumé, cover letter, and references to info@holyangelssidney.com. Such a person is necessary for me to stay healthy and to help move the Beacons process forward.

Over the summer months, I am also going to work with the staffs of our Family of Parishes and pastoral councils of the parishes within our Family to plan for where we will locate different aspects of parish life as the process of Beacons of Light unfolds. So please, keep our staff and parish councils in your prayers.

A big thank-you to everyone who helped with decorating the Church for Easter, and the Bernings, who placed veils on the statues for Passiontide. We have so many generous people who work behind the scenes to ensure that Mass and prayer within Holy Angels church is truly an encounter with the Divine.

Peace in Christ,
Fr. Jarred Kohn