FROM THE DESK OF THE PASTOR
Dear Friends in Christ,
One of the important things we need to do as we become one family together is celebrating the special milestones in our churches. Last week was once such milestone we all need to celebrate. This past Wednesday, Holy Innocents marked the 20th Anniversary of the dedication of the new church. On January 14, 2006, Archbishop Brunett dedicated the new Holy Innocents Church built on property that was once part of the Dougherty Homestead. It was in the Dougherty house that the first Catholic Mass was celebrated in Duvall. In a sense, moving from the beautiful little church on Stella Street which had served the community so well, was a kind of coming home. Albeit to a new home, but one which could accommodate the growing parish into the future and be a place of welcome and encounter with the Lord Jesus for many generations to come. The promise of this church has come to fruition in so many ways over these past 20 years. We need to give thanks for all people who have worked and sacrificed to make this beautiful church become a reality. It is truly a story of “the little parish that could.” Special recognition needs to go to Gail Dimock who spearheaded the effort and all the many volunteers who worked on committees, who raised funds, who made “in kind” donations, and who gave and gave and gave and sacrificed to make it happen.
At the same time, we need to recognize and give thanks for all the folks who, generation after generation, have breathed life into the building, teaching the faith, preparing beautiful liturgies, leading the people in song, feeding the hungry in food pantry, serving pancakes on Sunday and so much more. All of these activities build up church, which is not just a building, but as St. Paul writes, is “built of living stones.” And speaking of “Living Stones, ”… that is also the name that we have given to the efforts to pay down the 30 year, $4 million dollar mortgage that helped build the church. So many of you have been so generous in these efforts—extraordinarily generous- so that we could keep up with the $24,200 a month payments. So generous in fact, that we now owe less than $1.1 million dollars and have only 4 years of payments to make. If all goes well, we will have the mortgage paid off in December 2029, only 24 years-not the original 30! This is such good news, and a tribute to the generosity and perseverance of so many. And so, I say, let’s keep up! We are on the home stretch of paying off the building.
The preface for the dedication of a church provides a wonderful reminder of what the Church is and who we are called to be by the Lord. I think it reminds us all of the mission Christ gave to his people of God when he established the church. It reminds us all, in St Jude, Holy Innocents and St Anthony of our deeper identity. Here it is for our reflection:
It is truly right and just,
our duty and our salvation,
always and everywhere to give you thanks,
Father most holy.
For you have made the whole world a temple of your glory, that your name
might everywhere be extolled,
yet you allow us to consecrate to you
apt places for the divine mysteries.
And so, we dedicate joyfully to your majesty
this house of prayer, built by human labor.
Here is foreshadowed
the mystery of the true Temple,
here is prefigured the heavenly Jerusalem.
For you made the Body of your Son,
born of the tender Virgin,
the Temple consecrated to you,
in which the fullness of the Godhead might dwell.
You also established the Church as a holy city,
built upon the foundation of the Apostles,
with Christ Jesus himself the chief cornerstone:
a city to be built of chosen stones,
given life by the Spirit and bonded by charity,
where for endless ages you will be all in all
and the light of Christ will shine
undimmed forever.
Through him, O Lord, with all the Angels and Saints, we give you thanks, as in exultation we acclaim: Holy, Holy, holy Lord God of hosts…
As we celebrate this milestone at Holy Innocents, let us ask the Lord to build us all together… St Anthony, St. Jude, and Holy Innocents, that being one family together we might be built together in love of one another and love of the Lord.
Blessings on your week,
Fr. Johnson
