PASTORAL PLANNING AND PREPARATIONS FOR THE NEW PARISH YEAR 2011-2012...........

As the summer months continue winding down, OLOL Parish, like other parishes in the USA and around the globe, are gearing up for the resurgence of parish activity and in the American experience, the start of the new Parish Year, that runs approximately post Labor Day, to pre Flag Day; September to June.  These weeks of summer, through my continuing physical therapy, rehabilitation, and convalescence, before and after my annual post kidney transplant evaluation last week, I have been ministering full time, foregoing a vacation - to plan, prepare, and promulgate, the pastoral and temporal ministry and administration, of Parish Life in readiness to roll out an effective and productive New Parish Year, beginning Sunday September 11th.  Now a cycle of parish ministry meetings resume, to set in motion the activities and responsibilities we need to carry out to get the new Parish Year fully engaged.  The Parish Finance Council met last night to review and finalize the Financial Report to the Diocese of Sacramento for Fiscal Year July 1, 2010 -June 30, 2011, the first year of my pastorate of OLOL Parish.  That report is due to Bishop Soto and the Diocesan Finance Office, this Thursday September 1.  OLOL Parish Finance Council will then present the parishioners, a two-fold report.  The first, presentation of the Parish Budget for FY 2011-2012, the weekend of Sunday September 11th, and a detailed report on parish finances during the previous FY, the weekend of Sunday November 6th.  All of these steps are essential to our Good Stewardship, in accountability, transparency, and responsibility, to the Chief Shepherd of our Diocese, the People of God in OLOL Parish, and ultimately to God.  That means all fundraising, expenditures, and disbursements, done on behalf of OLOL, including that of Parish Ministries maintaining their own banking of funds, bear the responsibility of providing full accountability, and transparency, for all their temporalities.  Three of our parish ministries are in that category. The Parish Finance Council and I, as Pastor, are finalizing the provision of that information this week, as one of those three ministries, has not yet submitted the required information, necessary for full compliance.  An important part of overseeing the stewardship of parish life as the pastor of souls, and administrator of temporalities, is to prophetically and precisely see to it, that what we do as members of the parish, we do for the common good of all the People of God, in this Community of Believers.  That is not always a popular responsibility to have to carry out, but is vital to the integrity of the work we do, in full accountability for our ministry, transparency for our decisionmaking, and responsibility for our actions.  Tonight, there is a meeting of the Parish-wide Parking Lot Sale Coordinating Committee, to organize the event on Saturday September 17th.  On Thursday night I will meet with the members of the new Parish Maintenance Committee, to strategize and prioritize the needs for repairs, and renovations, in maintaining our parish plant.  The other daily work I am doing setting up the details of both continuing and newly created parish ministries, are at the center of why I enjoy and chose to become a diocesan / parish priest.  By far, the joys and successes achieved exceedingly outweigh the downside and  at times - unpopularity, of being the chief steward and prophetic voice, of making OLOL Parish, everything it must be for God's Greater Glory, and the Common Good, of all our parishioners...........Through Christ, With Christ, In Christ,   Fr.  Troy

...........A very Happy Birthday today to Ted Sheedy, former Sacramento County Supervisor, for whom  I served as a student intern at the Board of Supervisors, for two young during my junior and senior  undergraduate years at California State University, Sacramento.  I have known Ted and his family since 1974, and it was through them that I was introduced up close and personal, to OLOL Parish area, as we walked the 1st Supervisorial District together, during my internship years.  Currently, I am working again with the Sheedys, this time, Ted's wife Sandy, who is the incumbent City Council member from City Council District 2, which includes OLOL.  One of the projects we are attempting to collaborate on in conjunction with her and other churches in Del Paso Heights / Rio Linda, is the community-wide effort known as, "Faith And Homeless Families"...........fr.tdp