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I am sure you’ve heard the expression “time flies.” Well, I couldn’t agree more. I came to this parish on Aug. 15, 1995 and the seven years that I spent here went very quickly. Last Tuesday Bishop Mansell informed me that effective next weekend, August 17th, II am being transferred to Queen of Heaven Parish, 4220 Seneca St. West Seneca, NY to continue my ministry as a parochial vicar. I must say that you, as a parish, helped me to mature as a priest. I came as a newly ordained “rookie” and, thanks to the many good, caring and Church-loving people here, I gained the pastoral experience which gives me the confidence that I can serve the Church in future assignments. As Jesus says, a student can only be as good as his teacher. I am extremely privileged to have had two wonderful pastors who taught me a great deal about being a priest and “doing” ministry right. Both Father Dino and Father Paul have been examples of how to “shepherd” the parish. I am grateful for their eagerness to help me grow in that area. I see our parish as a loving, caring faith community and supporting Catholic education through our wonderful school and religious education programs. It has been a pleasure working with Paula White and Judy Quinn, coordinators of our Religious Education, as well as with the school staff. I have always been impressed with how much they care for our “little ones.” The rectory was my home for the past seven years, and it was especially so at the time of my mother’s illness and subsequent death last year in Poland, when I received an enormous amount of support and understanding from Fr. Paul, Fr. Joe, the secretaries, the cleaning staff and our cook. The outpouring of prayers and words of encouragement from all of you as well still warms my heart — know that I am most grateful. I was privileged to have worked so closely with many groups and organizations at OLSH, and for many of which I have been a moderator since their beginning. My heart will always be with our parish Catechumenate, adult and children’s teams, who give themselves unselfishly to bringing others to Christ through His Church and whom you have seen at Sunday’s dismissal or Easter Vigil liturgies. I thank you for your continuous support of their ministry. Our Little Rock Scripture Study group has grown into a vibrant, faith-sharing, Scripture-loving small community, who will continue their journey towards Christ by studying the second part of the Gospel of John this fall. I will miss telling them “It’s a mystery” during the Q&A sessions. Many of you have experienced the professional and caring ministry of our senior funeral servers. It was a pleasure training them and seeing them serve others in the often painful moments of the funeral liturgies. I am confident that our small group of devoted people who sing the Divine Mercy Chaplet every First Friday during the Eucharistic Adoration in our chapel will continue to grow in numbers and bring more of God’s graces upon the Church. I will be checking our parish web site on a regular basis to see what’s happening at OLSH, thanks to the efforts of the recently established Internet Committee. I am pleased that they took over this ministry which I started as a hobby several years ago. I hope you agree that our web site www.olshop.org is one of the best looking and maintained parish web sites in the Diocese of Buffalo. All of thy above fills my heart with certain pride and joy that, even though I leave you for another assignment, a part of me will always remain with you through the legacy of groups and ministries which I helped to organize. To all others in the parish that have not been mentioned here, including the Altar and Rosary Society, our music ministries, Sunday collection counters, altar servers, and “people in the pews”: Thank you for allowing me to minister to you. God has blessed me by allowing me to spend seven years with you. Because our world is small, I am sure we will see each other in the years to come, perhaps next July at the “Biggest Lawnfest in the Southtowns” at Queen of Heaven. In the meantime you will always remain in my prayers. - Fr. Matt |
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