The parish family of St. John Neumann is built on the rock of faith. St. Peter, the rock, lived his faith-life standing on the foundation of the Risen Lord. We, members of the great Church of Christ, are called to find our strength from that solid foundation: "everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them…will bear much fruit (John 15.5 )."
The spiritual renewal that I seek for myself and for our parish is all about listening to the Word of God and acting on that lifegiving word. Our Building a Legacy of Faith project is one sign of the renewal and “re-birth” of SJN. We are seeking to act on the Word and promise of the Lord, hoping to build our lives on the great foundation of the Lord, hoping to pass on the Good News of God’s love to all who come our way. The team that has driven this project shows me the power of faith. The Archbishop’s approval of the project is the “yes” to our vision of a renewed and dynamic SJN.
We will need to stand together in faith, on the strong foundation of Christ and his apostles, as we deal with the winds of change that come our way. Most of you have heard about changes in our staff: the position of Sherry Johnson was eliminated, for budgetary concerns; Patti Miller and Kathy Fanning have decided to resign from their staff positions; and recently, we have heard of the transfer of our beloved brother, Fr. Dung (Young), as of 19 June. These are mighty winds of change, and the deacons and priests and staff and lay leadership of our parish will stand together, trusting in the Lord’s promise, knowing that He is with us still. Please know that we are standing together, in the strength of faith!
With the transfer of Fr. Dung, our parish has become a two-priest parish. There will be no replacement for him. This is understandable, given our parish size (about 2300 families) and the extraordinary growth throughout the metro-Atlanta area. Granting this new reality, we will need to change the way we pray together each Sunday. I’ll speak about this at length over the summer.
For now, let us rejoice in God’s blessings, in all that we are favored with: We are building a new worship space, and this new enlarged space will allow us so many blessings; We will hope to continue this material sign of renewal by seeing additional pledges, additional dollars that will allow us to complete more of our project. Twenty-nine percent of us have made a three year sacrificial pledge. Let us pray that the 71 percent still pondering the project will step out in faith! We continue to seek out and work toward a spiritual renewal of our parish family, in work and study, in prayer and in service.
Finally, let us say farewell to “Fr. Young”, thanking God for his two and one-half years at SJN. As most everyone here knows, Fr. Dung has poured himself out for our parish. He has done everything he has been asked, and then some. He will be missed by all, from the children at school through the hill-toppers, and everyone in between. Thank God for such a good man, such a gentle priest.
Fr. Dung’s last Masses will be on the weekend of 7-8 June; and on Sunday the 8th, we will hold a “pot-luck” luncheon in his honor. The luncheon get-together will be in Donnellan Hall (11:30 am to 2:00 pm). Come and join us, as we thank this wonderful brother in the Lord.
AMDG
Msgr. David Talley
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