How the Parish Operates

Announcer: Welcome to the parish podcast for the parishes of Saint Charles Bormeo in Whitefish and Saint Richard in Columbia Falls. This podcast is made possible with support from the Columbia Falls Council of the Knights of Columbus. And now, here's father Raftis.

Fr Raftis: Hi, and welcome to the parish podcast. I'm father Sean Raftis, pastor of Saint Richard in Columbia Falls, and Saint Charles Borromeo over in Whitefish. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, amen. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. As always, I wanted to thank Shannon at the Parish Podcast Project. He does the editing and the production, and we're available on the website. And I just wanted to thank everyone who listens, and I appreciate especially your patience over the last few weeks as we finish the Christmas season and, are in ordinary time.

Ordinary time doesn't mean mundane. It comes from the word ordinal, which means counting. So speaking of counting, March 5, just less than a month away, is the beginning of Lent. And so it's good to begin getting ready for Lent with maybe little acts deepening our prayer, doing some fasting, and getting ready to increase our almsgiving, kind of a spring cleaning of the soul and spring giving of our charitable, gifts of the Holy Spirit. So welcome.

I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank everybody who does so many ministries at Saint Charles Borromeo and at Saint Richard. Over at Saint Richard, we have Colleen Konopatsky and Angie Schubert and the religious ed staff, and we have, Maria, making it look so beautiful, and all the other people who do visible and invisible things over at Saint Richard also, Michelle Herman at Saint Charles Borromeo, Raleigh Taylor, the RE staff, and, the altar servers everywhere at both parishes and folks who do these visible and invisible works of charity in order to, build up our community. And so today, what I'd like to do is I gave a homily at Saint Charles, and I thought it was necessary in order to, as Catholics, you have the right to know what the not only what the church teaches, but how the church operates. So you have the right to know, how the church operates as well. So what I did is on Saturday and Sunday at Saint Charles is I delivered the following, hamlet exhortation, in order for us to properly understand how to perish how a parish works, and how do councils work, and how does, you know, doing renovation and repairs, how do those fit in with the structure of what we call ecclesiology, or the study of the church or the execution of the way in which, the church takes actions.

So here is, the following, which was my homily at Saint Charles Borromeo, copies of which can be, looked at, as well as the finance council statutes and policies and procedures at, the front desk at Saint Charles. But this is also meant for folks at Saint Richard and anybody who's Catholic, who's listening, who really is curious about how the church works. And I'll give some terms that'll be helpful for you to know in the future. First of all, you know, after a lot of prayer and in a spirit of gratitude and hope, after our successful capital campaign, the bishop titled because he loved us first, the capital campaigns exceeded their goal, thanks be to God, at both parishes, Saint Richard and at Saint Charles. And so Bishop had built in that anything up to our goal, we would get 40, that's 40% back for capital improvements, beautification, as well as evangelization, etcetera, at the local level.

And anything over the goal, we would get 60% back. So, again, it was a very successful campaign, thanks to you and your generosity. So also at Saint at Saint Charles, after over a decade of continued shortfalls in the collection, we're now operating the black, barely, but in the black. Thanks be to God. So there's a great need for repair on the ceiling at Saint Charles.

Over at Saint Richard, there's a great need in within the next couple years to put a new roof on, which it's a bigger church over at Saint Richard, and it'll be a bigger project. But nevertheless, equally as important to get the ceiling insulated over at Saint Charles as it is to get a new roof put on. Father Fortney had a new roof put on, a metal roof at Saint Charles, which is excellent and in good shape. We're still gonna get it checked out, and Bishop wants me to take a look at the outside and inside of the physical plants to see how they're doing and what needs to be done. So I've had many conversations with the bishop, the vicar general, and the chief financial officer of the diocese since the succession of meetings of the newly formed relatively newly formed two years ago, finance council and pastoral council, as well as you, the faithful.

We did a, we did a survey over at Saint Charles. Special thanks to doctor Sarah McGoldrick for running the survey in terms of analyzing and doing data analysis and giving us graphs and tables to understand the survey's results. So we have a lot of well meaning, very interested, and big hearted parishioners with a lot of ideas, some of them big, which is great. And I hear you. But in the end, the direction of responsibility falls squarely upon my shoulders as pastor, and I rely on the grace of office and the ultimate direction under the obedience to the bishop to take care of what is needed first.

So we need to take care of the parish church ceiling. And what we are going to do is meant to be a joyful process because it will beautify the environs of the nave and the sac and this and this sanctuary, but it's not to be a cause for animosity, anger, or pride as sometimes people can resort to. Remember where we are, the house of God and the gate of heaven. So the first reading of the last, weekend we had, which was a fifth Sunday of ordinary time, speaks of the invisible glory of the temple seen by Isaiah. And the seraphim say holy, holy, holy three times.

That means most holy. Hot coal is put on to Isaiah's, lips, and that's a preview of the cleansing of the Eucharist as it cleanses our lips so that the words which come out of our mouths, both publicly and privately, build up one another and the body of Christ. So about two years ago, we formed what's called a building and beautification committee. There is no finance council when I arrived and really no pastoral council. So we put together a fine, pastoral council and finance council.

And so somebody had the idea to come up with a beautification building committee, which I gave my blessing to. Although comprised of well meaning and generous members, it was informal in that we found it had not gone through the formal processes required by the parish finance council statutes given to us from the diocese, over a year ago. But a lot of time and effort was spent looking at the church interiors and proposing with architectural images the beginning framework of beatification, which will be done later. We have to do first things first. So recently, the chief financial officer of the Diocese of Helena clarified recently that it was never an official committee.

Therefore, I have concluded the beautification and building committee with gratitude for the time and generosity of the committee members. And I'm currently in the process of appointing and will submit for approval by the Bishop's office, a renovation and repair committee comprised of experts in their fields. This is per diocesan statute, and it'll be formed under the finance council, approved by the pastoral council. And the finance and pastoral council give input insofar as budgeting is concerned, mostly with the finance council. But that all final decisions are rest with me as a parish priest.

See, the authority and responsibility was clarified through conversations with the bishop recently and in the past year and a half, the Vicar General and the chief financial officer of the Helena Diocese. So, couple weeks ago, I was gonna have a meeting with both of the councils, during this week, which is the February. But the passing of father Robertson, the canon lawyer of the diocese and member of the bishop's office for over fifty years working on the tribunal and working as a chancellor, God rest his soul, his funeral being on the same day as the proposed presentation day, caused me to table that meeting. And then after prayer, I was came up with the idea was given the idea of just presenting what I was going to present at the Thursday meeting. I decided that the whole parish needs to know now what's the disposition of our needs coupled with our input from the most recent survey.

So So please allow me to offer some definitions of terms used in the church as we have converts and folks who deserve to know a basic panoramic and hierarchical explanation of how the church operates, universally and locally. First of all, canon law. Canon law is the church law. It actually preceded civil law in Western civilization. And canon law, the church codified laws ranging from the election of a pope to marriage laws, as well as various aspects of governing the universal and local church throughout the world.

So we're subservient to the bishop who's subservient to the pope, and so our apostle is Bishop Feder, and the running of the diocese he does for the good of the faithful and in conformity with the universal church in union with the holy father. And I am in union with both the holy father and bishop Feder as he's our apostle. There's a term that I might use in further podcasts, the narthex. That's the lobby or entrance of the church. The nave.

Sounds like navel. Right? Well, we are the bark of Peter, the boat of Peter. It's the main area where the faithful gather in the pews for masses and liturgies. Choir loft.

We have the loft above that the choir uses as it imitates the angels making a beautiful sound to the Lord. Sanctuary comes from the word sanctus, which means holy or set apart. That's where the tabernacle, altar, credence table, where the chalice and vessels and the linens are located, and where consecration takes place. The sacristy is an area in which the priest vests, and where the sacristons prepare and put away sacred vessels for Mass. Sacristy also comes from the word sanctus, meaning holy or set apart.

So the sacristy exists for the prayerful and silent preparation of the priest, deacon, and liturgical ministers. So those are a few terms that you needed to know. In the book of Canon Law, there are definitions. And so what is a pastor? P a s t o r.

That's what I am. It comes from the word shepherd to from the pastured. Right? So the shepherds would tend to the flock. And so the pastor is the proper pastor of the parish entrusted to him, exercising pastoral care of the community committed to him under the authority of the diocesan bishop, in whose mission or ministry of the Christ he has been called to share.

So that for the same community, he carries out the functions of teaching, sanctifying, and governing according to the norms of the law. So the pastor is not simply, according to canon law, not simply the delegate of the diocesan bishop, but within his parish he functions with ordinary power given him in law by reason of the office he holds. His power is proper and exercised in his own name. Further, canon five twenty nine states, in order to fulfill his office diligently, a pastor is to strive to know the faithful and trusted to his care. Later on it says, therefore he is to strengthen the faithful in the Lord and prudently correcting them if they are failing in certain areas.

Just as an aside, the bishop corrects me if I fail in certain areas as well. Canon five thirty six. If the diocesan bishop judges at opportune, a pastoral council is to be established in each parish over which the pastor presides and in which the Christian faithful together with those who share in pastoral care by virtue of the office in the parish assist in the fostering of pastoral activity. Again, the pastoral council assists in fostering pastoral activity. Also a pastoral council possesses a consultative vote only and is governed by the norms established by the diocesan bishop.

And in the commentary, parish councils and finance councils enjoy a consultative vote only and cannot in any way become deliberative structures. In other words, we're not congregationalists. You know, we don't put things up for a vote. Some people are converts, so they need to realize we don't operate as Protestant churches do, which are independent of pretty much everything except their own congregation. We are, subservient to the Bishop's office, which is subservient to the Holy See, or the seat of Peter, or the Vatican.

So in canon five thirty seven, it states, in each parish there is to be a finance council, which is governed in addition to universal law by norms issued by the diocesan bishop, and in which the Christian faithful, selected according to these same norms, are to assist the pastor in the administration of the goods of the parish. In canon twelve sixteen, it states that in the repair of churches, the principles and norms of the liturgy and of sacred art are to be observed after the advice of experts has been taken into account. In the footnotes of canon law, it also states that guides can be used to build churches from the ground up, also to renovate and repair churches. And so there's a footnote to Canon twelve sixteen that says, basically, these guides, like built of living stones, have no binding force. These experts, which are to give advice to the pastor on a renovation and repair committee, and they give advice to the bishop through the pastor, is basically contains the necessity to include an architect and, if possible, liturgical consultant.

Bishop Feder, over a year ago, twice instructed me to fix the ceiling and to beautify and fix the sanctuary. The ceiling is literally letting heat go through the roof and cooling go through the roof. There's a false ceiling with about a foot of that old, fiberglass, and the false ceiling is very, very dated, faded, and it has watermarks and, from former leaks which have been corrected. And basically, the only thing, between the roof and the false ceiling is plywood. There's a term called an r factor in construction.

This is thermal resistance of materials used in insulation for walls and ceilings. In Montana, because of our climate, the ideal r factor is ideally between fifty and sixty, given the variations in our climate. In this area, it's very important to have a good r factor in the nave because of this ceiling structure that we have currently. Our r value is 10. It should be between fifty and sixty, and I'm going to insist on somewhere around 60.

So the bishop and I spoke on January 23. He heard the opinions in the, most recent finance council and pastoral council meeting, and he told me again, fix the ceiling first, then beautify the sanctuary. Our apostle has spoken. I will obey an act, and we need to serve and obey with alacrity and joy. So we're fortunate not only to have an architect retained, Sean Pauley, but Monsignor Kevin O'Neil, pastor emeritus of the Cathedral of Saint Helena and the Vicar General of the Diocese of Helena.

He's kindly accepted my invitation in May of twenty four to be the liturgical consultant for what needs to be done at Saint Charles. Monsignor instructed me as Vicar General in a conversation on January 21 that I should appoint a financial professional, a lawyer, an engineer, and a contractor. So there is a guide in The United States put out by the Conference of Catholic Bishops called Built of Living Stones, BLS. It was con designed by the bishops of The US providing guidelines concerned with building a church, practical considerations, but upon closer and further reading, chapter four gets more specific in a section titled special issues and the renovation of the church. Since we're renovating and repairing the existing plant, we are not in any way, shape, or form demolishing our existing church than building from the ground up.

It would take five years to get to a hole in the ground. It would destroy our parish in the process, and then we'd have to build from the ground up, which we are not going to do. Built of Living Stones, or BLS, states on number two thirty eight that when a parish constructs a new building, there are many options available for responding to the liturgical needs and balancing the values involved. It includes what is known as a master plan. These general details are included in the first chapters.

Of course you need a master plan when you're going to build a church. And take into considerations the living areas, the office areas, and different areas for either having talks or parish council meetings or other office or conferences or a parish hall. However, that BLS also states in a later chapter, chapter four, when a parish is renovating an existing worship space, the building itself may limit some of the design possibilities and constrain the parish to choose between options that are less than ideal. In making compromises demanded by the limits of the existing space, it is important for the parish to continue to work with professionals to make choice the the choice that will best serve the requirements of the liturgy and the other parish priorities. The CFO of the diocese, by the way, said the experts provide advice and recommendations.

Experts as well as people in pastoral council and finance council need to know what their responsibilities are and, I quote, stay in your lane. So built of living stones also states in February that when a parish sees the need to alter historic structures that pose a challenge In projects of this kind, a delicate balance can be achieved through the selection of designs and appointments that respect and protect the church's heritage. We will and are doing that. It would be well and prudent to note that number February states that there will always be some members of a community who find it difficult, if not impossible, to relinquish their past church. Now this may speak to raising a church and building a new one, which is not happening, But also, it does indeed apply to some folks' vision of a beautiful beautified Saint Charles Sanctuary.

We don't have millions to spend. We're barely in the black right now. And we also have mature parishioners who have their opinions, who have their opinions, who might feel left out or marginalized. So I wish to hear from them, from the voices that are never sought out. So I'm seeking you out now.

So feel free to call me or make an appointment or just stop by. Number 241 in Built of Living Stones posits hope in that an open assessment of local needs coupled with education about the liturgical rights can go far drawing a parish together in support of the work to be done. That's absolutely necessary. The community deserves to hear how the renovation will enhance their ability to pray with solemnity, beauty, and dignity. So I bear the responsibility in taking the lead and informing and educating, but I need both councils to support and to help me in this process.

As pastor, I solemnly caution the councils and the entire parish not to engage in the age old human error and sin of murmuring, gossiping, and forming factions by which no one has the authority to do so in a church, and injures the body of Christ through pride, the first sin, anger, and plotting. That's like the Pharisees. It's not like the disciples or the apostles. Are we fallible? Yes.

Do we make mistakes? Yes. Am I fallible and make mistakes? Yes. But we have to remember that gospel account of Saint Peter and putting out to the deep in the fifth weekend of ordinary time.

He didn't understand our Lord's instructions. It seemed to go against human reason. Fish fed on the plants in the shallows, not the deep. So obedience is a virtue that gives over our wills. That can be very strong to our Lord's grace that's invisible but powerful.

He said he'd be with us always, and he is. On number two forty one of BLS, it also is important in situations such as these for respect to be shown for the existing building and its appointments so as to preserve as much of the original worthy fabric as possible. Informing the parish of the efforts being made may make the adjustment to the new worship space difficult, if not, though, more appealing. In sum, we will be getting bids, by the way, none have been given at this time for removing the false ceiling, decades old fiberglass and debris. This will be followed by putting polyurethane coating over the plywood after the demo of the false ceiling and the insulation will take place.

Cleaning up will be taken care of, then this polyurethane, coating for insulation will be put in, and drywall, thin drywall will be put over the insulation and painted white or off white. It'll give back the noble beauty back to our church, and it saves precious funds in the long run by retention of heat and cool air. And we will put in contingencies for a possible HVAC system at a later time. There are conduits that can be built that conflate with the shape of when the wall meets the roof and the slope of the roof. And so we're gonna take as many measures as we can to do the best we can and to look forward to the beautification and further beautification of not only the sanctuary, but of the nave and of other areas of great importance in the immediate church.

My favorite book aside from scripture, one of my favorite books is Man's Search for Meaning by Doctor. Viktor Frankl, with whom I briefly corresponded for years off and on after reading his book and other books by him. He survived the Holocaust at Auschwitz, and he was a doctor. He always chose to stay with his patients. He had other choices to go elsewhere.

If he went elsewhere, he would have been sent to the gas chambers. He just found that he found this out after the fact. But his whole family was murdered. One of the key takeaways from his beautiful book, and by the way, he talks about the fact that we are beings who yearn for meaning, and we do, as Catholics, find ultimate meaning in Christ crucified and risen. So one of the takeaways from the book that is key for me is that we always have the freedom to choose our attitude no matter where we are.

So we will proceed. I will proceed to seek out counsel when needed, and I ask for your prayers and trust. If you want, please go to Saint Richard to look at the fruits of over six years of hard work by a lot of people that was the result of consultation. Some consultation was done rather immediately, and some consultation was very formal. So you wanna go see the fruits of the trust in the Holy Spirit making the house of God more glorious?

Even though Saint Richard, when I arrived here, is beautiful in frame, but, you know, it needed to be decorated. So when people walk in now, they see the decor, they see the improvements and the updates, a new HVAC system, a revivified looking sanctuary, stained glass windows, and they see a beautiful Catholic church worthy of our Lord. That's what we have to be concerned with. Pleasing God, not pleasing people or ourselves. So let us invite Saint Joseph in your prayers to help us in this whole process every day.

And we need to invoke the blessed Virgin Mary and our Lord as we pray, hail Mary, full of grace, Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Saint Joseph, the master carpenter, pray for us.

Thank you for listening to this rather lengthy podcast, but I figured it would be worth it for you to listen to what's going on at Saint Charles and also to know that with the windfall and thanks be to God, the money we'll be getting back the financial assistance from the diocese, which is yours. But it's now given to the church and the church. I will take great care to be good stewards of the resources we have. So to make the worship space in Saint Charles to be beautiful, symmetrical, and to have as few distractions as possible. And the only thing we need to focus on is Christ Jesus, the blessed mother, Saint Joseph, the angels, and the saints.

So have a great day. God bless you, and thanks so much for your patience in listening. Glory be to the father, and to the son, and to the holy spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Commercial: Loving and serving the poor has been part of the tradition of the Catholic church since its founding. The catechism of the Catholic church teaches us that the Eucharist commits us to the poor. This means that we have a responsibility to care for those in need. Whether it's donating our time, talents, or resources, we can make a difference in the lives of the less fortunate. Doing so is an essential part of our faith and shows God's love in action.

Announcer: As Catholics, we are blessed by the teachings of the Catholic church, and the church proposes seven heavenly virtues for us to consider. They are faith, hope, and love, prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance. Now the first three are called theological virtues, faith, hope, and love. Sometimes it's called faith, hope, and charity. And the other four are called the cardinal virtues.

Now the cardinal virtues are found both in classical philosophy, and it's part of the foundation of Christian ethics. They're meant to guide people, us, toward a virtuous and fulfilling life. Today, I wanna talk to you about temperance. You might call this self control or moderation. Temperance promotes balance by controlling our desires and our impulses.

It prevents overindulgence, and it leads to a lot of wonderful things. The great Thomas Aquinas, saint and doctor of the Catholic church, described temperance this way. He said, temperance is simply a disposition of the mind which binds to passion. By binding our passions and our immediate impulses in all areas of our life, we are able to grow spiritually. We're able to gain self mastery.

We're able to be free. You know, our culture sells us this lie that pursuing every carnal pleasure is freedom. Give in to whatever you want. If it feels good, do it. But nothing could be farther from the truth when it comes to defining freedom.

True freedom is found in mastering your emotions and your desires. And temperance, that cardinal virtue, helps us to grow spiritually. It guides us. It's like guardrails. It's the virtue that frees us from being controlled by our desires and helps us to focus on what is right and true.

Now the catechism of the Catholic church has something to say about the virtue of temperance. In paragraph 18 o nine, the catechism explains temperance as moderating our attraction to pleasures, ensuring we use god's gifts with balance. Now this kind of self control is absolutely necessary to have moral integrity to do the right thing. It's hard to do the right thing when our desires are so powerful, but through temperance, we gain freedom from being controlled by our desires. And this allows us to make the right choice more easily.

So by growing in the cardinal virtue of temperance, you're just more likely to do the right thing, and it's going to be easier. You'll be living in line with Catholic teachings rather than being a slave to whatever your impulses might be at that moment. Some practical examples. Moderation in pleasures, like food and drink. This is very self explanatory.

Right? This is gonna make us healthier. That's that's looking at our physical health. The body is seen as the temple of the Holy Spirit by moderating what we eat and what we drink. We're showing that we respect the gift that God has given us in our bodies.

And not only are we having improving our physical health, but we're also improving our spiritual health. Temperance helps us improve our relationships, keeps your urges in check, perhaps keeps you from saying the wrong thing at the wrong time so you don't go overboard. It's going to bring more respect to all your relationships. It's not easy to practice temperance in a world full of temptations. The temperance linked with fortitude, one of the other cardinal virtues, gives us the strength to live a life of moderation even on days that that is challenging.

By practicing temperance, we orient our lives towards the eternal rather than temporary things here on earth. Part of being temperate is preparing our hearts for heaven. From the Christian perspective, temperance, it's not just about denying ourselves joy, but it's finding joy in the right order. That is gonna lead to a fuller, more meaningful life here and in the hereafter. Well, thanks for listening to the podcast for Saint Charles, Borromeo, and Whitefish in Saint Richard in Columbia Falls.

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