A Goodbye Letter

Each week I write a column for our parish bulletin, entitled “Faithful Chronicles.”  This is what I wrote for next Sunday, July 24.

Faithful Chronicles

By Father Frank D. Almade

It is with great regret and sadness that I say goodbye today to my dear friends and parishioners of Saint Juan Diego Parish.  Next week would mark my fourth anniversary as your priest in Sharpsburg.  As you know, Bishop Zubik has asked me to leave Saint Juan Diego Parish and to become the administrator of St. Vincent de Paul Parish, New Castle, and St. Vitus Parish, New Castle.  Sunday, July 31, 2011, is my last official day as your pastor.

As I write this my mind is a spinning Merry-go-round of vivid images and special memories.  Walking into the John Paul I Pastoral Center on my first day, Monday, July 30, 2007, in the midst of a sweltering 95+ degree heat wave.  The very special Mass with Bishop Zubik and 1,067 parishioners and friends in St. Mary Church, as our shepherd ceremonially installed me as the first pastor of Saint Juan Diego Parish, on Sunday, March 15, 2009.  Closing Madonna of Jerusalem Church for repairs, and reopening it in all its restored splendor.  The support of the Moving Forward Task Force, the Pastoral Council, Finance Council, Cemetery Committee, prayer group, bible study, and co-workers in the parish office and cemetery office who became dear friends.  The lively children who attended CCD every Monday evening during the school year, and their dedicated catechists.  Our Epiphany Open House in Madonna of Jerusalem Rectory, with over 100 parish volunteers spilling out into the night enjoying each others’s company.

I treasure celebrating my 30^th anniversary of priesthood with Eucharist and a fancy-cupcakes-and-wine reception.  It was only a year ago that Bishop Zubik allowed me to step aside from parish duties to do the 30-day retreat, the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius at Eastern Point Retreat Center in Gloucester, Massachusetts.  I returned to hear glowing reports of the care Father Joe Keenan had for parishioners, and returned refreshed with renewed awareness of God’s love for me and all.

I think of beaming brides walking down the main aisle of St. Mary Church, praying the Stations of the Cross on Main Street in the rain on Good Friday afternoons, the tears at funeral Masses, the young people confidently lectoring at CCD Masses, the crying babies I’ve baptized and handsome young people I’ve confirmed at the Easter Vigil and the young people Bishops Bradley and Winter have confirmed.  I fondly remember meetings and Masses with our lively brothers and sisters, the Korean Catholic Community, at St. John Cantius Church.   I also remember cursing under my breath when a microphone screeched, raindrops came through the roof, air conditioning units failed, parking lots with 36” of snow had to be plowed, or a pew broke.  But things can be fixed.  And your generous support of the Capital Campaign made so many building repairs possible.

Most of all I see in all of you faith and love.  It took great faith in God who is always with us to agree to merge three historic parishes and become one new parish.  Yet you all did it, not grudgingly but willingly, in a spirit of hope.   You embraced the name of a new but faraway saint, Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin, and his Madonna, the Virgin of Guadalupe, as our parish’s patrons and heavenly benefactors.  It took love to welcome me, a stranger in your midst, and to consider some of my wild ideas and plans.  I am a better Christian and a better priest because of the love you have poured out on me with incredible measure. 

If along the way I have hurt any of you, or any who are no longer with us, I am sorry.  I apologize from the bottom of my heart.   I tried to say at our Prayer Service of Repentance two years ago that I know the Church, which is supposed to be an instrument of peace and healing, sometimes hurts our faithful.  I too have been hurt by the Church.  We must all be more humble, and forgiving, servants of Christ, the healing Divine Physician.

Now we move forward.  I leave Sharpsburg as directed by our bishop to pastor two fine communities in Lawrence County.   You remain, to continue to welcome visitors and neighbors, to serve the poor through the St. Vincent de Paul Society, to teach the children, to be life-long learners in our Catholic faith, to share this faith which nourishes us with as many people as possible.  I feel a little bit like Blessed Father Francis Seelos, who served in Pittsburgh for only nine years, and then moved on to other ministries.  Pray for me, and you can be assured of my prayers for you. 

Let me conclude with our parish prayer: 

Saint Juan Diego, you were chosen by Our Lady of Guadalupe as her messenger to the Americas and beyond.  Mary told you and us, “I am your mother.  Are you not under my protection?  Why do you fear, if you are in my mantle, and in my arms?”  Because of your faithfulness, the Gospel of Jesus Christ spread far and wide as people saw the miraculous image the Virgin left on your tilma.  Encourage us to grow in devotion to the Mother of God and in humble trust of God’s love for all peoples.  Help us become convincing evangelists of the Good News of salvation and caring members of our church.  We ask this through Christ our Lord.  Amen.