Dear Parishioners,

      Happy Labor Day weekend! As we enjoy the holiday weekend with family, friends and food we remember in our prayers those who are currently in need of employment, those for whom their work is a burden and those with the responsibility of being an employer.

      I would like to invite you all to kick off your Labor Day praying with us at Mass.  On Monday both St. Charles Borromeo and St. Peter will have Mass at 9:00 am, but our celebrations and focus will be different. At St. Charles Borromeo we will celebrate Mass for Labor Day, while at St. Peter we will celebrate the Mass of the 159th anniversary of the dedication of a church because September 4th is the dedication anniversary of St. Peter Church.

      The dedication, or consecration of a church is almost like its baptism. The church gets named (St. Peter in this case). It gets anointed with Sacred Chrism on the walls and the altar. It celebrates the Eucharist for the first time, receiving Jesus on the altar and then reserving Him in the tabernacle. Just like we remember our baptism each time we bless ourselves with holy water, on the anniversary of the dedication of a church we remember that this particular church was set apart for the worship of God. I invite you to join us this Monday at either celebration, to pray in gratitude and to pray for workers.

      On another note, you may remember that one of the hopes with All Things New was that parishes, especially when there were a number of them under one pastor, would be more inclined to work together. It has been great to see so many folks in our parishes who have indicated a willingness to work together for the common good while at the same time respecting the individuality of each parish.

      One aspect of this sharing for the common good that was envisioned in ATN is in the area of human resources.To that end, one of the things I am hoping to do is to have our staffs help each other so that we are not duplicating efforts but rather working more efficiently. In our situation I have realized that it would be extremely helpful to me and to St. Charles Borromeo parish if we had a business manager. In order to get that going quickly and to assess it prudently I have asked the business manager at St. Peter, Mary Lorenz, to help out for the time being on an interim basis as business manager at St. Charles Borromeo while remaining business manager at St. Peter. I am confident that Mary will help us to move forward together in a fiscally responsible cooperative relationship between our parishes.

Have a safe weekend and a blessed week!

Fr. Jim Theby