I’m going to devote my minute this week to the recent parish merger information.

It’s been two weeks since we learned that the most likely outcome of the merger of our three parishes is that Saint Sebastian will be the site for our new parish which will have a new name and that Saint Sebastian, Saint Albert’s and Saint John’s will close. I’m sure that this was sad news for most of us here at Saint Albert the Great and for the parishioners of Saint John the Baptist and Saint Sebastian as well. There is a tendency to think in terms of “they won” and “we lost”. There’s a feeling of bitterness. That’s natural. We’re in the grieving process for our beloved parishes!

However, once we get past the grieving, we need to focus on making our new parish all that God wants us to be. How do we do this? By getting involved in the new parish. Take a look at some of the beloved traditions in our previous parishes and suggest incorporating those into our new parish life. Identify new devotional opportunities! Volunteer to help organize the liturgies and suggest devotional activities for the new parish. Help organize fellowship opportunities so our parishioners can get to know one another! I have some ideas of my own. The point is that we will only get out of this merger what we put in. It’s kind of like our Faith: Use it or Lose it! If we approach this with love and a servant’s heart, there doesn’t have to be any losers. We can all be winners!

I know many of you may be thinking, “that’s fine for you to say Deacon Regis, you’re a newbie here. Some of us have been here all our lives.” This is very true. But I’ve had a similar transition to go through. Saint Colette in Livonia, was my family’s parish for thirty years and Ann and I loved everything about it! It was our spiritual home. When I was ordained in October of 2018, we had to leave Saint Colette for our new parish family here at Saint Albert’s. We were sad to leave, but enthused about our new parish. Saint Albert’s became our parish family! We love it here! Now, we are beginning another transition to the new parish. We will treasure the roots of Saint Albert’s as we treasure the roots of Saint Colette; but this new parish will be my home for as long as you’ll have me.

We have several months before the merger takes effect. If we want to make this parish a place for our families to worship for generations to come, let’s embrace the cross of our loss and hope for the resurrection of our new parish.

Deacon Regis