Dear Good People of St. Philip,

Listen!... As some of our Moms and Dads use to say so emphatically to us when they had something important to say. So too God our Father has said repeatedly throughout the Scriptures, to listen! To hear him! For instance, he first said this to our Jewish brothers and sisters through the prophet Moses when he gave them the great “Shema” in Deuteronomy (“Hear oh Israel the Lord is our God, the Lord alone”) or as he said on Mount Tabor to three of his apostles “This is my beloved Son (Jesus) listen to him!” As I begin my time here as Pastor of St. Philip’s I think God might be saying something similar to me. Listen! So, I would like to take some time to hear the voice of the Parish and the people who populate this Parish. So, I have decided over the next few months to try to engage the Parish in a couple ways that hopefully I can get a better sense of the heartbeat of this Parish and the vibrant Parish life that already exists.

The first way I am hoping to listen and get to know St. Philip’s a little better is by way of a Parish Survey. This is of course by no means obligatory and will be completely anonymous, unless you would like to share with me who you are and that is fine too. In a week or two I will make available physical copies in the vestibule of the Church and electronic ones will be available online as well. I encourage you to complete this survey with as much or as little information as you would like. This is not a survey to say yes to this or no to that but rather to hear your thoughts and opinions on different aspects of the Parish that seem important to me. If you see challenges or ways to grow that is fine, please share that with me and if everything seems fine as it is that is helpful to know as well.

The second way that I am hoping to hear and learn from you as well is that I would like to con duct a few listening sessions here at the Parish to hear from you all about the Parish, again something basic like what are our strengths and what are our challenges. I would like to offer our first session on the evening of Sunday, September 20 at 6:00 pm in English and a second session on the evening of Sunday, September 27 6:00 pm in Spanish. Please consider coming even if you really don’t have much to say. Also, some of you may not be interested in engaging in either of these ways (the survey or the listening session) but you may have thoughts on our parish to share please feel to write me a letter or come in for a private meeting.

One last thing mostly unrelated but still important, this past Friday (Aug. 21st) all the priest of the Diocese met with Bishop Burbidge (virtually) to express his continued concern and hope that the “Catholics Vote No” campaign (that I wrote to you about in July) be a success. To make that success a reality he (we) need your help. I am currently gathering names and contact of anyone desirous to help make this campaign a success, particularly by possibly running a voter registration day here at St. Philip’s or writing small messages to people to encourage them to vote in November and why they should be concerned.

Peace in Christ,

Father Briggs