Happy Easter!  I pray that you are enjoying this Eastertide and continuing to bask in the glory of Jesus' victory!

NEWS FROM THE PEWS

I fully realize I have been neglecting this blog and trying to keep you in the loop with News from the Pews as well as helping you get all set for Sunday.  So, this might be longer than normal.

There is a pastor at Saint Pius again!  On March 15, Bishop Joensen formally accepted me into the Diocese of Des Moines and also assigned me as the Pastor of Saint Pius X for a six-year term.  This ends a nine-month period of in-betweenness for me as I was a monk without rights or privileges in the monastery and not a priest of Des Moines.  Now as a priest fully belonging to Des Moines, I am able to shepherd this community more fully with stability here.   Bishop Joensen will join us for Mass on Sunday, May 26 at 11:00 AM to formally install me as pastor.  I am most grateful for your support and love during these past nine months, and I really am thankful to God for leading me here with you.  The Holy Spirit is doing great things among us--and it is amazing!

Thank you for an amazing Lent, Holy Week, Triduum and start to our Easter season.  It truly does take a whole community to prepare for and celebrate Christ's victory over Sin and Death. 

• The guides for our Gospel of Mark reading were written by about ten different folks from our parish--priests, deacons, ministry team, school team, leadership volunteers.  They were compiled and distributed by our Ministry Team members.  
• Our liturgical environment was taken down, set up, taken down and reset up by an amazing crew who also keep the outside of our campus looking great.
• Our musicians rehearsed and ministered beautifully throughout this sacred time.
• Our liturgical assemblies were actively and fully participating in the worship of our God.
• Our liturgical ministers served well at the various ministries throughout this time.
• Our candidates to receive the Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and First Communion were well prepared by a teams of folks.
• Our cleaning crew did a great job keeping up with everything.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU.

Congratulations to our newly baptized, our newly received, our newly confirmed and those who have received Jesus for the first time this Eastertide!

Saint Pius School Leadership Council met on April 11.  One of the big news items is that we finally settled on calling the group the "School Council."  It had been called the "Leadership Council" but that name also describes other groups in the parish.  The School Council is short and to the point.  The School Council is made up of the working committee chairs and the Officers.  Their role is to support and advice about matters of the school.  They also coordinate a lot of the extra activities for our school ministry.  

At the April 11 meeting I had to apologize to them and to our families who enroll students at Saint Pius School for a communication failure on my part.  We announced the tuition quickly after we worked through the effects of the pause on the Region for Saint Pius School.  In short, the tuition was set at a level that allowed families who qualify for the Educational Savings Account (ESA) to use it while not pricing ourselves out for families who do not qualify for the ESA.  To qualify for an ESA, students either must be newly enrolled in a private school (next year this includes our Kindergarten and first grade families as well as transfers from public schools) or be in a family that makes less than the maximum income level set by the State of Iowa.  Saint Pius has a diversity of income levels--so this became a challenge.  For the families who do not qualify for the ESA or other outside support, our parish offers a $650 scholarship for each child.  The sticker shock of the increase was strong, and I am sorry for not sharing this early enough or in a manner that was easily understandable.  We are blessed with a vibrant school ministry, and we are committed to making it affordable for all.

Saint Pius Pastoral Council met on April 18.  The Council spent time reviewing how the pilot process for our Fiat Lux (adult small discipleship groups) was experienced and how we can begin to start up more groups in September.  We learned a lot about what works at SPX and how to improve the experience.  We also are looking how to utilize the approach, which we are calling Genesis, in other areas of ministry.

Saint Pius Finance Council will meet in May to look at our budget for the 2024-2025 fiscal year (July 1--June 30).  Our Finance Council's main purpose is ensure that we are good stewards of the blessings from God.  

With the conclusion of Sacrament season this weekend, we are looking at a wind down for our ministry year.  Faith Formation classes will conclude in the coming weeks, RCIA will wrap up with mystogogia, school is planning for graduation and field day already.  As we wind down, we will also take opportunities to review the year and start planning for next year.  

ALL SET FOR SUNDAY

This Sunday Jesus reminds us that He is the Good Shepherd.  The Good Shepherd protects us while also guiding and leading us.  We pray for ourselves that we will trust Him enough to keep turning back to Him.  He knows the plan for us--as individuals, as families, as Church--and we are called to ask Him to reveal to us what we need to know in order to keep moving forward with Him.

God bless you this week.

In Christ,

Father Matthew