Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
These past nine and half months at St. Edward/San Felipe de Jesus have been a great blessing to me. I am grateful for the warmth with which you welcomed me and especially your openness as you shared with me the challenges of the past, your hurt, anger and frustration as well as the blessings you have received. This openness helped me to quickly think and pray about a path to reinvigorate our parish community and make some changes that have borne fruit.
I am also grateful for the trust you placed in me as I began making changes to help our community to more prayerfully and reverently pray while at the same time reinforcing the dignity of all the ministers at Mass.
Your willingness to pray last November about how much you were giving to our parish resulted in amazing generosity. This generosity allowed us to end the fiscal year in the black, but more importantly, to things such as invest more money in our youth ministry, the music at our Masses and address some delayed maintenance issues.
I am edified by the zeal you have shown in sharing your faith and inviting people to our parish. Each Sunday I have met people that have come for the first time to our parish because of the good things you are telling friends and neighbors about what is happening here. Please continue to spread the good news.
Many have asked what I will do after July. I have started to reach out to friends to reconnect with them and I am also planning to go with a priest friend for some vacation in Canada later this summer. Additionally, I have been asked to plan and coordinate the retreat for the US Bishops which will be next June in San Diego.
Please know of my gratitude for your friendship, openness, trust and faith. I hope to see you around the diocese as well as at St. Edward/San Felipe. With my prayers and gratitude,
In Christ,
Bishop Tim Freyer
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