Dear Brothers & Sisters,
Greetings in the Lord, who makes all things new! (Rev. 21:5)
On this first Sunday of our new parish, we give thanks to God for the gift of our Catholic Faith, and how that gift of faith is lived and expressed here in the families and hearts of our parishioners. Today, the Blessed Virgin Mary, under her title “Mary, Queen of Saints,” becomes our mighty patroness. She will intercede for our parish family, obtaining graces to help us here in this life, and to assist us in reaching our goal — eternal life!
For the past several months, our Advisory Council has devoted some time at each meeting to develop a visioning statement that would assist us in setting a course for our work together. What the group came up with is this:
Mary, Queen of Saints Parish is a welcoming community of joyful Catholics
who are transformed and strengthened by the celebration of the Eucharist.
We embark on a life-long journey toward sainthood
by learning our faith, loving and serving our Lord and neighbors
as we make disciples of all those we encounter.
Our Lord wants us to be holy, He wants us to be saints! Our parish should help us in that goal. Our liturgical life: the Mass, sacraments, and communal prayer; our catechesis and evangelization; our social events; and our ways of serving the community around us – all of this should in some way contribute to our cooperation with God’s grace at work in us making us holy. We want to go to Heaven!
Thank you all for the many ways that you enrich our parish life. Father Canice, Father Joachim and I remember you daily in our prayers and count ourselves blessed to be here in your midst.
Mary, Queen of Saints, pray for us!
In the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts,
Fr, Jean-Luc Zadroga, OSB
Please note that there have been duplicate sets of offertory envelopes sent to some of our parishioners. If you received two sets of envelopes, please use the lower numbered envelope and call the parish office at 724.775.6363 ext. 101 so the necessary correction can be made to the database. Thank you in advance for your cooperation and assistance.
Though all four 'churches' will remain open, we now begin the consolidation of the 'four parishes' into 'one parish'. In regards to setting up online giving as a single new parish, the transition should be relatively easy. Our website provider, eCatholic, will also be our online contribution service provider for our new parish.
In preparation for the July 1, 2021 transition, please be aware of the following in regards to online giving:
Please keep these dates and tasks in mind so that you do not have a break in using this convenient service. And when it's time to enroll, thank you in advance for taking those few moments to continue your kind support.
As we continue towards our becoming one parish on July 1, 2021, here are a few updates that impact our stewardship for parishioners.
The first is we have signed on with Church Budget to be our envelope provider. You will receive your 1st set of envelopes toward the end of June, containing envelopes for July & August; your envelopes will be mailed out bi-monthly thereafter.
The second involves on-line giving. We have contracted with e-Catholic to be our on-line giving service. We currently use e-Catholic as the host for our MACH1 website, which should make the transition for our parishioners a little easier since everyone is somewhat familiar with our website. More information involving this change will be forthcoming.
Thank you all for the many ways you contribute to making our parish life vibrant and joyful! Fr. Canice, Fr. Joachim and I are blessed to be here in your midst.
In the Sacred Heart of Jesus,
Fr. Jean-Luc Zadroga, OSB
The MACH1 Parish [Grouping] is a welcoming community of joyful Catholics who are transformed and strengthened by the celebration of the Eucharist. We embark on a life-long journey toward sainthood by learning our faith, loving and serving our Lord and neighbors as we make disciples of all those we encounter.
(as of 2/25/21)
The following are the members of our Interim Advisory Councils for our parish grouping. We thank them for their service to our emerging faith community in this effort.
Please note you are welcome to contact any of the council members, as well as any of our parish grouping's clergy, and/or the administrative staff of our parish offices for information and clarifications.
May 29, 2021
Four groupings of parishes in the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh will merge on July 1, 2021, to create four new parishes, Bishop David Zubik announced today. Fifteen parishes will be part of the mergers.
“For more than two years, you have journeyed together on a road that is intended to unite you on the mission to bring the Good News of Jesus to your neighbors and to strengthen all of you in faith,” Bishop Zubik said.
In a letter to parishioners Bishop Zubik wrote, “This has not been a simple task. Jesus never promised that it would be easy to carry his message of love and mercy to others. He was clear that sacrifice would be necessary. However, you are positioning your new parish for more effective ministry by addressing financial needs, sharing resources and allowing your clergy to focus on the spiritual work for which they were ordained. With your faith in Jesus and empowered by the Holy Spirit, I invite you to warmly welcome and serve each other as you become one parish family.”
The four new parishes are:
Each of the mergers was requested by the priest-administrator of the grouping, after extensive consultation with parishioners. Bishop Zubik consulted with the diocesan Priest Council and Vicars General before approving each request.
The mergers are part of the ongoing On Mission for The Church Alive! strategic planning initiative, which is designed to help parishes mobilize their resources to prioritize mission over maintenance. Its goal is to help Catholics have a deeper relationship with Jesus, His Church and empower them to reach out to others with His love and mercy.
“This is a pivotal time for our diocese as we plan for the future of the Church of Pittsburgh,” Bishop Zubik said. “Southwestern Pennsylvania is radically different than it was 100, 50, 20, even 10 years ago, yet the work of the Church and our call from God to bring His love to everyone continues as strong as ever. As we address the challenges we face in the Church today, the witness of working and growing together reflects the unity of the Body of Christ that is essential to our mission.”
The mergers of July 1, 2021 will bring the number of parishes in the Diocese of Pittsburgh from 81 to 70.
4/18/21
Dear Brothers & Sisters,
Thank you for the feedback and questions about the merger of our parishes. Your feedback and questions are valuable and helpful to this process. I asked members of the Advisory Council to assist with reviewing and responding. Please take a moment and review the responses to the questions we received. Thank you for your prayers and input as we move toward the July merger.
Is travel to all four churches an unnecessary burden on the priests and does this allow for interaction between parishioners and the priests?
Fr. Joachim, Fr. Canice, and I travel to our four church buildings for Sunday and weekday Masses and we are accustomed to this. The short drive between our four churches is not burdensome. We have parish events and activities which allow for fellowship and interaction, and these kinds of opportunities will be increasing.
Are all four parishes operating “in the black,” and are the closed schools a financial drain?
Currently, all four individual parishes are financially stable and are operating in “the black.” As for the school buildings, they are used for meeting space, and conference space, priests’ offices, and religious education, and both closed schools are rented for athletic events and local community events. When the new parish is formed, a major priority will be to create an efficient, well-run organization that will eliminate as much duplication as possible and utilize group purchasing power to lower existing costs in as many areas as possible.
How will parishioners obtain sacrament records and how will sacraments be scheduled in our four parishes?
All parish records will be transferred to the Diocese of Pittsburgh Archives, and can be obtained through our parish office or by contacting diocesan archives directly. Following the merger, we will have one parish office main number. Baptisms, weddings, and other needs can be celebrated at any of our four churches per request.
Why are the budget projections/needs forecast not printed in the bulletin?
The budget was created for the fiscal year July 2019-July 2020, prior to the March 2020 shutdown. As of the March 2020 shutdown, the diocese requested a monthly cash flow (simple snapshot of income and expenses by month) instead of an annual budget. Each month, we have been able to cover all of our expenses due to the generosity of our parishioners. Currently, we have four stable parishes merging to form one new financially stable parish.
Why have we stopped listing who the priest celebrant is for Sunday Masses?
When two of our priests were exposed to the virus, we stopped listing who the priest-celebrant was for each Mass in the bulletin. Because of the many adjustments we make to our schedules, often with little warning, the decision was made not to list the priest-celebrant.
What are the reasons for converting the convent into a Youth Center, and what are the expected expense?
Rather than having an empty building sitting on our property, we are seeking to fill the needs of our youth and young adults by having a designated space for events and activities. With the new hire of our Youth Minister, Joshua Snatchko, as well as our growing Young Adult Ministry, we expectto use this space on a regular basis. It is a centrally located building that offers itself as a welcoming place for our young people—a group that has been identified as very important to the future of our parish and faith. This project is expected to cost $14,000. Approximately half of this cost has already been raised through generous gifts of parishioners from all four parishes.
At the time of our parish merging, will we conduct a parish census?
The merging of all parishioner data onto one system will allow us to remove duplicate registrations as well as those that have moved or passed who were not previously removed. Once that is completed, serious consideration of a census will be made by council.
Have we consulted other parishes in the Diocese of Pittsburgh that have already completed the merging process? Does the Diocese have a way for parish merger experiences to be shared?
As we go through the merger process, we are working with Dr. Gretta Stokes-Tucker, our diocesan consultant, who works in the Parish Services Office. Based on the success and failures of the merging of previous parishes, they have provided us with assistance to move forward and navigate our difficult circumstances.
Will you please provide more details about the naming process?
In the fall of 2020 a form to submit names that would best express our identity as a parish community was made available to all parishioners through the bulletin, website, and mail. We received many suggestions. Similar or duplicate names were combined, and a list was compiled. The names were discussed with the Advisory Council and evaluated based on a variety of factors, including frequency of submission. Some were eliminated because they did not meet the diocesan criteria, did not seem to express our identity as a grouping, or were already assigned to other parishes. The remaining names were compiled and the top 20 were submitted to Bishop Zubik. The Bishop eliminated several of these from consideration and indicated which of the remaining names were also being considered by other groupings. There were five names out of our 20 submissions which were not being considered by other groupings, virtually guaranteeing that we could be given one of those names. These five names are: Mary, Queen of All Saints*, St. Augustine, St. Martin de Porres, St. Rocco, and St. Thérèse of Lisieux. Bishop Zubik will prayerfully discern which name to give us. This name will be revealed before the July 1st merging.
Once we are a merged parish, will we have one Parish Share Campaign?
Yes.
How will Mass intentions be scheduled?
Every effort will be made to accommodate the date and location (church) of the requestor. Following the merger, we will publish the new guidelines for scheduling Mass intentions.
In the Sacred Heart of Jesus,
Fr. Jean-Luc
(*Please note that in the 4/18/21 bulletin as well as the 2/25/21PowerPoint presentation there was a slight error in stating this suggested name. Much apologies for this oversight.)
Our first Virtual Parish Assembly was presented on Thursday, February 25, 2021 at 7:00PM and is now available for viewing via the video player conveniently located on this page. Within this online presentation, various aspects of the parish merger are discussed and answers are given to previously submitted questions regarding it.
If you are a MACH1 parishioner who has questions and/or feedback you wish to share,
please submit it using the ONLINE SUBMISSION FORM
found on the Parish Plan Development page by
CLICKING HERE
If you prefer to to submit your questions/feedback using a PAPER SUBMISSION FORM,
you can download a pdf of one by
CLICKING HERE
Whether you use the ONLINE or PAPER method, please be sure to make your submission BY NO LATER THAN MARCH 15, 2021
so that it can be reviewed before the next Advisory Council Meeting set for March 17, 2021.
Check this page for updates. Our parish grouping will also publish related information in the weekly MACH1 bulletin as well as make use of regular mail and email. Due to the challenges of the pandemic and the safety of all our parishioners, we will hold our parish grouping virtual 'church hall' assembly type meetings online for now.