PRESERVING OUR PATRIMONY
And what does patrimony refer to, you ask? In church talk, patrimony refers to two categories:
• Temporal matters: our collective ownership of material things, such as buildings; and
• Spiritual matters: the charism, legacy and identity of our parish.
I heard all this from Susan Mulheron, Chancellor for Canonical Affairs in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. As Chancellor, she’s Archbishop Hebda’s go-to person when it comes to church law. She recently spoke on patrimony to parish administrators.
Church law—canon law—is the legal code of the Roman Catholic Church. As is the case with civil law, canon law digs into details most of us have never dreamed of. It’s important, however. Church laws and policies influence much of what we do.
Susan’s counterpart at the Archdiocese is Joe Kueppers, Chancellor for Civil Affairs. He also spoke during the online sessions I listened to a couple of weeks ago. He had useful reminders about recent laws passed by the Minnesota legislature, and how those laws affect us.
APBA (Association of Parish Business Administrators)
Another meeting I recently attended was hosted by APBA, my professional association. (We met in person, thankfully.) It was a good opportunity to share knowledge and support each other. A highlight for me was that we met on September 21, the Feast of St. Matthew, our patron saint.
We celebrated the Feast of St. Matthew at last weekend’s Masses. When Fr. Steve talked about St. Matthew’s call to service, I thought back to my call here to St. Matt’s. (Good call; works for me.) I continue to be impressed by the strength of our parish community, in matters temporal and spiritual. Would that more of my professional colleagues enjoy similar strengths in their parishes. There are some real struggles out there. Please pray for everyone in our Archdiocese.
Special thanks to Tom and Tony, who installed new whiteboards in Faith Formation classrooms before the fall session began recently. The students and teachers really appreciated them!
Thank you for your support, and have a great week!
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