Monday, April 13, 2015

Thank you to a faithful servant!: Parish Bulletin--4-12-15


            In my column this weekend I want to express my personal gratitude to Pat Bjorum, who will be retiring after forty years of service to our parish and school.  Her retirement date is set for April 30th, 2015.  This is well deserved having served for twenty-five years as a second grade teacher at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic School (1975-2000) and fifteen years as our Director of Pastoral Care (2000-2015). 
To be honest, I feel ill equipped to write this article.  I happen to be the last pastor with whom Pat worked—and that is an honor.  Pat has worked at St. Thomas Aquinas parish and school for no less than 12 pastors (and longer than I have been alive!)  More than this, I now consider Pat a friend and coworker in the vineyard of our Lord. 
In less than a year, Pat has shown me what it means to follow Jesus’ command in the Judgment of the Nations: “Then the King will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me’ (Matthew 25:34-36).  Pat has always been a voice to those left on the fringes of society.  She steadfastly spoke for the poor in our parish—the hungry, thirsty, stranger, naked, ill and infirmed.  I know she will continue to do so in this new phase of life.
As we move forward we are discerning what our needs are and how we can best fulfill God’s mission as a parish.  As we do so, please pray, especially for the right person to say yes to joining our parish staff! 
As we do so, I want to be clear—our goal is not to replace Pat.  This is impossible because individuals can never be replaced (especially someone with four decades’ worth of experience and a Master’s Degrees in pastoral care to back it up!).  At the same time, the mission to serve must carry on.  Our goal ought to be offering similar services to the poor, homebound and sick that Pat provided and established in our parishes with the same compassion and care.  Individuals—both paid and volunteer—will be called upon to ensure we always seek the lost in our community.
I am proud of our parish for its longstanding outreach to the poor, elderly, homebound, infirmed and ill.  Thanks, Pat, for your many years of dedicated service to those who are often left on the margins of our society.  While I wanted to throw a huge retirement party, Pat specifically requested serving coffee and donuts after the 10:30 Mass on Sunday, April 26th.  Please thank her now and then!
God Bless!

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