20th Sunday of Ordinary Time Homily

I was walking down the side aisle of church on Friday, going to greet people coming to the Holy Day Mass. I noticed a couple sitting towards the back of the church. They weren’t familiar to me. The man was turning his head from side to side. It was almost as if it was on a swivel. As I walked by, I heard him say to his wife. “This place is beautiful! Everything is completely renovated.” 

A minute or two later he came up to me as I was standing at the door. He told me he has been coming to Chatham for a couple of decades, but Friday was the first time he has been in Holy Redeemer in a while. It was the first time he had seen our renovations completed over a year ago now. He complimented me on them and told me he was very impressed. I thanked him and we talked about the changes for a few minutes. I’ve received so many expressions of approval concerning the renovations here at Holy Redeemer. You know not one person has expressed a complaint. Now that is a miracle!

While I appreciate people complementing the church improvements, it isn’t those remarks that I most appreciate hearing. The ones I savor are like the one I received from a woman visitor after the same Mass. She came to me and said, “That was a beautiful Mass, the music was wonderful, your homily had an important message. I love coming to Holy Redeemer whenever I come to Chatham. You know I feel it is one of the highlights of my visits.” 

Beautiful churches are wonderful. An attractive, well-maintained church is necessary but not the primary reason people come to Mass. If beautiful churches were all it took to get people to church those in Europe would be overflowing. For a parish to flourish and grow it needs to be a place where congregants feel welcome, part of a loving community, where they are fed spiritually. That is our mission here at Holy Redeemer. We are working to live up to our Mission Statement, Living in Faith, Growing in Faith, Sharing in Faith.

Parishioners tell me that we are doing that. Recently, a parishioner spoke to me about how his faith is growing at Holy Redeemer. He has been a parishioner for a while and seen many changes in the parish. He said to me, “Father, I used to tell people I go to Mass at Holy Redeemer, now I tell them I’m a parishioner of Holy Redeemer.” 

He was saying that previously he was a religious consumer with only a loose association and shallow commitment to the parish and his Catholic faith. He believed his church affiliation was similar to coming to get his ticket to Heaven punched. He had an obligation to fulfill if he wanted to get to Heaven and the shorter and easier he was able to do that the better. He wasn’t experiencing any growth in spiritual maturity or a deepening commitment to Jesus Christ. 

He told me, “Over the last few years we’ve been changing that culture completely at Holy Redeemer. We have worked hard to transform our parish, Father. I really appreciate how you and Deacon Art work on your homilies. You share a thoughtful, inspiring, and challenging message. The music is beautiful and we have become a community as a parish.”

The parishioner told me he is a member of one of our Small Faith Sharing groups. Small Groups are something we established over a year ago. They are where our larger Church gets smaller. He said his group has become like a family. They are comfortable with each other and inspire each other to grow in their Catholic faith. I want to invite you to consider joining a Small Faith Sharing Group. We have openings in some of our groups and are ready to start new ones as demand develops. Just call the Parish Office and we will help you sign up. 

It isn’t only seasoned parishioners who are experiencing a transformation in the parish. It is new people, too. I had a conversation recently with one. She told me, “I’ve got to admit it Father, I have been lax in faith in recent years. When my children were growing up, I taught CCD and was even a Eucharistic Minister. A couple of years ago, my husband and I moved to the summer home we’ve owned for about twenty years. We are planning to retire here. A while ago I decided to come to Mass and immediately felt the need to reconnect with the Church. 

But this isn’t about me, Father, it is about my husband. He never was much of a churchgoer in the past. He would attend Mass on the major holidays like Christmas and Easter or when the children received their sacraments. I invited him to Mass with me one Sunday. Now he wakes up on Sunday morning and is excited about coming to church. You know how you encourage us to introduce ourselves at the beginning of Mass? We have made friends with the people sitting around us. We really feel like a community. 

Holy Redeemer is becoming a real force in our Chatham community. We are setting the fire of faith in many hearts. Fires of faith that were only a flicker are blazing up again and new fires are being started. Like Ebed-melech, the Cushite, we are saving spiritual lives stuck in the mud at the bottom of a well and offering new life. I hope Holy Redeemer has become more than the place you go to Mass but your parish. 

This spring we conducted a parish survey. About a quarter of survey respondents said they have been parishioners for from 25-30 years or more. We have a solid core of parishioners. The survey also revealed that about a quarter of our members have joined the parish in the last five years or less. Holy Redeemer is a growing parish. 

We want to continue to set spiritual fires, grow as a parish and spiritually feed the community of the Lower Cape. As our Vision Statement reads, we want Holy Redeemer to foster excellence in Christ centered worship, form parishioners in faith, evangelize, and work for social justice in our community. We want Holy Redeemer to be a beacon of faith for our area. To execute this vision, we need to be on solid financial footings. 

Our Church renovations, both physical and spiritual have moved us along that path. We want to keep going. Our buildings need to be well maintained, our parking lot safe and not a source of frustration, our support services helpful. To do that more renovations to our parish plant are being planned. We want to complete the replacement of the cedar shingles on the main part of the church with the same composite siding and trim that we have on the new addition. This will give our church an attractive appearance for years to come. 

Our parking lot needs attention. We plan to open a new curb cut on to Old Harbor Road, add lighting, and reline the lot into conventional stall parking. The rectory windows are all original dating back as far as the construction of the original house in 1909. We anticipate replacing them with tighter, more energy efficient ones. 

Our Lady of Grace can’t be treated as a poor sister. Plans are for painting the interior, improving lighting, new carpet, and an improved audio system. Over the next three years we plan to carry out these and several other projects.

To fund them we are beginning a three-year Capital Campaign to raise $750,000. It is a hefty goal but one the Finance Committee and I feel it is attainable. In 2022, our previous Capital campaign raised $1.2 million dollars. With the support of all parishioners, we feel confident.

Our 2022 campaign receiver five gifts of $100,000 to $125,000. I’m pleased to tell you one of those parishioners has already pledged a gift of $100,000 to our 2025 campaign. While we were blessed to receive several large gifts most of the campaign money was contributed in smaller amounts. Thirty parishioners gave $2,500 and roughly forty gave amounts from $1,000 to $2,500. 

The vast majority of contributors to the 2022 Capital Campaign chose not to pledge their gift but made a one-time payment. I would like to offer a challenge to those who gave the smaller gifts to consider prayerfully making a sacrificial gift. What would a truly sacrificial gift spread over three years look like? Could it be two or three times the gift you contributed in 2022? 

Most of all I want to challenge the several hundred parishioners who didn’t contribute in 2022. I pray that over the last few years you have begun to catch the spirit of Holy Redeemer Parish. I hope it has become more evident to you the good work we can do as a parish. I pray you will become involved in this Capital Campaign.

This week registered parishioners will receive a brochure and a letter from me announcing the Capital Campaign. Please read over the brochure and see how excited several of your fellow parishioners are about participating in the Campaign. You can use the pledge card included in the brochure to make a gift, or pledge. Maybe you would like to use appreciable stock as your gift? Arrangements for such a gift can be made through Deacon Art at the parish office. Perhaps you envision making a legacy gift, remembering the parish in your estate plan? Please let us know if that is your choice. Gifts can also be made using a credit card or automatic funds transfer on our parish website. Go to www.holyredeemerchatham.org, click on the “donate” tab on the Home page and follow the instructions.

All of us regardless of financial situation can give the gift of prayer for the Capital Campaign’s success. To help facilitate prayer, later this week, the parish is conducting the Forty Hours Devotion. 40 Hours is a traditional round the clock Catholic prayer devotion. It symbolically recalls the forty hours Jesus lay in the tomb between his death on the cross and the resurrection. 

If you receive Flocknotes from the parish. You got an email on Friday inviting you to sign up to spend an hour in prayer on Thursday, Friday, or Saturday, here in Church before the Blessed Sacrament. We are planning several additional prayer services during those days. It is very easy to sign up. I was even able to do it. Pray for all Holy Redeemer Parishioners to have generous hearts. 

Has Holy Redeemer Parish changed your heart and soul? Have you grown in your faith over the last few years? Do you want to help those who feel stuck at the bottom of a well of hopelessness to become alive with the fire of Christ? Please join your fellow parishioners in helping our parish grow with your prayerful support for the 2025 Capital Campaign.