New pastor

Heard this morning and confirmed that our new pastor will be Father David Meinholz. Fr. Meinholz was ordained a priest in 1994, and is now assisting at St. Peter Alcantara Church in Port Washington. I understand our parish will be his first as Pastor.

The Mission Statement & Philosophy of St. Peter Alcantara says

We, the members of St. Peter's Congregation, view as our primary mission to foster a spirit of community as reflected in the hopes and aspirations of the Gospel. Inspired by this mission, we worship together, share with one another, support all our members, and serve all the family of God to the limits of our resourses. In faithfulness to the Lord and with appreciation of our roles as servants of God, we pursue this mission through liturgical, human concerns, educational and community building programs.

That's much closer to English than we're accustomed to in such a document at St. Alphonsus.

Our current pastor will move to Saint Sebastian, across town. Note that the news of the pastoral change is on its web site. I assume Fr. Dick's first order of business will be to explain to them why it is impossible to keep a parish web site current in this way. Or perhaps he will do this indirectly by reassigning web site maintenance to someone who doesn't have time to do it.

Saint Sebastian's online welcome is largely in contemporary church committee-speak.

We are a welcoming and reconciling openness to all people, celebrating the diversity of our urban neighborhood; We are witnessing to a contemporary understanding and practice of the Church's teaching, in the light of the Second Vatican Council; We are living out our call to discipleship by offering sacramental life, service, teaching, and healing to all God's people, which will, at times, involve a cost to ourselves; We are nurturing in our lives a deeper spiritual relationship with the Lord.

(I'm not a northsider like Fr. Dick, but I believe sentences are not supposed to end with a semi-colon, even up there.)

Update: [May 8th 1:00 PM] Fr. Meinholz is listed at St. Peter's in the 2005 Archdiocesan Directory but since its publication became administrator at Blessed Trinity, near 38th and Hampton on Milwaukee's north side. Its Mission Statement & Philosophy says

Because we believe, we celebrate together and reach out to all.

Churchspeak, but brief.