With a Grateful Heart (part 2) …June 16, 2024

“I lift up my eyes to the hills – from where will my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth”. Psalm 121:1-2

“Father, why are you leaving the parish so soon especially after doing all that work!?” 

This has been a question posed by many after the announcement of my departure. I have heard sentiments of disappointment and sadness in these questions and this makes me realize that some of you are giving me too much credit for the things that we have commonly achieved. While acknowledging your sentiments of gratitude, it is important to remind you that, whatever achievement we have reached has come through the grace of the Lord.

I would like to take your memories back to the first weekend when I started at St. Francis Xavier. At that time, I asked you, as your new pastor to please pray a daily Hail Mary for me. Many have done so and continue praying with great joy. I am so grateful for all those prayers. The changes and blessings that you have seen at St. Francis Xavier throughout the past six years are completely and totally because of the power of your faithful prayers! Thank you, my friends, from the bottom of my heart. I am so moved and humbled by those prayers.

Back then I also invited you to participate in a need assessment survey of the parish. You were asked to write three things that the parish was doing well and three things that needed to improve or further attention. Your participation in this was amazing, and the suggestions were incredible. Those survey results helped me a lot as your pastor to set priorities. Thank you so much. As I am concluding my ministry here at St. Francis Xavier, in a week, I am so grateful to the Lord and to all of you, for your love, support and prayers. It was an amazing journey of faith and commitment!  This time I am going to ask two similar requests but of a more personal nature.

The first is that you please continue praying the One Hail Mary for me, and for my future ministry. The second request is similar to my request for the survey when I needed to get to know the parish. However, this time I would like to know your assessment of me as your pastor. It will be very helpful for my personal growth and improvement, if you could write a note or a card next weekend (my last weekend) with three things that you appreciate in me as a priest and three areas that I need to improve, grow, correct or pay attention to. This can be in point form or in a sentence form. If you leave your contact information, I will be glad to send thank you notes or seek clarification if needed, once I settle down in the new parish. You can drop off your notes into a “suggestion box” that will be placed in the parish hall as we bid farewell.

As an ordinary parish priest, I am fully aware that I have not lived up to all your expectation or satisfied all your needs or requests. There have been moments when you might have felt discontent because of some of my decisions, responses, unavailability etc. I want to ask your forgiveness for those disappointing moments. Please pray for me, that I may grow closer to the Lord and serve His people in charity. I want to assure you of my prayers for you, especially those among you who have confided in me your burdens and struggles in family life, children, career and health. I will keep all these intentions in my prayers. 

Once again, with a grateful heart, I praise God for allowing me to serve you. I am inspired by your faith and commitment. Please pray one Hail Mary for me. My third and final note to you as your pastor will be printed next week…

God Bless you always,

Fr. James Cherickal