saint FRancis xavieR paRish June 24, 2018

Our MissiOn stateMent

st. Francis Xavier is a cathOlic- Jesuit parish ignited by the eucharist 

tO pray, serve, dO Justice, and lOve.

‘To whomever I send you, you shall go; whatever I command you, you shall speak. Have no fear before them, because I am with you to deliver you, says the LORD.’

~Jeremiah 1:7-8

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It seems like just when I finally get to know a place and to love a community it’s time to move. The possibility of moving always hovers around Jesuits. I haven’t lived in any one place for more than three years since I entered the Society of Jesus fourteen years ago. I realized this going in, but I did not foreknow how difficult it would be nor that it does not get easier with each successive move. Be that as it may, I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Relationships are the silver lining of this roaming life. It’s a joy to be able to witness the ways God moves and works in people’s lives, a joy that truly grounds me in my vocation. I’m blessed with friends I wouldn’t otherwise know in Portland, Tacoma, Spokane, St. Louis, Bogotá and Berkeley. Now the same is true of Missoula. And I’m deeply grateful. These past two years stand out from all the rest and I will remember them fondly. They were my first years of Jesuit priesthood, a special time when you welcomed and encouraged me, when you patiently taught me how to serve you. You watched me grow out of the nervousness I arrived with back in September of 2016 and into someone a bit more trusting and a whole lot more in love with being a priest. St. Francis Xavier is where I got to see the outer and inner workings of a parish for the first time: the daily Masses, the Baptisms, the First Communions, the Confir-mations, the marriage prep, the hospital and home visits, the high school retreats, the rotation with the Mission at St. Ignatius, the staff meetings, the Advents, the Christmases, the Lenten observances, the Paschal Triduums, the Recon-ciliations up at Legendary Lodge, the faith formation , the bible studies, the liturgies in Spanish, the Spiritual Exer-cises in Everyday Life, the daily prayer and the uninhibited moments of consolation without cause. I had no idea so much happened behind the scenes of parish life and that so much could be packed into two years! I’ll carry with me the questions, the tears, the laughter, the celebration of 125 grace-filled years of this faithful Catholic community on the corner of Orange and Pine, and the privilege of being part of our parish delegation to Santa Rita and of a Jesuit audience with Pope Francis. This just scratches the surface. The common denominator here is relationship. Relationships with my brother Jesuits in community, with our pastor Fr. Carver who is a steady guide and a tremendous leader, with the dedicated staff of SFX and with all of you. These relationships reflect nothing less than the goodness of God. It becomes so clear in our journey together that we’re bound to Christ’s mystical body even as we manifest the body of Christ out in the world, that we are a holy people that God draws to Godself in and through the intimate and even earthy details of our shared life, and that we are a family extending beyond this particular place and time. Being in relationship with St. Francis Xavier parish has been an unmeasurable gift that I know is going to keep on giving. I get to take all this with me to a new place and a new assignment. Jesuits West Provincial Scott Santarosa, S.J. missioned me to serve as the pastor of St. Leo parish in the Hilltop neighborhood of Tacoma, Washington, later to be clustered with the predominantly Latino parish of Sacred Heart in Tacoma’s South side. It’s going to be a steep learning curve and I ask for your prayers during this transition and beyond. Know that I will remember you with affection in my prayers. Please stop by St. Leo and say hi if find yourself passing through the Pacific Northwest. Tacoma is just a nine-hour drive away!

May God bless you and continue to show forth His love and care in you and through you.

Matthew Holland, S.J.

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Dear regular Mass-goers: the seats at the end of the pew aren’t for you.

My work took me away from home a lot last fall, and so I was at a different Catholic parish every weekend. All the same Catholic Mass—and, depressingly, the same experience of being the unwelcomed stranger in a strangely familiar land.

Many of the parishes had a greeter smiling at the front door with a bulletin in hand. There was often an invita-tion from the pulpit for all visitors to stand and be welcomed. At one parish, I even received a shiny little gift bag with a ballpoint pen and a coffee cup, both bearing the name of the parish.

That was nice. I was being officially welcomed.

But it was not working. Why? I think it is because I had to climb over people to get into a pew. Seriously. This happened time and again and in churches that were empty except for the ends of the pews firmly held against all newcomers.

I was raised Catholic. I know the strategy. The first-class seats are at the end of the pew. To create a warm and inviting parish, it is apparently much easier to put a welcome blurb in the bulletin or even to station greeters at the front of the church than for parishioners to sit in the middle of an empty pew.

The more parishes I attended, the more people I had to crawl over, the more time I had to think: What scares us about sitting in the center? The wooden pew is just as hard, the view is much the same and we won’t suddenly hear an improvement in the music by sitting on the aisle. Perhaps it is because we know we should be at Mass but are unwilling to really commit. We want to be close to an exit so we can make a quick getaway. So we sit with one foot in the pew and the other in the parking lot.

Do we forget that we are at Mass because it is here the community gathers? It is here that we become the people of God, drawn to each other by the work of the Spirit. And yet we try to sit where we can have as little contact with other people as possible—choosing our seats at Mass as we would on a cramped trans-Atlantic flight with unpleasant strangers.

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We do this without thinking about it, on a level that remains hidden to us but is obvious to newcomers. We be-moan our empty churches and then act as though no one is expected to join us in our empty pew. But here is the deal: The end spots on a pew are for those who arrive after us.

Or do we think we are the last ones who will sit in these pews at all? That we are the final generation of faithful churchgoing Catholics? Thus we don’t need to worry about moving toward the middle because the pew will be largely empty anyway.

Every weekend, in every Catholic Church in the United States, new people arrive hungry for a community to call home. Is this parish for them? Is this pew for them? They come from other denominations, from other faiths and from other parishes. If they cannot find a place to sit, they will not be back. And we will never have a chance to speak the saving Word to them, because, in spite of the official welcome, they understood this was not going to be their church. It was already taken by the guardians at the end of the pew.

This is hard on the newcomers, but it is equally damaging to the oldtimers, the invested, the parishioners. We can go to Mass weekend after weekend, and every weekend we get just a little bit less hopeful. We begin to see the empty pews as abandoned real estate rather than fresh new lots, ready for families to move into our neighbor-hood.

Now, this might not apply to families with kids. But if we singles and couples chose to scoot over and occupy the middle we would not only create space for the newcomers but we could get into the habit of hope again in our church. We could hold a space open for all our friends and family who wander in lost and alone on a Sunday morning. And we would begin to rub elbows with the Sunday regulars from the other end of the pew as well.

Then, imagine if we all began to move toward the middle in the rest of our lives—in our choice of media, in our ideological camps. Can you imagine moving to the middle? Or is any movement toward the center seen as a betrayal? Are we selfish enough to continue the move apart when what we need desperately is to come together?

Can you imagine arriving at Mass and choosing to sit in the exact middle of a pew? If you sit there, you boldly state that you are expecting more people to join you. There is room on your right; there is room on your left. You sit in the middle because you are welcoming. You are ready to make that first offer to strangers, the offer of space, of community. You help them begin a first step toward a life with Christ where you are St. Paul, John the Baptist and the Virgin Mary rolled into one: an on-fire, evangelizing Catholic.

Jack Bentz, SJ America Magazine February 14, 2018

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St. Francis Xavier Parish will often use parishioner likeness in print, video, website or in social media sites for the purpose of sharing our church community with others.

420 West pine street, Missoula Mt, 59802 406.542.0321 sfxmissoula.org

Prayers

Thank you for your generous giving!

For information on Jesuit vocations BeAJesuit.org

Collections for Sunday, June 17, 2018

June 24, 2018 the nativity oF st. John the baptist

For Mass times, the Sacraments, and other inquires please refer to our website sfxmissoula.org

This Month at St. Francis Xavier

May --- Billy Battles

rest in peace in Our Lord’s Loving arms.

• Summer Office Hours reminder. From June the 22nd until August the 17th the parish Office will be closed on Fridays.

• Ignite Bible studies Wednesdays at 7pm at the Highlander Brewery.• Host Families Needed! Loyola Sacred Heart High School is blessed to have the opportunity to include • international students as part of our student body. Contact Kathy Schneider, Principal at kschneider@

mcsmt.org • Baptism Class July 22nd These classes are designed for families with infants to children under the age of 7

years seeking the sacrament of Baptism for their child. Please contact Evie 406.542.0321 to register.• Journey 2019 Retreat weekends in January to be held at Christ the King call: Bruce Peterson 270.7670

May --- Mary Carver, Marilyn Rollin, Mike Kellogg,

and Carlton Quamme receive His healing and consolation.

Mass Intentions for The Month of June, 2018

Saturday 6/23 For the People* Sunday 6/24 Trisha Hagan Susie Byrne Bob Beausoleil Monday 6/25 Tim Murphy Tuesday 6/26 Kaye Helms Wednesday 6/27 Joanne LaPalm Thursday 6/28 Kate Deeds Friday 6/29 Robert Patterson Saturday 6/30 Susie Byrne

We’d love to get to know you, connect with you, and inform you of our various activities, groups

and events going on at the church.

Please pick up a registration form in the entrance of the church or go online to register at

sfxmissoula.org and click on the “Join Our Parish” link.

Thank you to the pastor, staff, and parishioners of S.F.X. for the prayers and concern for me in my recent health episode I’m on the mend.

Sincerely, Vince Harrington

Regular Offering - 7046.00Loose Collections - 1819.04Holy Family House - 40.00

RE Program - 315.00

Online Giving - 954.40