Recently someone asked me when our parish church was dedicated. I actually have the answer to that question hanging on one of the walls in my office in the rectory: a letter from William Cardinal Baum, former Archbishop of Washington, to our founding pastor, the Reverend John P. Stack. Let me quote from this important letter for our parish history. The letter is dated October 4, 1975.
Dear Father Stack:
Please accept my sincere congratulations as you and your parish Family dedicate your new parish Church. It is truly a beautiful sign of God’s greater gift to us, which is our Faith. I join with you in thanking God for His great goodness in causing Faith to live in our hearts, and for granting us the blessing of this new Church building.
It is a source of great joy to be able to join you and the people of the parish in dedicating our new Church on the very Feast of Saint Francis. Today we keep the memory of one who devoted himself entirely to love for God who has first loved us. Through the intercession of Saint Francis, who is with us still in the Communion of Saints, may we grow in our ability to love God as He has first loved us. Through Saint Francis’ intercession may we learn also to love our fellow men as Christ would have us do.
May the virtues of generous love and service exemplified by Saint Francis be manifested in our lives. May your love be as visible among whom you live as is our new Church. Through you, may God draw many more in Faith, Hope, and Charity.
Asking a remembrance in your prayers, and a promise of daily prayer for all of Saint Francis’ Parish, I am
Devotedly in Our Lord,
+William W. Baum
Archbishop of Washington
I am particularly struck by Archbishop (and later Cardinal) Baum’s exhortation to the parish to cultivate the virtues of generous love and service so that they are clearly exemplified in our lives. He also expresses the hope that many might be drawn to the Lord in Faith, Hope, and Charity through our words and actions.
Within the last few years, after considerable discussion, our Parish Council voted to update our Parish Vision and Mission Statements to reflect who we are as a Parish. Let me remind you of these core values of our Parish life.
Vision Statement: Growing a community that preaches the Gospel at all times through our worship, our words and our actions.
Mission Statement: Enlivened by God’s grace we live the good news—joyfully sharing God’s love with all, being instruments of peace for the poor and vulnerable, and continually building up our diverse Church Community.
It is very interesting to read Cardinal Baum’s hopes and desires for our parish in its early years side by side with our recent expression of parish identity through our Vision and Mission Statements. I think that the consistency is remarkable. The values expressed in both are very different to those exemplified so often in the world today. For that reason it is all the more important for us to recall who we are and what we are called to be: a sign of the Kingdom of God!