The logo of the Catholic Communities of the Olympic Peninsula (a gold cross in front of Mount Olympus, with seven gold balls arrayed above it) sits against a black background. Underneath the graphic is the text "Olympic Peninsula Catholic Communities: parish family townhall gathering"

Our seventh parish family townhall gathering (February 28, 2025)

by | Mar 22, 2025 | Catholic communities of the Olympic Peninsula (Parish Family 49), Parish life, Reflections | 1 comment

I am pleased to share with you the audio of our monthly parish family townhall gathering. As always, you may watch the video here – and I’ve included the timestamps below for reference & easy access – but the best way to navigate the video is to watch it on YouTube and use the timestamps there.

Recent events, especially Father Ed’s heart attack (he’s doing much better now: you can read a bit about it in this week’s pastor’s post), conspired to keep me from posting this as quickly as I might otherwise. Thank you for your patience – and for your prayers for him (please keep them up!). Nonetheless, we had a great time at the parish family town hall gathering. I hope you enjoy catching up with it – and plan on joining us for our next one!

The seventh of our monthly parish family townhall gatherings. Held on the fourth Friday of each month and at a different church within the Catholic communities of the Olympic Peninsula, these gatherings are an opportunity for the pastor to provide updates on the state of the parish family and for parishioners to ask questions, receive answers, and offer feedback as we discern how we will become one parish family as part of Partners in the Gospel.

  • 00:00 – recording start
  • 00:05 – opening prayer
  • 00:35 – updates on the parish family to date
  • 01:25 – update on Father Ed’s health issues & contingency plans while he is away
  • 03:32 – state of the parish family
  • 10:47 – Partners in the Gospel updates from Jason Stolberg, chancery liaison
  • 16:20 – Are all the parishes in the archdiocese in families?
  • 17:03 – What news about a Queen of Angels 5 pm vigil Mass choir?
  • 20:36 – Does the choir need to be in the choir loft?
  • 21:40 – Why aren’t children invited to come forward for a blessing at communion
  • 27:15 – What are some of the things that other people at other parishes have been asking for – is there anyone wanting to do a book club, even between parishes?
    • 29:59 – talking further about starting new things in general within our communities
  • 31:42 – Are there funds to assist youth & young adults to go to college?
    • 36:50 – discussing a similar initiative for vocations to the priesthood & religious life
    • 42:00 – discussing a similar initiative for married couples
  • 43:40 – what is going on with the family formation group (at Queen of Angels)?
  • 45:04 – are we able to get priests to come in and do retreats?
  • 50:32 – regarding your back back (Father Maurer’s), would coming down from the step to floor level when offering communion?
  • 52:42 – what is the standard for starting a group in our parish family?
    • 55:39 – speculating on the decline not only of volunteers but the generation gap in our communities
  • 59:52 – are we going to change the way we do social hours after Sunday Mass?
    • 1:06:26 – talking a bit about balancing regular social hours and bigger breakfast/meal events
  • 1:09:42 – is there a pictoral directory or plans for a pictoral directory for our parish or parish family?
  • 1:13:16 – is the long-term of the archdiocese to have one church on the Olympic Peninsula?
    • 1:16:45 – dreaming about building a new church in the central region (Port Angeles & Sequim)
  • 1:19:19 – speaking to the concerns of closures and how such things are discerned
  • 1:23:39 – discussion about Catholic cemeteries on the Olympic Peninsula
  • 1:25:25 – closing prayer and thanks

Translate/traduce

Posts (recent & archive)

Links you may like

Archdiocese of Seattle newletter (C2P)
Northwest Catholic
The Pillar Catholic

Blogs
Decentfilms (Deacon Steven Greydanus)
Simcha Fisher (Simcha Fisher)
Fr. Moore (Father Jeffrey Moore)
The World is Quiet Here (Thom Ryng)
The Anchoress (Elizabeth Scalia)
Truth in Love (Archbishop Etienne)

Podcasts
Restore the Glory
The Gloria Purvis Podcast

Welcome to the comments section! As you join (or start) the conversation, please keep keep in mind that – above all – Christian charity is our guiding principle. Please limit comments to the topic(s) of the post itself. Comments that stray from these guidelines will likely be deleted. I look forward to your thoughts & contributions!

1 Comment

  1. Mary Kay Acheson

    Thank you Fr. Maurer,
    I appreciate the time stamp and topics. Very helpful!