Dear Friends at Saint Frances Cabrini Parish and Saint Mary’s Immaculate Conception Parish: Praised be Jesus Christ! As we now enter into the lovely, and this year lengthy, season of Advent, I just want to offer two quick updates or points: Kneelers for Holy Communion: For over a year now at Saint Frances Cabrini, as part of the parish meetings about our church renovation, we have had public discussions and comments about the decision to include an altar rail in our upcoming church changes. Among the many other comments that I made during those meetings was that as trends in the Church continue to move, we would be wise as a parish to allow a structural accommodation for Catholics who wish to kneel while receiving Holy Communion. The upcoming altar rail is not only a key architectural help in the Cabrini space that lacks a well-defined sanctuary, but it is also a help to our worship. At our parish meetings I explained that just because there is a rail, it does not mean everyone needs to use it. For those who prefer to receive Communion while standing, that too can be done next to the rail. For those who want to kneel, the rail makes this a lot easier. It is a structure that supports the options of our evolving piety in the Church on this issue. As the past spring and summer went on, I noticed with every passing week that more and more people were desiring to kneel to receive Communion, to the point where I began to wonder if we should make an interim step now, even before we construct a new rail, to help accommodate the needs of the faithful. Moreover, I noticed this was happening at BOTH parishes, not just at Cabrini, leaving me to think that perhaps both parishes together should try to move in a direction that would allow for this accommodation. All of the above is what led to both Prayer and Worship Committees and both Parish Councils discussing and approving the use of Communion kneelers near the sanctuary steps at each parish beginning before the end of this year. There is no altar rail in the works for Saint Mary’s, but it is clear we do need some permanent kneelers there. Cabrini will be getting an altar rail, but probably not for close to another year or so yet, and in the meantime, we felt kneelers would be a helpful assist to our prayer. I am grateful to the committees, the Councils, the staffs, and also to Father Kevin for all of the thought and discussion they put into this during the fall so that we could begin to use them this Advent. Father Kevin will be talking more about all of this as time goes on and I leave. He and I are both in agreement on why this new furniture is important, and also why it is for optional use. It is up to each Catholic to decide if they want to use them or not, and I am very confident that our very intelligent and faithful congregations will not cast any judgements on anyone about which option is chosen since the Church clearly allows for them both to be exercised. Our liturgical lives continue to evolve in the Church and our architecture needs to support this. It is simply the way it goes with Catholic prayer that is always in motion through time, even for all that is changeless in our liturgical teachings. Having One Priest Around This Spring: I also want to invite everyone to be as supportive as possible of Father Kevin as he takes over in January in a situation that will leave our parishes for a few months with only one priest assigned here. It is true that we will have priests coming in to help us out with our Masses, but that is not the same thing as having two priests around all the time which we have been used to for over a decade here now. Father Kevin is going to have a lot of demands on his time, and it would be most helpful if everyone could be as understanding as possible if some of our regular activities and pace are trimmed back a little around here this coming Spring until the new pastor comes in June. I know you will support him and will be as understanding as you can be if he simply cannot get to everything that us priests typically have done here. Similarly, I also know I can count on everyone to demonstrate the beautiful and customary hospitality of our communities to all of the fill-in priests who will be coming in to take Masses, funerals, anointings, burials, etc, over the coming months. They will all have their own styles and approaches because all of us priests are different, but they are all brother priests to me and to Father Kevin, and we appreciate their help to us tremendously in our current moment of need. Please show them as much as you can how much you appreciate their presence so that well after this Spring they will continue to want to come to West Bend to help us out. We will always be blessed to have them.