God has not left the building.

This should be an interesting week at work. Our associate pastor left last week after his five year assignment with us. The new associate moves in some time this week and starts, officially, on the first.

Before I come across as hard-hearted, I must say that I am quite fond of Fr. X myself. He is a great homilist, a devout and dedicated priest, a kind source of guidance in some difficult situations plus quite patient and fun to work for. It was not great to see him go, but that’s the way it works out. And his new assignment is only about 20 miles away. So it’s not really like he’s been sent to Siberia. Or even the South Side.

That said, I must repeat: God has not left the building. Last week saw an amazing amount of time spent comforting those parishioners that were despondent about Fr. leaving. I won’t even go into the e-mail from a prospective parishioner who said, “I’m not happy about Fr. X leaving, but I guess I’ll register anyway.” OK, folks. Father is OK. We’re OK. God’s in heaven. So let’s get on with it.

Time to get ready for work. Let’s polish our patter......”Yes, I’ve met our new associate, Fr. Y. You’ll like him. Really. He works for God, too. God hasn’t left the building.”