By Kari Quist
Holy Family is a parish that is blessed by the generosity of its volunteers. Throughout the year, many parishioners have stepped forward to support the life of the parish in various ways. On a weekly basis, many parishioners ensure that the Mass runs beautifully and smoothly through caring for the sacristy, arranging flowers, providing music, reading, and serving, amongst many other things. Others help keep the parish and grounds beautiful with their cleaning and gardening. Still others care for the people of Holy Family by bringing Communion to the sick, providing tea after Mass, and through groups such as Community Care (and individuals) that help organise and provide food for various parish events. This is by no means a comprehensive list but it highlights the numerous ways in which members of our community use their time and talents to help build up the Church. For each task, large or small, that we undertake for the service of our Church is a response to Christ’s call to work in his vineyard (Matt 20:3-4), and this is a call to all Christians.
Saint John Paul II emphasised the importance of “the lay faithful's hearkening to the call of Christ the Lord to work in his vineyard, to take an active, conscientious and responsible part in the mission of the Church” (Christifideles Laici, 3:1). And this is what our brothers and sisters at Holy Family have done each time they picked up a broom, poured a cup of tea, counted the collection, or brought the Eucharist to someone in the hospital. Sometimes our call to help build the body of Christ might involve trying tasks like speaking to a family member or co-worker about our faith or standing up for the rights of the unborn; but smaller, simpler acts like cooking, reading at Mass, and gardening are also essential to this call. As Mother Teresa said, we can all “do small things with great love” and the many small acts of love (and certainly great acts too) mean that Holy Family is a special parish indeed.
Before closing, I would like to highlight one final example of how the Holy Family community has ‘worked in the vineyard’ this year. As you likely know, we ran Alpha twice this year and it is too large a task to run without the help of a large team behind it. Each Alpha runs for about 11 weeks and involves hosting/feeding 15-30 people - no small task. I put out the call for volunteers to help with cooking, cleaning, set-up, praying for Alpha, doing laundry, and for running the program itself. I was amazed that over 60 people stepped forward to help with the two Alphas. Initially, I had been a bit worried and doubtful that I would get much help, but I was humbled by the great generosity of the people of Holy Family Parish.
On behalf of those who work at Holy Family and the community as a whole, I would like to express my deepest thanks to all of you who have volunteered this year. Your contributions are essential to the life of our parish and to the building up of the Church as a whole. Thank you for everything you do.