Big Parish News!

The impending 100th Anniversary celebration isn't the only thing that our parish is abuzz with this week. Many will have noticed that the priest moves were issued this past weekend, and at the top of the list was Christ the King Parish. Rumor no more, it is true that after 13 years of service to our community, Father Tonny Dizy will be leaving us this summer.

As he is heading out, an old friend will be heading in, Fr. Sathiadus Antony will be taking over as shepherd of our community as of August 1, 2010. Many of you will recall that Fr. Antony spent a couple of years with us between 2003 and 2005. Fr. Antony hales from Kerala India and was a much appreciated part of our pastoral team during his stay here at CTK.

Over the past few years he has been pastor of Christ the Redeemer Parish in Swift Current and has successfully lead that community through a very exciting period of parish mergers, and the building on an entirely new Church to house the community that formed as two former parishes in Swift Current were brought together under one roof.

Over the last few days we have been fielding many questions about Fr. Antony, Fr. Tonny and the Move in general some of which I will try to address here;

1)Is this the same Antony we had before?

Yes, as indicated above, Fr. Antony was with us for a two year period from 2003-2005. And yes, it is very exciting to have him back!


2)Is it Antony or Anthony?

His proper name is Sathiadus Antony. During his stay back in 2003 he came to be known as Fr. Antony. Occasionally some will miss-hear and add the 'H' but this is not correct.


3) On the insert in the bulletin he is listed as "Administrator of Christ the King Parish"? Isn't he going to be our new pastor?

Yes, and yes. Father Antony will indeed be our new pastor with all of the faculties and authority of our previous pastors. The reason for the difference in designation comes from the fact that, for whatever reasons, Fr. Antony has not yet been 'incarnated' into the diocese. What is 'Incardination' you ask lets turn to Wikipedia for that;

Incardination and excardination - http://bit.ly/9KPbkT ;
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In the Roman Catholic Church, incardination refers to the situation of a member of the clergy being placed under the jurisdiction of a particular bishop or other religious superior. Its antonym, excardination, denotes that a member of the clergy has been freed from one jurisdiction and is transferred to another.

Both terms are derived from the Latin cardo (pivot, socket, or hinge), from which the word cardinal is also derived - hence the Latin verbs incardinare (to hang on a hinge or fix) and excardinare (to unhinge or set free).

The purpose of incardination is to ensure that no cleric, whether deacon or priest, is "freelance," without a clear ecclesiastical superior to whom he is responsible.

In the Church, a man is incardinated as the clerical subject of a diocesan bishop or his equivalent (a vicar apostolic, territorial abbot, territorial prelate, superior of a personal prelature, etc.) or of a religious order upon ordination to the diaconate: within the ordination ceremony prior to the actual sacrament of Holy Orders itself, the man places himself under a promise of obedience to his bishop or other superior within a particular church, or makes an acknowledgment of a pre-existing vow of obedience to a prior, abbot or other superior in a religious order.

Once incardinated, the cleric remains the subject of these same superiors even when ordained a priest. This incardination does not cease until the moment when that cleric is incardinated as a subject of another superior. An excardination from one diocese, for instance, does not become effective until the moment of incardination to another, so there is no gap during which the clergyman is not clearly answerable to a definitely determined superior. Incardination is dealt with in Canons 265-272 of the Code of Canon Law.

For whatever reason Fr. Antony has not had this official transfer of jurisdiction made. It does not really affect his authority in the parish or what he is or is not capable of doing. Presumably his bishop back in Kerala has no problem with Bishop Daniel putting him in charge of any parish over here and the two bishops have made their own arrangements between themselves.

4)I didn't see a parish listed for Fr. Tonny. Is he retiring?

Father Tonny is not retiring, but he will not be appointed to another parish at this time. I'm sure many of you have noticed how much work he has needed to put into his additional duties as Chancellor of the diocese. For the coming year at least he will be working exclusively as Chancellor in the diocesan office. I'm certain that Bishop Daniel will find plenty to keep him occupied.

5)Are there any other changes in the pastoral team or office staff?

At this time no. Both office staff and pastoral team are very much looking forward to working alongside Fr. Antony. Having ministered together in the past, we are confident and excited to be sharing our mutual callings to ministry starting this Fall.

6)When will be be able to say an official 'good-bye' to Fr. Tonny?

We have already been looking for dates on which to have an official 'Bon Voyage' for Fr. Tonny. Watch the parish website, blog, bulletin, these updates and our twitter account to stay up to date on what is happening, where and when. (hint - you may want to make sure you're around near the end of June). You can always take some time over the next 8 weeks or so to speak with Fr. Tonny personally after Mass. I know it would greatly appreciated.

7)What about an official Welcome for Fr. Antony?

Again, we're already looking at dates and times in the Fall sometime after the long weekend. Of course, he will be here this weekend for the 100th Anniversary celebration and the post-celebration feast in the parish Hall. What a perfect time to personally welcome him, perhaps meet him for the first time, and let him know how excited you are to welcome him home. As for a more 'official' welcome, as with Fr. Tonny's Good-Bye, watch the parish website, blog, bulletin, these updates and our twitter account to stay up to date on what is happening, where and when.


Comings and Goings - A Prayer Before Moving

Almighty God,
you constantly surprise your people
with new beginnings;
yet each beginning means a farewell
to all that is familiar and sure.

Let us rejoice in the blessings of our time together
our friendships and camaraderie
and never let us forget the good times we had.

Give us the courage and will
to embrace this new beginning
in the life of our parish family.
Let us be a consolation and strength
to each other as we face the uncertainty of the future;
and give us true friends and good neighbors along the way.
Be with us as we learn to do new things together.
Bring growth out of the challenges that lie ahead,
and open our eyes to your presence
in the others we will meet along the way.

May we bless you in good times and in bad,
in sorrows and in joys,
for you are the God who promises that Christ
will always be with us.

We make this prayer in the power of the Holy Spirit,
who inspires us to sing your praises for ever and ever.

Amen.


Saying good-bye to one beloved friend, and welcome home to another, isn't that exactly what this Christ the King family is all about?

Peace and God Bless