Dear Disciples of Christ at Holy Spirit, St. Helen’s, and St. Mary’s,
Greetings, once again, from Detroit. I hope this message finds you and your family well. As I continue my studies in Detroit, I always remember to keep you in my prayers, asking the Lord to guard you, guide you, protect you, and give you peace throughout my time away from you. I also recall the words of St. Paul in his Letter to the Philippians: “Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God.” In times of anxiety, I have found in my own life the power of praise and thanksgiving: first of all, to our heavenly Father for the many benefits and blessings He bestows on us, His children, so much so that we often don’t even recognize them until we pause and ponder what our Father has done for us. Secondly, I find it powerful to give thanks to those people we encounter on our journey of discipleship who have helped make the path a little smoother, who offered a word of encouragement when it was needed, and who loved us in a way that brought healing.
It is in this spirit of thanksgiving that I want to single out a specific person who has been an invaluable spiritual father to our parish family, and who this past week announced to our whole community that he is preparing for the next steps of his own priestly life. I am, of course, speaking about our own Fr. Ian. Over the past three years, our One Catholic Family has been blessed with the great gift of Fr. Ian’s priesthood, his sure and steady presence in the midst of struggles, his willingness to get “down in the dirt,” and his unfailing desire to draw all of us closer to Christ.
I had the chance to listen to his homily last week and was really struck by his images of the priest as both a laborer in a beautiful garden and a steward seeking to increase his master’s wealth. Like a gardener, Fr. Ian has worked tirelessly and with great care to tend to the spiritual growth of our souls. It’s work that is sometimes frustrating, sometimes tedious, but that, with the nourishment of the Holy Spirit, always bears fruit when it is aligned with God’s will. And like a good and faithful steward, Fr. Ian has indeed multiplied the spiritual wealth of our One Catholic Family, striving to make this place a place of encounter with our good Lord Jesus.
As Fr. Ian prepares for the next leg of his voyage of discipleship, I want to thank him both for his care and concern for our One Catholic Family and for his words of encouragement to me personally. He has reminded me that my primary duty as your administrator is to love to the best of my ability with God’s grace and to trust in Him daily. Know of our gratitude, Fr. Ian, and know that you will continue to be in our prayers and in our hearts. We are blessed to have known your friendship and your spiritual fatherhood.
Keep encouraging one another to grow closer to Jesus, to open your hearts to encounter Him, and to experience His transformative love.
Peace, Fr. Steven Caraher