A Letter from Fr. Paul Zirimenya to Boston,
Dear People of Boston,
Greetings from the Archdiocese of San Francisco. Fr. St. Martin has asked me to share with you a little on my work for the people of God. Here is a short summary: I began my formal assignment as Chaplain to the Deaf Community at St. Benedict's Parish/ St. Francis Xavier Church in San Francisco on July 1st. Fr. Xavier Lavagetto, O.P, the pastor of nearby St. Dominic Church and Fr. Bill Justice, the Vicar for Clergy are my mentors. I live at St. Gabriel's Church in the Sunset District of San Francisco, which is about 20 minutes drive from St. Benedict's.
St. Benedict's Parish is home to Deaf, Hearing and Japanese parishioners. Our masses are at 10:30AM every Sunday with Japanese Mass every third Sunday of the month at 11:00AM. We have weekday Mass on Tuesdays that includes majority of ASL class members. Masses on Holy Days of obligation during weeks are also celebrated at 12:00 Noon. As of October 1st, I already took on Administrative and Sacramental responsibilities.
Before taking on full responsibilities I had Masses of Thanksgiving in other dioceses where I had worked as a seminarian [which was also time for vacation]:
Mass of Thanksgiving was at St. Joseph's Center for the Deaf/ Holy Catholic Ethnic Mission in Union City on June 10th.
Mass of Thanksgiving with the Catholic Deaf Community of the Diocese of Orange County at St. Juliana's Catholic Church in Fullerton on June 24th.
Mass of Thanksgiving with Deaf Ministries, Archdiocese of Boston on August 5th at Sacred Heart Parish in Newton Center, MA and New England Home for the Deaf in Danvers, MA on August 8th.
Mass for Deaf Community at the Center for Deaf Ministries [which also houses NCOD offices], Archdiocese of Washington in Landover Hills, Maryland, on August 12th.
When I came back to St. Benedict's in mid August, I spent a great deal of time doing a need assessment. In addition to Administrative duties like fundraising, responding to mail, documents that need my signature or approval, responding to emails from Pastoral Staff and parishioners, crafting out homilies, preparation for masses, building inspections and fixings [lights, locks and leaks!, clocks, landmarks, flower garden and signposts], being around for birthday parties and Japanese socials and other parish events like Mega Sunday workshops etc etc..the most challenging part of my ministry during the week [sometimes on Sundays] has been sick calls and visits that fall beyond the boundaries of the Archdiocese - spreading into other dioceses like Oakland, Sacramento, San Jose and Santa Rosa. Sometimes I could spend a whole day driving because many of my parishioners regularly drive for hours to come for the morning Mass at 10:30AM and thus my visit to them during difficult times means a lot.
Technology has come in handy. I use a Video Phone and am able to communicate in Sign Language with people who are so far and need my urgent advise without necessarily having to drive to their homes. We are also in the process of developing a website for our parish so that parishioners who are far away have access to the parish events and also updating our parish Email Directory and a newsletter issued four times a year.
Apart from responsibilities here at St. Benedict's, I also assist with Deaf Ministry in Sacramento, twice a month with workshops and Mass twice a month.
So far I have had only one wedding -- Deaf and Mexican culture, one baptism and one Memorial service but we have lots of ill health. The Pastoral Staff mainly handle Religious Education for Children preparing for First Communion, R.C.I.A and they also prepare for our Liturgies. I personally handle baptism classes, Preparation and Grief Counseling. One of the good things has been my spirit of delegation and trusting the Pastoral Staff as well collaborating with them as co-workers in Ministry. We are also blessed with three parish interpreters. We shall have masses in Marin County starting next January every fourth Saturday of the month and then later on in San Mateo, every second Saturday of the month.
So far as a parish we have been planning [even if parking is still a problem] to have devotions like Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and reconciliation services. We also plan to have more retreats next year and develop program for Support Service Providers for our Deafblind parishioners for fuller participation. Our parish has many visitors, especially tourists to San Francisco and so we have placed a visitor's book at the parish entrance in addition to welcoming them as part of our Sunday announcements. I understand, many of them when they are back in town, usually come back.
Improving on parish bulletin with contact form for new parishioners that would be inserted in the parish bulletin and
initiation of parish suggestion box. We hope to have St. Patrick's Day Brunch, multicultural celebrations (my parish is quite diverse) and other special events; annual mystery bus ride and DINGO (Deaf version of BINGO), developing a vibrant Youth Ministry program [most them have been helping us with ASL music] and. In addition, we also plan to reach out with Television Mass and also Prison Ministry. With Thankgiving and Christmas coming up, it just gets busier!
Next year, some of our deaf friends may make it to Rome with other Deaf Catholics for Audience with the Pope and would encourage everyone in Boston to save for this trip.
God bless,
Fr. Paul.
