Did you hear the news? If not, here is the latest for Prince of Peace.
First, we will be saying farewell to Fr. Kenn Clem who has been the parochial vicar (associate pastor) here for the past three years. Fr. Kenn has been given a new assignment to be pastor of Sacred Heart—Ottawa, KS. I’ve so enjoyed having Fr. Kenn here, and I am grateful for all his service. He will be missed! Let us pray for him as he transitions to Ottawa. His new assignment begins July 1st, so we have a few more weeks with him, and we are organizing a celebration for his last weekend here—June 25/26—so more to come.
The follow-up question then is who is coming to replace Fr. Kenn. I have an answer! Fr. Andrew Gaffney is coming. He is to be ordained a priest on Saturday, May 28th at the Cathedral of St. Peter—Kansas City, KS. He will have a double assignment to be associate pastor here at POP and also the chaplain at St. Thomas Aquinas High School, so he will be extra busy. Fr. Andrew will be joining us July 1st. More to come on introducing him, but I am excited to welcome him.
Moving down the hierarchy, we also welcome a new permanent deacon to POP, Deacon Dan Ondracek. He recently moved to Olathe from Topeka, KS and has offered his service here. Deacon Dan has a bio below. Again, I am excited to have him here—there is always plenty to do and never enough laborers for the harvest!
In addition, we will have a seminarian, Benjamin Reinhart, soon joining us to do a pastoral year here at Prince of Peace. Benjamin has two more years (post being with us) till he would be ordained a priest. We hope to provide a great experience of parish life. And you can guess it…I’m excited to have him and he will be a big help here! We will get a better introduction of him published in the next few weeks.
Finally, starting July 1, we will also be welcoming a new staff member, April Bailey, as our new Director of Religious Education & Children’s Ministry. April comes to us with a BA in Religious Studies from Benedictine College and a Masters degree in Teaching Curriculum and Instruction, along with 10 years of teaching theology at St. Thomas Aquinas High School, 10 years of leadership at Camp Tekakwitha, and 3 years of DRE experience for the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, and experience with the Evangelization Office for our Archdiocese, along with many other experiences. April is already a parishioner of Prince of Peace and has volunteered here especially with the RCIA. April will directly lead our School of Religion program, Sacrament preparation for First Penance and Holy Communion, and give some oversight for all our religious formation programing. Can you tell I’m also very excited to welcome April? Amen! Current staff, Shannon Cardaronella (current Director of Children’s Ministry) will move to be our Director of Adult Faith Formation, and Larissa Smith (current Director of Adult Faith Formation & Evangelization) will move to be our Director of Parish Life and Evangelization. All of this means, we should be equipped to do more for ministry here at POP.
In conclusion, we have exciting news, lots for which to be grateful, and need to pray for many transitions! May the Lord continue to bless us and be with us in all we do!
Peace,
Fr. Greg