Tuesday, June 6, 2006

Father Robert Altier's Farewell Letter to the Parish of St Agnes

In the winter of 1991 I received a letter from Archbishop Roach stating explicitly that it was his will that I leave the Church of St Raphael in Crystal and begin working as the Associate Pastor at the Church of St Agnes. Now, fourteen years later, Archbishop Flynn has made his will explicitly known, namely, that I am to leave the Church of St Agnes and to begin working as a Chaplain at the Regina Medical Center in Hastings. It is difficult for people of our day to understand the nature and grace of obedience, but it is one of the greatest gifts that God has given us through His Church. Obedience to one’s rightful superior (in all things but sin) guarantees the one being obedient that he is doing the will of God. The Lord does not ask beforehand why He is asking something of us, He simply asks for obedience. So, it is in obedience that I came to St Agnes, and it is in obedience that I am leaving St Agnes.

These fourteen years have been anything but uneventful for the parish and for my own life. When I came to St Agnes my own personal desire was to learn. In charity I can only say that my seminary education was not the best. My time at St Agnes has provided for learning in ways that I could never have foreseen. I have so much for which I am grateful. I will not try to run through the list of all the people who have touched my life over these last fourteen years. Such an attempt would not only be foolish, but inevitably someone is inadvertently left out and feelings are hurt.

The people of God make a parish and without them there would be no purpose to the life to which I have been called to live. I am eternal grateful to God for all the people at St Agnes whom I have had the privilege to serve over these past fourteen years. Above all I would like to thank the generous young families who sacrifice so much to raise their children to love and serve the Lord. Children are God’s greatest gift to us on the natural level and without them life would be quite empty. I will greatly miss the beautiful faces and the eager questions of the children of the parish and the school.

St Agnes has been blessed with many very fine and loyal staff members over the years. That kind of stability is truly rare in this day and age where commitment is hard to find. I am grateful to the many staff members with whom I have worked over these years, for all the good work they do or have done for the parish and also for the support they have provided me. Words could never fully express the depth of gratitude I have for these good people with whom the Lord has blessed me.

St Agnes is a rare gem in so many ways, but one of these points of rarity, which has been commented on by so many priests who have visited St Agnes over the years, is how everyone in the rectory gets along. In fourteen years I have never heard anyone raise their voice at another person living there. Of course, being human, there will always be some disagreements. I think that I can count on my fingers the number of times that has occurred in my time here, and these have always been handled well. I must single out Msgr. Schuler and Fr. Welzbacher for mention here. I know that I am not the easiest person to live with, but their kindness and patience have been truly heroic. It has been an honor to serve under these great men. They are among the most intelligent people I have ever met and I have been able to glean much, not only from their knowledge, but from their love for learning and their willingness to teach.

As I move to another phase of priestly ministry I take with me many wonderful memories from this revered parish. I will greatly miss the beauty of the church, and the love and reverence for our Blessed Lord and His glorious Mother that have come to be synonymous with St Agnes parish. Oremus pro invicem (let us pray for each other).

Father Altier

Transcribed from a pdf file at: http://www.stagnes.net/media/bulletins/2006/bulletin2006-06-04.pdf
Tip O' the Hat to Mitchell at Our Word



2 comments:

Cathy_of_Alex said...

Go with God, Father Altier. I hope your time in Hastings is fruitful. If it is His will, perhaps one day you will return to parish ministry. I hope you continue your Fundamentals of Catholicism series.

Hey, maybe you should start a blog, like Father Z!?

Cathy_of_Alex

Anonymous said...

"start a blog, like Father Z"

At the present time, I don't think that would go over to well.