It Was a Fond Farewell...To Fr. Rich on May 22, 2022
A Message of Gratitude from Fr. Rich
June 22, 2022
Dear friends,
My six years serving the people of St. Austin Catholic Parish and St. Austin Catholic School ended on May 22 with one of the most extraordinary celebrations in my life. Thank you for everything! Thanks to Sharon Lehtonen, Martha Schroeder, and everyone who prepared the celebration and participated in it. Thanks to Michael Flahive for MC-ing the event and to Sheryl and Stan Van Hoose, Chris Duran, Paula Pratte, and Fr. Chuck for speaking! Thank you for collectively donating more than $12,000 to St. Austin's social justice ministries! And thank you to everyone who gave me gifts to help with my moving!
But more than all of that, thank you to everyone who spoke with me in the reception line or wrote me a note. It was an emotionally overwhelming day…to receive the thanks of hundreds of individuals telling me how — through the guidance of the Holy Spirit — I have changed their lives through something I preached, through a time I called or followed up, and most often cited, through advice I gave in counsel or confession. Wow!
I think I now understand why the Holy Spirit gave me two months in Austin without much ability to prepare for my next ministry assignment. Yes, there are certain talents that I realize that God has given me and there are other skills that I have honed as a priest, but my last two months in Texas — capped by the events of May 22 — have opened my eyes to something else. You, the people of St. Austin, have taught me that I am enough, that I am beloved, and that with God, all things are possible. What an extraordinary gift! Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.
Effective July 1, I will become the Director of The Paulist Center, located right on Boston Common in downtown Boston, MA. (Those who have been in Austin for a long time may remember three of the brothers I'll be living with — Bob Rivers and Michael McGarry both served at the University Catholic Center in the 1970s, and Chuck Cunniff served at St. Austin in the 1990s.) As much as I miss the people and the ministry of St. Austin Catholic Parish and School, I am super-excited about ministering with the people of the Paulist Center community. Let us all continue to pray for one another!
My new address: Rev. Richard R. Andre, C.S.P. The Paulist Center 5 Park Street Boston, MA 02108
As of July 1, you'll find my new email address and phone number at www.paulistcenter.org
The Program
After the 11:30 Mass
Our
Farewell Reception for Fr. Rich
Welcome -
Michael Flahive
Reflections -
Sheryl & Stan Van Hoose
Chris Duran
A Presentation from the Community -
Paula Pratte
Remarks -
Fr. Chuck Kullmann, CSP
In Farewell -
Fr. Rich Andre, CSP
In Closing -
Michael Flahive
The Servant Song, #788 Over My Head
In Fond Farewell
Fr. Rich will be the first to tell you that he wanted to come to St. Austin’s so much that he actively campaigned for the assignment in 2015. Why? He wanted to prepare for his next step in ministry, leading a Paulist foundation as a director or pastor. St. Austin’s seemed just the right place to learn, for it’s in the center of a vital city, next door to a major university, and home to a vibrant community of Paulists (eight at that time), ministering in a setting that includes a busy parish and school.
His arrival on our campus was a great relief for him, the end of a marathon on I-35 – three hours from Temple in grueling traffic, not the usual hour for that journey. He’ll readily tell you it nearly brought him to tears. Then smile to know that Frank and Stephen were there to greet him and help unload the truck that brought him from another UT to The UT.
At St. Austin’s, Fr. Rich found a community flourishing on a busy corner in a major urban setting that’s home to a confluence of cultures – education, government, technology, and the creative arts. In this place, he found opportunities to mature in his ministry in social justice work through service and advocacy. He’s grown in program administration and by direct counsel of persons experiencing mental health crises. He’s gotten to know parishioners who established and lead organizations tackling the problems of our day such as housing and mental health, and supporting families in crisis and those fleeing violence in their homes or countries of origin.
In this creative center, he found solutions to unanticipated challenges. A prime example is our now much-cherished livestreaming of liturgies and other programming. At the dawn of the pandemic, called to find a way to bring Mass online to our community, Fr. Rich used the resources available - his cell phone and a very weak internet signal from the Rectory. He convened a workgroup (Frank, Stephen, K, Mitzi) and the problem-solving began. It was truly a Right Stuff moment that now enables us to bring God’s Word to a dedicated following that reaches all the way to Seneca Falls, New York, and beyond.
In a very Paulist way, Fr. Rich uses the media of the moment to meet people where they are. From presentations and engaging the world at South by Southwest to visiting with the Pre-K three-year-olds in our school, Father finds joy and inspiration in people. This week, reading the bag of cards he received from our school students, he mused about the many lessons and sparks of insight he’s gained from that sector of our community. He was charmed by their drawings, expressions of gratitude, and what they’ll remember from their time with him.
Facebook is Fr. Rich’s contemporary agora. As ancient Greeks met in that gathering place, Father gathers online feedback from friends on drafts of his homilies. He shares that this collaboration improves his preaching and gives greater voice to the laity. That experience, combined with questions and interest in Sacred Scripture generated by increased participation in daily Mass online, sparked another cooperative venture - our online Lectionary Guide. The RICHly illustrated work supports a deeper understanding of the Bible for our time and place.
One of Fr. Rich’s favorite musicals is Stephen Schwartz’s Children of Eden. A lyric from the Hardest Part of Love expresses our feelings today… That the hardest part of love, and the rarest part of love, and the truest part of love, is the letting go.
THANK YOU, Fr. Rich, for your dedication to the spiritual care of the St. Austin community since 2016. May God bless you abundantly as you continue your ministry.