Are You Lost?
Do you need directions?
Friar Mike the Custos of the Franciscan Friars
shares his insights on the Custody
(Our regular “From the Friar’s Desk” takes a break this week)
I was taken aback one day when a parishioner saw me standing at the Piazza looking around – I must have had the usual “blur -like sotong –look” and said, “Hi there, welcome! Are you lost? Do you need directions?”
How wonderful to see that we are growing to be such a welcoming community to people especially to the stranger who comes and worships with us. But in another sense I thought it was rather ironic because I should have been the one to welcome her! After all she has come into the grounds of the Franciscan Friars! ItÂ’s a rather unique situation that the parish of St Mary of the Angels actually sits in the grounds of St Anthony Friary and not the other way round as commonly perceived. The late Archbishop Michael Olcomendy asked the Franciscan Friars, if we could offer our chapel to serve as a parish church. The community has since grown and now that chapel is our beloved St Mary of the Angels Church.
Apart from this parish ministry where friars John-Paul, Martin and Joseph work in, we also run a Formation House at San Damiano, the Columbarium ministry and the many individual ministries that other friars not involved in the parish, are engaged in. There is a lot more than the parish that takes place on these grounds. Friars you may not see often enough, engage in some of this. Most weekends I’m away celebrating the Eucharist with different communities. And during the weekdays I teach in a school. No wonder I looked “new” around our grounds for that wonderful lady who wanted to offer me directions.
Allow me to now direct you to some other questions that people sometimes ask me like: How do the friars fund themselves? Is it all from the parish? Do we have to pay seminary fees? How do we pay for our water and electricity? What about medical costs? etc. In short, “How do we manage?” And my answer: “In short, with the grace of God!”
Parish funds remain the property of the parish and it is used to fund and maintain the church, the finance department in the archdiocese oversees the accounts. The custody administration has to engage in our own fund raising activities that extend beyond the parish to pay for our expenses. At the present we are pulling through because we recently had a substantial contribution. But it will last to the end of the year and then we will be in the red again. Our main support comes from the sale of calendars, the contributions made to St Anthony’s Bread, the Thrift shop, the Jumble Sales, etc. With this and other donations we receive we pay seminary fees, for our students, manage all the custody administration costs, medical and hospitalisation insurance, travel for the friars and our share of the electricity bills. We try to have the communities (we have three communities; two in Singapore and one in Kuching, Sarawak) be self- supporting with their stipends or donations. But sometimes that is a challenge too. It’s quite a huge bill to support about 23 friars and some of us as my mum would put it are “big buffaloes”!
However I must say that God has always seen us through and IÂ’m sure he will continue to do so. Many times it is through your kindness and I must thank you for how you always welcome us and come good for us! Ironically while we thought we were supporting the people (you) by offering our land for the needs of a parish; it turns out that you support us in so many ways even when you have to work towards paying off for the loan still owing in the church building fund! Thank you!!
But with the coming concert, we too want to make “others” welcome and assist them. The proceeds of the concert by Hayley Westenra at St Mary’s on Saturday 3rd September will all go towards assisting the many migrant workers who are sometimes left disenfranchised, cheated, who sometimes can’t even afford a meal! The Gospel invites us to share our bread with the hungry, to clothe the naked, to befriend the stranger! The migrant worker, working a long way from home, experiencing crisis in forms of industrial accidents, disputes with agents, abuse and exploitation must sometimes feel so lost! It is a joy to lend a hand and assist them. We have chosen to channel whatever proceeds we get for the poor to the Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics (H.O.M.E.) Check out their website at www.home.org.sg There are even openings for volunteers there. The founder and president Ms Bridget Lew will do a presentation at the intermission of Hayley’s concert. So get the CD and the two tickets all for only $20 and come join us for a beautiful evening. Her music is truly a natural beauty and angelic! But more importantly you will be joining the friars in doing something for those who feel “lost” and who may need directions!
Friar Mike d'Cruz ofm