For my next series of blog and Flocknote reflections, I have decided to write “Letters from the Park” (Bethel Park, that is). I hope to share my pastoral year experiences as we recall that now-Deacon Dan Kushner completed his pastoral year in Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish. Dan gave our parish an important taste of the pastoral year and what it means to have a seminarian assigned to a parish and assisting with ministry.
If not Our Lady of Carmel Parish, then where am I assigned? I am assigned to Resurrection Parish, a merged parish that includes St. Thomas More (Bethel Park) and St. John Capistran (Upper St. Clair) churches. I live in the St. Thomas More rectory with Bishop Mark Eckman, who currently serves the diocese as vicar for clergy and previously served as the first pastor of Resurrection Parish, Father Mike Ackerman, the current pastor of Resurrection Parish, Father Doug Peduti, a Jesuit priest in residence while conducting research and teaching at Duquesne University, and newly-ordained Deacon John Ferguson.
Though separated by two rivers, Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish and Resurrection Parish have several wonderful connections, and these connections prove just how small our Church really is!
Bishop Mark serves as vicar for clergy (officially “Episcopal Vicar for Clergy and Consecrated Life and Director of the Department for Post-Ordination Formation for Clergy”). His predecessor in the role? Our pastor, Father John Rushofsky!
When I was first discerning entering seminary, I met with Father Mike Ackerman, who was then serving as vocation director. We are now reunited as seminarian and pastor.
Deacon John Ferguson is a classmate of Deacon Dan Kushner. Both men were ordained to the diaconate on Saturday, June 3rd, and both men will be ordained to the priesthood on June 29th, 2024.
Resurrection Parish’s minister of music Daniel Kovacic is a friend and disciple of our parish’s director of worship, Ted Rybka. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree as both parishes have been blessed with robust music ministries!
For all of these connections, each parish has its own gifts, and no two seminarians have the same parish experience. I look forward to this next series of reflections as it will keep you informed and allow me to prayerfully reflect on my assignment!
In Christ,
Matt
Letters From the Park by Matt Selzer is published periodically for parishioners of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish. Matt is a parishioner and a graduate of North Hills High School and the University of Pittsburgh. He began pre-theological studies at Saint Paul Seminary and Franciscan University of Steubenville in 2019, and he currently studies theology at Saint Mary's Seminary in Baltimore, MD. During this year of formation, he is assigned to Resurrection Parish, which serves the Bethel Park/Upper St. Clair area.