Michelle Miller and Father Louis Hammond of Sacred Heart Parish in Newton join the Catholic Morning Show to share a story of parish perseverance and new beginnings. Michelle reflects on shepherding the parish through the illness and death of longtime pastor Father Marty Goetz and the interim leadership of Father Bill Reynolds. Father Hammond, installed by Bishop Dennis Walsh in August, shares his path from thirty years of ministry in Ghana to answering what one parishioner called a congregation's prayers.
Michelle Miller, business manager and stewardship coordinator at Sacred Heart Parish in Newton, joins Bo Bonner to reflect on a difficult and grace-filled few years for the parish. Michelle shares how she and the Sacred Heart community walked alongside pastor Father Martin "Marty" Goetz through his battle with bone cancer, leaning on parish volunteers, the Diocese of Davenport, and constant prayer, until his passing. Retired priest Father William "Bill" Reynolds then came out of retirement to serve as parish administrator, helping guide Sacred Heart and its sister parish, Immaculate Conception in Colfax, through the transition.
Father Louis Hammond joins the conversation as Sacred Heart and Immaculate Conception's newly installed pastor. Bishop Dennis Walsh installed Father Hammond on August 22, following his previous assignment as chaplain at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City. Born in Ghana, Father Hammond was ordained to the priesthood in 1992 and spent thirty years in priestly ministry there before arriving in the Diocese of Davenport in 2022. He shares his call to parish life in Newton and Colfax after years of hospital chaplaincy, and reflects on being welcomed by parishioners as an answer to their prayers for a new shepherd.
Michelle and Father Hammond both look ahead to growing the parish's young adult and religious education programs as Sacred Heart begins its next chapter as a "family church" in Newton and Colfax.
Heard on the Catholic Morning Show, weekdays at 7 a.m. Central on Iowa Catholic Radio. More at IowaCatholicRadio.com.
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