Parish Administrator’s Notes
Phil Grant, Pastoral Administrator and Safe Environment Coordinator
By Phil Grant, Administrator and Safe Environment Coordinator
pgrant@st-matts.org or 651-224-9793
September 28, 2025
Community Celebration of St. Matthew
Many thanks to everyone who participated in last week’s Celebration of St. Matthew! That includes volunteers who planned, prepared and helped out with everything: the basketball tournament, the rock band from Cretin-Derham Hall, hot dogs, the bake sale, bingo, kids activities, bottle lotto, and more. It was a very enjoyable event for our community, neighbors and other guests! Special thanks to members of our youth team for making it all possible.
One of my favorite stories from the celebration: a guest who drove from a western suburb. She makes it a point to visit us every year on the Feast of St. Matthew, because of a pledge her family made many years ago. As I understand it, her father invoked St. Matthew’s aid. In gratitude, she makes an annual pilgrimage to pray here.
APBA Meeting
I belong to the Archdiocesan Association of Parish Business Administrators (APBA), my professional community. The APBA recently kicked off this year’s series of meetings. Some highlights from our first meeting:
• We welcomed new members. There are roughly 20 new parish business administrators in our Archdiocese in the last 12 months. I serve on an Onboarding/Mentoring committee to support new members in particular.
• We’re learning more about the new state Paid Leave program. I’m glad that we can begin offering this benefit to our employees.
• I learned more about the Lord, Renew Your Church Capital Campaign.
• There’s an Archdiocesan Listening Session on Thursday, October 23. I appreciate Archbishop Hebda’s leadership in hosting this event. The goal is to provide feedback to the U.S. Council of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), which is preparing a document on “lay co-responsibility” in our church. I look forward to learning the details of this event, and how we can participate.
May you have a peaceful week.
Parish Administrator’s Note, September 21, 2025
