Hello! This is my first letter to you from your new pastor!
At my last parishes, I was accustomed to writing a letter
for the bulletin each week. I hope that
you will not mind if I continue the practice here at St. Thomas More.
Change is usually not easy for any of us because it can cause
a disruption in one’s routine, create an unfamiliar situation, and may
necessitate certain adaptations. As a
priest ordained thirty years, I have had to move and change assignments quite a
few times: from National Park to Hammonton,
to East Vineland, to Vineland, to Buena Borough, to Somers
Point, to Woodbury and now to Cherry Hill. In each instance, the change involved leaving
certain familiar circumstances and people whom I loved and cared for, to meet
new people and face new challenges. Each
experience has contributed, I hope, to making me a better person and more
compassionate priest.
Let me tell you something about myself. I was born in Philadelphia but my parents
bought property in Wildwood when I
was just two years old and my family subsequently moved. I am the oldest of five children, four boys
and a girl. My father is deceased and my
mother still lives at the shore.
I attended St. Ann’s
School and Wildwood Catholic High
School. After high school, I entered
the seminary and attended St. Charles
Borromeo Seminary (Philadelphia) for college. My next four years were spent at Mt. St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg,
MD.
I have spent twenty years educating high school students—six
years at St. Joseph High School, Hammonton and 14 years at Sacred Heart High
School, Vineland.
Typically, people have two regular questions about
me. 1) What is your origin of your last name? I am frequently told that it appears Japanese. Then they meet me and see that I stand six feet six inches tall and hardly look
Asian. My heritage is Polish-American and my name is most
easily pronounced two letters at a time:
Na-mi-ot-ka (Na-MEE-ot-ka). 2) Did you play basketball? Yes, I played in my younger days but I was
never really that good. Unfortunately,
height does not equal talent.
As I take on this new assignment I have a couple of requests
of you, my parishioners. First, please pray for me! I will certainly need your prayers and
support as I begin this new chapter of my life.
Next, please be patient as I
try to learn the rhythm and personality of the parish. Every parish is different and it takes some
time for a pastor to become to become familiar with its unique character and
challenges.
What I can promise you is that I will work hard, pray for you
each day, take my priestly calling (vocation) very seriously and attempt to
leave St. Thomas More a better place
because of my being here. With the grace
and mercy of God, I hope that we will all grow in holiness together. Throughout my life I have sought the
intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary
to help me follow whatever God’s will is for my life. I invite you to do the same. Holy
Mary, Mother of God, pray for us.
(What I write each week will be posted on my web site: www.fr-ed-namiotka.com with a link from the parish web.)
I look forward to meeting all of you over time!
Fr. Ed Namiotka
Pastor
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