Dear Cluster Parishioners,

      We are in the process of working to bring new life to our parishes by sharing our resources with each other...

     ...We will be looking at a particular model for clustering that involves all parishes, while maintaining their own church buildings, form a new parish with a new name. Each church retains its own name, but recognizes that they are now part of a new parish, rather than remaining a parish in their own right.

     Depending on the needs of each church, a certain amount of planning and decision making would need to continue to be done by each church on its own. Other areas that overlap in each parish, such as liturgy, religious education, social ministry, justice and peace could be done together by joint committees. This is happening to an extent already in the regular cluster meetings we have held in the past few years. Some of the areas that have been discussed as a cluster have been the apportionment of the pastor’s salary, planning the schedules for Christmas and Holy Week, hosting social events, etc.

     Some time back the name TRINITY was decided on at a cluster meeting as a name for our cluster. The name implies our desire for unity with one another and with God. Trinity also shows a desire to treat each parish as an equal. Each parish has gifts to offer the others. Two of our churches are within a fifteen minute drive of each other, Sacred Heart, Big Stone Gap, and St. Anthony, Norton. For this reason the rectory is at Sacred Heart, and the pastor’s office is in Norton. We have held our cluster meetings at Sacred Heart, since it is about forty minutes drive from Holy Spirit, Jonesville, and one hour from St. Joseph’s, Clintwood. Both Holy Spirit and St. Joseph’s are the only Catholic communities in their respective counties. Their experience of living and sharing their faith is a welcome addition to the older communities of Norton and Big Stone Gap. We have already seen how Holy Spirit was able to bring together the choirs of other churches in Lee County for its anniversary celebration. We see how St. Joseph, Clintwood welcomes volunteer workers throughout the year. Sacred Heart Parish enjoys adult Scripture study, while St. Anthony’s, Norton provides Sunday School for children and youth.

     May each of our churches continue to work together as a cluster to form a new and more alive Catholic Christian community in this part of the Diocese of Richmond. Let’s continue to pray our cluster prayer printed in the bulletin each week.

                                                 Father Tim