For those finding this petition from our parish of St. John the Evangelist in New Hartford, NY, below you will find a letter to Bishop Lucia petitioning him to allow Father Matthew Rawson to remain our pastor until July 1.  Please sign the petition of you agree, and once we have the signatures, we will share it and the letter below with Bishop Lucia.

Dear Bishop Lucia,

The news we learned last week that our beloved pastor, Father Matthew Rawson, was going to be moved to another set of parishes in the diocese, not even a year and a half into joining us, has shocked the entire parish of St. John the Evangelist in New Hartford.  After many years of not knowing what the plan would be for our parish, we were blessed with a truly incredible pastor that immediately began to help us build our parish back up from the unsureness that we found ourselves in for quite some time.  And while we can appreciate the difficulties that you have to deal with when it comes to the Diocese of Syracuse, we feel the work that Father Matt has started at our parish is not completed and we still need him to build back the foundation of our parish.

Since he arrived here last summer, just about every ministry at our parish has grown stronger.  In the past ten years, many of them went defunct or were floundering, losing members and interest along the way.  And without a pastor, it was very difficult for anyone who wanted to try building back any of them.  But Father Matt has worked with all of us who have wanted to build back our community, and opened the doors and removed the barriers that we had been dealing with for many years.  With Father Matt's guidance and motivation, we have already seen the following improvements at St. John the Evangelist in the past 17 months:

• Attendance numbers at our Masses have been steadily going up.  Prior to Father Matt's arrival, we lost a lot of regular attendees during the COVID-19 lockdowns and the rotating door of priests and interim pastors over the past decade led to many losing faith in our parish.  Now our pews are finally beginning to fill back up again, and with a lot of young families with small children, which we haven’t had in a while.
• Daily masses, which we haven’t had in at least five years, are finally available again, due to Father Matt’s own doing to provide many options for our parishioners to celebrate Mass.
• Baptisms, weddings, and adoration numbers have also increased at our parish, as more Catholics want to be part of our parish community.
• Altar Server numbers, which were sitting at around 1 or 2 servers total for over 5 years, are now numbering over a dozen, as many of the young members of our parish look forward to working directly with Father Matt.
• He works closely with our Faith Formation program, to make sure he knows what materials and resources we are using, offering recommendations, and being involved in many of the events such as the annual Nativity program, as well as Confirmation.
• He just recently started the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults program at our parish, and those attending classes with him will have to disperse to other churches.
• Parish events have started to become more common again, with a Parish Picnic, Parish trips, and hosting musical groups at the Church, and have done an incredible job at building back the community.
• Numerous Bible Study groups and events, including his multiple sessions about the Mass only months into joining the parish.
• Multiple facility updates around our buildings, including painting part of the sacristy and completely updating our main meeting room, have not only been made possible by Father Matt, but he also has done a lot of the work on them himself.  He has also honored the former St. Thomas Church by renewing and installing their Jesus statue in front of the building.  He has helped truly beautify our small campus after years of stagnation.
• The Men's Club, which was almost completely dissolved, is back to fundraising, helping with parish events, and holding monthly meetings, and we value his input and suggestions to continue to strengthen and grow it.
• The Women's Club has also seen new life recently, with his help and guidance.

But everything above has just started to heal and take a turn for the better.  We fear that removing our beloved Pastor so soon after his mission here has started will cause many things to go back to the way that they were.  This is why we are petitioning for you to reconsider moving Father Matt away from our parish so soon after he arrived here.  We are the only Catholic Church left in New Hartford, and the Catholic people are here.  Before Father Matt many of them did not see a reason to be a part of our parish.  They are finally starting to find reason again, and we don't want to lose the momentum that Father Matt has brought to us, and will continue to bring to build us back up again.

In light of the continued progress that Father Rawson has made and is making in our parish, we would ask that you extend his stay until July 1 to firmly establish the groundwork for the vibrant ministries and collaborations we're seeing begin to bear fruit.

We trust the judgement of the church, through the power of the Holy Spirit and we're ever grateful for support and collaboration. The signatures of the parishioners below are a small reflection of members of our community who'd hope Father Matt can keep working on those projects he's begun with such enthusiasm and hope.

We are grateful to move forward in whatever direction you discern best with faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 

Thank you,

St. John the Evangelist Parish