We the undersigned members of the Sacred Heart Parish and Greater East Boston Community respectfully request that Fr. Wayne Belschner remained as pastor Sacred Heart Parish.  Over the course of his 13 years as pastor, Fr. Wayne has successfully brought together the communities of Mt. Carmel, St. Mary’s Star of the Sea, the Portuguese and Vietnamese communities into one parish family. In addition, he has provided a strong leadership for the parish school, East Boston Central Catholic and his continued presence will be critical to the success of the transition it will be undergoing in the next few years.  Fr. Wayne takes his ministry and leadership outside of the parish and into the community through his outreach to and collaboration with the Meridian House residential drug treatment program, East Boston District Court, community policing and other social justice groups. We know that the future includes the collaboration of Sacred Heart and St. Joseph/St. Lazarus parish communities and Fr. Wayne has a proven record of being able to seamlessly join parish families together.