Pastoral Message

As some of you know, I took part in our mission trip to Poland a few weeks ago, from March 14th through the 22nd. Since I returned, a number of you have asked about the trip; today I would like to share with you some highlights. We spent several days in the city of Opole, a couple of hours’ drive from Krakow. We were hosted by Ostoja, a Pentecostal church which our group had spent time with last year. There we

He is risen. He is risen, indeed! So goes an ancient dialog between priest and people, and Christian to Christian. It is an Easter proclamation of faith in Jesus Christ, who was crucified, died and buried, and resurrected to life in glory – body, mind and spirit. The origin of this proclamation is attributed to St. Mary Magdalene. And even if this attribution isn’t completely accurate, it’s logical because Mary Magdalene saw it all. She was at the foot of the

Holy Week Prayer Bread We invite you to make bread as a family during Holy Week, to be shared as part of your meal on Maunday Thursday. As you bake, may the prayers at each step center you in God’s love and help you prepare for the coming of Christ. Don’t expect perfection, the important thing is that you have FUN! The receipt will make 2 small loaves so choose someone to give the additional loaf to such as an elderly

Hey Y’all, It’s the Fifth Sunday of Lent! We’re getting ever closer to the celebration of the greatest feast of the Christian Church year, Easter. In anticipating Easter, our liturgy challenges us to consider an essential truth that is central to our faith as Roman Catholic Christians. That essential truth is “the resurrection of the dead and life of the world to come”. (Sound familiar? That’s a line from the Nicene Creed.) So today, we will hear both the Prophet Ezekiel’s ancient

This weekend we have another one of those Sundays that has a special Latin nickname: it’s “Laetare Sunday.” By now you might be able to guess that the name comes from the first word of the Latin version of the Entrance Antiphon: “Rejoice, Jerusalem, and all who love her. Be joyful, all who were in mourning…” (Is. 66:10) Now, can you really command someone to rejoice? It seems to me that joy has to come from within us and can’t be

Thank you for supporting last year’s Pastoral Services Appeal! Your continued generosity towards this appeal resulted in $106,841 in rebates to the parish from the collective efforts of 442 families. These rebates mean that all funds are in place for the church sound system project.  Project contractors are in place as we finalize plans for the city permitting process. Our PSA goal this year remains at $209,000. To date, 73 families have pledged $41,500 with $25,000 in paid donations. We are

By now, I’m sure you have heard of “Artificial Intelligence,” abbreviated as “AI”: the latest development in computer science which enables a computer to perform human-like tasks. This week I decided to put Artificial Intelligence to the test. I opened ChatGPT, an application which uses AI, and I gave it the instruction, “Write an inspiring paragraph about the season of Lent for the bulletin of a Catholic parish.” Here’s what I got: “As we embark upon the sacred season of Lent,

Hey y'all, I'm writing this little fervorino (that's a Churchy Italian word that means a quick exhortation, or a pep talk) after a long day. Ash Wednesday to be exact.  It has been a good day, and from all I can tell, it's been a good start to this penitential season of Lent. We had a lot of people come to one of our four Masses.  We sent ministers with blessed ashes out to homes, care facilities and hospitals and we had

On Wednesday, February 14, a large number of people will come to church throughout our country and throughout the world. Some will be regular churchgoers and others will not. All will be coming because it is Ash Wednesday. They will receive blessed ashes on their forehead and hear the words, “Repent and believe in the Gospel.” (Mk. 1:15) Although the ashes will be the most prominent feature of the service, the words are by far the most important thing. They

We are quickly coming up on Groundhog Day, February 2nd. Folklore has it that we can predict how much longer winter will last according to whether or not a groundhog sees its shadow when it comes out of its burrow. But you are not reading this message in order to learn folklore about weather prognostication. The reason I mention it at all is that, according to Wikipedia (source of all wisdom and knowledge!) the placement of Groundhog Day on February 2nd