Dear Parishoners, +JMJ Happy Easter! Although Christmas is perhaps the feast that people celebrate most exuberantly each year, Easter really is the first and highest feast of the liturgical calendar. Of course, Easter couldn’t happen without Christmas. But, Easter is the actual culmination of the mission
Read more →Archive for the Pastor’s Corner Category
Dear Parishioners, +JMJ I’m happy to let you know that a couple weeks ago I got a call from the Fr. Phil Smith, Vocations Director for the Diocese, asking us to take a seminarian for a couple summer months. Of course, I said yes, because our
Read more →Dear Parishioners +JMJ This week a small team of parishioners had our first official session of V Encuentro (Spanish for “Fifth Encounter”). V Encuentro is a national program of outreach to Hispanics. It is called the “fifth” encounter, because ever since the early 1970s, there were
Read more →Dear Parishioners, +JMJ One of my most moving experiences on the pilgrimage to the Holy Land was our Mass on the hillside of the Mount of Beatitudes, overlooking the Sea of Tiberias (aka., the Sea of Galilee). The shrine had written into the prayers and even
Read more →Dear Parishioners, +JMJ This past week we had another Pastoral Council meeting. I took the opportunity to update the Council on where we stand with the whole volunteer life structure project. I reiterated the history behind my desire better to organize our volunteer ministries: the fact
Read more →Dear Parishioners, +JMJ On Tuesday I leave with a group of about 30 parishioners on pilgrimage to the Holy Land, the land where Jesus grew up, ministered, and finally was crucified, died, buried and rose from the dead, and then ascended. It’s been about five years
Read more →Dear Parishioners, +JMJ Here is the opening prayer for the Mass of Ash Wednesday, which begins the holy season of Lent: Grant, O Lord, that we may begin with holy fasting this campaign of Christian service, so that, as we take up battle against spiritual evils,
Read more →Dear Parishioners, +JMJ Next weekend Bishop Thomas begins his Annual Catholic Appeal, entitled “Giving With Faith, Hope and Love”. I would like to encourage everybody to participate, even if only in a small way. Even if you send in only five dollars, that is so greatly
Read more →Dear Parishioners, +JMJ A week ago we had another finance council meeting. Here are the highlights: -We first looked at the balance sheet, the profit and loss statement, the accounts payable statement. We didn’t have a member of the Council who had done a recent internal
Read more →Dear Parishioners, +JMJ I want to put out one last call for our lost St. Cecilia statue at our Paulding campus. For decades there was a statue of St. Cecilia in the choir loft, donated by a former choir director. When we started renovations of the
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