From the Pastor
March/20/2010
Steve Dudenhoefer, our lay-missioner and friend from our sister mission at Ak’Tenamit in Guatemala, is here to speak to us this weekend. He has been laboring in the rain forests of that country for over sixteen years, now, and is filled with stories of the new achievements at the school that you have been helping to make possible. Though the enrollment has more than doubled in the last five years, many more students are awaiting the possibility of a chance for an education at the Father Tom Moran School, and a chance to make a difference in their region and their country.
The program has been so successful, that the Guatemalan government is asking Steve and the program to go into other areas of the country and replicate the program. Your generous gift next week in the 2nd collection (special envelopes will be available, and checks can be made out to our parish or to the Guatemalan Tomorrow Fund - GTF), your sponsorship of a child or more, and your overall generous and prayerful support of our work down there will create more than a few “dreams come true.” This coming July, several Knights of Columbus (some with their sons as well as some of our state leaders) will venture there again in a labor of love, thanks to your generous support that also will help supply the needs of our next building project. Despite our current economic downturn, we know that we still have it better off than so many down there. Yet, why do we return from there so uplifted and fulfilled? It’s because, in their simplest ways, the
people there know how to express their gratitude for all we do for them.
Can you believe it - next Sunday is already Palm Sunday?!! As my Mom always said to us, “Where does the time go?” This is a fair warning to you who come regularly to our church, that next Sunday there will be crowds coming to church (the palms are free), so if you want to participate in the liturgies in a conducive way, please come extra early to find a seat. The seating will be tight. The palms will be blessed at the beginning, making them the sacramentals that they were intended to be. Here’s an excellent time to teach the little ones that these palms are not toys, but special holy objects to help bring us closer to the mysteries that unfold during Holy Week. As you leave church, please try to be considerate of those who will follow you at the later services and try to leave the church at least as neat as you found it, taking home your palms, and discarding excessive palm strings and any other residue. When you take palms home, you can place them behind the crucifix or a holy picture or in some other special place where they may be legitimately venerated
and the mysteries contained in them to be meditated upon.
We are grateful to Father Phelps and Father Steinmiller for the wonderful gift of the parish mission that they gave us this past week. They spent a lot of time in preparation for this work, and the results should continue to bear fruit as we contemplate their message and reflect upon the great gifts with which God has blessed our parish. The witness talks by our parishioners were so outstanding that many came to know themselves better because some of them really “hit close to home.” I thank our coordinators, Deacon Bruce and Karen Turnbull, and Deacon Lee and Alice Levenson, for their efforts to help promote the beauty of the message presented at this time.
A wealthy man once watched the late Mother Teresa caring for a leper that had foul smelling wounds. He said to her, “I wouldn’t do that work for a million dollars.” She replied, “Neither would I, but I am doing it to serve Jesus!” She knew the difference between what money could buy and what it couldn’t. No amount of reasoning or proof can convince us of the value of caring for the sick and dying. No cost-benefit analysis can justify giving oneself to another in marriage or having children. Simple knowledge may tell us what to believe and what not to believe.
Ordinary human knowledge, by way of reasoning and logical proof, can take us so far in life, but only the Holy Spirit’s gift of KNOWLEDGE can give us some insight into God’s ways. She knew compassion! In these changing and turbulent times in the Church, KNOWLEDGE can give us a real perspective on the reality of life. Knowing that God is the center of all creation and life itself, we become more willing to trust Him and His timetable. That’s why we always seek to learn as much about God and His Church as possible, so that we can work in cooperation with Him for the betterment of the world and ourselves.
That’s why we, as Catholics, value human life “from the womb to the tomb” – because we have learned from Sacred Scripture all that we need to know about God’s activity in our life. With only a few more weeks remaining in his schedule, Deacon Chris LeBlanc, who has been helping us on weekends for the better part of the past year, will be finishing his work here, and will go back to his diocese of Pensacola- Tallahassee for Ordination to the Priesthood in June. We have been blessed with his presence and the many talents and
gifts that God has given him that he shared with us. Please keep him in your prayers long beyond his priestly ordination, so that he may best bring Christ to the people who long to be nourished by the Word and Body of Christ.
Very Rev. Canon Tom
The program has been so successful, that the Guatemalan government is asking Steve and the program to go into other areas of the country and replicate the program. Your generous gift next week in the 2nd collection (special envelopes will be available, and checks can be made out to our parish or to the Guatemalan Tomorrow Fund - GTF), your sponsorship of a child or more, and your overall generous and prayerful support of our work down there will create more than a few “dreams come true.” This coming July, several Knights of Columbus (some with their sons as well as some of our state leaders) will venture there again in a labor of love, thanks to your generous support that also will help supply the needs of our next building project. Despite our current economic downturn, we know that we still have it better off than so many down there. Yet, why do we return from there so uplifted and fulfilled? It’s because, in their simplest ways, the
people there know how to express their gratitude for all we do for them.
Can you believe it - next Sunday is already Palm Sunday?!! As my Mom always said to us, “Where does the time go?” This is a fair warning to you who come regularly to our church, that next Sunday there will be crowds coming to church (the palms are free), so if you want to participate in the liturgies in a conducive way, please come extra early to find a seat. The seating will be tight. The palms will be blessed at the beginning, making them the sacramentals that they were intended to be. Here’s an excellent time to teach the little ones that these palms are not toys, but special holy objects to help bring us closer to the mysteries that unfold during Holy Week. As you leave church, please try to be considerate of those who will follow you at the later services and try to leave the church at least as neat as you found it, taking home your palms, and discarding excessive palm strings and any other residue. When you take palms home, you can place them behind the crucifix or a holy picture or in some other special place where they may be legitimately venerated
and the mysteries contained in them to be meditated upon.
We are grateful to Father Phelps and Father Steinmiller for the wonderful gift of the parish mission that they gave us this past week. They spent a lot of time in preparation for this work, and the results should continue to bear fruit as we contemplate their message and reflect upon the great gifts with which God has blessed our parish. The witness talks by our parishioners were so outstanding that many came to know themselves better because some of them really “hit close to home.” I thank our coordinators, Deacon Bruce and Karen Turnbull, and Deacon Lee and Alice Levenson, for their efforts to help promote the beauty of the message presented at this time.
A wealthy man once watched the late Mother Teresa caring for a leper that had foul smelling wounds. He said to her, “I wouldn’t do that work for a million dollars.” She replied, “Neither would I, but I am doing it to serve Jesus!” She knew the difference between what money could buy and what it couldn’t. No amount of reasoning or proof can convince us of the value of caring for the sick and dying. No cost-benefit analysis can justify giving oneself to another in marriage or having children. Simple knowledge may tell us what to believe and what not to believe.
Ordinary human knowledge, by way of reasoning and logical proof, can take us so far in life, but only the Holy Spirit’s gift of KNOWLEDGE can give us some insight into God’s ways. She knew compassion! In these changing and turbulent times in the Church, KNOWLEDGE can give us a real perspective on the reality of life. Knowing that God is the center of all creation and life itself, we become more willing to trust Him and His timetable. That’s why we always seek to learn as much about God and His Church as possible, so that we can work in cooperation with Him for the betterment of the world and ourselves.
That’s why we, as Catholics, value human life “from the womb to the tomb” – because we have learned from Sacred Scripture all that we need to know about God’s activity in our life. With only a few more weeks remaining in his schedule, Deacon Chris LeBlanc, who has been helping us on weekends for the better part of the past year, will be finishing his work here, and will go back to his diocese of Pensacola- Tallahassee for Ordination to the Priesthood in June. We have been blessed with his presence and the many talents and
gifts that God has given him that he shared with us. Please keep him in your prayers long beyond his priestly ordination, so that he may best bring Christ to the people who long to be nourished by the Word and Body of Christ.
Very Rev. Canon Tom