From the Pastor
May/14/2010
Throughout the fifty days of Easter, we have rejoiced in the resurrection of Christ. Today we listen to the story of His glorious Ascension into heaven, where He intercedes for us to His Father. Just before ascending into heaven, Jesus instructed His disciples to return to Jerusalem, and there they should fast and pray while they await the coming of the Holy Spirit on the first Pentecost. We are reminded that as members of the Body of Christ, we have become His hands and feet to work in this world. In various dioceses and countries, some observed Ascension last Thursday, but the bishops in most of the United States (except the northeast and Nebraska) use their prerogative to transfer the celebration to Sunday. In this way, the serious obligation of attending
Mass on a Holy Day of Obligation now has been combined with a Sunday, when many more people are able to get to church for the celebration.
On Saturday, May 29th, at the 5:30 p.m. Mass, our 8th grade will mark their graduation from our parish school. We certainly will miss this spirited group when they leave our school, and I invite you to pray for them, that they may stay close to Jesus when they are in high school and fulfill their role of worshipping Him each weekend, not only when they feel like coming. I invite all of our graduates to attend that Mass, too, as we pray for them and their future, so that they may realize that it is God who brought them to this point in their lives, and it is God who will sustain them when others will have abandoned them.
On the same weekend of May 29-30, our parish will take up a special 2nd collection for the Little Servant Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, of whom we have our Sister Maria and Sister Dorothy from our school. They will be speaking at most of our Masses that weekend about their community, and this will be our chance to help sustain their Order. Special envelopes have been printed for you to fill out and drop in the collection basket for that occasion. So, I hope you will be generous to their call for help, for, as in some of the poorer areas of the world, their work cannot be sustained except through the generous response given by people in first-world countries, especially in the parishes in which they work, such as ours. Among their many missions throughout the world, some of these Sisters work in Poland, Rome and the U.S., and have additional places to maintain, such as those situated in Africa, the Philippines, Ukraine and Belarus. There they run schools, hospitals, nursing homes, clinics, orphanages, and catechetical centers. They are noted for their faithful witness to Christ and His people, their wearing of the traditional full-length garment of religious women, their love and devotion to Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, and their prayerful witness through their good example.
May they also draw young women to their style of community life, ready to give up the worldly things this life offers to take on the challenges we all must overcome to enter into God’s Kingdom. Congratulations to the new officers for our parish Home and School Association: President, Tom & Elizabeth Brinkman; Vice President Noreen Kelly; Treasurer Chris & Susan Grant; Recording Secretary John & Begona Krane; Financial Secretary Bill & Greta Gillis; and Parliamentarian Jason & Vicki Chung.
They are very active and participating parishioners, not only in our school programs, but also in the total life of our parish. I welcome them into their new roles for the next 2 years, and pray that their good efforts will be met with the assistance of many other parents, who also will volunteer to assist them for the good of our school and parish.
In the first part of June, I will be returning to Rome for the closing of the Year of the Priest. It was my good fortune last June to be there for its opening. With gratitude to the 47,000 Knights of Columbus in the state of Florida for being chosen as their representative chaplain, I will join the state chaplains of each of our 50 states and several national chaplains of the countries in which our Knights are present, to meet with our
Holy Father and partake of the closing events.
Very Rev. Canon Tom
Mass on a Holy Day of Obligation now has been combined with a Sunday, when many more people are able to get to church for the celebration.
On Saturday, May 29th, at the 5:30 p.m. Mass, our 8th grade will mark their graduation from our parish school. We certainly will miss this spirited group when they leave our school, and I invite you to pray for them, that they may stay close to Jesus when they are in high school and fulfill their role of worshipping Him each weekend, not only when they feel like coming. I invite all of our graduates to attend that Mass, too, as we pray for them and their future, so that they may realize that it is God who brought them to this point in their lives, and it is God who will sustain them when others will have abandoned them.
On the same weekend of May 29-30, our parish will take up a special 2nd collection for the Little Servant Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, of whom we have our Sister Maria and Sister Dorothy from our school. They will be speaking at most of our Masses that weekend about their community, and this will be our chance to help sustain their Order. Special envelopes have been printed for you to fill out and drop in the collection basket for that occasion. So, I hope you will be generous to their call for help, for, as in some of the poorer areas of the world, their work cannot be sustained except through the generous response given by people in first-world countries, especially in the parishes in which they work, such as ours. Among their many missions throughout the world, some of these Sisters work in Poland, Rome and the U.S., and have additional places to maintain, such as those situated in Africa, the Philippines, Ukraine and Belarus. There they run schools, hospitals, nursing homes, clinics, orphanages, and catechetical centers. They are noted for their faithful witness to Christ and His people, their wearing of the traditional full-length garment of religious women, their love and devotion to Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament, and their prayerful witness through their good example.
May they also draw young women to their style of community life, ready to give up the worldly things this life offers to take on the challenges we all must overcome to enter into God’s Kingdom. Congratulations to the new officers for our parish Home and School Association: President, Tom & Elizabeth Brinkman; Vice President Noreen Kelly; Treasurer Chris & Susan Grant; Recording Secretary John & Begona Krane; Financial Secretary Bill & Greta Gillis; and Parliamentarian Jason & Vicki Chung.
They are very active and participating parishioners, not only in our school programs, but also in the total life of our parish. I welcome them into their new roles for the next 2 years, and pray that their good efforts will be met with the assistance of many other parents, who also will volunteer to assist them for the good of our school and parish.
In the first part of June, I will be returning to Rome for the closing of the Year of the Priest. It was my good fortune last June to be there for its opening. With gratitude to the 47,000 Knights of Columbus in the state of Florida for being chosen as their representative chaplain, I will join the state chaplains of each of our 50 states and several national chaplains of the countries in which our Knights are present, to meet with our
Holy Father and partake of the closing events.
Very Rev. Canon Tom