…From Your Pastor’s Desk The Writing below was originally crafted in 2019, but it bears repeating.So, here is an updated version. Nobody Sunday? For the last 16 Weekends every Sunday has had a title from ‘The First Sunday of Lent’ on March 9th up until last week’s feast of ‘Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles’. So, when I first looked at the readings…

…From Your Pastor’s Desk Peter and the Love the Church is Founded On Jesus chose Peter as the rock on which the church is founded, and so Peter’s life is an exemplar for us of the way our lives should be lived. At the other extreme is Judas, who is an example of the worst in human life. But here is a…

…From Your Pastor’s Desk The Eucharist and SCUBA People have commented that when I raise the Host after Consecration, I hold it up longer than most priests. Well, if I do, I am not doing it for dramatic effect! When I hold up the Eucharist after Consecration, you and I spend a moment in adoration. At that moment I know that you…

…From Your Pastor’s Desk The Most Holy Trinity The Mystery of The Most Holy TrinityIt is Jesus Himself who teaches us the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity. The Gospel today, from Saint John, is clear that Jesus understood both Father and Spirit. The development of this doctrine takes time because Jesus was not a teacher of philosophy or of theology. Jesus…

…From Your Pastor’s Desk HAPPY BIRTHDAY! A few years back, we had a very cool conflation of celebrations. Mother’s Day and Pentecost were on the same day. And, as was brought to my attention just before mass that day, a mother and her daughter were both celebrating their birthdays on that same day! A mother’s birthday has a special appeal. It usually…

…From Your Pastor’s Desk Ascension Day Parting messages have their own impact. The last words said by someone moving away or even going away for a long time hold special places in our hearts. I remember the many deployments I went on in my years of military service and how touching were those words between husband and wife and parent and child.…

…From Your Pastor’s Desk MEMORIAL DAY Dear God, Thank You for those who have guarded not only our cities, but our country, allies, and many other communities from unjust and unprincipled aggressors. On this Memorial Day, with a solemn and sacred spirit, we pause to remember and honor the brave men and women in our Armed Forces who gave up their lives…

…From Your Pastor’s Desk “I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.” A theme of today’s Mass is Love – a subject that is so easy to write badly about, so hard to write well about. There exists a tendency in all of us to place love (and all…

Our Hope and Strength The risen Christ is our shepherd. “We are his people: the sheep of his flock.” He gives us eternal life, and we shall never perish. The risen Christ is “a light to the nations,” so that all people everywhere are renewed by the Easter event. The poor, the hungry and the homeless stand in the presence of the…

Message from Bishop Robert Vasa My Dear People of the Diocese of Santa Rosa, Since Pope Francis’ poor health was a topic of news for weeks, we were all surprised, but not extremely shocked, by the word of his death. Father Moses Brown, at the Cathedral, has set up a Mass for the Repose of the soul of Pope Francis on Monday,…