……from the Pastor’s Desk The Be-DAD-itudes The Beatitudes are one surprising, often overlooked, source Catholic men can turn to for guidance in becoming the men, husbands, and fathers our families need us to be. The late Pope Francis has called the Beatitudes our “guide on the path of Christian life.” The Beatitudes also could be said to reveal something about the ways…

…from your Pastor’s Desk 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time 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 22nd up until last week’s feast of ‘The Most Holy Body and Blood of…

……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: Beyond Human Reasoning The Holy Trinity, today’s feast, is quite beyond human reasoning. “Two is company, three is a crowd” is a popular expression. But the New Testament would have it otherwise. There, the figure three symbolizes completeness and perfect symmetry. The figure three appears at all the key moments of the Christ story: Three at the nativity…

……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: Many people are deeply concerned about what is happening in our world. And not just rising gas prices. And not just National Security. It seems, rather, that there is a growing sense of National Insecurity. The secular world says people are returning to church because they are afraid. That may be so in some instances, but I feel…

…From your Pastor’s Desk The Lovely Month of May As I sit down to write this, looking out my office window I see the trellis covered with roses. Dozens and dozens. Also, beautiful Lilacs, one of my personal favorites. It’s May! May has been a favorite time of year for many Catholics. The month of May, which started Friday, is dedicated to…

…From your Pastor’s Desk SHEPHERD SUNDAY During Jesus’ time, shepherds protected their flocks with their own bodies. Many of the sheep pens were merely a wall of loosely connected rocks with a single entrance. At night the shepherds slept across the entrance so that their bodies became a protection for the sheep from their own straying or from marauders. The body of…

…From your Pastor’s Desk On The Road to …Santa Rosa * This is a ‘Work of Fiction’ inspired by a writing of a favorite Jesuit, John Foley. A modern-day allegory based loosely on the Road to Emmaus Scripture Story …today’s Gospel. This ‘story’ takes place March 22, 2020’. Two days after the first ‘Lock-Down’. Remember what was happening then. So, you and…