News - August 2019 RSS Feed

Greetings all! ​​​​​​​It is so good to be home! What a blessed retreat I had, and what an even more blessed celebration at my Mass of Installation last Saturday! Thank you to everyone who made the time to come out and celebrate, and thank you to all those who helped with the reception afterwards. I joked with the volunteers that night that we should have some kind of celebration/potluck dinner every month, to which they almost fainted.

Greetings brothers and sisters, currently, I am out in the middle of the high desert of New Mexico at the Benedictine Monastery of Christ in the Desert starting my retreat. You are in my prayers. Before I left, I had some conversations with our staff about the safety of our parking lots, mainly the beautiful oak tree branches that are starting to hang low and the massive after school pick-up of students from the elementary now that school is back in session.

Greetings brothers and sisters, at this time of the year, everyone seems to be squeezing in their last moments of summer vacation before the start of the academic year. As we get ready for the new school year, there is also my installation Mass that will take place next Saturday, August 24th at the 5pm Mass. I’m looking forward to this as it will mark the official beginning of my ministry here at Most Holy Trinity (even though I’ve been here about a month and a half already). In restaurant language, that was the “soft-opening” and next Saturday will be the “grand-opening.”

Greetings brothers and sisters in Christ, Hopefully you've had some time to ponder a bit more about a spirit of communion. I think one of the most beautiful signs of communion is found in strong and lasting marriages. This past weekend, I was able to bless a couple who had been married for 50 years and was still filled with love and joy. It's a real tragedy that this is no longer the norm but rather it is the exception. I would argue that we not only have a shortage of holy vocations to the priesthood, but holy vocation to marriages seem rare nowadays.