Pastor's Blog

Dear Parishioners You seek Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified. He is risen, he is not here, behold the place where they laid him. As we celebrate this Easter Sunday, we relive the central act of our faith. With our mind’s eye we can picture the impact of the angel’s voice: He is not here, for he has risen as He said…" The Acts of the Apo ...Read more

Dear Parishioners In Rome, at the end of a conclave when a new pope has been elected, the Cardinal Carmelengo appears on the balcony overlooking St. Peter’s Square and announces to the assembled crowd and the entire world habemus papem, "we have a pope." The call came here last Thursday with the news "habemus pastor", we have a pastor, which news was to be held ...Read more

Dear Parishioners Last Sunday the story of the prodigal son taught us that authentic justice does not lie in equitable remuneration, but rather in mercifulness. Today’s Gospel repeats the same message, but in an even clearer way. Applying it to a specific incident. This is not simply an intellectual contest between Jesus and his opponents, it involves a li ...Read more

Dear Parishioners As we reach the mid point of Lent with this Fourth Sunday of Lent, we pause to celebrate what is known as Laetare Sunday. Laetare is the Latin word for "rejoice" and the opening words of the Entrance Antiphon today are "rejoice, Jerusalem, and all who love her, exult and be satisfied at her consoling breast." But the theme quickly changes from  ...Read more

Dear Parishioners, As we celebrate the Third Sunday of Lent, we begin to see the sequence of events in the gospel readings. On the first Sunday of Lent the temptations in the desert warned us about the confrontations we would have during Lent. Last week the transfiguration showed us the meaning and thrust of this confrontation. Today we have heard an urgent call to pe ...Read more

Dear Parishioners Last week on the First Sunday of Lent we heard about Jesus' sojourn in the desert and the temptations he faced. It was a revelation and a prediction of our own confrontation with evil, of the temptations we would face during Lent. The transfiguration of Jesus which we have just experienced in the company of Peter, James and John, presents a new aspe ...Read more

Dear Parishioners There is a popular hymn: "They will know we are Christians by our love…". On Wednesday last they knew we were Christians by the ashes marked on our foreheads as we entered our Lenten journey in a very visible way Today, on this First Sunday of Lent, we are presented with Luke’s account of the reason for our forty day experience of praye ...Read more

Dear Parishioners As we observe Ash Wednesday this week we enter into another Lenten period in our lives. During the following forty days we prepare through prayer and sacrifice for the glorious feast of Easter. Last year as we approached Ash Wednesday Pope Francis wrote: "Lent is a new beginning, a path leading to the certain goal of Easter, Christ's victory over de ...Read more

Dear Parishioners, Almost every parish, business, agency and entity of any kind in recent years has drawn up a mission statement, and indication of the mission of the entity and the vision for its future. One of the first items on the agenda of our Parish Pastoral Council some years ago was the drawing up of our parish mission statement. This statement is posted in t ...Read more

Dear Parishioners The Gospel reading this week-end is taken from what is known as St. Luke’s Sermon on the Plain. In the previous chapter Luke describes Jesus’ debate about the Sabbath with his disciples and then reveals the mission of the twelve. As happens so often, Jesus had departed to a mountain to pray, and when he descended the mountain he called t ...Read more