Back by popular demand! Fr. James with his niece Addy (2) and nephew Sebbie (3)

Letters from a Pastor to His People- February 23, 2020

Dear Parishioners,

Paul's letter is pure gold.  First, he gives the monumental line: "Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?" (1 Corinthians 3:16).

This is key for the spiritual life.  This reality—that we are temples—is the foundation for all prayer. 

I'm big into prayer, as you know.  To me, it's the center of a priest's life.  If a priest isn't praying, his life is meaningless.  It's a train wreck.  Why?  Because prayer is relationship with God.  Think of being married and never communicating with your spouse.  Your life would be a contradiction.  Same with a priest.

Letters from a Pastor to His People- February 16, 2020

Dear Parishioners,

All the priests of the Archdiocese gathered together with the Cardinal a couple weeks ago for an all-day seminar.  We do this about three times a year.  In the afternoon we heard a talk on forming good habits, and the speaker mentioned "mindfulness training." Basically, if you can pause mentally when you are in the midst of a certain habit (smoking, eating, compulsively checking your texts, etc.), be mindful of what you are feeling and experiencing (something that is actually not that satisfying), you'll begin the neural re-networking process to break the bad habit.

Letters from a Pastor to His People- February 9, 2020

Dear Parishioners,

Jesus, when he calls us salt and light, is saying that we are necessary. He doesn't call us honey; he doesn't call us a neon light—things that are nice, but not necessary.  Salt and light are necessary for the world to function.  There is no life without light (think about how the dinosaurs died) and salt, especially back in Jesus' time, was essential to preserve food.

Now, when I say the Lord needs us, what I'm really saying is that he relies on us to spread the faith.  (By the way, in baptism, we give the newly baptized a candle and say, "receive the light of Christ." In the old ritual, salt was sometimes put into the person's mouth and salt was also sprinkled in water.) Christ has us evangelize: that is, introduce people to God and bring them into Catholicism.

Father James with children at the Catholic Schools Week Mass. Congratulations to Joe and Anne Cisneroz, recipients of the 2020 Sr. Remy Schaul Service Award.

Letters from a Pastor to His People- February 2, 2020

Dear Parishioners,

I came across "The Surrender Novena" a few weeks ago, prayed it, was impacted by it, and wanted to share it with you. 

If you're not familiar with it, a novena is when we pray a particular prayer or set of prayers for nine straight days to obtain graces.  This novena was given directly from Jesus to an Italian priest named Father Don Dolindo Ruotolo, who lived from 1882-1970.  The “special” grace from this novena is to be able to trust in God more completely.