News - April 2018 RSS Feed

Greetings from aboard the Splendid sailing in the waters of the Croatian Adriatic Sea. I must say that while I have heard it’s beautiful here, it really is beautiful here. After arriving in Zagreb we went to visit the Marian Shrine at Medjugorje in BosniaHerzegovina. It is an interesting place. It is Tuesday afternoon here and we’ve been sailing since Thursday. I’ve been to the birthplace of Marco Polo (well one of them anyway) to a town that celebrates St. Blase as their patron as he saved the town from destruction centuries ago, and to the reputed birth city of St. Jerome. Thursday we disembark and drive through Slovenia to Venice and then to Milan. I will be home Monday night. The weather has been absolutely amazing. Read more.

One of the obligations of a pastor is to make sure that the parish receives an annual statement of financial accounts. In the fall we published details in the bulletin, though a straight ledger format doesn’t necessarily make sense to everyone. Hence, a more detailed use of presentation with more visuals – graphs and pie charts – seems to be more in order. Read more.

As the Easter Season moves along we continue to celebrate in a special way the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and the hope and promise that his resurrection offers to us as disciples. The Easter Season is the baptismal season, drawing much of our liturgical focus to the Sacraments of Initiation (Baptism-ConfirmationFirst Eucharist). Read more.

Can you believe this weather? It certainly doesn’t feel like Spring or Easter for that matter. Hopefully a warm-up is on the way. We did have a beautiful celebration of the Triduum here at St. Benedict and very strong attendance at all of the Masses. Even the rather chilly Sunrise Mass celebrated outside was well-attended. Read more.

ALLELUIA!! There I said it. It feels good to be able to think and shout out Alleluia! again after being banned from using it since Ash Wednesday. This is Easter: the day of the Resurrection. This is the very core of our Catholic and Christian faith. Let us rejoice and be glad. Read more.