Pastor’s Letter: May 21, 2023

Pastor’s Letter: May 21, 2023

19 May 2023 | Posted by: chadmin

The May 21 bulletin is available online.

Dear friend,

Fr. Luke and I enjoyed the celebration last Saturday for our 20^th anniversary. We had several questions about the actual date or our ordination. We were both ordained priests on May 24, 2003. The celebration last week was a true parish family event. It was fun to have parishioners in their first year of life to parishioners in their 90’s. What a great representation of the many types of ministry experiences and lives we are blessed to encounter. I am so grateful for all the thanksgivings and cards that were shared. Fr. Luke also expressed his deep gratitude for celebrating his years of ministry. The Bears tailgate scene was quite the enjoyable preparation for the upcoming season! Special thanks to the Men’s Club for grilling and all the many, many parishioners who volunteered, setup, cleaned up, baked goodies, and decorated the room. As we wind up another school year, it’s been fun to reflect on all these years of ministry. Thanks for the support.

This past week, our 8^th graders graduated from St. Philomena School. The graduation Mass is always a time of great joy and a little sadness. For all of us, transition to the next step in life includes a bit of the unknown. We take great pride in preparing our grade school kids to be responsible Christians in this world. Our hope is that a solid Christian formation helps each child use their God-given gifts and talents to the best of their abilities. The faculty and staff of our school do their best to prepare our kids emotionally, spiritually, and intellectually for high school. Please join me in praying for our graduates as they move forward.

Next weekend, parishioner Deacon Patrick Wille will be ordained a priest by Bishop Lou. The ordination is Saturday in the Cathedral at 10:30 am. It is open to the public, but go early if you want a seat.  We are blessed to have four men being ordained this year. Join me in praying for their long and fruitful ministry. It’s an especially beautiful blessing to have a priest ordained from our parish. The gift of an ordination often encourages more vocations to the priesthood. The Church puts special importance on the newly ordained by granting all the faithful a plenary indulgence by attending a new priest’s first Mass. The reception of a plenary indulgence also requires the rejection of sin, prayer for the Holy Father’s intention, reception of Confession within a month, and having the intention of receiving the indulgence. An indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian who is duly disposed gains under certain prescribed conditions through the action of the Church which, as the minister of redemption, dispenses and applies with authority the treasury of the satisfactions of Christ and the saints. Fr. Patrick will celebrate his first Mass at St. Philomena on Saturday, May 27 at    4:30 pm. Again, all are welcome to attend; but, expect it to be a full Mass. We will setup the banquet room for overflow seating, as we do for Christmas Eve. After the Mass, there will be a reception in the school gymnasium. Fr. Patrick will offer his first blessing to those who wish to line up to greet him and receive the grace-filled blessing. Fr. Patrick will also celebrate the 9 am Mass at St. Philomena on May 28, which also includes the plenary indulgence as a Mass of Thanksgiving. Please join me in congratulating and celebrating Fr. Patrick Wille as a newly ordained priest. Have a great week.

God bless,

Father David