Pastor’s Letter: June 18, 2023

Pastor’s Letter: June 18, 2023

16 Jun 2023 | Posted by: chadmin

Dear friend,

Fr. Daniel Dionesotes officially began his assignment as Parochial Vicar at St. Philomena on Wednesday, June 14, 2023. It is a great joy for our parish to welcome a new priest as he begins his priestly ministry. Wednesday also marked 17 years since I started my assignment at St. Philomena. It’s hard to believe how fast time goes. The St Philomena community has been a terrific parish for me to grow as a priest and a pastor. I am confident our community will both benefit from Fr. Daniel’s priestly ministry and also help him grow in his love for the priesthood and knowledge of the many different aspects to priestly ministry. We are blessed with not only a diverse community of gifts and talents, but also strong lay leaders who have guided me in my years at St. Philomena. I am confident and hopeful in the same guidance, support and love being offered to Fr. Daniel from our lay leaders and parish community. Fr. Daniel will formally introduce himself to the parish next weekend as he will deliver the homily at all the weekend Masses. Please join me in offering him a generous welcome to our parish family.

I had a nice vacation last week with a few priest friends. We rented a house near St. Joseph, Michigan. We didn’t have much of an agenda and really didn’t do much with the week except spend time with each other. I am so grateful to Fr. Donald Henderson for covering the majority of the daily Masses last week while I was away. Fr. Henderson has been so generous with his time over the years to help me take a break from time to time. With Fr. Daniel arriving, I hope to take advantage of a few more days off. =) I might even try to make it to a few more Bear games this year.

As we are officially in the summer time around campus, we are in the full reset mode. We spend a lot of time and resources on cleaning the school building, addressing any wear and tear, and looking for opportunities to improve our campus. Albert Tony continues to install new dropped ceilings throughout the school. This summer the art and music classrooms will be refreshed with the new ceilings, lights, and fans. We are also in the process of updating all of our HVAC controls, door fobs, school intercom and phone system throughout the whole campus. These updates are years in the making and should provide good stability and communication for many years to come. Thank you for all the support you give to our parish and school leadership to help us provide the best Catholic formation to our community. Have a great week.

God bless,

Father David