Happy Sunday!

This Sunday afternoon I depart for Ireland. One place of interest where I will celebrate the Holy Mass is the Our Lady of Knock shrine. This apparition of 1879 consisted of Mary, St. Joseph, and St. John the Evangelist. In the center stood a lamb on the altar which stood in front of a cross. This lamb was surrounded by angels. This scene lasted for two hours with fifteen people, men, women, and children blessed to witness this.

Happy Sunday!

On July 28th until August 8th I journey for a unique, spiritual, authentically Irish pilgrimage to discover the beauty and Catholic history of this country. The cities visited will include Dublin, Galway, Glendalough and Clifden. During our pilgrimage we will have the opportunity to visit the holy sites of the Monastery in Glendalough, Knock Shrine, Holy Cross Abbey, and St. Mary’s Pro Cathedral along with the Cliffs of Moher, Kilmore Abbey, and Croagh Patrick.

Once I asked a fallen-away Catholic friend of mine what he remembered about the parish priest from his youth. He said, “He was a gentle, nice guy. Kind of vanilla. Kept to himself.” It struck me that he, perhaps like many, perceived Catholic priests as the following: lonely, harmless, and self-sufficient. As a challenge both to this perception (accurate or not) and to us priests who perhaps feel a pull in that uninspiring direction, stands the mighty image of what we see in the Gospel this Sunday.

Greetings and blessings!

This year is very important for our parish because it commemorates 45 years of our establishment as a parish and 25 years in our current church building. Lots of history of love, labor, sacrifice, and planning the foundation of our parish experienced so many faithful before us to make Saint Joan of Arc Parish what it is today.