27th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Dear Parishioners,

     Eucharist is central to the Roman Catholic Christian life.  We have been struggling as a Christian Community to come to Mass lately.  This has been a difficult time for all churches to maintain the vibrancy of the liturgy.  Every time it seems like we are going to be able to move forward past the pandemic we seem to have setbacks.  We try to stay safe in a virtual word at a distance from one another.  Unfortunately, Christianity is not a virtual religion.  Sacraments depend on the senses of sound, taste, touch, smell and sight.  We use our senses when we are in person praying together.

     I thought that fall would be a good time to try to have some spiritual renewal in our parish. By the fall I thought surely things would have settled. We could then chart a course into the future.  At least that is the way it seemed in the early summer.  But here we are with deaths from COVID and hospitalizations growing.  I have been called to anoint three people in recent weeks who were on ventilators with COVID.   Last Saturday I had a funeral for one who died of this disease.  The ages of people who die get younger.  Dawn was 53.

     We truly need some spiritual uplift.  I asked Fr. Britto Berchmans to come and preach a mission on the Eucharist this summer and he agreed to do so.  Fr. Britto is a dynamic and engaging presenter.  We are going ahead with the Mission.  We will ask people to be careful as we gather in church. The dates of our mission will be October 17 through 19.  We will try to livestream the event so people have options.

     I ask you to block out these evenings either so you can come in person, or you can watch from home.  Perhaps we can have some time of joy and uplift and we can remember what a great gift it is to be part of a Roman Catholic Christian community.

     May Our Lady and all the Angels and Saints watch over you.

Fr. Mark