From the Pastor - 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time

February 5, 2018

From the Pastor – 5 th Sunday in Ordinary Time

The fact that today’s Gospel from Mark makes reference to Jesus curing Peter’s mother-in-law would seem to point to the fact that Peter was married. However, the majority of scholars are of the opinion that the wife may have died before Peter was called by Jesus as an Apostle. In fact, there are many misconceptions about St. Peter. For one, although often portrayed as much older, he was probably younger than Jesus. In fact, all 12 Apostles were most likely younger than Jesus.

Also, Peter is often presented in paintings and movies and books as being a very old man, but historians have also concluded that Peter was martyred in Rome when he was about 66 years old. He was never the old, old man in his 80’s we see quite often.

All of that is secondary to a simple statement in today’s Gospel about the mother-in-law. Specifically, St. Mark writes, “He (Jesus) approached, grasped her hand, and helped her up. Then the fever left her and she waited on them.” St. Matthew reveals this same fact in his Gospel (Matthew 8:15), and he writes, “He (Jesus) touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to serve Him.”

The message for us is very basic. Peter’s mother-in-law responded to Jesus the same way we should when Jesus blesses us. She responded to the Lord and immediately served Him out of gratitude. That should be our motivation, and action, as well.

Pastoral Pondering

In case anyone has not noticed, Cold and Flu season is in full swing. What we’ve noticed of late is a hesitation to receive from the chalices at Mass (significant amounts of Precious Blood left over) and even a hesitation to share the sign of peace. Obviously, we all need to be conscious of not spreading germs. In the interest of helping with this, we are discontinuing the distribution of Precious Blood this weekend and will continue that until after Easter (April 1). Also, please be respectful of those who do not wish to shake hands. We can still express a sign of peace in other ways, e.g. turning towards a person and saying, “peace be with you” without touching. The Missionaries of Charity (Mother Teresa’s sisters) bow towards one another (in traditional Indian fashion). The point is just be aware of this concern and be respectful of the valid concerns of your brothers and sisters.

Lent is a little more than two weeks away. Ash Wednesday is on February 14 th (celebrate Valentine’s day the weekend before!). It is a good time to begin planning how you will make good use of this holy season. On the first Friday of Lent (February 16) we will once again host The Vigil Project here at the parish. They will be in the Kerin Center from 7-9 pm and it will be a wonderful evening of music, prayer and fellowship. It will be a great opportunity to put us into the proper “Lenten frame of mind.”

Finally, please know that Father Becker, Father Carter, and I pray for you and your intentions daily. If we can be of assistance in any way, please don’t hesitate to let us know and please keep us in your prayers as well.

Blessings,

From the Pastor

From the Pastor - 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time

By John Putnam • August 14, 2026
Today's Gospel from Matthew reminds us to trust the Lord even when it seems He is not answering our prayers. God desires to lead us to the joy of heaven and eternal life with Him. To prepare us for that day, He calls us to grow in faith and to live each day as a grateful response to His goodness. In other words, He is forming us into saints. This is what the stewardship way of life is meant to accomplish. At times that process is difficult. Often, it stretches us beyond our comfort. Jesus certainly challenged the Canaanite woman in today's Gospel. She cried out to Him on behalf of her daughter, who was tormented by a demon. How did Jesus respond to this desperate mother's plea? At first, He "did not say a word in answer to her." Undeterred, she continued to seek Him, and He continued to test her faith. She responded with such remarkable trust that Jesus proclaimed, "O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish." Imagine hearing those words spoken to us by our Lord. There could be no greater affirmation of a life lived in faithful discipleship. The stewardship way of life will test our trust in God at times. But those are often the moments when He is doing His greatest work within us. Let us persevere in faith, trusting that His plan is always leading us toward the joy He has prepared for us. © Catholic Stewardship Consultants, 2026. Pastoral Pondering As the school year begins and we move into the post-summer routine, I wanted to give you an update on a few things which may be of interest to you. Building projects The rectory build is going well. Grainda Builders are projecting the project to finish by November (I am hoping for earlier!). We do plan to have an open house so that folks can see the new rectory upon its completion. The preliminary work for the second phase of our building projects is occurring with the installation of the water lines that will feed the new buildings. This will hopefully be done by Labor Day. We should be able to hold a groundbreaking shortly after the first of the year. Everything depends on when the present rectory sells and where we are with funding. The Diocese requires 60% of the project to be in cash, 30% to be in pledges and 30% allowable for Diocesan loan. We will keep you posted. Obviously, as we move forward, there will be growing pains that cannot be avoided due to the disruption of some parking. We are working with the general contractor to keep disruptions to a minimum, but we cannot avoid all of them. Thank you for your patience. Church Maintenance  As many of you know, we have been battling issues with the church roof for some time. There have been numerous leaks over the years that have been patched and patched again. We have been battling the insurance company for over a year, and it is clear that, after a minimal payment to repair water damage, they are not going to approve a claim for roof replacement. Kudos to the Pastoral Council and Scott Bruno for making a significant investment of time and energy to try to do the groundwork to provide justification for the claim. With that being said, we have already replaced a portion of the roof that was causing significant problems (the lower roof closest to the driveway). Nonetheless, the whole roof really does need to be replaced. Estimates for replacement are in the neighborhood of $250K. At present with the other projects going on, we do not have this in reserves or the operating account to cover this expense. Should you wish to assist, donations can be made on the website. We will continue to monitor and do what we can to manage the problem until we are able to fully address it. The second significant issue that has arisen is the foundation of the Kerin Center. Over the last several years, due to water and drainage issues, we have had to address foundation instability. Reinforcements were added a couple of years back to the school-side of the building, but we have been seeing some issues on the church-side of the building over the past year. We are watching it very carefully and trying to ascertain the root cause of the problems. We are appreciative of those parishioners with engineering expertise who have assisted in this effort. There is also a link on the parish donation website for Kerin Center repairs.

From the Pastor - 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time

By John Putnam • August 7, 2026
Stewardship spirituality invites us to surrender control of our lives to God in grateful recognition that everything we have is a gift from Him. Today's readings remind us that God is always in control of His creation and His people. They also reveal what can happen when we fully entrust our lives to Him — in other words, when we embrace the stewardship way of life. When we take our eyes off God, we lose sight of the fact that all is gift. We begin to rely on ourselves instead of trusting in Him, and we fail to make our lives a grateful response to His generosity. Peter experiences this in today's Gospel from Matthew. Jesus sends the disciples ahead of Him by boat. Later that evening, Jesus comes to them, walking on the water, and invites Peter to join Him. Peter steps out of the boat and begins walking toward the Lord. But when he notices the strong wind around him, instead of keeping his eyes on Christ, he begins to sink. Imagine if Peter had never looked away from Jesus. What an extraordinary adventure he would have experienced walking on the water with his Lord. The same is true for us. When we take our eyes off Christ, His countless blessings, and His faithful love for us, we begin to sink as well. But when we embrace the stewardship way of life, loosening our grip on our time, talents, and treasure and placing our trust in God, life becomes a great adventure rooted firmly in the One who never fails us. © Catholic Stewardship Consultants, 2026. Pastoral Pondering First of all I want to thank all who participated in our meal packing effort last Friday and Saturday. What a gift it is to be able to come together as a community and unite for the sake of our brothers and sisters in need. These events cannot happen without the efforts of numerous people. To each of you who made it possible, THANK YOU! As we move into August and our lives begin reorienting from lazier summer months towards fall, it is an opportunity to reflect on the blessings that we were afforded to rest, refresh, and renew during these past weeks. Hopefully, family were able to spend some quality time with each other without the demands of school, work and the day to day demands that impact many of us.  For me, I was privileged once again to participate in the Te Deum Peace Pilgrimage to Fatima. This year we were able to invite and sponsor nine (9) seminarians from various dioceses including Charlotte, NC; Charleston, SC; Cleveland, OH; and Youngstown, OH. They along with a wonderful group of non-seminarian pilgrims were able to grow in our love for the Lord and Our Lady. It was a true blessing, and I was so impressed with the seminarians who were a part of our pilgrimage family for our time in Portugal and Spain. Along the same lines, please pray for parishioner Mark Pressley who is entering St. Joseph College Seminary. Mark’s family has been a part of the parish for many years. Keep him and the other nine (9) young men who are beginning their formation this fall.