From the Pastor – Palm Sunday

April 15, 2019

From the Pastor – Palm Sunday

This Palm Sunday represents one of the great liturgical dichotomies. We begin the liturgy with a procession of celebration, and we continue to the reading of the Passion, which reaches its zenith with the Lord calling out, “ ‘Father, into your hands I commend my spirit’; and when he had said this he breathed his last.” It is as if we move from joy and celebration to utter defeat and emptiness. However, that is the essence of our entire Lenten journey, and our beginning of Holy Week, which is today. One of the important aspects of our sense of stewardship is gaining an understanding of our Faith, some of the details relating to what we do and why we do it.

The steward understands that she/he travels with the Lord every step of the way, from the highs to the lows, from triumph to evident disaster. Like Peter, nonetheless, we may become reluctant. What are we really following and what are we really believing and practicing? We may proclaim Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Throughout Lent we have been striving to deepen our relationship with Him. Nevertheless, when it comes right down to it, we may resist His invitation to us because it can mean pain, sacrifice, and suffering. That is why we must experience Lent. That is why we must experience His Passion. And that is why next week on Easter Sunday we will arise with the Lord in triumph, joy, and celebration. Truly, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.”

Pastoral Pondering

Diocesan Support Appeal — We have exceeded our goal when donations received and pledges made are added together. Remember anything over our parish goal comes back to the parish to support our charitable giving efforts.

Stained Glass — All 22 windows are now sponsored. Thanks to all who supported this effort. The installation will take place over the coming months as each window is completed.

Matters of Faith — The following is taken from the Exodus 90 manual. As we begin Holy Week, I thought it a helpful reflection to share.

The use of incense is common to both the Hebrew and Christian liturgies, and has been for thousands of years. There are many reasons for the use of incense in worship: its smell, its “otherworldly” movement about the sanctuary, and its ability to lift the eyes and the mind toward God. Incense also has a connection to the realms of heaven.

The Psalmist petitions the Lord, crying, “Let my prayer be counted as incense before you” (Psalm 141:2). In Revelation, it is written that “another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer; and he was given much incense to mingle with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar before the throne; and the smoke of the incense rose with the prayers of the saints from the hand of the angel before God” (Revelation 8:3–4). If the smoke of incense is used to accompany the prayers of the saints to the seat of God, how much more important is it for us, the Church on earth, to make use of such a powerful sacramental.

Horns protrude from the altar as part of the Israelites’ earthly liturgy. In the description of the heavenly liturgy in the Book of Revelation, we read of “four horns of the golden altar before God” (Revelation 9:13). Both the earthly altar and the heavenly altar are ornamented with horns. This shows that the liturgy in which we participate on earth—the structure, the rubrics, the smells, the bells, the colors, and the actions—is designed to mirror as closely as possible the perfect worship of God, the heavenly liturgy. So the next time you encounter incense at Mass, as the smoke pours out into the sanctuary, know that you are joining your ancestors, the angels, and the saints in one universal offering to God.

Today, take some time to consider the sacred liturgy. Give God time to tell you all about each part, its function, and its fruits. If you have unanswered questions about certain parts of the liturgy, write them down and seek out the answers. Like the use of incense, other parts of the liturgy, when properly used, have much to teach us about God, ourselves, and our relationship with him.

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.