From the Pastor - Third Sunday of Lent

March 4, 2021

Our readings call us to roll up our sleeves and persevere through the remainder of Lent by committing to a more faithful life with Christ.

 

In today's Gospel, Jesus purifies the temple area because it is being misused as a marketplace. He becomes angry at their lack of reverence for God. He spills the coins of the money changers and overturns tables, saying, “Take these out of here, and stop making my Father’s house a marketplace.”

 

Jesus witnessed the way people mistreated the temple — the place to worship God and God alone. He drives out evil and works to purify all that is sinful in that place. This is what Jesus wants to do for us this Lenten season. He wants to remove all impurity and evil in our lives and hearts so that we may have a proper dwelling place for the Holy Spirit. Let us ask ourselves, what areas of our life need cleansing? Let us name those areas and invite Jesus to purify us. He became man to carry our burdens and wipe away our sins. He has given us boundless mercy, but we must do our part to seek it and commit to living a more faithful life as a disciple of Christ. With this knowledge, let us seek to be purified from our sins so that our hearts might be a true temple of the Holy Spirit.

 

This season of Lent is only halfway done — there is still time to work through our shortcomings and purify our hearts for Easter morning. But let us not waste another moment. Let us name our shortcomings, seek God’s mercy and invite Him to transform our hearts. © Catholic Stewardship Consultants, 2021

 

Pastoral Pondering – Last week I began a review of Reiki as an obstacle to the spiritual life and in conflict with Catholic faith. This was confirmed by a study of the US Bishops released in March of 2009 which is readily available on the internet.

 

I wanted to address a mistaken notion that has sometimes been put forth in support of Reiki; namely, that Reiki is just a form of divine healing. I remember when I was in seminary, my class went on a retreat at a center run by a particular religious order of women. While we were there, some of the sisters offered Reiki therapy to any seminarian who was interested. Thankfully, I dodged that bullet, but not all of my classmates did.

 

There is a radical difference between Reiki and Christian healing. The most obvious is that for the Reiki practitioner, the healing power is at human disposal; that is, it is in the control of the practitioner. Christian healing depends on God brought about through prayer. The essence of Reiki is not prayer but a technique that is passed down from the Reiki master to the pupil. Even though some practitioners try to Christianize Reiki by adding a prayer or two, this has no effect on the essential nature of Reiki.

 

Furthermore, neither Sacred Scripture nor Christian Tradition as a whole speak of the natural world as based on the universal life energy that can be manipulated by the natural human power if of thought and will. It is clear that this particular world view has its origins in eastern religion and has certain monistic and pantheistic characteristics in which the distinctions between self, world and God tend to fall away.

 

In light of all of these facts, it is possible to conclude, as the Bishops did that Reiki finds no support in either the findings of natural science or Christian belief. For a Catholic to believe in Reiki therapy presents insoluble problems. A Catholic who places his trust in Reiki would be operating in the realm of superstition which corrupts his worship of God by turning one’s religious practice in a false direction. Hence, Reiki therapy should never be condoned by Catholic institutions or Catholics who seek to sincerely live-in harmony with the faith.

 

Finally, the same principles that the Bishops applied to Reiki therapy can also be applied to other modalities such as Total Body Modification, Muscle Testing and Yoga. The most common of these is yoga which is widespread in society. The reason for the negative judgment where yoga is concerned arises from the fact that yoga was never meant to be just physical. In fact, in India it would be seen as insulting and non-sensical to try and separate the physical aspects of yoga from its spiritual moorings and the philosophy that undergirds it. Yoga’s focus on self-enlightenment, stimulating the so-called kundalin (serpent) that resides at the bottom of the spine and opening the chakras, thus attaining sought after spiritual union. Exorcists and those who work in deliverance will attest to the oppression and even possession that has been documented as arising from these eastern, pagan practices. Hence, as a matter of course, they should be avoided.

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.