Happy Easter

Greetings to all of you!
Happy Easter! What an amazing week it has been leading up to this great day in the Church Year. It all began with the crowds on Palm Sunday welcoming Christ into Jerusalem, the celebration of the Lord's Supper on Friday, the Crucifixion on Good Friday, to finally the Great Easter Vigil. The Catholic Church does these Rites so well as we enter into those last days of Christ on earth as if we are actually there! What a special blessing it was for all those who attended and I pray that more and more will come to Christ because of it. I would like to thank all the Priests, Deacons, Altar Servers, Music ministers, Church decorators, liturgy commission, and countless others who made these services go so beautifully. Many don't realize what goes into the planning and preparation for these events and without all of you, we wouldn't have had such a great experience. My many thanks to all of you!

It seems that this year our Mission was once again a great success. Over 600 people came each of the three days to hear him speak and many went away with a great experience. His humor was especially appreciated and his message was right on track. It was a good preparation to Holy Week!
As you may have noticed, the Bell Tower is in the midst of being constructed and we are all so very excited to eventually hear the bells in action! We are hoping to bless and name the bells in the near future so look for the date in the bulletin and/or email blast when the time comes. I hope many of you will be able to attend. 

Last but not least, I wish to thank all of you for your prayers and best wishes on my birthday. Even though it was over a week ago, I'm still eating birthday cake! My waist thanks you!

Well, that is all for now. May God continue to bless you in this glorious season.

Peace,
　

　
Fr. David

Lenten retreat, Feast of St Patrick, Yankee training & Cardinals in Conclave

Greetings to all of you!

 

This week we are privileged to have Fr. Michael Sullivan with us to do our annual Lenten retreat.  He will be preaching at all the Masses this weekend and the retreat will begin on Monday and run through Wednesday night!  Hope all of you will be able to attend at least one, or even better, all of the Mission program.  Make this Lenten experience be a life changing one for you!

 

As you all well know, we celebrate the Feast of St. Patrick this weekend and I'm sure all our Irish brothers and sisters will be out wearing the green in full force!  Even those of us who aren't Irish will also fill our bellies with green beer and corned beef and cabbage.  I'm so glad it doesn't fall on a Friday this year thus eliminating all those phone calls about a dispensation!  My hand for blessings and dispensations can get tired!

 

I did get a chance to take in a Yankee spring training game this week which was the first time in over 6 years I've been to a game.  It was one of those beautiful Florida days when all the northerners get burned by the sunshine as they eat their popcorn and cracker jacks.  I even tried to get Yankee manager Joe Gerardi's attention by saying a few words in Italian to him but he didn't seem to hear what I was saying.  Maybe he doesn't speak the language.  Anyway, it was nice to get out and see a live game for once and get out with the guys.  

 

As of this writing, I haven't heard from the Cardinals in the Conclave upon whether I will be called to Rome or not but It seems they most likely are thinking of another guy.  Maybe we will have a Pope by the time you read this and we can rejoice in the selection.  It's going to be hard not saying Benedict at Mass but I'm sure we will get it down after a few months practice.

 

Well, that is all for now.  May God continue to bless your Lenten experience.

 

Peace,

Fr. David