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My Dear Parishioners, Welcome to both 2025 and the Jubilee Year of Hope. The Campus Ministry Center of West Carolina University has a very good article on the history and magnitude of Jubilee Years: Jubilee Year Origins The origins of the Jubilee Year go back to the Old Testament. According to Leviticus 25:8-25, Jubilee Years…

My Dear Parishioners, Happy New Year! And Happy Feast of the Epiphany! Or Three Kings Day, if you prefer. Epiphany is from the Greek word epiphanos, usually translated as appearance or manifestation. Epiphanos is usually more specifically used in relation to a Divine Manifestation. Today we remember this historical event as recorded by St. Matthew:…

My Dear Parishioners, The gifts are now open. Some gifts have already been returned, or maybe even re-gifted. However, most of our gifts we will be cherishing for years to come. By now, most of our Christmas leftovers are gone—or at least we have gotten tired of them! The exception, of course, are the Christmas…

My Dear Parishioners, Christmas is just days away and the celebrations have already begun, and we should celebrate and celebrate big! The Scripture accounts about the Nativity fill us with hope and joy. The Nativity accounts lead us to celebrate as they confirm that a Savior is born to us; God has become man; we…

My Dear Parishioners, Many of us have cherished Christmas decorations in our homes. Some of these decorations remind us of certain events in our lives such as the first Christmas after getting married or the first Christmas in a new home or the first Christmas after the birth of one of our children. Some of…

My Dear Parishioners, On this Second Weekend of Advent, we join with the Psalmist and sing out: the Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy! Don’t we have a sense of joy, especially after a long journey and a long time in the car, when we finally arrive home? We…

My Dear Parishioners, I pray that everyone had a very Happy Thanksgiving. I also hope that everyone has some new memories, good, warm, and funny memories, to be shared with future generations. This, of course, was my first Thanksgiving with you and will now become part of my own memories, good memories. Moreover, hopefully, this…

My Dear Parishioners, As we celebrate the Feast of Christ the King, we are also preparing for Thanksgiving Day. I am certain there is still much to do as we either get ready to host, or we prepare ourselves to travel to someone else’s home for Thanksgiving. I myself will be hosting my family in…

My Dear Parishioners, As we approach the end of the Church’s Liturgical Year and the start of Advent, the theme of our Liturgies will be about the “end.” This end we call the “Eschaton,” which comes from the Greek for “last.” So, the Eschaton is the end of history and the end of the world…

My Dear Parishioners, You may or may not know this, but every year parishes are asked to count the number of parishioners who are coming to Mass. This is called the “October Count.” The numbers are in for our parish, and the numbers are really good. Every Mass is averaging at least 100 people: the…