Clergy Bulletin Articles

Since October is the month of the Rosary, and praying together is such a powerful thing, I thought I’d plug a public Rosary event that will happening this Sunday evening. I too will be attending after the our parish 5pm Mass, so I’d love to see you there and pray with you.

 

ROSARY TAILGATE AND EUCHARISTIC ADORATION

Sunday, October 17, 2021

5:00pm Tailgate: Music, friendship & good conversation

6:30 -7:30pm: Rosary meditation and Eucharistic Adoration under the stars

Fiorella's Event Center

This weekend, Saturday, October 9th, I will be running the Little Apple Marathon (26.2 miles) held in Manhattan, KS. This will be my 11th marathon. I’ve run one a year for the past 11 years. I have to train a lot to achieve this. Looking at my Garmin, I’ve run well over 1,000 miles since my last marathon, averaging around 3 miles a day (but I run different distances on different days). The past month of September, my peak training, I ran 151.5 miles, averaging 5.1miles a day. In order to finish my marathon, it takes all of this training.

October is Respect Life Month and also the month of the Rosary. This Sunday, Oct. 3 is Respect Life Sunday. As Catholics, we deeply value the dignity of all human life from its beginning at conception until its natural end. Yet, as you know not everyone in our society sees the issue as we do, and there are many threats to human life in our time. In addition, there has been lots of activity going on recently in government at both state and national levels.

I declare this week to be “Angel Week”! Wednesday, September 29th is the Feast of Archangels, St. Michael, St. Gabriel, St. Raphael. Saturday, October 2 is the Memorial of the Holy Guardian Angels. I highly encourage you to celebrate, honor, and befriend these good angels—and try to keep it going all year long. We need friends in high places, and these are some of the best! Following, I include my favorite (actually all the ones I know of) prayers to the angels.

 

Peace,

 

One of the first lessons in life we often have to learn is about sharing. As children, we are told by parents to share our toys, food, and attention. One of the best sharers I know is our own Fr. Francis. One story about his legendary sharing is last year on my birthday someone dropped off a birthday cake at the rectory. I was not around at the time. But Fr. Francis, out of the goodness of his heart, decided to eat a piece of it and then give it away to someone else. What a sharer!

The other day I was with a group of children, and I asked them if anyone could tell me what the difference is between ignorance and apathy. After a period of silence and blank faces, one girl raised her hand and replied, “I don’t know, I don’t care, Father.”

 

Happy Labor Day Weekend!

 

This weekend is the last weekend for our Prince of Peace Welcome Back Tile Project. Thank you to all who participated by glueing your tile on the board and including your prayers and blessings. If you didn’t yet get your tile glued on, it is never too late. We can still make it happen. You might notice that we didn’t finish the mosaic. But we did get 898 tiles out of 2600, which is almost 35%. Rather than look at the mosaic as half-empty, we should look at it half-full! But, the missing tiles just remind us that there is work to be done.

While I was a pastor in Topeka, I was involved in an ecumenical group of churches who were working on justice issues to help those in the area who were in different forms of poverty or struggles. One issue came up that sometimes those who struggling to get by financially would need help paying a bill—rent, medical, car repair, etc.—and having nowhere else to go, they would get a loan from a payday loan. Unfortunately, such loans become debt traps. Unscrupulous lenders (who are largely unregulated) charge exorbitant fees in which can require borrowers to pay 390% APR.

This Sunday we celebrate the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a holy day of obligation, which conveniently for us falls on a Sunday this year. On this feast we recall that at the end of the Blessed Virgin Mary’s life she was taken up into heaven body and soul. The word “assumption” is based off a Latin word meaning, “the action of being taken up or received.” Mary was taken up by God and received into heaven body and soul.