This Thursday countless numbers of people will gather with family and friends, neighbors and even strangers in their community to share time together celebrating Thanksgiving Day - a time to pause in our lives, no matter where we are, in good times or in troubled times to reflect on what we are most grateful for in life. For some it may be that they are thankful for a beautiful home, a healthy family, a good job. For others it might be g...

Last weekend I wasn’t able to celebrate Mass at St. Francis Xavier because I had been invited to the parishes of St. Joseph’s Church in Pierz and St. Michael’s Church in Buckman to share information about my role at Catholic Charities and our 2019

Make God’s Love Visible annual appeal. I appreciated the opportunity to serve as deacon of the Masses and share Catholic Charities’ mission. After Mass at St. Michael’s Church, a young family ca...

In St. Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians this week he is reminding the people of Thessalonica to recall the model that he and his followers set forth as they entered their town and preached the Good News of Jesus Christ. He spoke of how they worked hard, minding their own business, and going about the work they were sent to do.

He then points out to the people that he has heard that some among them are acting in a disorderly way “by not...

Today I would like to take time to introduce to you those who are taking part in RCIA as they prepare for full membership in the Catholic Church. But first, I would like to remind all parishioners the basics of the RCIA process. I use the word process for good reason, it is not simply another “program”, rather it is a time of questioning and discerning one’s relationship with God and a coming to know and understand what God might be call...

This week’s First Reading is taken from the Book of Wisdom (11.22-12.2) and it speaks to us of God’s goodness and mercy, of God as having created all and fashioned all out of love; for surely God would not have created anything he would despise. God spares all things that he has created and gives people the opportunity to repent, warning them against sin and encouraging them to change their ways and to believe in Him, the one who loves u...

There are few things certain in this life on earth; one, that the day will come when we will experience the death of a loved one. And whether that death was long expected or sudden, we will be succumbed by grief, for even Jesus wept at the loss of his dear friend Lazarus. Death of a loved one, a family member or a good friend, can devastate us, catch us off-guard and it causes us to readjust what we understand as a normal rhythm in our l...