Dear parishioners, For those of you who were at my first weekend Masses in each parish, you will remember that I gave some “homework” as a way for me to get to know you. The homework was to send me an email or letter with a photo and introduction of yourself followed by telling me one way I can pray for you and how I can help you grow in your faith. I’m grateful for the many messages I’ve received from people in response—I still haven’t caught up with responding to them all!

As you know, Pope Leo XIV released his first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, on May 25, 2026. While the focus of the document is AI (artificial intelligence) and technology like robotics, biotechnology, nanotechnology, and other related developments, Magnifica Humanitas is chiefly concerned with “safeguarding the human person in the age of artificial intelligence.” This year marks the 135th anniversary of Pope Leo XIII’s social encyclical, Rerum Novarum (Of New Things). The

Dear parishioners, On January 29th this year, I received an unexpected phone call. Fr. Tom was calling on behalf of the clergy assignment board, informing me that Fr. Ron was looking to retire in July and that I was being asked to consider taking his place. With no new priests being ordained for our diocese this year, and with all of the big changes happening across our diocese, I had anticipated that I would be staying in my current assignment for at least one more year. Thi

I am honored to take this opportunity to repeat the thanks of so many, many people in our ACC and beyond to Fr. Ron for his generous, broad, and dedicated service over the years of his public ministry in these parishes and in many other places besides. I have been inspired by Fr. Ron’s leadership and administrative skill and insight, his passion for the essentials of the Gospel message of Jesus, his exceptional ability to listen, observe, and take in various perspectives, and

Change in Mass Times beginning July 4-5 Just a reminder that as part of the approved plan for One in Christ in the All Things New process, our ACC weekend Mass times will change the first weekend of July (July 4-5) and going forward. Bishop Patrick has directed that each assigned priest to an ACC have no more than three regularly-scheduled Masses per weekend. Weddings, funerals, and other occasional celebrations are not included in the three- Mass rule. The new schedule is th

From Safari…. Sony and Cher’s song, “The Beat Goes On”, played over the din of the restaurant. The song reminds the hearer that fads come and go but life goes on --- little girls still break their hearts, and men still keep on marching off to war. don’t know if Sonny Bono (writer of the song), was familiar with chapter 3 of Ecclesiastes. Chapter 3 is often read at funerals --- There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens. A time to

In the year 304, forty-nine Christians in the Roman colony of Tunisia in North Africa were killed for doing exactly what we freely do each week in our churches. The Emperor Diocletian had forbidden Christians, on pain of death, from possessing the Scriptures, from building any places for worship, and from gathering on Sundays to celebrate the Eucharist. One Sunday morning, as these ancestors of ours in the same Catholic Faith were praying the Mass, the house was raided by Rom

From Safari…. How was your first week of Ordinary Time? What is Ordinary Time? First thoughts might include such words as --- typical, routine, or even mundane. In reality our days are filled with moments of God’s grace penetrating ourlives. The ordinary is the listing of ordinal, or sequential, numbers. Rather than making a statement about degrees of importance, the term Ordinary Time refers to the order of Sundays in the church year that do not fall into the major liturgica

Pentecost – Te Birthday of the Church As we celebrate the beginning of the mission of the Church in the world with the Gift of the. Holy Spirit, I invite you to prayerfully reflect on one of my favorite prayers in the whole treasury of the Church, prayer, the Sequencefor Pentecost. A translation of the original Latin Veni Creator Spiritus, written by the French Benedictine monk Rabanus Maurus, the Church has prayed these words for almost twelve centuries through all manner of

From Safari…. Some of you will recall that the feast of the Ascension came 40 days after Easter. Usually after the proclamation of the Gospel, the Paschal Candle was extinguished. This set the stage for the feast of Pentecost. The Gospel writers and the writer of the Acts of the Apostles (Many scholars consider the Acts of the Apostles to part II of the Gospel of Luke. The Gospel reflects on the life of Jesus, the Acts of the Apostles shows the Holy Spirit working in the live

Blessings to all mothers and grandmothers, to new moms and those expecting a child, to single mothers and foster mothers and those who are “second mothers” in caring for children outside their own family circle. There is a program titled “Called and Gifted” which helps people recognize their gifts from God and inspires them to put them to use for the Gospel. Mothers, of every age and circumstance, are called to this vocation of love by God,and gifted in countless ways to live

From Safari …. Some twenty years ago in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania, a gunman shot ten girls in an Amish School, six of the girls died, and then killed himself. Midst their own grief, many of the families comforted the families of the man who shot their daughters. They visited the man’s parents as well as his wife and children. They stood with the family at his burial, outnumbering the non-Amish there. Some criticized the quick and complete forgiveness with which the Amish res

Good Shepherd Sunday The Gospel for each Fourth Sunday of Easter is from one of the passages where Jesus calls Himself the “Good Shepherd.” It is the World Day of Prayer for Vocations, as we reflect on the mystery of God’s call and the beauty of humble and unselfish service. For me, my call has been to priestly ministry, collaborators with the bishop, with fellow clergy, and with the lay faithful to make visible in a human way the holiness, wisdom, and service of Jesus in the

From Safari…. Some years ago, two teenagers with a long history of crime and misbehavior robbed a YMCA on the lowest East Side of New York City. On the way out they saw a young man at the telephone switchboard. They were frightened and assumed that the man must be calling the police. They held and beat him violently with brass knuckles and a black jack. They thought he was dead; they hid him behind the swimming pool and escaped. Later that evening, a woman who came to swim wa

The following may sound familiar from prior years, but the eternal gift of God’s mercy we celebrate in the Easter season is worth pondering anew on this Second Sunday of Easter, known as Divine Mercy Sunday for 25 years now, thanks to St. John Paul II. As you may recall, the Polish Pope died on the vigil of that celebration just four years later in 2005. His final words were: “Let me depart to the house of the Father.” This is a reference to Jesus’ promise that Jesus goes to

From Safari….. “Christ is Risen!” “Indeed He is Risen!” We are an Easter People and Alleluia is our song! Easter is our annual 50-day celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Our Easter faith does not deny death, but embraces it as part of living, showing us how to join life and death the way Jesus did in his Paschal Mystery. The first lesson of Easter teaches us that that faith is harder alone than in community. The first step toward the promise of resurrection occur

Fr. Ron and I invite all of you to the Holy Week services, as the schedule shows on the front page. The Triduum (literally, “three days”) is the core of the entire Church year; these days are the most important in the entire liturgical year and in all of human history. God came to suffer, die, and rise in the flesh, so that we might be forgiven of all our sins and live forever in peace and joy. That’s the heart of the Christian mystery, and it is well worth celebrating wholeh

From safari….. After dying in a car crash, three friends go to Heaven for orientation. They are all asked the same question, "When you're lying in your casket, and friends and family are mourning over you, what would you like to hear them say about you?" The first friend immediately responds, "I would like to hear them say that I was one of the great doctors of my time, and a great family man." The second friend says, "I would like to hear that I was a wonderful husband and s

[Every so often, I share this simple outline of the Sacrament of Penance as an encouragement for those who are uncertain about how to go to confession because it has been a while. Jesus awaits us always with infinite love and mercy, sharing the gift of the Cross and Resurrection to set us free.] The Sacrament of Penance (or Reconciliation) is one of the seven sacraments given to the Church by Christ. Through confession of our sins and their absolution in this sacrament, we ar

From Safari…. Water is life. We have to have water to live. A person can live up to three weeks without food but only three days without water. Water is all around us; 11,842 is the number of lakes in Minnesota of at least 10,000 acres in size, in fact, seventy-one percent of the earth is covered with water. Unlike some parts of the world, water flows freely from the faucet in our homes. And yet we can thirst. One’s thirsts are often more than a thirst for water. Some thirst