Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Dear Family,
Last week I said I would try and reflect on why I write these Twitches every week. Before I do I want to “announce” that we will have an Adult Confirmation Class beginning on Monday, January31st, at 7:00 p.m. Our parish celebration of Confirmation will be on April 3, 2016 with our good friend, Archbishop James Keleher. That’s Divine Mercy Sunday, the Sunday after Easter.

Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Dear Family,
Someone remarked not too long ago that they didn’t read these Twitches. I suppose I can’t blame them. This isn’t really deathless prose. But I went back to see what I said in last week’s Twitch, and found myself saying, “Damn, that was good.” Now someone will finally read this letter and then go nuts because I wrote ‘Damn.” Ah well. Annie’s in Ireland so I might be able to get away with it.

Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

Dear Family,
Friday was the fifth anniversary of my installation at St. Sebastian as pastor. It hardly seems possible that five years have passed. But then I realized that last Monday was Annie’s 20th anniversary of coming to work at St. Sebastian. That plus the time she worked at St. Clement’s gives her 37 years in the Lord’s service. Of course we all know that the reason she worked all those years for all of us was because of the incredible salary.

What does time mean to any of us? I keep chuckling when I recall a comment someonemade last week about Pope Francis. He had already submitted his resignation (mandatory at 75, like pastors) as Archbishop of Buenos Aires in December of 2011. He was waiting for Rome to appoint a successor. So what do you do when you retire as being the Archbishop of a huge Archdiocese? You become Pope.

Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Dear Family,
Last week I started the Twitch with, “What a week we have in store!” I think that’s the way it turned out. Although I’m writing this letter on Sept 22, I know already how much excitement and enthusiasm Pope Francis is generating.

Last Sunday, after hearing the Mission Appeal request for Amor en Acciónfrom Tery Gonzales and Monica Lauzurique, you contributed $2722 and we are still counting. There were 310 souls in our holy house last weekend and I’m just very proud of you. I can’t help but wonder if Pope Francis and his
sense of mission wasn’t inhabiting our air. Did his dedication to mission and the poor influence your wonderful and generous response?