Do you remember your Confirmation? I do not.

If you are not baptized, I ask you to consider going through OCIA and getting baptized. If you are a non-Catholic Christian, also please consider OCIA and coming into union with the Catholic Church.

We are blessed to have a group for men and a group for women that are connected to St. Francis Xavier Parish.

I invite you to the Life in the Spirit Seminar that St. Francis Xavier Parish is hosting this fall.

I finally got a chance to read Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical letter, Magnificia Humanitas: On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence.

I am 46, soon to be 47 in September. I have only a finite number of days in this world.

I remember first really becoming aware of the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary during my second year of college.

A couple of Sundays ago, I made the announcement at the weekend Masses that the Diocese has assigned a permanent deacon to our parish. The name of our new deacon is Deacon Art Gerstner.

The Letter of Saint James says “Is anyone among you sick? He should summon the presbyters (priests) of the church, and they should pray over him and anoint [him] with oil in the name of the Lord, and the prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up. If he has committed any sins, he will be forgiven” (James 5:14-15).

Pray for our nation. Pray for many blessings upon it.

Avail yourself to Sacraments of the Church as frequently as possible.

Are spiritual retreats appropriate for non-priests? Yes!

Next weekend, our parish is celebrating our first wedding of the summer. The bride is my niece.

What is a member-minister? It is a member of the parish who does the work of Jesus Christ.

The momentum of our church is building.

Thank you to all of you who have prayed for our Bishop’s Appeal and especially for those who have been able to make a donation.

In this letter, I would like to cover three things that are coming up.

What does Jesus expect of us?

A vocation into one of these ways of life is not an accident. It is first and foremost a call from God Himself.

Ideally, throughout a person’s visit to St. Francis Xavier, I would hope that they are welcomed four times.