Dear Parishioners,
It’s Ordinary time (the 2nd Sunday in Ordinary time), but this is anything but an ordinary year coming up! Remember that this is the Jubilee Year 2025, where we seek to become Pilgrims of Hope. If you picked up one of the calendars that the parish was handing out during the last weeks of 2024, each month features a special place of pilgrimage around the world. This January features the Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem that marks the spot of the birthplace of our Lord. Next month it’s the Grotto in Lourdes, France. As we travel through this year, it reminds us of all these special places of pilgrimage around the world that are important to our faith. It may not be possible for us to travel to these places of pilgrimage. But perhaps one day that may happen. Over the years of my priesthood, I have been a part of several pilgrimage trips to Rome and to Assisi. These pilgrimages help to renew one’s faith and connect us to the faith of the universal church. But sometimes, we are not able to travel to all these places and these pilgrimages of faith are done in different ways and places closer to home so we can renew our faith.
For myself, I will be glad when the days of traveling back and forth (due to the tornado damage) will be over and your priests will be able to live in the rectory again. We are a lot closer to this now and I am thankful for this. There are still a lot of things that need to fall in place. We have ordered replacement furniture and other items that were damaged when the roof peeled off the house (and the rain came in). Of course, the construction workers are still busy finishing up the interior. Bishop is looking for a time on his calendar to join us to celebrate the re-opening of the rectory and we will have times set up for those who might want to tour the rebuilt rectory. Much work has been done to bring the rectory up to code and make it usable for years to come. We are thankful to our insurance underwriters who have been very good to us. We will have a special report on the tornado expenses in the coming months. But don’t worry, I’ll let you all know when it’s time for us to celebrate!
This is the last full week that Fr. Joseph is going to be here before he leaves for a trip back to India. He will be leaving next weekend and will be gone until the end of February. For anyone who has made a trip to Asia, they know how long of a trip this is to make. Safe travels Fr. Joseph!
Thanks for reading!
Fr. Mark