Happy Mother's Day

Friends, peace be with you.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers out there. I will conclude our Masses this weekend by offering a blessing to you all and, as part of it, we will pray that we honor your sacrifices with “a spirit of profound respect”. I generally joke that it means your kids should leave you alone long enough to let you have a nap on Sunday. It is, however, just that: a joke. I know that there are a lot of sacrifices 

surrounding being a Mom that often go unnoticed either because your family simply expects you to do it or because you’re the only one who can. The example for that latter one that I use, perhaps a little too often, is that, while growing up, my Mom used a wringer washer. It was a very manual way of washing clothes that was much more complicated than simply turning a dial and throwing in a pod of soap. If you weren’t careful, you could end up with your hand stuck in the wringer and having some major injuries. Mom was the only one who could operate this machine and I don’t think we ever thanked her enough. Thank your Moms today, even if they’re in heaven. And, if no one else remembers, I for sure want to offer a big thank you to the Moms in our congregation!

Secondly, I need to correct a mistake. On May First, we welcomed a new member of our staff. Tony Philips started as our maintenance/janitorial person. Some of you may know him as “Tall Tony” because he’s even taller than I am! Tony has already impressed the heck out of me with his work ethic and his desire to make our physical plant function well and be clean. If you see Tony around, please give him a warm welcome to our staff. I had a small taste of that job when we were between employees and I can tell you it’s not easy! One thing I feel like I need to make clear is that I am Tony’s immediate supervisor. If you see something that you feel needs to get done, please bring it to me. It’s not that you can’t approach Tony but that job involves a lot of moving pieces and it gets too complicated when there are people who think they need to share with you how you should do it better. Let Tony keep working and talk to me so he can keep making this place look great.

- Fr. Dennis Miller