Ordinations & Lent Updates

Friends

Peace be with you. 

I’m just returning from Jonathan Francois’ deacon ordination in Denver, Colorado. What a great day! The liturgy was absolutely beautiful, made especially so since it was happening to a friend. There was a point where Jonathan promised to be obedient to his Archbishop and to be celibate for the rest of his life. It reminded me of how my life changed forever when I made those promises. I looked at Jonathan’s family, including Jacob kneeling beside him because he was chosen to be a server and hold the Archbishop’s book, and I felt very blessed that they would include me in this. Jonathan’s ordination felt like the first step of, God willing, an amazing experience our Parish gets to continue on December 20 when Jacob gets ordained a deacon at the Cathedral in Dubuque. Then we’ll complete this journey, again God willing, next May when both men get ordained priests. I’ll admit, I get a little misty eyed thinking about the fact that men still consider this lifestyle worthy of pursuing. It makes me say a prayer for God to bless them with an extraordinary life filled with faith, hope, and love. I hope you do too. 

We’re four or five days into lent at this point. We’ve had our first fish fry and I hope to give you a count of meals at the end of Mass. Some of you have joined our Bible study groups. Some of you remembered to come to Stations of the Cross at Noon on Friday and some of you wondered why the doors to church were locked when you came at the old time. There are two things happening in Mass that may need some explanation however. First, I started noticing all the requests we were getting for financial support from various Catholic organizations shortly before lent. I brought the issue up to the Pastoral Council and we decided that exclusively during the six weeks of lent, we would take up a second collection for a charitable cause. I will announce each week what organization we’re supporting. You can decide if you want to support them or not. Second, I’ll be using the Apostles Creed during lent instead of the Nicene Creed. We pray an older version of the Apostles Creed during the rosary so it will probably sound familiar. I’ll announce the page number on which you can find each week (page 9). The reason for this is because the Apostles Creed is what we use at baptisms and so much of Lent and Easter deals with the removal of original sin and entrance into the life of grace affected in our baptisms. 

Know of my prayers. I’ll pray for you too.