Someone once said something like this, “To live is to change.” Many of us do not like change and the older we get the less we like change. However, as we all know, change still happens in our lives and in our relationships. Change will happen whether we like it or not. We have had some changes recently in our parish with the departure of Fr. Pat Schultz and the arrival of Fr. Joe Robinson. Somehow, we adjust, and we adapt to changes in our lives and in the world around us. Some of the changes we encounter has very little effect on our lives and other changes can have a huge impact on us.
Some of you may already know that our youth minister, Claire Corridoni has accepted a full-time position in campus ministry at Walsh University. This means that she will no longer be able to continue ministering to the youth here at Sacred Heart. We are trying to seek out a new youth minister to continue the work with our young people. Thankfully, Fr. Joe Robinson, Deacon Rich, Jess Allen, and Abby Cook with the help of the young adult leaders will be able to continue the ministry to our young people and work on finding a new youth minister. Please pray for the success of these efforts so we can help our young people to continue to grow in their Catholic Faith and in their relationship with Jesus Christ. There will be no interruptions to our youth ministry program which includes Confirmation preparation for those who will be confirmed in June. For as long as I have been here, ministry to our youth has been a priority for our parish community and will continue to be so in the future. We have seen a number of youth ministers come and go. All of them have contributed in many different ways to the growth and development of our young people. I am very grateful to all those who have contributed so much to the spiritual growth of our young people, especially Claire and all that she has done over the past three years. Please keep her in your prayers as she begins her new ministry at Walsh University. May God bless her and all she does in His Name.
Annual Mission Appeal: Today we welcome Fr. Floyd Costan, from the Prelature of Isabela de Basilan in the Philippines who will conduct our annual appeal for the missions. He is a diocesan priest from the Prelature of Isabela de Basilan, Philippines. He is doing a mission appeal for his prelature. His place is a small prelature in the Southern Philippines, with only about 20% catholic Christians from a Muslim majority. It has 10 parishes and 14 diocesan priests. The place is economically challenged, but the church is a living witness of inter-religious dialogue. The help that you could extend will enable the continuation of their mission in catechetics, youth ministry, social action, vocation promotion, and inter-religious dialogue. Please be as generous as you can so that Fr. Floyd can continue to build up the Church in the Philippines.
The summer seems to be flying by. The kids will be starting back to school, some for the first time starting with Pre-K to high school freshmen to those starting college and actually leaving home for the first time. Getting everyone and everything ready is not an easy task. It can cause much anxiety in everyone’s life. There is, of course, a remedy for this and it is simply called prayer. We all need to pray about the changes that occur in our lives. We all know that God is always with us and watching over us. The problem is that sometimes we just don’t feel His presence and His love. Maybe we need to spend more time with God. A few minutes here and there and a quick Our Father or Hail Mary can help with the changes. The more time we spend with God the more we are truly aware of how close He really is to us.
So when we are feeling overwhelmed or anxious and we need more time with God, we can pray the Rosary with the family, visit Jesus in the Chapel of Divine Mercy, or go to Mass during the week and receive our Lord in the Eucharist. God is always with us, and it would be so much easier if we could actually see Him, but that is where Faith comes into play. Our time spent with God can open our minds and hearts to the reality of His presence in our lives. Try it. Teach it to your children. Share it with one another. God will make Himself known to us. Have Faith!
INCENSE: We all know that Fr. Pat liked to use incense at Mass and so does Fr. Robinson and Deacon Rich. Many people like it very much, but some do not and have a very difficult time with it. So, to make it a little easier on those who may find it difficult, we will follow this pattern, more or less. Incense will be used on Sundays at the 10:30AM Mass and the 5PM Mass. This is not exclusive since it is very common to use it on special holy days and the Christmas and Easter Season. I am very fond of incense myself, but I can’t swing the censor because of the neuropathy in my feet as by balance is a little off and I don’t want to have any accidents. I hope this helps those who have some difficulty with the incense and does not disappoint those who like it.
