I just got back from our Annual Clergy Retreat and it was good to be away praying together. We all realized how much this past 18 months of pandemic has taken out of us and how much we need to come away and renew ourselves in Christ. Thank you for your patience while we were…
On Tuesday nights at 7:00 pm, we continue the retreat on Living the Eucharist: Circle of Life. This week, we went through the second movement of the Eucharist about the Liturgy of the Word. We walked through the critical elements of this movement and how God comes at us in the four different scripture passages:…
On Tuesday nights at 7 pm, we continue the retreat on Living the Eucharist: Circle of Life. Last week, we went through the importance of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist; not only in the consecrated bread and wine, but also in the Word proclaimed, the people gathered, and in the priest. This…
On Tuesday night, I started our new retreat series called Living the Eucharist: Circle of Life and I had a real audience. It was lovely to have people in the Church as I presented. After giving 26 retreat sessions over the last year during the pandemic, this was the first session to have people with…
This Tuesday, September 28, at 7-8pm, we will start the new Retreat series called Living the Eucharist: Circle of Life. There will be in-person live audience and we will also livestream it for those who cannot come in person. On Wednesdays, I will host a zoom call to break open the material a little more…
Last weekend it was wonderful to see so many parishioners gather for the Fall BBQ. It was the first time that many of you had been on campus in person since the beginning of the pandemic and for many more the first time you had seen each other in person. There was such excitement and…
Today marks the 20th anniversary of the horrific terrorist attack on the United States and the collapsing of the World Trade Towers on 9/11/01. Over the last week, we have seen these images replayed on television and we remember what occurred then and how it affected so many lives since. Most of us remember exactly…
As I write this article, I am in Lourdes on pilgrimage with my brother Paul, his wife Maria and a number of other parishioners from St. Simon along with the Order of Malta’s annual pilgrimage to Lourdes. We arrived late Wednesday after a long day of travel which was hardest on the Malades (those who…
Jesus saves his harshest words for the Pharisees and the religious leaders of his time. When they challenged him, he would regularly accuse them of being “hypocrites” as they consistently say one thing but did another. Jesus was brutal on them and in Sunday’s gospel; he is particularly harsh. Why does he do this? Mostly…
This week, St. Simon School welcomed back all our students to in-person learning. It was so exciting to see so many kids on campus again. I was delighted to see them playing in the schoolyard and learning in the classrooms again. We are off to a great start. Of course, we need to remain vigilant…