Pastor

As strange as it might sound to some in our secular age, the term “goodbye” is a contraction of “God be with ye.” I like to keep that in mind in this, my “goodbye” column, as I complete my four-year term as pastor of the South Clermont Catholic Region. My prayer is certainly that the […]

This year we are facing the unusual coincidence of Father’s Day and the solemn feast of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (a.k.a. Corpus Christi). There is more of a connection between these two observances than might meet the eye. One of the main roles of a father is to provide for his

I have a good friend from the Czech Republic whom I met while I was a graduate student. His family were devout Catholics and his parents lived through the time when committed Christians there were severely persecuted for their faith, because of the hatred of the Church on the part of the ruling Communist Party.

The Church has an official daily prayer book called the breviary. All priests pray it daily for and on behalf of their people. It includes teachings from the great spiritual masters of every generation. As we celebrate the great feast of Pentecost today, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Church and the

This year, the Feast of the Visitation falls on Tuesday followed shortly thereafter by the Great Feast of Pentecost next Sunday June 5th. That timing might help us reflect on how important both the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Holy Spirit both are in our life in Christ. To pull those both together, I like

To continue reflections on the saints of May, last Sunday (May 15th) was the feast of St. Isidore the Farmer. Since some of our parishioners are still active farmers, it would be good to know more about the patron saint of this way of life. Like St. Damien whom I wrote about last week, Isidore

We don’t always think as much about the saints as we should. I think that might change down the road. That’s because the Archbishop’s current plan under the Beacons of Light pastoral initiative is eventually to make a single parish out of the “families of parishes” (FOPs) being implemented this July. The timetable isn’t definite,

When I was very young, there was a TV sitcom my family used to watch called “My Three Sons,” starring Fred MacMurray as a widower raising three boys. I don’t have any sons of course but in the month of May I like to think of how grateful I am for “My Three Mothers.” That’s

With Easter being so late this year, we have had a flurry of inspiring activities crammed back to back into these last few weeks: the beautiful celebration of Holy Week and the Easter Triduum, with eight days of Easter right behind them, the ordination of our seminarian Patrick Blenman as a deacon and more. Flowing

As we celebrate the eighth and last continuous day of Easter today (the end of the “Octave”), we focus on the mercy of Christ. The Church has always been about the mercy of Christ of course – that’s central to our faith – but Pope St. John Paul II placed a special emphasis on its