Pastor's Column: July 5, 2020

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

We welcome Fr. Ken Amadi today to celebrate the Masses in English while I am away with my family at our annual Fourth of July get-together. Fr. Ken is a priest of the Archdiocese of Abuja, Nigeria is a theology Ph.D. student at Notre Dame. He currently resides at St. Joseph Parish in Mishawaka. I hope that you enjoy his joy and enthusiasm!

Happy independence day! I hope that you take some time to pray for our country amidst all of the celebrations this weekend. More than ever, we need the Lord’s help to live up to those words of the Pledge of Allegiance: “One nation under God.” Both parts of this great phrase are goals for which we should be working: a nation that is united while respecting diversity, and seeing God as the source of all our goodness.

This Thursday is the anniversary of Bishop Rhoades’s ordination to the priesthood. His Excellency was ordained a priest on July 9, 1983. It would be great to attend Holy Mass or Eucharist Adoration on Thursday to pray for our shepherd. Each bishop is a successor of the Apostles. Without him, we would not be able to take part in the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.

I will be back from vacation on Saturday and I look forward to seeing you then!

Recent read: Everything that Rises Must Converge by Flannery O’Connor. This is the first short story collection by O’Connor, a 20th Century, Southern, Catholic author whose stories explore some of the darker tendencies of human nature, but in a way that is deeply informed by Catholic anthropology and theology.

St. John the Evangelist, pray for us!

Yours in Christ,

Father Royce Gregerson