May the Lord give you His peace! Just a word of “thank you” for the wonderful Installation Mass last Sunday!! I am now “officially” your pastor! It was great to have so many of you as the parishioners of St. Anthony of Padua, my family, and parishioners from Sacred Heart all together to celebrate this special occasion. An added blessing was that this was the first time my nephew Andrew and I teamed up as altar server and priest! As I hoped and anticipated, this was a tremendous experience and celebration of family. Family is at the heart of my vocation as a priest and the joy that comes with the responsibility of being called Father. My family keeps getting bigger with each parish I am called to serve as a priest. I have settled in here very quickly since my arrival this past July and I am very grateful to call St. Anthony of Padua here in West Harrison my new home. I could never have imagined such a smooth transition. No doubt this is a consequence of the prayers of so many and the great welcome you continue to extend to me.
A thank you as well to all of our volunteers, benefactors, and supporters of our Annual Spaghetti Dinner that was held right after the Installation Mass. Now I know why it has been such a longstanding tradition! In a word: “Delicious!!” Too bad this is only once a year?! A shout-out to the 8
th graders who volunteered as servers as part of their preparation for Confirmation! Let’s keep them in prayer as they look forward to celebrating this Sacrament in May.
Jesus instructed His Apostle Peter to “feed My sheep.” I imagine tears in our Lord’s eyes as He spoke those words, perhaps recalling the time when He wept over Jerusalem saying, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you are like sheep without a shepherd.” There is a hunger in this world…a hunger in every heart for truth, for peace, for joy, for love…i.e. for the Lord. His request is simple and comes to us from the cross, “let them know how much I love them.” Let us under the guidance of the Holy Spirit strive with ever more eagerness and a sense of urgency to build up our community of faith
especially through attendance at Mass so that others right here in West Harrison may also come to know Him, to serve Him and to worship Him. In this way our joy will be complete.
I have been keeping my eyes and ears open these past few months and plugging into as much as I can so as to get to know both the needs of our parish community as well as all of the traditions that have been a part of “our” family over these many years. I am looking forward to the days ahead!! Once again, thank you for everything. You will be kept in my prayers and remembered at Masses.