The Beginning of Lent
This article originally appeared in the Feb. 10 parish bulletin I want to thank you for your patience during the most visible part of the Catholic Services Appeal. I am confident that you’ll be generous, even in a year in which so many of you have already made a sacrificial [...]
Stewardship Commitments, Debt Reduction, and the Catholic Services Appeal
This article originally appeared in the Feb. 3 edition of the Parish Bulletin Last summer our Finance Council, Stewardship Committee, and parish staff looked ahead to everything we would need to do for our Forward in Faith Debt Reduction Campaign. It became clear that we had to plan the timing [...]
Dei Verbum and Sacred Scripture
I certainly am grateful to all who came to the special luncheon after the 11:00 Mass last Sunday! It was great to be with so many people, and to know you were having an enjoyable time visiting with each other and perhaps meeting someone new. A meal is just the [...]
The Anniversary of Roe v. Wade and The Conversion of St. Paul
This article was originally published in the Parish Bulletin on Jan. 20, 2013 I am very pleased about how everything is going with our stewardship renewal. Thank you for your participation, as you have considered what portion of your time, talent, and treasure you intend to give to God. Your [...]
Stewardship and The End of the Christmas Season
Today is the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, the last day of the season of Christmas. The length of the Christmas season depends on the day of the week on which Christmas falls. Advent begins on a Sunday and Christmas ends on a Sunday, and the two of [...]
The Universality of Our Catholic Church
The following was originally printed in the Dec. 16 parish bulletin Last Sunday it was a big surprise that the winter storm got more and more severe as the hours passed! On Friday the newspaper forecast for Sunday was for one to three inches of snow, but we had more [...]
Conflict in the Holy Land
This post was originally printed in the Dec. 9 parish bulletin I thought you might be interested to know that last week I closed out the First Sunday of Advent by doing something that I hadn’t done in 25 years: I went to a roller skating rink. I am not [...]
A History of Advent
This post originally appeared in the parish bulletin on Dec. 2, 2012 Advent is my favorite season of the liturgical year. Today begins this holy time that is so hard to keep well when all around us advertising, the streetscape, and even the sounds around us are proclaiming that Christmas [...]
What Is It We Are Thankful For?
This post is reprinted from the Nov. 25 parish bulletin On Thursday we celebrated Thanksgiving Day, and this holiday reminds us that we have a need to give thanks. It’s fitting to ask the question, “To whom should we give thanks?” When people speak in public about the holiday we [...]
The New Evangelization: Reflections on the Archbishop’s Pastoral Letter
The following originally appeared in the Nov. 18, 2012 parish bulletin Last week I began to describe Archbishop Nienstedt’s letter to us about an important topic. “I Believed Therefore I Spoke”: A Pastoral Letter on the New Evangelization in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. This letter sets out [...]
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