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A Message from Bishop Burbidge on National Vocations Awareness Week

A Message from Bishop Burbidge on National Vocations Awareness Week

My dear young friends, I address you this Vocation Awareness Week drawing on the words of Pope Francis from World Youth Day: “All of us were called by name. At the beginning of the story of our lives, before any talents we may have, before any shadows or wounds we may be carrying in our hearts, we were called. Why? Because we are loved.”

Let that sink in: God loves you, and he calls you by name for a unique and wonderful plan for your life. For many of you, this will be as a husband and father or wife and mother. In God’s mysterious plan, he calls some to the priesthood and religious life, to offer themselves entirely to the service of the Church. This can be unexpected, but as Pope Francis also reminded the young people in Portugal, “God loves surprises,” adding, “he always keeps us alert, and he keeps us surprised.” This is not something to be feared, but rather embraced, trusting in God the Father who loves us.

I encourage you this week to focus not only on the vocation we all have, to be holy, but also on the personal vocation to which God is calling you. Are you willing to spend some time with him? Are you willing to let him lead you, to surprise you, to lead you to a holiness you never thought possible?

Know of my prayers for you, as your Bishop who wants to see each of you fulfilled as God’s beloved sons and daughters.

From Our Pastor

From Our Pastor

Folks,

Two celebrations.

Congrats to our Holy Cross Academy Volleyball team! The girls won the championship, defeating Aquinas School, in a match where many tears of joy were shed! See the pictures on this page and rejoice! So proud of the hard work and success of these young ladies! Congrats!

Congrats to our parish family! Our in-pew effort for the Capital Campaign was an amazing success with more than a million dollars pledged and we are on the verge of crossing the finish line!

We have so much to be grateful for:

1000+ families have said ‘yes’ to expanding our parish school!

1000+ families have said ‘yes’ to a bigger and better playground!

1000+ families have said ‘yes’ to replacing all the Heat/AC in the school!

1000+ families have said ‘yes’ to an Adoration Chapel at the parish!

1000+ families have said ‘yes’ to PLC, church, and rectory renovations!

1000+ families have said ‘yes’ to debt reduction!

Our memorial brick wall in the cafeteria will have the theme of loaves and fishes from the scriptures. We may not be a small boy offering 5 loaves and 2 fish, but Jesus takes our gifts of any size and multiplies their efficacy to make wonderful things happen! Thanks be to God!

As promised last weekend, the bids from the contractor are now being reviewed by the diocesan office of planning, construction and facilities! With this review in hand, I will be making a presentation to the diocese on the scope of construction and financing to get the bishop’s approval moving forward!

pax,

Father John Mosimann

November 5, 2023
All Saints Day and All Souls Day Schedule

All Saints Day and All Souls Day Schedule

All Saints Day is Wednesday, November 1, and is a Holy Day of Obligation.  The Mass Schedule is as follows:

October 31: 6pm and 7:30pm Vigil

November 1: 6:30am, 9am, 12pm, 4pm Novus Ordo Latin, 6pm, 7:30pm Bilingual

November 2 (All Souls Day, not a day of obligation): 6:30am, 9am, 12pm, 7pm candle light Mass

From Our Pastor

From Our Pastor

Dear Folks,

Thanks for your generous response to the Capital Campaign as we are trying to bring it to a close. As the bulletin
goes to press mid-week, the volunteers and staff are still working to sort the pledge envelopes. Thank you, Thank
you, Thank you!
This Wednesday we also have the great Feast of All Saints which is a holy day of obligation, and Thursday is the
Feast of All Souls. There are lots of Masses for these, but sometimes folks are confused as to which feast is which.
All Saints: Imagine that your grandmother were to be canonized a saint by Pope Francis. Your friends would all
congratulate you, and you would joyfully make arrangements to go to Rome for the Mass and party. This feast
is for celebrating all the uncanonized saints in heaven. This is the Church celebrating your friends and relatives
who have gone to God forever and entered into eternal bliss beyond our imagining. We don’t have to go to Rome
for the canonization, but can all gather in our parishes to celebrate our loved ones’ union with God.
All Souls: Here we get to mercifully pray for our loved ones because the Lord doesn’t tell us which of our loved
ones are in heaven or which are in purgatory. True friends are always there to help each other. Souls who are in
purgatory can no longer merit for themselves, as their souls are set in their eternal destiny. However, what they
can’t do, we do for them when we pray to the Lord to have mercy on their souls! Every prayer, every Hail Mary,
every loving thought, is like a glass of water given to a thirsty soul, helping them get to heaven more quickly!
Don’t worry, no soul in purgatory would ever trade places with you…. because their presence in purgatory
assures them of eternal bliss in heaven, just as soon as their soul is freed from disordered attachments. But what
gratitude they have for even the smallest of our prayers.
You can do one thing to keep alive and even strengthen those bonds of love: pray for your loved ones. This is a
sign of our gratitude to those we love, and our hope for reunion with them one day. It is our love that compels us
to attend Mass and worship God for His great work in our families.

Pax,

Father John Mosimann

October 29, 2023