Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church

Dear Folks,

This week we say farewell to Fr. Cummings. I keep saying to all who will listen, “I treasure the laughs and fraternity that we have shared in the rectory of St. Mary during the past year. Fr. Cummings has be a huge welcoming, humorous, and hard-working part of making my first year here be such a joy. Thank you Fr. Cummings!

Additionally, I have been contemplating a conversation with a parishioner who recently returned from a vacation where no internet or cellular technology was available. He had a huge smile on his face because of the real human interaction that took place with his children! Now imagine if we freely chose to make our vacations like this!

It made me recall that when I was growing up, one of the rules for our family vacations at the beach was that the TV could not be turned on. Yep, sounds radical, and at the time it seemed like the end of civilization to me. But those beach vacations are some of my greatest childhood memories and are crucial to strengthening family bonds. I treasure the energy that my parents put into being sure that we had fun as a family, even putting up with the whining about TV restrictions (and I am sure that we annoyed them with plenty of begging for the TV rule to be relaxed). Eventually we became accustomed to the rule to the point that when I am at the beach now, I find that if others are watching too much TV the noise is a distraction from my purpose of relaxing.

Ok, now let’s be also realistic. If you try to enact a ‘no internet’ ‘no TV’ and ‘no cell phone’ rule completely out of the blue… well, best of luck! But maybe you could ease into this over a couple of years. Maybe try “no internet and cell phones after 12:00 Noon.” And of course these rules have to apply to all members of the family. You are creative and smart… how can you help your vacation truly be an escape from the pressures and demands that vex you?? Give it a whirl!

Pax,
Fr. Mosimann

Dear Folks,

Today we are having our Parish Picnic. This is a wonderful time that I hope you all come to. One of the challenges with a large parish is getting to know other members of our parish family. The University that I went to had about 1,200 undergraduates. I used to say that it was just big enough that you didn’t really know everyone, but that everyone thought they knew your business. Now make that 5000+ families and over 18,000 people. It is just not possible to know everyone in the parish. That is really a shame, because it allows people to fade into the back rows, slip out of Mass early, and not come to identify themselves as belonging to the parish family.

When I went to seminary in Philadelphia, I was always impressed that people identified themselves by their parish affiliation. If you would ask someone where they are from, they wouldn’t name the town, borough, or part of the city, but the name of their parish. We can’t recreate that sort of atmosphere (and we could talk all day about the benefits and liabilities of the national parish system), but we can make an effort to throw ourselves into parish life.

Today is just a great social get together, where we can kick back and enjoy the weather, fun, and above all the company of our family in faith.
Hope to see you over at our parish school, Holy Cross Academy, 3pm-7pm!
Corpus Christi Procession: Next Sunday June 18, we will have a Corpus Christi procession around our property after the Spanish Mass (thus approximately 3:30pm). In simplest terms Jesus will be going out to take a little stroll around our property, and bless it with His presence. This is a very simple and beautiful expression of our Lord passing by us and our giving him the love that he is due. All parishioners are invited to participate, especially our first communicants!

Peace in Christ,

Pax et bonum (peace and all goodness),
Fr. Mosimann

Dear Folks,

Memorial Day is past, and 95 is clogged even more than normal which means the summer vacation period is beginning.

I’d like to take a moment to put before you a reminder that I give every summer regarding Vacations, Mass, and proper dress for Mass:
Summer brings vacation, and that means relaxation for most folks. One of the great benefits of summer is that life slows down significantly for us. I still exhort you to make Sunday Mass the cornerstone of your week. If you need to find a Catholic Church near to your vacation in Toledo, Timbuktu, or even Toronto…there are 2 websites I recommend: CatholicMassTimes.org and MassTimes.org.

Summer also brings different wardrobes.

I remember as a child that it meant that we would break out the white pants that would be my “Sunday Clothes” for the summer. Remember those: Sunday Clothes? We each would do well to just pause and examine our consciences about how we dress for Jesus during the summer. The most common argument is that, “Jesus doesn’t care what I wear!” or “God doesn’t need me to dress up!” We are right to say that God doesn’t need me to dress up…I need me to dress up! However Jesus does care what we wear, but not because He is judging us based on our clothes. He cares what we wear because how we dress is part of our preparation for and participation in Mass! When we take the time and effort to give Jesus our best (clothes, time, attention, and love) he can pour out his blessing into our souls! The concept of “Sunday Clothes” is that I give Jesus my best , because that is what God deserves, the best of me. I recall with great fondness how I would untuck my shirt every Sunday, the very second that I walked out of the Church Door!

Let me also be clear to say that nobody is to be turned away or judged because they are wearing shorts and flip-flops. There are times when we are literally coming from the beach, or on our way to a soccer match, or even sometimes folks can be simply struggling to feel welcome at Mass. I recall a conversation in another parish with a teen who was inappropriately dressed for Mass, where they were actually hoping that I would hammer them so that they could have an excuse not to come! I know you pray for wisdom as parents, let us also pray for wisdom as a parish family to be gentle with our struggling sheep, but also challenging all to grow deeper in faith every day.