A few folks were surprised last weekend when we announced a farewell for Father Koehr in the after Mass announcements! Ooops! I guess they missed it in the bulletin. This weekend and next are his last at St. Mary’s, and farewell parties are wrapping up tomorrow! We have been blessed by his ministry here at St. Mary, and I know that you will keep him in your prayers as he embarks in his military service as a Navy chaplain!

We will also be getting two priests this summer to replace Fr. Koehr and Fr. Sina. I am sure that you will welcome the new priests as you have welcomed all the priests who have come through St. Mary’s! Fr. Timothy Courtney is a brand newly ordained priest this month, and Fr. Kevin Dansereau was ordained in 2015.

Also, not connected to the above, I celebrated a funeral Mass for a gentleman last week. He had a phrase that he would often say that has stuck in my mind: “Jesus is not your pony. You can’t trot Him out and make Him do what you want!” Every time I have thought of that over the last week, I have smiled, and said a prayer for him.

It is truly one of the amazing graces of the priesthood to be able to intersect with the lives of the faithful in such a wide spectrum. Every time I celebrate a funeral, I think how the deceased have a full life of experiences and now I get to be there with and for them at the final rites. While I have not had the privilege of knowing personally every person, I remember at the altar that Jesus has known them and loved them and walked with them since before they were born. Now he asks me to stand in His place to minister His love to his children.

This is why St. John Vianney said that the priesthood is love of the heart of Jesus.

I thank God for the ways that Fr. Koehr, and Fr. Sina have also mediated that love to you. And I trust the Lord that He is sending us two more quality men to keep the graces flowing!

pax et bonum,

Father John Mosimann