Greetings from Fr. Dave

Happy Pentecost! We celebrate the much-needed gift of the Holy Spirit on this day. The whole basis of Christianity is that God has come to us: in the incarnation with God taking flesh in the person of Jesus Christ, and in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit which gives us all we need to remain connected personally and deeply with God.
 
Christianity is way less about our efforts to reach God or to be worthy of him or to do something to appease him — and way more about God’s effort to come to us and to draw us into Friendship.  Come Holy Spirit and do your work in each of our lives, helping us to accept God’s invitation and leading us to witness God clearly, attractively, and effectively in our world.
 
Welcome to the sacramental life of the Church to our men, women, and children who have been preparing all year for this! Our RCIA candidates received sacraments of baptism, confirmation, and Eucharist this weekend at our Masses. Those already baptized in other Christian denominations made a profession of faith and were confirmed but not re-baptized. All of this normally would have been done at the Easter Vigil liturgy, but this is not a normal year! Pentecost is a fitting weekend to receive them. Please pray for them.
 
Continue going to our website to sign-up for our weekend Masses. Beginning this week, we are now allowed to have an additional 25 people in the side chapel, so that will help!
 
Weekday Masses will now be wide open to any who come with no online sign-up (unless we end up with huge overload of folks!). First 25 will be in the main church and additional folks will be directed into the chapel (using the door facing the main parking lot). Sign-up sheets will be at both entrances. With the increased numbers, we will no longer be doing the 6:00pm weekday evening Masses.
 
And, the recorded Mass will continue to be posted Saturday afternoons.
 
Before the coronavirus erupted this winter, I announced I had asked to be moved to a smaller parish beginning this summer. As you know that has been postponed for a year due to all the unsettledness we are facing right now. I continue to consult with my counselor, spiritual director, and doctor on ways to better manage the workload here as I get older. I simply have to cut back. Knowing that Fr. Hans will be with us for another year, I will be turning more of the pastoral care over to him and am cutting back on the number of appointments I take each week. I love pastoring and it is hard for me to accept that I simply can’t continue at the pace I have maintained in the past. 60+ hour weeks can no longer be my norm. Please pray for me and be patient as we make adjustments here at the parish.