Weekly insight and thoughts from Fr. Damian Zuerlein
Pastor’s Letter 4.20.17
Dear Friends, In 1988, I went on my first thirty-day retreat. It was a silent retreat using the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius Loyola. It took place at the Eastern Point Retreat House in Gloucester, Massachusetts. The first week — though it can be much longer — looks...
Pastor’s Letter 4.23.17
Dear Friends, This upcoming Saturday, April 29, Archbishop Lucas will ordain Doug Lenz a deacon. He is being assigned to our parish to serve in diaconal ministry. Deacon Larry Mruz, who has been assisting at the Mass on Saturday evenings, will also be assigned to work...
Pastor’s Letter 4.16.17
Happy Easter! Jesus has risen as he said! Rejoice! My friends, I hope you will experience some of the wonder and joy of that amazing good news on this Easter day. In the midst of hunting for eggs, sampling some chocolate Easter bunnies and carving up the Easter ham,...
Pastor’s Letter 4.9.17
Dear Friends, Welcome to the holiest week of the year! (and this year we kick it off with both palms and spaghetti!) I hope you will have an opportunity to join us for the liturgies of the Sacred Triduum (Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Saturday). They are the...
Pastor’s Letter 4.2.17
Dear Friends, Last Sunday as many of us were celebrating Helen Butera’s 100th birthday in the school gym there was a small group of our Sudanese parishioners meeting in the parish center discussing how they can help their family members and friends back in Sudan where...
Pastor’s Letter 3.26.17
Dear Friends, I was talking with an Orthodox Christian this past week and moaning a little bit about what I had given up for Lent. He had no empathy for me. He tried to explain to me how much fasting and abstinence took place in the Orthodox Church. It was news to me....
Pastor’s Letter 3.19.17
Dear Friends, You may have noticed a lot of activity around the new parish center this past week. The new windows and doors for the parish center have arrived and are being installed! The windows and doors presently in the building are the originals from 50 years ago....
Pastor’s Letter 3.12.17
Dear Friends, How are you doing on your Lenten journey? Did you make it through the first full week of Lent without surrendering to temptation? Are you continuing to fast and pray? Did you accomplish some of the good things you had planned to do this week? I...
Pastor’s Letter 3.5.17
Dear Friends, Our Lenten liturgies are filled with powerful stories. They are stories that unveil the mystery of our God. They are stories that reveal our deeper selves and our journey of faith. We may not always like what they reveal, but if it tells a story of...
Pastor’s Letter 2.26.17
Dear Friends, This week we embark on our Lenten journey to deepen our friendship with Christ, to experience, as Pope Francis has said, the richness of grace through the poverty of Christ. That concept may sound confusing to some of us. How can the poverty of...
Pastor’s Letter 2.19.17
Dear Friends, Lent begins next week. Now is the time to start making your plans for spiritual growth during the Lenten season. The Liturgy Committee of the parish has followed Pope Francis’ example in coming up with our parish focus for Lent 2017. Our focus will be...
Pastor’s Letter 2.12.17
Dear Friends, On one of my first days, here in the parish, I encountered an image of a saint I had never heard of before – Sr. Josephine Bakhita. From the framed image, I knew she was a woman from Africa but I did not know her story. There are just too many saints to...