Father's Notes

This is my second Easter at St. Thomas and St. Philomena parishes. At long last, Easter has arrived. And I must admit, I am quite ready. As much as I love the arrival of Lent each year and benefit from it, I am happy to have climbed the holy mountain of Easter. As the great Easter Proclamation (the ancient Exsultet ), declares, proclaimed in the warm glow of candlelight, ”O truly blessed night, when things of heaven are wed to those of earth, and divine to the human”. As our

In a few weeks, the church celebrates a special feast called Divine Mercy Sunday. Perhaps you have seen the famous image of Jesus with the two rays emanating from His heart. The image comes from a series of revelation to a Polish nun, Faustina Kowalska. She would become a Saint and these encounters were eventually approved by the church and written in her diary called “Divine Mercy in My Soul”. Divine Mercy Sunday takes place on the Sunday after Easter, but why celebrate this

This is a hard reading to hear, not only because the narration is challenging to follow, but perhaps mostly because it’s about a subject that makes us uncomfortable—death of a loved one. It’s a story full of people who are upset. We’re told that Jesus took his time before going to Bethany and respond to the news of Lazarus’ illness. To them, and perhaps to us, it might seem like he is indifferent to a great concern.   By the time he arrived, not only had Lazarus gone from sic

We are at the stage of Lent in which we have begun the three scrutinies to be undertaken by our brothers and sisters who are preparing to enter into the Church. First of all, what a great thing that we have a large group of people who will come into the Church this year through our parish. They move through the process called OCIA (Order of Christian Initiation for Adults) or OCIC (for children, age 7 or above), falling into two categories (though they receive formation toget

Soon approaching is one of the great American holidays: St. Patrick’s Day! I’m joking, because it is one of those holidays that has taken on a life of its own in our culture. As I understand it, a St. Patrick’s Day parade was celebrated in the United States before it took place in Ireland. I can’t imagine those who originally heralded Patrick’s legacy could ever have imagined St. Patrick’s legacy would ever result in the robust flow of beer and the requirement to wear gree

I want to alert you that starting the week after Easter (April 6th) we will make an adjustment to our parish office hours, at both St. Thomas and St. Philomena. Currently at St. Thomas, the hours are as follows: • Monday thru Thursday 9:00am to 2:00pm • Friday 9:00am to 12:00pm Currently at St. Philomena, the hours are as follows: • Monday thru Friday 8:00am to 4:00pm Starting after Easter, at both St. Thomas and St. Philomena, on Wednesdays our parish offices will open 1:00p

When someone walks into your home, do they know you are Catholic? Would they see crucifixes, statues and religious art publicly displayed? I find it interesting how some homes have every wall and shelf covered, while others have no faith representation at all. This is more than filling up space in our homes, as images express something important about our faith. How so? Externals such as statues and art remind us that our faith is not confined to the church. We must live it o

This past Sunday would have been the feast day date of one of my favorite saints: Josephine Bakhita. Despite being not being well known to most Catholics, her witness speaks to my heart, and I feel a certain friendship with her. She was born in Sudan in 1869, into a stable and loving family, one of seven children. At age nine she was kidnapped by Arab slave traders who forced her to convert to Islam. The kidnappers called her ‘Bakhita’, which ironically means “fortunate”. It’

On January 21st, I gathered with a team to discuss schedules for Ash Wednesday, as well as the Fridays of Lent. For the Ash Wednesday schedule (Feb. 18), we established the following schedule: Saint Thomas 9:00am Mass (English) 12:00pm Palabra y Cenizas (español) 5:30pm Misa (español) 7:30pm Mass (English) Saint Philomena 8:30am Mass with School (English) 3:30pm Palabra y Cenizas (español) 5:30pm Mass (English) 7:30pm Misa (español) You’ll notice that at our two parish sites,

This past weekend we were blessed to celebrate Catholic Schools week. But also, we had our first Works of Mercy collection (4th weekend of the month) at St. Philomena. Recently, I wrote about this, that at St. Thomas, we already have Works of Mercy initiatives underway (St. Vincent de Paul Society, the public garden). It was important that we got some things started at St. Philomena. I’ve heard from some St. Thomas parishioners, expressing interest in having a similar monthly

One of the key themes during my studies for priesthood was discernment. We learned that the etymology of the word means to sift or separate apart. An image that helps us understand this is to imagine someone searching for gold. Perhaps you have seen in Western movies or tv shows, this process which involves scooping muddy residue and swirling the contents around in a specialized pan. The water eventually separates from the sediment, which can yield precious and hidden gold. B

Soon (January 21st), we will celebrate the memorial of a saint, dear to my heart, St. Agnes (NOTE: my black labrador before Cosmas, was named Agnes). Also known as Agnes of Rome, little is known of her except that she was martyred very young (13 years old, 304 A.D.), during the reign of the Roman Emperor Diocletian (284-305). Tradition says she was born into a family of Roman nobility who were Christian. A man named Sempronius, an appointed official in Roman society, wished t

Perhaps I’ve said this to you already, but I believe there are five things a parish and its people should put their energies into doing well: 1) cultivating a prayerful environment and helping parishioners to grow in their life of prayer; 2) fostering community within the parish members; 3) teaching the faith; 4) evangelization of the faith beyond our parish and parishioners; and 5) caring for and supporting those in need. Honestly, we do some of these things in our parishes,

Merry Christmas! I hope this season continues to be alive in your heart. I want to mention four new and upcoming matters for our parishioners. In no particular order… Please save the date for an upcoming Parish Mission. It ’s for both parishes, but will take place at St. Philomena. We have invited Sister Mary Eucharista of the Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Church . Our plan is to have a workshop for women in the morning of Saturday, February 21. We will then have two nights

I hope you all had a blessed Christmas and are recovering from the festivities! This weekend we celebrate the Holy Family and I would like to mention something about St. Joseph. He is a part of every Nativity scene yet remains forgotten by many. However, St. Joseph teaches us something important about silence and action. He is the only major figure in the Gospels to never say a word. This silence isn’t a lack of something; it was a presence of something—attentiveness. Because

As you know, we recently celebrated a holy day of obligation, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. With this in mind, I remind you of something I wrote about to you, back in June. I explained that for our five holy days of obligation throughout the year, we have a responsibility to provide Masses in the evening, so that those who work or go to school have the opportunity to attend. We do this, but honestly, it's astounding how many people see

As I write this, I am at the airport in Liberia, Costa Rica, waiting to board the flight that will bring me back to Seattle. A family I’ve known for years, live part-time in Costa Rica. In recent years, they have invited me to visit. It was back in January that I was again invited, and so I looked at my calendar and determined that I could make it work to come this first week of December. It’s my first visit here, and I can understand why people say such great things about it

As you likely know, we celebrate the memorial of St. Nicholas this past week. Most everyone is aware of a connection between this historical figure (a 4th century bishop from Turkey) and the person we refer to as Santa Claus (or “Ol’ Saint Nick” , married to Mrs. Claus; lives in the North Pole; dressed head-to-toe in red and white, with black leather boots and belt; drives a sleigh, pulled by 8 [or 9] reindeer; drinks Coca-Cola; is watching you at all times to evaluate your b

If I were to ask you what the most important promises are, how would you respond? While most may say wedding vows, there is another kind we all share regardless of vocation. I am speaking about the Baptismal promises we periodically renew at Mass. But have you ever stopped to think about what you are saying “I do” to? I remember listening to a podcast with a former marriage/family therapist named Dr. Bob Schuchts. He encouraged his listeners to pray their baptismal vows daily