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Did you see the story about the teacher who disciplined his students for saying “God Bless You”? I read the story on MSNBC at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44722587/ns/us_news-weird_news/. The teacher said he believed the students were being disruptive to the class by saying…
Read MoreHere’s the bulletin article for September 25th on the new translations. Appreciating the New Translations After the Gloria, comes the Collect, more commonly known as the Opening Prayer. The wording of this prayer will seem longer and more formal than…
Read MoreIt’s nice to know people care. I’m not talking about people who care about me. Two weeks we had major flooding in the southeast corner of our diocese from the remnants of Hurricane Lee. The Diocese of Rochester in which…
Read MoreTo me one of the great treasures of the Catholic Church is that we are not just an agglomeration of individual churches. Each church has its own building but we share the same liturgy with every Latin Rite Catholic Church…
Read MoreHere is the this week’s bulletin article on the new translation of the Roman Missal. After the Penitential Rite comes the ‘ancient hymn of praise,’ “The Gloria.” At first glance, it may seem to have changed a lot. What has…
Read MoreHere’s my homily on September 11th 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A Sirach 27:30-28:7 Romans 14:7-9 Matthew 18:21-35 September 11, 2011 The traditional Jewish custom was to forgive a person three times. If they continue to sin against you…
Read MoreHere’s the bulletin article on the new translations for 9-11-11. Appreciating the New Translations After the opening greeting at Mass comes the Penitential Rite. We come to Mass to receive the grace we need. We come acknowledges how we are…
Read More23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A Ezekiel 33:7-9 Romans 13:8-10 Matthew 18:15-20 September 4, 2011 Today Jesus gives us some instruction about how to deal with those who have sinned against us. Note there is no mention of revenge. …
Read MoreHere is my bulletin article for September 4, 2011 on the new Missal. Appreciating the New Translations We do not have to proceed far into the Mass before we come to the first change in the new Translations. The priest…
Read MoreI wrote the article below for the parish bulletin to introduce a series of short articles to help us prepare for the new translations. Becoming Familiar with the New Translations of the Mass In January, we began to talk about…
Read MoreA primary responsibility of priests is the celebration of the sacraments. Among them is the Sacrament of Marriage. Deacons can also witness the Sacrament of Marriage. I use the word “witness” deliberately because it is the couple that celebrate the…
Read MoreSome people seem to think our faith doesn’t have much to do with the way we do our jobs. A person might say I am accountant or a engineer or work in a government office. My job doesn’t relate to…
Read MoreToday, one of our churches at Our Lady of the Lakes Parish, St. Januarius’, celebrated the dedication of its newly renovated sanctuary. The present church was built in the 1960’s. Another one of our churches is having some roof work…
Read MoreToday’s readings (August 3, 2011) show two different responses of faith. In the first reading, the Israelites are preparing to enter the promised land. At God’s command, scouts are sent ahead to explore the area. The scouts return with reports…
Read MoreThe post that follows is the article I wrote for the cover of our bulletin at Our Lady of the Lakes for July 31, 2011. Death & Life Jesus knows what it is like to lose a loved one. Today’s…
Read MoreGod has given each of us many gifts. No one has all the gifts but working together as a community of believers we have all the gifts we need. We begin working together by each recognizing our strengths and our…
Read MoreForgiveness can be a difficult thing. It can be difficult to forgive someone when they do something that hurts us. It can also be difficult to accept forgiveness that is offered to us after we have hurt someone. When someone…
Read MoreYou may have noticed in the last few months I haven’t written as much as I used to. Generally, I make a point to write something here at least once a week. I write more often as Spirit inspires me. …
Read MoreThis week I celebrate the fourth anniversary of my priestly ordination. In four years, I have served in two very different parishes. The first (St. Mary’s Southside) was a single church located in the City of Elmira but serving people…
Read MoreIn our country where we believe in democratic principles, laws are passed by the majority vote of elected representatives (who were elected by getting the largest share of the vote – not necessarily a majority if there were more than…
Read MoreAs part of our diocesan initiative this year to help us better understand the Mass, here is the homily I gave today on the Holy Trinity. All three persons of the Trinity are at work in the Mass and they…
Read MoreI just returned from a five day retreat at Bethany Retreat Center. While not everyone can take five days, I encourage everyone to think about taking an annual retreat. For those who work, many retreat centers offer weekend retreats. What…
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