From the Pastor - Fifth Sunday of Easter

May 5, 2023

The readings on this fifth Sunday of Easter present us with themes of dwelling places and home. As Christian stewards, we are well aware that this world is not our permanent home. We are merely pilgrims here, making our way through the stewardship way of life to our true home, heaven.


Yet, as we make our way to heaven, we are called to make our dwelling here — whether we are in a household of one or bursting at the seams — a true “domestic church.” In other words, the stewardship way of life begins long before we set foot on the parish grounds. Stewardship starts at home. It begins with our families — our domestic churches.


The domestic church plays a key role in our sanctification because it is the primary place where we practice intimate and selfless love of other persons.


In our Gospel passage from John, Jesus speaks of heaven as a home filled with dwelling places. “In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?” This is a beautiful image of the glory that awaits us and the personal love our Lord has for us in preparing the perfect “spot” for each one of us who remain faithful to Him.


Let us respond to this great love by becoming good stewards of our earthly dwellings, making our homes true “domestic churches” where we honor God with our prayer, our thoughtfulness to each other, and our generous hospitality to all.

Let us never forget that stewardship starts at home! © Catholic Stewardship Conference, 2023


Pastoral Pondering

For those who might be interested, on Monday of the Octave of Easter, I added a new “member” to the rectory family. Daisy is a Pug puppy born on January 31st of this year. She was a gift to me from the members of Mary’s Women of Joy. She has made quite a hit with the parish staff and the pre-k children.


In last week’s bulletin, I gave a rundown of two movies, The Pope’s Exorcist and Nefarious. I am told that later this year, there are three or four more movies that touch, in one way or another, on the issue of demonic activity. I have also had some folks ask me about an event that recently occurred in Boston, MA to a sold-out crowd, SatanCon which was held the weekend of April 28-30 and is sponsored by the Satanic Temple which, more than being composed of Satanists, appears to be mostly associated with liberal atheism. They promote abortion and other “reproductive rights” as well as opposition to traditional faith and practice.


So why all this interest in “the dark side”? I suppose there are any number of explanations. Father Carlos Martins, a priest-exorcist from the Archdiocese of Detroit and the author of The Exorcist Files podcast, notes that rise of paganism and societal secularization. In times past, we lived in a Christian, and even Catholic, milieu in most places in the west. Most would agree that we are now living in a post-Christian society. The number of baptisms has declined, and there has been an increase in those identify as simply “spiritual” along with the increasing number of “nones”. Traditional Christian values are actively opposed in the public square and the academy, but that does not change human nature.


Whether we like or not or want to admit it or not, we human beings are made imago Dei, in the image and likeness of God. Because of that fact, we all have an innate need for something beyond ourselves. That natural reality will always impel us to look for something greater than we are. Even Friedrich Nietzsche, the famous German philosopher, who proclaimed God is Dead, understood that something needed to fill that void.



I say all of this simply to say that those of us who are trying to run the race and fight the good fight need to understand the world we live in. It is ripe for evangelization because many folks are actually looking for the truth and don’t really know it. In terms of interest in the demonic, well the evil one and his minions aren’t working more or less than in the past. There just might be, however, more people who are paying attention and being led astray in the process. C.S. Lewis treats the situation well in The Screwtape Letters. Give it a read if you have never done so, and keep your eyes on Jesus!


From the Pastor

From the Pastor - 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time

By John Putnam • August 14, 2026
Today's Gospel from Matthew reminds us to trust the Lord even when it seems He is not answering our prayers. God desires to lead us to the joy of heaven and eternal life with Him. To prepare us for that day, He calls us to grow in faith and to live each day as a grateful response to His goodness. In other words, He is forming us into saints. This is what the stewardship way of life is meant to accomplish. At times that process is difficult. Often, it stretches us beyond our comfort. Jesus certainly challenged the Canaanite woman in today's Gospel. She cried out to Him on behalf of her daughter, who was tormented by a demon. How did Jesus respond to this desperate mother's plea? At first, He "did not say a word in answer to her." Undeterred, she continued to seek Him, and He continued to test her faith. She responded with such remarkable trust that Jesus proclaimed, "O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish." Imagine hearing those words spoken to us by our Lord. There could be no greater affirmation of a life lived in faithful discipleship. The stewardship way of life will test our trust in God at times. But those are often the moments when He is doing His greatest work within us. Let us persevere in faith, trusting that His plan is always leading us toward the joy He has prepared for us. © Catholic Stewardship Consultants, 2026. Pastoral Pondering As the school year begins and we move into the post-summer routine, I wanted to give you an update on a few things which may be of interest to you. Building projects The rectory build is going well. Grainda Builders are projecting the project to finish by November (I am hoping for earlier!). We do plan to have an open house so that folks can see the new rectory upon its completion. The preliminary work for the second phase of our building projects is occurring with the installation of the water lines that will feed the new buildings. This will hopefully be done by Labor Day. We should be able to hold a groundbreaking shortly after the first of the year. Everything depends on when the present rectory sells and where we are with funding. The Diocese requires 60% of the project to be in cash, 30% to be in pledges and 30% allowable for Diocesan loan. We will keep you posted. Obviously, as we move forward, there will be growing pains that cannot be avoided due to the disruption of some parking. We are working with the general contractor to keep disruptions to a minimum, but we cannot avoid all of them. Thank you for your patience. Church Maintenance  As many of you know, we have been battling issues with the church roof for some time. There have been numerous leaks over the years that have been patched and patched again. We have been battling the insurance company for over a year, and it is clear that, after a minimal payment to repair water damage, they are not going to approve a claim for roof replacement. Kudos to the Pastoral Council and Scott Bruno for making a significant investment of time and energy to try to do the groundwork to provide justification for the claim. With that being said, we have already replaced a portion of the roof that was causing significant problems (the lower roof closest to the driveway). Nonetheless, the whole roof really does need to be replaced. Estimates for replacement are in the neighborhood of $250K. At present with the other projects going on, we do not have this in reserves or the operating account to cover this expense. Should you wish to assist, donations can be made on the website. We will continue to monitor and do what we can to manage the problem until we are able to fully address it. The second significant issue that has arisen is the foundation of the Kerin Center. Over the last several years, due to water and drainage issues, we have had to address foundation instability. Reinforcements were added a couple of years back to the school-side of the building, but we have been seeing some issues on the church-side of the building over the past year. We are watching it very carefully and trying to ascertain the root cause of the problems. We are appreciative of those parishioners with engineering expertise who have assisted in this effort. There is also a link on the parish donation website for Kerin Center repairs.

From the Pastor - 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time

By John Putnam • August 7, 2026
Stewardship spirituality invites us to surrender control of our lives to God in grateful recognition that everything we have is a gift from Him. Today's readings remind us that God is always in control of His creation and His people. They also reveal what can happen when we fully entrust our lives to Him — in other words, when we embrace the stewardship way of life. When we take our eyes off God, we lose sight of the fact that all is gift. We begin to rely on ourselves instead of trusting in Him, and we fail to make our lives a grateful response to His generosity. Peter experiences this in today's Gospel from Matthew. Jesus sends the disciples ahead of Him by boat. Later that evening, Jesus comes to them, walking on the water, and invites Peter to join Him. Peter steps out of the boat and begins walking toward the Lord. But when he notices the strong wind around him, instead of keeping his eyes on Christ, he begins to sink. Imagine if Peter had never looked away from Jesus. What an extraordinary adventure he would have experienced walking on the water with his Lord. The same is true for us. When we take our eyes off Christ, His countless blessings, and His faithful love for us, we begin to sink as well. But when we embrace the stewardship way of life, loosening our grip on our time, talents, and treasure and placing our trust in God, life becomes a great adventure rooted firmly in the One who never fails us. © Catholic Stewardship Consultants, 2026. Pastoral Pondering First of all I want to thank all who participated in our meal packing effort last Friday and Saturday. What a gift it is to be able to come together as a community and unite for the sake of our brothers and sisters in need. These events cannot happen without the efforts of numerous people. To each of you who made it possible, THANK YOU! As we move into August and our lives begin reorienting from lazier summer months towards fall, it is an opportunity to reflect on the blessings that we were afforded to rest, refresh, and renew during these past weeks. Hopefully, family were able to spend some quality time with each other without the demands of school, work and the day to day demands that impact many of us.  For me, I was privileged once again to participate in the Te Deum Peace Pilgrimage to Fatima. This year we were able to invite and sponsor nine (9) seminarians from various dioceses including Charlotte, NC; Charleston, SC; Cleveland, OH; and Youngstown, OH. They along with a wonderful group of non-seminarian pilgrims were able to grow in our love for the Lord and Our Lady. It was a true blessing, and I was so impressed with the seminarians who were a part of our pilgrimage family for our time in Portugal and Spain. Along the same lines, please pray for parishioner Mark Pressley who is entering St. Joseph College Seminary. Mark’s family has been a part of the parish for many years. Keep him and the other nine (9) young men who are beginning their formation this fall.