April 14, 2024

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

During this Easter season, my prayer has been one of remembering with gratitude the many blessings received during Lent and Holy Week. I am grateful for all the liturgical minsters, music ministries, our clergy and staff as well as all who helped with the Soup and Stations, our English and Spanish Lenten mission experiences, our morning of enrichment, all the celebrations of Holy Week and Easter. Countless people spent hours and hours preparing such inspiring celebrations for us. Please know of my deep gratitude.

I am also grateful to all who invited a friend, family member or neighbor to our celebrations. I had the privilege of meeting many newcomers as well as a few that had been away from our parish, and I was edified by the desire of a good number who plan to continue to join us each week at Mass.

I was touched by the number of children and youth that attended the Holy Week services. Seeing some of the kids falling asleep on the floor of Knight Hall on Holy Thursday during adoration reminded me of the Lord’s injunction, “Let the children come to me” and I imagine he was delighted that they were in His presence. By the way, I don’t notice any noise from the kids at Mass, so always bring your children to Mass! You are all very good at taking your children outside or walking them in the back if they get fussy. I would much rather have a church filled with children than a parish that is not showing signs of new life!

Our Easter season continues through Pentecost (May 19th), and I pray that the Lord continues to fill you with Easter joy.

In Christ,

Bishop Tim Freyer

April 7, 2024

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

On this Divine Mercy Sunday, I offer for your mediation an excerpt from St. John Paul II’s encyclical, Rich in Mercy (#13): “It is precisely because sin exists in the world, which ‘God so loved...that he gave his only Son,’ (John 3:16) that God, who ‘is love,’ cannot reveal Himself otherwise than as mercy. This corresponds not only to the most profound truth of that love which God is, but also to the whole interior truth of man and of the world which is man's temporary homeland.

“Mercy in itself, as a perfection of the infinite God, is also infinite. Also infinite therefore and inexhaustible is the Father's readiness to receive the prodigal children who return to His home. Infinite are the readiness and power of forgiveness which flow continually from the marvelous value of the sacrifice of the Son. No human sin can prevail over this power or even limit it. On the part of man only a lack of good will can limit it, a lack of readiness to be converted and to repent, in other words persistence in obstinacy, opposing grace and truth, especially in the face of the witness of the cross and resurrection of Christ.

“Therefore, the Church professes and proclaims conversion. Conversion to God always consists in discovering His mercy, that is, in discovering that love which is patient and kind (Cf. 1 Cor. 13:4) as only the Creator and Father can be; the love to which the "God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Cor. 1:3) is faithful to the uttermost consequences in the history of His covenant with man; even to the cross and to the death and resurrection of the Son. Conversion to God is always the fruit of the ‘rediscovery’ of this Father, who is rich in mercy.”

In Christ,

Bishop Tim Freyer

March 31, 2024

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Happy Easter! Thank you for joining us on this special day! The traditional greeting of Christians during this season is “Christ has risen!” followed by “He has truly risen!” Today we celebrate the greatest Feast for us as Christians when we remember that God loved us so much that not only was he born at Christmas, but more importantly he died and rose again. He has conquered death, once for all, giving us the promise of eternal life. He has filled us with his never-ending love, joy and hope. At the Easter Vigil we heard, “This is the night, when Christ broke the prison-bars of death and rose victorious from the underworld. Our birth would have been no gain, had we not been redeemed. O wonder of your humble care for us! O love, O charity beyond all telling, to ransom a slave you gave away your Son! O truly necessary sin of Adam, destroyed completely by the Death of Christ! … The sanctifying power of this night dispels wickedness, washes faults away, restores innocence to the fallen, and joy to mourners, drives out hatred, fosters concord, and brings down the mighty.”

If you don’t find yourself filled with this love, joy and hope throughout the year, I invite you to take advantage of the many opportunities for prayer, study of Scripture, and formation to receive the sacraments so you can feel His love more deeply. The more we live united with the Lord, regularly attending Mass, receiving His forgiveness in the sacrament of penance/confession, we find that the challenges of this world do not rob us of our joy or peace. I hope that you consider allowing Jesus to fill you with His love through the ministries listed in this bulletin.

In Christ,

Bishop Tim Freyer