Oktoberfest!

Do you remember our last Oktoberfest? It was two years ago. Everyone had a great time out on the bluff, and parishioners and staff all agreed that it was a great success. Now, after a year off because of covid, the Oktoberfest is coming back. It will be on Saturday, September 25, from 4:00 pm until 8:00 pm, in the lunch area of the school. All the things you enjoyed at the last Oktoberfest will be there (minus the view we had from the bluff): brats, chicken brats, hot dogs, pretzels, biergarten, games, and great parish fellowship. Will you join me there?

If you don’t mind coming early, there’s another great event in store for you. At 3:00 pm in the Multipurpose Room (gym) of the school we will have an update presentation on our building project. The architect will describe for us the vision for the project, accompanied by great visuals of what the end result will look like. The contractor will describe (also with visuals) the progress made so far. Members of our building committee will also be present. So much has happened already, and there is so much more to come. This presentation will bring all of us up to date on where we are.

It’s exciting to have these events to look forward to. Step by step we are getting back to “normal.” Let’s pray for a quick end to the covid pandemic, and reach out to friends and relatives who have not been to Mass for a while. Invite them to come with you, to the Oktoberfest and hopefully to Mass as well. We have a good thing going here at St. Edward the Confessor and San Felipe de Jesús, and it is great to welcome people back and also to meet new parishioners. How blessed we are!

Gratefully yours,

A New Year

Although the calendar year begins on January 1, this time of the year—early in the Fall season—is more of a “New Year’s” time than the beginning of January. Those of us who went on summer vacations have returned from them; the academic year is now in full swing; and in the parish many programs of faith formation and ministry are beginning again.

At a time of new beginnings it is useful to make a resolution or two, to focus our attention on growing and improving in some specific area of our lives. I love such opportunities to make resolutions; I do it on New Year’s Day, on my birthday, at the beginning of Advent (which begins the Church’s liturgical year), and at the beginning of the academic and ministerial year. To be sure, I do not always succeed in keeping my resolutions, but part of the Good News of Jesus Christ is that he is always ready to help us begin again. Indeed, he became one of us in order to give the entire world a new beginning of grace. Every sacrament we receive (especially the sacrament of Reconciliation) is a new beginning, a renewal and increase of grace in our lives.

A new beginning is a time of opportunities to grow and to improve. This means it is a time for gratitude and hope. Only God knows how great are the blessings he has in store for us if we take advantage of the new beginnings he gives us. Happy “New Year”!

Gratefully yours,