To My Spiritual Family of Holy Redeemer and St. Anthony,
Remembering our Beloved Dead: November will begin with our commemoration of All Saints Day (a holy day of obligation) and our solemn remembrance of All Souls Day. As is our custom, a book of remembrance will be available at each church in which you can write the names of your deceased loved ones. We will pray for each of them in an intentional way throughout the month.
Pastoral Planning: Our work with Amazing Parish has really helped us to build up our organizational health and to focus our efforts as a parish family. “Ignite the fire at Holy Redeemer” is not just our rally cry, but the authentic desire of our hearts. Bishop Persico, as the pastor of our entire 13-county diocese, has the larger task of keeping the geographically widespread Catholic community of northwestern Pennsylvania healthy and focused on the mission of building God’s kingdom. I don’t envy him. Unlike the growing Catholic populations in the American south and west, our region is not growing. Hence parishes are being restructured and closed to meet the new realities. Last week, members of the Parish Leadership Team, our Finance Council head, Deacon Ray, and I all attended the latest Pastoral Planning meeting for the parishes of Warren and McKean Counties. At this time, the bishop and his team are making no changes to our parish structures in Warren County. Nonetheless, we’d be pollyannish to believe that changes are not on the horizon. Will Holy Redeemer and St. Joseph be partnered or merged? That is certainly a possibility. More likely, at some point, we would expect St. Anthony and St. Luke to lose their status as mission churches, with Sunday Mass no longer being made available in either place. That is not a certainty, but when we look at the changes made in other communities, it is a sad expectation. Please, keep an open heart as we – together - do our best to make the Catholic Church in the Diocese of Erie a thriving and life-giving faith community. Please keep the Pastoral Planning process in your prayers, as well.
Food Box: Our Facilities Manager, Gregg Danielson, does an amazing job of tackling the multitude of tasks that need to be accomplished at our two parish locations. His most recent labor of love has now been finished: a beautiful and noble “food box” into which we can place and store our donations for the Salvation Army. It’s located in the passageway between the Holy Redeemer church sanctuary and the office spaces. Thank you, Gregg, for a job well done! May I encourage you to honor Gregg’s work by placing your own donations into the box.
Widowers: My heart aches for the widowers in our community. There is something about the natural order of things that indicates that the husband should perish before his wife does. When the opposite occurs, men often experience acute loneliness, pain, and a sense of being unmoored. This year, especially, it seems like many of our parish men have lost their beloved wives. The Bible speaks often of widows and God’s word offers widows many verses of comfort. Mysteriously, this is not the case for widowers. Certainly, God has no less compassion for widowers than he does for widows, but maybe they need a little extra love from you and I? Will you consider reaching out to a widower friend with a text, phone call, or note? Would you offer a prayer or two for our grieving brothers? God bless you for your kindness.
Have no Anxiety at All: St. Paul’s encouragement to “have no anxiety at all (Phil 4:6)” strikes me as a difficult hill to climb. Anxiety, like a noxious cloud of gas, seems to be hanging in the air these days, doesn’t it? Wars and rumors of war abound. The images of Hamas’ terrorism and brutality in Israel are seared into our memory. Cancer is attacking many of our parishioners and loved ones. Grief is the unwanted companion of too many of our families. Violence and crime are plaguing American cities. Mental illness is on the rise. Addiction is tearing at too many of our families. Even in the Church itself, Pope Francis’ Synod on Synodality is a source of misgivings and frustration in the hearts of many Catholics. The list could go on and on. Yet there is a reason why we can “have no anxiety at all:” his name is Jesus! The infant Christ who was born into our world, grew up in our world, preached in our world, healed the sick in our world, and died a terrible death in our world – he understands. He knows. He empathizes. He offers more. Jesus did not come to earth to solve each of our problems, but he did come to save us from our sins. He came to bring us salvation. Ultimately, when the final trumpet sounds, Jesus will wipe every tear from our eyes and he will invite us into a kingdom of peace, joy, and unending fulfillment. Jesus is Savior. He is Lord. Have no anxiety at all!
Mary, Mother of the Redeemer – Pray for us! Our Lady of Guadalupe – Pray for us! St. Anthony – Pray for us! St. Joseph – Pray for us!