Posted on May 23, 2022 View all Pastor's Letter
Dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
Today, before celebrating the Ascension of the Lord and Pentecost, we revisit the words from the Gospel of the Last Supper, in which we must see various ways of presenting a single message since everything springs from the union of Christ with the Father and from the will of God to associate us with this mystery of love. God is this mystery of love: a concrete, personal love made flesh in the Son, Jesus, who comes to give everything. He, His life, and His deeds are God’s greatest and clearest messages. It is from this all-encompassing love that “peace” is born. Today, this is a longed-for word: we want peace, but what the world today sows is violence. We will only achieve peace if we turn to Jesus since it is He who gives it to us as the fruit of His unconditional love. But He does not give it to us as the world does (cf. Jn 14:27) because the peace of Jesus is not stillness and carelessness but quite the opposite. It is a solidarity that becomes fraternity, the ability to look at each other and look at others with new eyes as the Lord does, and thus forgive us. From there is born a great serenity that makes us see things as they are and not as they appear. Following this path, we will become joyful.
Some of you have asked me why I have not continued with programs held in the past with our youth, adolescents, and children, and after almost two years of being your pastor, I answer them again as on other occasions. One of the reasons is the lack of volunteers to run the programs. I am facing a difficulty that can be considered a volunteer crisis. Many took advantage of the pandemic to resign and not commit anymore. This puts several of our programs in a very difficult situation because I assure you that I want to put all programs to work, but I need you, I need your help. You may also help with sharing your ideas and leadership that I know you have. If you have noticed, Religious Education is almost over, and several of our catechists will not return due to personal reasons; I need catechists to run this program. Without catechists, we cannot move forward, so I ask you in the name of God to help me as a volunteer to run this program. I need at least ten catechists who want to be trained and continue establishing the Kingdom of God among the children and adolescents of our parish. We won’t be having Vacation Bible School again this year either because we couldn’t find the volunteers to help run it. Therefore, I ask God to send me volunteers to continue carrying out this evangelizing work. If you want to help us by participating as volunteers, please do not hesitate to look for me.
Finally, as you may have already noticed, our bishop has made the decision to transfer Father Rampino from our parish. As of June 30th, he will be transferred to St. Ambrose Parish in Annandale. We have worked together for two years, and it has been two wonderful years of pastoral work in which I can say that we worked as a team and in harmony. We will have a farewell to thank him for the time he spent with us on June 17th, 2022, at 7:00 pm. It will be a potluck gathering for everyone to bring something to share and at the same time, we will thank Father Joe for his great work and wish him all the best. We will keep you updated with details on the farewell. In his place, Bishop Burbidge has assigned Father Paul Berghout, who until now was working full-time at the Diocesan Tribunal. I ask for your prayers for these changes that are coming our way.
I wish you a good weekend. You are in my prayers,
Fr. Alex
