Ora et Labora 28 June 2022 Dear and gentle reader: It's been a few weeks since I last posted, due to my transfer to a new assignment in my diocese.  I was called to leave the care of two small, rural parishes, to assume the care of two larger rural parishes near an urban area in my diocese.  If you've ever moved, you know how stressful a move can be.  There's the whole process of a move - packing, loading the truck, the travel, unloading, unpacking and adapting to a new environment.  I've weathered it, am adapting, and slowly settling into my new digs.  So far, I am quite pleased with my new parishes and with the kind response of the parishioners.  I'm not so happy that the previous pastor let some things go, and left me unprepared in facing them. In addition to the transition, there was also the news of several big events:  the preparations for the "Eucharistic Renewal" here in the USA, the preparations in my diocese for eventual re-configuratio...

 6th Sunday of Easter 22 May 2022   Dear and gentle reader, pardon please, my absence.  I've been living in a whirlwind.  I was informed last month that I would be transferred to a new assignment, to be pastor of two parishes.  So, I've been busy lining things up for the move, learning about my new parishes, and preparing my two current parishes for my successor. I will admit, I loathe packing, moving, and unpacking.  Consider this from a priest's perspective.  You're used to a routine, community, area, and then, up you go, off to another.  It can be disconcerting, stressful, exciting, and bitter-sweet, all at the same time.  I have been in my current assignment now for five years.  I've gotten comfortable here, know my people, and have gotten used to the challenges of living in a remote, rural setting.  Come next month, that will all go.  My two new parishes are rural, but not remote.  A large urban area is just a few mil...

 Springtime   28 April 2022 Dear and gentle reader, with my hiatus from blogging over, Holy Week and Easter liturgies survived, and visiting family completed, I'm back and full of blathering. The natural world surrounding us is coming back to life.  The grass is greening up, flowers and trees are budding and blooming, the wee creatures seeking mates to make more wee creatures.  The cold of winter is gone, and life begins to show itself once again. Thus it is with our faith.  After the forty days of penitential Lent, we celebrate the Lord's victory over sin and death, not for Himself, but for us and the world.  Nature herself echoes what God Himself does for us.  New life; new hope; new love planted firmly in our hearts, minds, and souls. The new life can be frightening, since it calls for continual conversion.  The victory of Christ rising calls us to daily take up the Cross, die to self and sin, and rise with Him to the life of the sons and daugh...

 Doldrums  29 March 2022 Dear and gentle reader: I just don't feel like blogging.  Perhaps it's due to the dreary weather.  Perhaps it's due to laziness.  Perhaps it's due to just a handful of readers. In a world where "big news" is a celebrity slapping another celebrity, methinks that my comments on larger, more important events and ideas are seen as dull and uninteresting. If that be the case, then perhaps I should cast away my digital pen, and resume the solitude of my life with my books and cats as companions. As ever, gentle reader, may our Lenten journey lead us to true life and joy. Father P.

 Putin's Fall? 22 March, 2022   Good evening, dear and gentle reader!  As a student of history, who has focused on it during my Master's degree studies, I find that I have a deeper insight into some events, than those who do not know history.  This is a blessing, and a curse.  Perhaps the like is true for the dictator Putin as well. Putin is no fool.  He is obsessed with "restoring" Russia's power, yes, but certainly no fool.  Surely he cannot be ignorant of the history of his own country, but perhaps he is.  An astute student of Russian history could point out many times when her leaders were taken out of power, in Tsarist times, and under the Soviet regimes.  Russia seems to have a fondness for this kind of transfer of power.  I wonder if that thought has crossed the mind of Dictator Putin. Ukrainian intelligence reports that already there are plans afoot within Putin's circle of power to replace him.  If these reports are true, t...

 Of Saints, Penitence, and Consecration 19 March, 2022   Dear and gentle reader, what a busy week this has been.  I began it by visiting my brother and his family for a few days, since I'd not seen them since Christmas, then back to the parish in time for the grand day of St. Patrick, then my sister's birthday, and now it's St. Joseph's Day.  To cap it all off, there's the usual schedule of weekend confessions and Masses.  Already I yearn for my day off on Monday. Both St. Joseph and St. Patrick hold a special place in my heart.  They are my two favourite saints, aside from Our Lady.  When I was born in the last century I was given up for adoption at birth, and just a day old, I was baptised with the name Joseph, which I also took for my confirmation name at the age of nine. When I was adopted, I was given the name Patrick, of which I am quite happy and proud.  Genetically speaking I'm just 12% Irish, but still, that's more than enough to claim Ir...

 The Bitter Fruits of War 8 March 2022 Dear and gentle reader, as it stands now, over a million and a half Ukrainians have had to flee their homeland and seek refuge in neighbouring countries.  Some bodies speculate that the number of refugees may rise as high as five million in the coming days and weeks as this sad invasion continues.  We've seen the Russian invading forces shell civilian targets - apartment blocks, hospitals, schools, even nuclear power plants.  Shelling and missile strikes continue, preventing rescuers from reaching those trapped in the rubble.  Proposed humanitarian corridors have not been respected with fleeing civilians being shot at, and some reports state that even the routes were mined by Russian forces. There is also the suffering of the Russians to take into account.  Many of the soldiers sent to invade Ukraine were not told what their mission would be.  Most of them are conscripts, quite young.  A goodly number of thos...