This past Wednesday was the last school day for our parochial school. Many of the schools around us have finished and we pray that the summer vacation time will be a time of rest, reenergizing, and joy for all students.
Again, we congratulate all who have been promoted and graduated from their school programs. May God bless you in the future that awaits. Pray for God’s direction and presence in all you take on or transition to after your schooling.
At the Eight Grade promotion/graduation to high school, I invited/challenged these young students to read Pope Leo’s encyclical on AI. I am still working my way through it, but intent to read some of the commentaries already on it and hopefully we can have some gatherings to study and discuss it in the fall. I told the young people that this will be their world as they transition to adulthood. Pope Leo has given us a thoughtful, challenging catalyst to face this changing world, and we are all a part of it. If you haven’t read it, you can find it with the link in our Flocknote.
In two weeks, I will leave for my annual vacation. Last year, having two student priests in residence made coverage of our Mass and other schedules easy. If Ngema wasn’t available, Abraham could cover. This year we only have Fr. Ngema. A major gathering of scripture scholars which in the past was always held in August was moved to the middle of July. I will be out of the country, and it has taken me over a month to find two priests to cover the weekend Masses for July 18 and 19. I have not been able to cover four weekday Masses when Fr. Ngema is away. We had hoped the missionary priest who usually comes in the summer could help us. He will not come until the end of August even though we requested this specific weekend.
When I arrived here fifteen years ago this August, there were always three priests here. A student priest who helped out for his room and board and an associate. Those days will now be only a memory, but the same demands continue.
God will always take care of us, but with parish closings in our diocese, the Jesuit School moving to Santa Clara during the next coming year and the more recent enforcement of some immigration and visa rules, we are less likely to see successors to Abraham and Ngema when he finishes his degree.
Thank you for your response to the recent poll about the time for our Sunday Mass. (The results will be published soon.) Please pray for the well being of our whole diocese, the parishes that have been told will be closing, and a just and final settlement to the Bankruptcy situation that has slowed down many things in our diocese for the past three years. This coming week, the bishop will again be deposed at a trial. Pray for him during this situation and please pray it will lead to a just and final resolution of these matters.
I hope many of you will have restful and rejuvenating vacations. When you are in town, please come to church. We need your voices, presence, and participation. Traditionally, our collection support drops at this time. I also ask that you not forget your parish even as many other personal expenses are rising. As, I said above, ‘God will always provide.”