As a young, newly ordained priest, I admired a senior priest who was gifted, beloved, and had changed countless lives. But soon I learned that he had fallen in catastrophic and destructive ways. The painful juxtaposition of good and evil was complex to process. How could someone so seemingly good also be so broken and deceptive? It forced me to confront a sobering truth: leadership in the Church is no guarantee against weakness or sin.

Dear Parishioners:

It is hard to believe that the Month of July came and went. I wanted to take the time to once again thank everyone for continued prayers and support as both Fr. Smith and myself settle in. Many people are asking how things are going. By now we are mostly unpacked and settling in fine.

Dear Parishioners:

As we celebrate this July 4th Holiday and begin our journey with all of you at St. Joan of Arc Parish, I am mindful of a wonderful movie called Saving Grace. It is a beautiful and heartwarming story of the election of the new pope. One day, the new pope decides to visit the local hospital in Rome.

Dear Parishioners,

In this, my final bulletin article as pastor of St. Joan of Arc Parish, I want to express my deepest gratitude for the great privilege it has been to serve the community of faith for the past eighteen years. When I turn back the pages of time and recall the significant moments that punctuated these years, I am in awe of God’s mysterious grace that made these moments possible.

Dear Parishioners,

This is the third in a series of bulletin articles on the liturgical topics of Gesture, Vesture and Posture. The following reflections focus on the topic of posture. I begin by recounting a famous interview conducted with Martha Graham (1894 – 1991), the highly regarded American dancer and choreographer who is universally recognized as the “Mother of Modern Dance.”

Dear Parishioners,

Continuing to reflect on the liturgical vesture – what it consists of and what it means, there are two other garments that were not included in last week’s article. The first of these is the cincture. The cincture is typically a cord-like belt worn around the waist of anyone who wears an alb. Its use is optional and practical.

Dear Parishioners,

In the previous weeks, I reflected on the major liturgical gestures that are organic to the Eucharistic Liturgy in the Roman Rite. I tried to explain their historical origin, how they evolved over the centuries, and what they are attempting to express as a bodily language that is an essential element in our embodied worship as Catholics. Today I wish to reflect on yet another aspect of worship, namely vesture.