Over the past couple of weekends all three communities in our parish family, Columbia River Catholic, have had townhall gatherings exploring the same questions of “who are we?” I wasn’t at any of them, yet the feedback I got was that those seven town hall gatherings varied in tone and answers from a love fest to court room. The compiled results of those seven gatherings and this stage of our journey will be published in a future bulletin and sent to the Archdiocese of Seattle.

More than at other time in human history, people are swamped with information. With the internet being in the palm of everyone’s hand, information is everywhere—some of it true and helpful, some of it misleading and evil. We must be discerning not only about the information we access, but the degree to which we access it. This is also true of where we get information about our Catholic faith.

This Sunday we celebrate the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica, a church in Rome. As odd as that sounds, celebrating a church, you will have heard about it in my homily, and hopefully have some deeper insight into the connection between the physical and spiritual. However, it does line up nicely with this pastor’s column on campus projects. I meant to have this in the October 19 pastor’s column entitled “Share the Good News,” but I ran out of room. So here is the follow-up to that with some great things to know and share with others about our physical campuses.

October is the month of the Rosary, so I write here a second and final pastor’s column on it before the month ends. I wanted to run this two weeks ago, but events prevented it. I have run a version of this column in the past and do so again, as the mysteries in it release phenomenal graces for those who put them into practice.

 While the Joyful, Sorrowful, and Glorious Mysteries of the Rosary have been around for centuries, it wasn’t until 2002 that Pope Saint John Paul II (St. JPII) introduced the Luminous Mysteries. He got his inspiration from a priest he canonized only the year before, Saint George Preca (1880-1962).

I have a number of things to share with you—all good, praise the Lord!

Vocations

Jesus Christ established the Church upon 12 priests. Not 12 parishes, or 12 dioceses, or 12 laymen, but upon 12 priests. Without priests, the Church doesn’t exist. For good or bad, the Church has only ever been as healthy as the priesthood. To that end, we promote the priesthood and consecrated religious life because the Church needs the sacrifice of these people for the Glory of God and the salvation of souls, and because these are very special vocations, we want as many people as possible to experience for their own good.

On October 7, the Church celebrated the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. It was on that date in 1571 that a Christian navy defeated a Muslim one at the Battle of Lepanto. Pope Saint Pius V worked very hard over the previous year to unite the divided Catholics of Western Europe to meet the Muslim threat. A navy was assembled under the leadership of Don Juan of Austria to take on the much more powerful and experienced Muslim navy—a Muslim navy that carried 120,000 soldiers meant to sack Rome. From the time the Catholic navy set sail to find and attack the Muslim navy, Pope St. Pius V asked all Catholics throughout Western Europe to ask the Blessed Virgin Mary to intercede for their navy by praying the Rosary for victory; and pray it they did.

Recently I reread a little booklet called God Reveals the Six Classes of People and the Reality of Hell by A.J. Marcus. In it, A.J. quotes a seer from a century ago named Josefa Menendez. Amongst Josefa’s claimed revelations, one of them was about the six classes of people in their relationship with God. I was inspired to reflect upon those six classes of people from the early 20^th Century and adjust them according to 21^st Century Catholic Christians. Take a look at these and see where you think you mostly fit, and if you would have described them any differently.

Our gospel this Sunday recounts the story Our Lord tells of Lazarus and the rich man. Lazarus going to heaven after death, and the rich man who ignored his suffering, going to purgatory. If you attended Mass at Holy Redeemer this Sunday, you will have heard in my homily about the rich man suffering the flames of purgatory not hell. Not hell, because all the people and angels there are filled with hatred of all people and want everyone to join them. The rich man in Our Lord’s story does not want his brothers to join him in his suffering, hence a desire for the wellbeing of others.

As tragic as Charlie Kirk’s passing was, I wasn’t going to say anything about it, as I don’t know that I had anything to say that wasn’t already being said elsewhere. However, it has become such a major story, and so many of you have asked me for my thoughts, some insight into it, and some acknowledgement of it, that I decided to reflect on it here. 

Last Monday, one of our parishioners, Brother Townsen Poissant, became Brother Jonah (see picture).  Br. Jonah took simple (temporary) vows as a monk at Mt. Angel, where he has been for the last year and half.  If all goes well, he’ll take Solemn (permanent) vows three years from now.  This occasion gives me an opportunity to reflect on religious vocations and help you to promote them, and if you still can, possibly even explore one.

Parents have an obligation to have their children educated in both the things of this world and in the faith of Jesus Christ.  The latter is more important for your and your children’s immortal life than the former.  If you haven’t yet enrolled your child in our faith formation programs, please do so immediately.  Our participation in the one Church that God ever established is even more important than the curriculum our kids and grandkids may or may not learn in a classroom. 

On Sunday, September 7, Pope Leo XIV will canonize two “young” saints, Pier Giorgio Frassati and Carlos Acutis (the first millennial to be declared a saint).  Their canonization next Sunday (enrollment in the canon of the Church’s saints) gives me an opportunity to write about sanctity and the process by which one is actually declared a saint.  Before I do that though, I want to draw our attention to the youth of these two saints.  Peir was twenty-four at the time of his death in 1925 while Carlos was only fifteen at the time of his death in 2006. 

I’ve always meant to write a pastor’s column on the Church’s Just War Theory. I can hardly believe that I’ve been a priest for 21 years and still haven’t done so. Well, that day has finally come. In writing this, I am catching America between wars (I better act fast), thus the subject matter can be less contentious and hopefully more clearheaded. People in nations at war, argue over whether or not they should be in that war, or if it is conducted in the way they think it should be conducted. I hope this pastor’s column helps clarify those two questions for you: the ethics of going to war, and the ethics of conducting one.

Last Friday, August 15^th, we celebrated the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into heaven.  Last Sunday, I ran the first part of this two-part pastor’s column in the bulletin.  If you haven’t read the first part yet, you can find it on our website here https://holyredeemervan.org/pastor-columns. 

Below is a resumption of an abridged account of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary by Venerable Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich (1824 d.)  If you look up the address below on the internet you will find much more than I have for you here.  The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is nearly at the end.  Enjoy.

This Friday, August 15^th, we celebrate the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into heaven.  It will be a holy day of obligation, so please treat Mass attendance with the same determination as you would Mass on Sunday.  Masses at Holy Redeemer will be at 8:30am, 11:00am, and 7:00pm.  Masses at St. Thomas will be at 8:30am and 6:00pm.  Mass at Star of the Sea will be at 12:00 Noon.

What you ask, is the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary? 

This week we continue our four-part series on the events of Fatima. If you missed the first two parts, please go on-line to our website at https://www.holyredeemervan.org and click on the pastor’s column tab on the right side of the page. The following account of the Story of Fatima is based on the booklet, “Lucia Speaks – The Message of Fatima,” – a condensed version of Sister Lucia’s Memoirs – published by The World Apostolate of Fatima-USA: and can be found at https://wafusa.org/the-story-of-fatima. I have added some further insights in brackets. Enjoy.

This week we continue our four-part series on the events of Fatima. If you missed the first two parts, please go on-line to our website at https://www.holyredeemervan.org and click on the pastor’s column tab on the right side of the page. The following account of the Story of Fatima is based on the booklet, “Lucia Speaks – The Message of Fatima,” – a condensed version of Sister Lucia’s Memoirs – published by The World Apostolate of Fatima-USA: and can be found at https://wafusa.org/the-story-of-fatima. I have added some further insights in brackets. Enjoy.

I ran part one of this pastor’s column on May 28. In case you missed it, you can find it on our website https://holyredeemervan.org/pastor-columns/thefatimastory1. At the time I thought I would be able to run the whole four-part series by the end of June, then too many things got in the way, and I was not able to resume it until now. We should be able to finish it out in consecutive Sundays in a row.

The past year has been very challenging for many parishioners, especially our staff.  Partners in the Gospel is a real stretch for many of us for different reasons.  It could be the kind of thing Satan uses to stoke people’s pride and grievances, and then use that to separate them from Christ and His Church.  But I’m not seeing that at Columbia River Catholic. 

Two weeks ago, the priests of the Archdiocese of Seattle (Western Washington) gathered at Ocean Shores for our annual gathering called Priest Days.  This is the only time all year when all the priests have an opportunity to gather for more than a three-hour event.  The annual gathering starts on Sunday evening and ends on Wednesday evening.  A guest speaker presents something on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.