Holy Redeemer Parish is blessed to have religious vocations. In the narthex we have a vocations board with pictures of men and women from our parish who have entered religious life. More pictures will go up over time, yet realistically, some of the pictures that go up will come down too.

Some people mistakenly assume that when a man or woman enters the seminary or religious life, they will now live happily ever after. Entering religious life is seen as getting married, or at least a serious engagement, and quality engagements and good marriages are rarely called off. More accurately though, reaching solemn vows or being ordained, takes many years and is an arduous journey for everyone who tries. This is how a vocation to religious life works.

I was a seminarian in 2002 when the priest sex abuse scandal broke. I’ve spent the past 20 years dealing with the results. Abusing people, especially children, is a grave evil. Jesus says “that he who abuses one of these little ones, it would be better to tie a mill stone around his neck and cast him into the sea.” (Mt 18:6; Mk 9:42; Lk 17:2) Furthermore, most of the priests who have been accused of abusing a child have in fact abused a child. So there is very good reason to seek a zero tolerance policy for this behavior, hear out any accuser, and investigate no matter how long ago the abuse was supposed to have happened. And finally, it is critical to give victims the love and support they need to heal as much as they can in this life.

Inflation is a tax on everyone, the rich and poor alike, but it is the poor who suffer most. How did we get here? An answer: there was a breakdown in the international supply chain as a result of covid. That raises the question: why are we having foreign nations make everything for us in the first place? Answer: because it’s cheaper to have lower paid employees in other countries make everything and ship it over to us. Of course this means that we become dependent upon those nations for everything. When they can’t make our stuff anymore, or the international supply chain breaks down, or they become our enemy, then we lose those goods. Then our demand for those goods exceeds supply and inflation takes off.

In our first reading at Mass today we heard about the infamous cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. They were two cities in ancient Israel that gave themselves over to sexual sins (know any countries like that?). We get the words sodomy and sodomitical, or unnatural sexual acts, from the ancient city of Sodom. God destroyed them with fire and brimstone for their sins—a real warning for us today. It wasn’t just that the cities inhabitants thought that men having sex with men was just great, it’s that they insisted that everyone participate—even the angels that God sent to rescue Lot and his family. That whole participation thing should sound familiar with our contemporary world-wide LGBTQ+ and abortion indoctrination/shaming phenomenon. There’s nothing that says that what God did to Sodom and Gomorrah won’t happen in this country.

In his apostolic exhortation The Joy of the Gospel, Pope Francis writes, “The parish is not an outdated institution; precisely because it possesses great flexibility, it can assume quite different contours depending on the openness and missionary creativity of the pastor and the community.” As we look to the future in the Archdiocese of Seattle, the Lord is calling us to this openness and creativity.

We face immediate and long-term challenges that call us to move beyond the familiar and the comfortable. These challenges also provide an opportunity for us to grow in our life in Jesus Christ, to accompany one another on the journey of faith, and to live the joy of the Gospel each day.

Last Monday, July 4th, we celebrated Independence Day, a night of dread for those of us who want to get a good nights’ sleep . Of course, the day is meant to commemorate and celebrate our birth as a nation and to take stock of the exceptional nature of our country, for it is truly exceptional in many ways. This year however, many Americans used the holiday to mourn America for not being supportive enough of legal abortion and the LGBTQ+ agenda. When I say many Americans, I mean the Catholic President of the United States and one of our two major political parties, who try to shame Americans at home and abroad for not championing things that only 60 and 30 years ago were near universally held as evil. How did we get to a place where Disney champions abortion and sodomy and shames you if you don’t? The answer to that and many other societal evils is a decline in religious belief and practice.

At the Easter Vigil the priest begins with the above words, while all are gathered outside in the dark of night awaiting the saving event of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The thing is, at the first Easter no one (outside of the Blessed Virgin Mary) knew that Jesus would rise from the dead. Everyone, from Thursday night until Sunday morning, thought that Jesus was defeated and so were they. Then the Lord of all creation rose from the dead fulfilling His promises, defeating sin, death, and Satan, and opening heaven. Why? Because Jesus loves us. How? Because Jesus is invincible. I’ll circle back to this at the end of this column, please read on.

It is Pride month, where every year in this country we are supposed to celebrate and promote LGBTQ-ism. It has been my intention for years to write a pastor’s column on various aspects of this global agenda, especially with practical ideas for addressing it between family members and friends. That pastor’s column has to be very carefully written and might well be pages long. Hence, I’ve haven’t found the time to write it. But I want you to know that you’re not crazy if you think this is contrary to God’s will, and thus harmful, and rightfully frightened of the consequences of speaking out in any way against it. I attach here an article from a woman from England (so bear with slight differences of wording), about her own perspective on transgenderism. I had to cut about half of the article out to make space, you can read the whole thing by going to the website below.

This Sunday we celebrate Corpus Christi, a Solemnity of the Church in which we focus in a special way on the true presence of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist. Admittedly, this is something I feel I don’t do enough of. I reference the true presence of Christ in the Eucharist enough for regular Mass goers to hear from time to time, but only on this Sunday every year do I make my homily about the Eucharist or Mass. By comparison, I know a priest, and of priests, who reference the true presence of Christ in the Eucharist in almost every Sunday homily.

In reflecting on this, I ask myself the question “why don’t I speak more often about the true presence of Christ in the Eucharist or the sacrifice of the Mass?” I suppose for me it is more of a catechetical topic, along the lines of the Holy Trinity, or Incarnation, or Communion of Saints, etc. – very important but not a preoccupation.

In my homily last Sunday, June 5th, I spoke about knowing and being in God’s Truth. In case you missed it, you can listen to it by selecting the “Resource” tab on our website and clicking on “Homilies.” At the end of the homily, I referenced the consequences of living as if God and His Truths don’t matter. One of those consequences is a very depressing life, and even suicidal thoughts, which are dangerous for all people but especially for young people. Please tell your children and grandchildren why they exist – to know, love, and serve Jesus Christ in this life; so as to be happy with Him forever in the next life. Teach them everything you can about God, His love for us, Jesus Christ, the Church, the Four Last Things, etc. These “things” are real and inescapable; thus they are life giving, loving, affirming, fulfilling, and peace giving.

Today we celebrate Pentecost, the day in which the Holy Spirit descended upon the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Apostles, and by extension, the whole Church. This happened so that the Church may persevere in the faith of Jesus Christ and share that faith with others. Jesus Christ is God, and He wants the whole world to have faith in Him and to join the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church that He established, regardless of one’s existing religious beliefs, nation, or race. This costs something: relationships, employment, reputation, perhaps even one’s life. Many saints lost their lives for this, starting with those 12 Apostles Jesus was speaking to.

Here I have attached an article about the Ugandan martyrs St. Charles Lwanga and companions, whose feast day we celebrated on Friday.

Last Saturday, May 21st, for only the second time in our 22 year history, we had the rare opportunity to host the ordination to the transitional diaconate, of Holy Redeemer seminarian, John Paul Tomassi.  It was a beautiful ordination Mass and all who attended were gratified in their faith.  Deacon John Paul will be in Longview this summer before heading back to Mundelein seminary (outside of Chicago) for his final year.  God willing, he’ll be ordained in June 2023 to the Priesthood.

This Sunday we do something we’ve never done before, introduce a permanent deacon to the ministry of Holy Redeemer Parish. 

In our vocations starved generation of the Church, it is rare for a parish to produce priestly or religious vocations. Holy Redeemer Parish is a rare exception to that rule. Having only been a parish for twenty-two years, we have had one of our own ordained to the priesthood in 2014 (Fr. Brian Thompson), while another six are currently in formation for the priesthood or religious life. One of them, John Paul Tomassi, left for the seminary almost nine years ago. He took a major step toward the priesthood when he was ordained to the transitional diaconate by Archbishop Etienne on Saturday, May 21st. God willing, John Paul will be ordained to the priesthood at the cathedral in Seattle, in June 2023. Please pray for John Paul, Elizabeth Tadlock, Evan MacKenzie, Grace Hincapie, Kaitlyn Goertzen, Andrew Brands and by God’s grace, many more vocations from our parish in the future

Over the past couple of weeks, you have gotten a letter from Archbishop Etienne and myself introducing us to this year’s Annual Catholic Appeal (ACA). Each year at this time we pause and consider all the good that is accomplished because of your support of the ACA: the homeless are sheltered, retired priests and nuns are cared for, our seminarians are prepared to serve us as our future priests, and so much more. If you haven’t already done so, I pray you will join me in supporting the Catholic Church in Western Washington by giving to the 2022 Annual Catholic Appeal. The support of every parish is critical to the success of the Archdiocese and its many ministries.

Over the past couple of weeks, you have gotten a letter from Archbishop Etienne and myself introducing us to this year’s Annual Catholic Appeal (ACA). Each year at this time we pause and consider all the good that is accomplished because of your support of the ACA: the homeless are sheltered, retired priests and nuns are cared for, our seminarians are prepared to serve us as our future priests, and so much more. If you haven’t already done so, I pray you will join me in supporting the Catholic Church in Western Washington by giving to the 2022 Annual Catholic Appeal. The support of every parish is critical to the success of the Archdiocese and its many ministries.

This pastor’s column is a follow up on the one I ran last week about a change in the weekday Mass time. Currently weekday Masses start at 7am. To find out why its’ being moved at all, please read or re-read my pastor’s column from last week, found on our website here.

As of this Monday, May 2nd, the weekday Masses will start at 8:30am (rosary at 8:10am) – this means that we will have Mass at 8:30am every day of the week! Easy enough to remember. I chose 8:30am over 8am because it is just as popular as 8am, and works a little better with parish calendaring and events than 8am. Here’s the breakdown.

A couple of months ago, the US Senate voted 100-0 to leave standard time behind and make day light saving time permanent.  When was the last time the Senate voted unanimously on anything?  Simply put, we American’s are sick of changing our clocks twice a year.  While I would have preferred the Senate to make standard time permanent, most Americans obviously prefer day light saving time, taking an hour of light from the morning and placing it in the evening.  This got me thinking about our 7am weekday Mass time. 

The greatest thing that has ever happened was when God died for our sins. No greater act has ever happened, not the creation of heaven, the universe, the earth, man, or the future new heavens and new earth. Creation is something God can do with a mere thought, with no suffering, while adding to His Glory. Being crucified for the sins of others is something that God had to physically act out, with much apparent humiliation, and with great suffering. All of those things are beneath God’s dignity, yet He endured His Passion and Death to demonstrate His infinite love, which is the greatest feature of God’s Glory. The greatest manifestation of God’s Glory is not revealed in His power, which is infinite, but in His infinite Love.

The Bible doesn’t tell us what Jesus looked like, how do we know? Answer: The Shroud of Turin.

Today is Passion or Palm Sunday, where at Mass we solemnly read through Our Lord’s Passion and death. Yet the Scriptures aren’t the only place that testify to what happened to Our Lord Jesus Christ at His death. There is one relic par excellent that irrefutably testifies to the truth of the Scriptures. That relic is the Shroud of Turin – the burial cloth of Jesus Christ.

As part of 1st Century Jewish burial custom, people were wrapped in a burial cloth. “They took the body of Jesus and bound it with burial cloths along with the spices, according to Jewish burial custom.” (Jn 19:40) and “They both ran, but the other disciple [John] ran faster than Peter and arrived at the tomb first; he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in” (Jn 20:4). Because of what they discovered on it, the burial cloth that was wrapped around Our Lord’s body, was preserved by his disciples after the Resurrection and became a closely guarded relic.

We will all die. As obvious as that statement is, many people are dumbfounded when it comes to the end of their own life or that of a loved one. People avoid thinking of death because we don’t like to think about unpleasant things, understandable enough. Yet our generation ignores death more than any generation that has ever lived.

Over the past 50 years advances in medicine have been amazing in the areas of medication, technology, and knowledge of the body. These advances have significantly improved and prolonged life, contributing to a false sense of physical immortality; and a subconscious belief that we’ve beat death! We haven’t.

Another reason why this generation thinks less of death, and is less prepared for it, is because of our focus on what the Church calls materialism. Materialism is man’s obsessive focus on empirical things to the exclusion of the spiritual or moral. God after all, is the most important “thing” to focus on; not our bodies, money, careers, home(s), cars, clothes, entertainment, etc.