Two and three weekends ago I wrote pastor’s columns on how special this parish is. If you missed them you can still read them by visiting our website. What those pastor’s columns presumed as good (or even great), were things that are relative. Relative to other parishes in America today, we’re doing awesome. Compared to the early 1960’s not so much.

Over the past 60 years the trend line for religious practice in this country has been going down. People attending religious services or even identifying with a religion has fallen dramatically during that time. In 2019, the last year we have statistics for this kind of thing, 1500 Protestant churches closed – and that was before the pandemic!

A month ago the Wall Street Journal published a story on priests becoming increasingly conservative over the past generation, while the laity have become increasingly liberal. I haven’t read it but I’m pretty sure part of its inspiration comes from the results of worldwide surveys conducted on behalf of Pope Francis’ Synod on the Synod (pastor’s column dated 12/19/21). As part of that process, parishes and diocese all around the world gave input into what focus they would like the Church to have, and changes they would like to see.

Last week I wrote a pastor’s column on many of the objective things that demonstrate how Holy Redeemer Parish is so special. If you haven’t read that pastor’s column, you still can by visiting our website and clicking on the pastor’s column tab. Today I go a step further and write about why I think Holy Redeemer is so demonstratively special. Remember, none of this is to brag [see my commentary on this in last week’s pastor’s column], rather to share good news (gospel in Greek); good news that we all need in these very troubled times.

At the time covid shut us down in March of 2020, our average weekend Mass attendance was nearly 1600, it’s close to 1300 now. That means that nearly 20% of pre-covid practicing Catholics at Holy Redeemer have not returned. I don’t know what the national average is, or even the average for the Archdiocese of Seattle, the Archbishop is yet to release the numbers which is telling. With that in mind, given the news I share with you below, it is easy to draw the conclusion that the people who have not returned to Mass were for the most part, not very committed in the first place. I say that because the people who are attending Mass at Holy Redeemer now are, as a whole, more committed stewards of the faith than about any parish our size in the nation.

Regardless of what is going on in the world and our personal lives, we can have supernatural peace and joy when our lives are lived in Jesus Christ. We can have that, because God has come down from heaven in the divine person of Jesus Christ, to give us His Catholic Church, His Word, the Sacraments, communion with Him, and consolation from Him. So let us give thanks and praise to God for the virgin birth of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace; a peace the world cannot give or understand.

All too often we reject, out of hand, things of a supernatural nature. To be sure, we need to discern things that aren’t normal; and while God usually operates within the laws of nature, laws he created, he is not limited by them. God does occasionally perform miracles that nature or science cannot explain. Years ago I heard about the holy house of Loreto in Italy. It is supposedly the house that the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph lived in while they lived in Nazareth.

For the past 65 years, religious vocations have been few and far between. To address this shortage some bishops and religious superiors, in searching for future priests and religious, have mistakenly taken on some bad apples to offset that shortage. Thinking that anyone is better than no one, some have let wolves into the sheepfolds with very bad consequences. Then swinging in the opposite direction, some bishops and religious superiors have turned away good candidates because they weren’t talented enough.

This Thursday, December 8th, we mark The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, one of only three Marian Feast days that are so special that we observe them as holy days of obligation. To get some idea of how important the Blessed Virgin Mary is to God and thus to the Church and us, look at the list below of Marian Feast days throughout the liturgical year.

This Sunday, the 20th, we celebrate the annual feast of Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. You will have heard some of what I am writing here in my homily yet even more here. As the staff will be out of the office for some of Thanksgiving week, we are running the same bulletin for the weekends of November 20 and 27. That means that this pastor’s column will be the same one for both weekends in a row.

The word King or Kings comes up over 3,000 times in the Bible! It is simply God’s default setting for Him and for us. Jesus is a King and not just any king, but as revealed in Sacred Scripture, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Mt 2:2; Lk 22:20; Jn 18:37; Rv 19:16; etc.). God is a monarch, ruling all His subjects in heaven in infinite perfection.

I write this pastor’s column on the day of the election, November 8, not knowing the outcomes. The people of the world, and I mean people all around the world, are filled with anxieties of one kind or another. Most of that anxiety is personal and familial, and some of it is societal.

Anxiety began in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve sinned; out of fear they hid from God and didn’t answer Him immediately. They were afraid of what God might do to them – kill them – because that’s what God said He’d do if they would touch the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Of course, God, always the promise keeper, did eventually take their lives, just centuries later.

November is traditionally the month of the year where we pray for the dead. Why would we do that? Aren’t all the dead in either heaven or hell? The souls in heaven and hell don’t need our prayers, so why are we praying for the dead? Answer: because a huge number of the deceased are in Purgatory, and a smaller number of the dead haunt the earth. Consider the following account of such an incident.

In reference to helping his parishioners to grow in holiness, a good priest friend of mine says, “I can’t make anyone do anything, all I can do is offer.” He’s correct in saying that a priest can’t make anyone do anything: unlike the government that can make us pay taxes, serve in the military in wartime, force us to send our children to anti-Christian government schools because they won’t let our tax dollars follow our kids to Catholic schools, etc. With that said, my priest friend’s statement would be more accurate if it was: “while I can’t make anyone do anything, God has entrusted to me the responsibility to try; through example, instruction, inspiration, and warning, to help people grow in holiness.” If you know me at all, then you know this is something I take to heart.

In reference to helping his parishioners to grow in holiness, a good priest friend of mine says, “I can’t make anyone do anything, all I can do is offer.” He’s correct in saying that a priest can’t make anyone do anything: unlike the government that can make us pay taxes, serve in the military in wartime, force us to send our children to anti-Christian government schools because they won’t let our tax dollars follow our kids to Catholic schools, etc. With that said, my priest friend’s statement would be more accurate if it was: “while I can’t make anyone do anything, God has entrusted to me the responsibility to try; through example, instruction, inspiration, and warning, to help people grow in holiness.” If you know me at all, then you know this is something I take to heart.

October is the month of the Rosary, and so today I submit another pastor’s column on this incredible devotion. I ran this column last year and plan to do so annually, 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). St. George was a Maltese priest who founded a society of catechists which endures to this day, yet his greatest contribution to the Church was a set of private mysteries that he would pray the Rosary with. He called these the Mysteries of Light, hence St. JPII’s “Luminous Mysteries.” You can see here how they inspired St. JPII and how closely they paralleled his own Luminous Mysteries

Instead of dressing up your kids for Halloween as a fake superhero, popular cultural figure, or monster, how about dressing them up as a saint or angel? Instead of having your children trick or treat through demonically themed lawns and front doors, how about bringing them to the parish center for Christ- themed fun? This Halloween let’s protect our children and reclaim this festivity from its current godless and even satanic manifestation and return it to its Catholic origins.

On Sunday, October 30th, Holy Redeemer Parish is hosting an “All Hallows Celebration”. Come dressed as your favorite saint. The Knights of Columbus will grill up some hamburgers and hotdogs for a 1pm BBQ and at 1:30pm we’ll Trunk or Treat, play saint-inspired games and eat delicious saintly snacks!

Last summer, The Atlantic magazine published an article entitled: “How the Rosary Became an Extremist Symbol.”  They got enough blowback from that, that they quickly retitled it: “How Extremist Gun Culture Co-Opted the Rosary.”  Still getting criticism, they renamed it a third time to: “How Extremist Gun Culture is Trying to Co-Opt the Rosary.”  However leftists phrase it, one thing is clear, the Rosary is a threat to Satan, anti-Catholics, and the godless.  To us however, the Rosary is simply a gift from God. 

We live in an age unlike any other in the 2000 year history of Christianity.  A spiritual “Dark Age” that has seen the loss of faith in Christ and His Church by family members and the world at large; the breakdown of the Church, marriage, family, and society; as well as a steep climb in the rate of addictions to all things: impurity, screens, internet, video games, alcohol, drugs, overeating, sports, gambling, news, and every other vice.

So many people around the world are frightened or angry at you name it: political leaders, political parties, conservatives, progressives, Christians, the wealthy, constitutions, laws, the weather, etcetera. Since so few are good Christians, Satan is able to fuel this fear and anger and the consequences are people acting like him by lying, accusing, and ultimately murdering.

Examples of this in popular society would be: since the Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade, abortion advocates have been campaigning against abortion opponents by falsely accusing them of denying women their reproductive rights. Other popular examples of false accusers trying to damage reputations would be people who are not racists being accused of being one; or people who know that gender is determined at conception, being falsely accused of being unscientific and dangerously insensitive.

This week Holy Redeemer will embark upon a new program that teaches and models the virtues for all adults down to middle schoolers. It is called Fraternus for males and Fidelis for females. As long as you are between 12 and 100, you’re welcomed and encouraged to come to our new Parish Night on Wednesdays. The format is simple: we will begin at 6pm with prayer, followed by food, an activity, a message about a virtue, sharing in a small group, and finish with prayer in the church. Men and boys will meet in the parish center, women and girls in the Annex (big green house on the west side of parish parking lot).

From time to time people ask me where they should be getting their Catholic news. That’s a great question for anyone who wants to know the truth about what is going in the Catholic Church, and to be correctly formed and supported in their faith. Too many Catholic news sources ignore or sugar coat important issues of concern, or worse, mislead Catholics into believing falsehoods about the Catholic faith. Non-Catholic news sources intentionally run misleading stories to make the Catholic Church look bad, while championing heretical Catholics and denigrating faithful Catholics.

Inform yourself. Every week, or at least monthly, read news on what’s going on in the Catholic Church from the lens of God. Be responsible and get your news from Catholic organizations that will tell you the whole story without the need for a splashy and misleading headline. Below are some that I recommend and a few I don’t.

About five years ago I met Brian Willis, a parishioner at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Portland. In 2007 Brian started a non-profit called Global Health Promise to help prostitutes and their children. His work has been covered in the Catholic Sentinel, the Archdiocese of Portland’s Catholic paper. Here’s the problem that Global Health Promise (GHP) is trying to alleviate.

Prostitutes are arguably the most desperate and threatened women in the world. Women who prostitute themselves are trapped in that hellish profession mentally, materially, and frequently physically. As Catholic Christians we are called to love all people and to help those in need. Prostitutes are in great need of help on many levels. Helping prostitutes doesn’t mean that we condone evil, rather we are loving the sinner while hating the sin, a sin that men pay and enslave women for. GHP helps prostitutes survive and in some cases, find their way out.