Priest's Life Is Never Boring - Fr. Louis Bulletin Letter - May 7, 2006
Sometimes people ask me questions that indicate they think the life of a priest must be rather dull. Apparently they assume that a priest spends the entirety of his day frittering about church like a church mouse. Well, in nearly 17 years as a priest I honestly have not been bored – ever! The variety of things into which a parish priest is drawn guarantees that no two days are the same. This last Sunday, for example, was a rather interesting mix. After spending some time in personal prayer, hearing confessions, and celebrating the Masses, I attended the concert of the Monteverdi Master Chorale and the Bel Canto Girl Choir. As the waves of the magnificent music washed over me in the pew, our glorious Saint Peter’s seemed to be the perfect setting for the performance of Holst’s Ave Maria, Schubert’s The Lord Is My Shepherd, and Durufle’s Ubi Caritas, to name just a few of the pieces performed. Following the concert I mingled with people and received many comments – from Catholics and non-Catholics alike – on the beauty of our church. Then it was off to our school gym for the Holy Name Dance. Those who were there got to hear my solo singing debut with Norm Dombrowski and The Happy Notes. In spite of the polite applause of the crowd, I do not think I will be auditioning for American Idol any time soon! Then, even after having warned everyone about my utter lack of dancing skills, one of our brave parishioners got me to dance several waltzes with her. That I did not cause my partner grievous bodily harm was nothing short of miraculous! Boring? Lack of variety? Never!
Prayerful congratulations to our parish children who receive the Eucharistic Lord for the first time this Sunday! May God richly bless them and their families on the occasion of this their First Holy Communion. May our appreciation of this wondrous sacramental presence of Jesus Christ increase and may our participation in this Holy Banquet deepen!
Work on the roof is progressing nicely and, as expected, a number of additional problems have been discovered. Of course, that means the expense continues to rise. If you have not already done so, please make your contribution to the roof fund thereby meeting your responsibility as a parishioner to preserve this magnificent house of God entrusted to our care. In recent weeks a teenager of our parish gave me an envelope with her sacrificial offering for the roof project and a young boy handed me a box filled with coins that he had collected for that purpose. Young or old, everyone can take part, especially when you think of it in terms of $40.00 buying one copper shingle for the steeple or $33.00 buying one covered metal shingle for the main roof. On another financial note, we continue to fall further behind our budget to meet the expenses of simply operating Saint Peter’s Parish. This is extremely disturbing as it threatens the very existence of our parish. As of last weekend, we were nearly $56,000.00 behind in our budget. What are you going to do to help to make up that much ground in the next two months?
Saint Peter, pray for us! Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us!