Father's Reflection 2.26.23

Three parish, one family (Part 4)

Friends, at the beginning of March our faith formation office will fly to Poland on pilgrimage with the JP II Fellows of Benedictine College. As mentioned last week, we will be visiting Our Lady of Czestochowa, the parish where St. John Paul II was Baptized, received First Holy Communion, First Reconciliation, and Confirmation, while also spending time with living witnesses who are living our Catholic Faith at the highest level. One of the stops we are most looking forward to is Auschwitz, where St. Maximillian Kolbe was martyred during the holocaust. We plan to invoke Our Lord, Our Lady, and St. Maximillian Kolbe on behalf of our parishes.

We are all aware of the painful situation unfolding between Wetmore and Sabetha on account of the school board. It is a tragic story that truly breaks my heart. Make no mistake, most priests would shy away from something so big and so negative, but that is not the man Our Lord has raised me to be. We will be acknowledging and wrapping the entire situation in prayer for as long as it takes. None of us can fix it. All of us aware of it. And only a cowardly pastor or father figure would choose to hide from something affecting so much of his family.

Please know that Gina Sallman (Director of Faith Formation for Religious Education), Annie Deters (Director of Faith Formation for Adults), and I will be taking all families from all three parishes with us to Poland. We will place all of your marriages and families, along with all of our parish initiatives at the feet of Our Lord and Our Lady. We will invoke the saints, like Maximillian Kolbe and Faustina for all of you. And we will surrender the hurt over the school situation, before petitioning the Divine Assistance to make us one family of three parishes. We all know that God has the power to do this. So too, our Catholic Faith. Every parish of the Archdiocese is one family, sharing one, holy, catholic and apostolic faith. And even more so, those parishes that share one pastor.