Looking back at the weekly messages of Father Paul Counce, first published in The Carpenter, our weekly Parish Bulletin
Published: May 10, 2020
Apparently a lot of folks read last week’s column of mine in The Carpenter. Out of concern at least a dozen called or emailed me!
And as I told them all, that Sunday afternoon when I wrote it I was “down in the dumps,” discouraged by mostly bad news about the coronavirus and frustrated at how long and difficult it could be in returning to some sense of normalcy. I did almost tear it up! But then I figured that, hey, everybody else gets to be discouraged and show it every now and then, why can't I? It's real life. And it's also real faith: we're not supposed to pretend everything's okay when it's not. We're supposed to recognize difficulties and then find a way to work through them, either to get beyond them or at least improve the situation! So thank you all for caring!
And you’ll be glad to know I’m in a much better mood this week! There’s better news on the pandemic: that remdesivir drug apparently shows promise in treating the infection. And scientific work on developing a vaccine is alleged to be going faster than usual. Both of these bits of news offer a glimmer of hope, and that's a good thing. A few more businesses are “opening up,” and that too is good. Bishop Duca commissioned a small committee of pastors to study how parishes might be able to start having public Masses again, and that’s good (the only trouble is that the committee is made up of four priests, so – as the old joke goes – they’ll have to reconcile at least eight to ten different opinions!). Plus the weather’s been great! I’ve been able to pray, cook and relax a bit more, and make a few long-distance calls to old friends. All of this really perked up my spirits.
Oh, and the scaffolds in the church are gone and all the lightbulbs have been changed. The light they put out looks great. The “coverage” is more even and brighter, and the folks from CatholicLife Television say that the “hue and tint palette” (whatever that is!) is way better. Once we rid the Cathedral of the thick coating of dust which came off of the scaffolding and ceiling beams we’ll actually be in great shape!
A final bit of good news came, surprisingly, from the federal government. You might remember that we applied for a “forgivable loan” from the Small Business Administration: their Paycheck Protection Program is designed to help us maintain our staff’s salaries over the next couple of months. Well, the money was approved! We won’t have to pay it back if we spend it properly, and believe me, we will!
Still in the joy of the Risen Lord,
Very Rev. Paul D. Counce
