Looking back at the weekly messages of Father Paul Counce, first published in The Carpenter, our weekly Parish Bulletin
Published: May 31, 2015
Dear Parishioners and Friends,
With the ordination this weekend of three new priests of the Diocese of Baton Rouge, a very busy two weeks here at St. Joseph Cathedral comes to a joyous peak. The May 30 ordination of Fathers Brad Doyle, Reuben Dykes and Matt Graham brings an excitement that all of us can share!
We are also celebrating here at the Cathedral Father Reuben Dykes’ First Mass of Thanksgiving at 12 noon this Sunday, May 31. He has considered St. Joseph Cathedral his “home parish” since he began worshipping and serving here years before he entered the seminary. He considers that your prayers and support were a big reason his vocation came about. So I hope you’re planning on joining him at the First Mass and reception following!
We’re also overjoyed that Father Reuben won’t be going far. He’s been assigned as the new parochial vicar (associate pastor) of Holy Family Parish just across the Mississippi River in Port Allen. There he will be assisting Father David Allen and their wonderful parish and school community. As someone who occasionally needs someone to “fill in” when I have to be away, I know I’ll be calling on him occasionally as well to help out as a substitute priest for Mass occasionally, if he can.
If it appears we’re focusing overmuch on Father Reuben, please don’t think so. Here at the Cathedral we’ve also often benefitted from the occasional presence and ministry of Father Matt Graham, as well as Father Brad Doyle. As they begin their new ministries as parochial vicars of Christ the King Parish at LSU and St. George Parish, respectively, we pledge our continued prayers and support of them as well.
One other priest deserves a special mention in this space, because he is a long-time friend of the Cathedral Parish. Next weekend, on June 7, at a special 3 pm Mass at St. Agnes Parish where he now lives, Father Clifton Hill, C.S.Sp., will be celebrating his 50th Anniversary of priestly ordination. As all of us who have known Father Hill – a Baton Rouge native – for many years, he is one of the gentlest and most pleasant priestly personalities in our diocese. He especially was a good friend and helper here to our pastor emeritus, Father Jerry Young, for many years. May God continue to bless him richly, just as He has blessed us through his priesthood.
Now summertime truly is upon us. I hope to get to the beach sometime next month, but to do that I’m going to need to find some help around here with Mass and confessions. While our retired priests are always willing to help whenever possible, all of the clergy are stretched pretty thin in trying to meet the needs of God’s people throughout the diocese. For this reason, please continue to encourage young men – and maybe even some not-so-young men! – to consider priesthood as a viable and satisfying vocation and career. Why? Because it is! And it’s a big help to us all as we seek to do the work of the Lord in our little corner of the world!
In continuing to reflect on my experiences of the pilgrimage to the Holy Land that I took back in April, one thing that continues to impress itself upon my memory was the lengths to which people will go to get there! Yes, I’m talking about the numerous long and relatively expensive airplane flights that transport North American, European and Asian pilgrims to Israel and Palestine. To these I also include the cost of housing and ground transportation – the tour-buses are all really wonderful motorcoaches – which surely cost a pretty penny. And quite a bit was spent on food and souvenirs.
But in reality, I’m not talking about high-spending tourists and tour groups. In addition to hordes of tour groups of every language, each holy site we visited was also host to individuals and families who clearly were of very modest means. Yet they did not let this stop them. In fact, the poorest pilgrims often demonstrated by their posture and prayer the most fervent faith. It made me wonder if I really was “investing” myself in finding God: the less-well-off pilgrims were putting a great deal more into their search for God. I sort of hang my head in shame to admit that I did not have to sacrifice much to visit the actual places where Jesus Christ – who was Himself, after all, a poor man – lived and worked and ultimately sacrificed His life for me. The poor pilgrims around us – as well as the struggling Palestinians and often new immigrants to Israel – sacrifice far more of the little they have.
It was and remains a sobering thought. And it prompts the question in me – and I hope in all of us – still: what things are really worth the sacrifice?
In the Lord,
