Looking back at the weekly messages of Father Paul Counce, first published in The Carpenter, our weekly Parish Bulletin
Published: October 21, 2018
My column this week will be another one of those “good news, bad news” ones. It’s mostly good news, of course!
The first bit of good news is that I’m back! Two weeks ago I went down to Manresa in Convent, Louisiana, for a retreat with most of the priests of the Diocese of Baton Rouge. This annual event is always a wonderful time to pray, and be reminded of the great mystery of Jesus Christ and His Church that I’m immersed in. And last week I joined some 400 other colleagues in Phoenix, Arizona, for the annual convention of the Canon Law Society of America. It’s a favorite yearly getaway too, not only for its “continuing education” aspects for all of us canon lawyers, but also for the opportunity it affords to “reconnect” with old classmates and friends from throughout the USA and Canada.
The first bits of bad news actually arrived by text messages and phone calls before my plane landed back here: the usual laundry list of maintenance and administrative headaches that make me yearn for retirement one day!! The “fire alert” system in the Parish Hall has been beeping false alarms for a while now, despite our best efforts to repair it. A huge chain broke in the bell tower – the one that swings the “middle” bell –and will have to be replaced. We have an open part-time staff position: our Parish bookkeeper, Mrs. Deana Stevens, has decided to retire and spend more time travelling and “grandbabysitting,” leaving us again “in the hunt” for a new part-time bookkeeper. (Thanks for all you’ve done, Deana, we’ll miss you – but please add your prayers that we find your replacement soon, will you?) Oh, and I guess you could count our missing vigil Mass on Saturday, October 27, as bad news, a cancellation due to the downtown Hallowe’en Parade that afternoon also at 4 pm.
But good news outweighs the bad, always: next Sunday, October 28, is our annual GRAND Day! Everyone who’s ever been a grandchild will be prayed-for and honored at the 10:30 Mass, and then invited to the Parish Hall afterwards for a party! Please plan to come and enjoy hamburgers, hot dogs, chips, ice cream, soft drinks, music, a petting zoo, pony rides, face painting, caricatures, balloons, our “round the block train,” and much more also!! Again I especially invite children and their parents and grandparents to attend together!
Yet GRAND Day means a little bad news: our monthly administration of the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick has to be cancelled on October 28. In fact, we’re now going to be administering this Sacrament (along with the special Blessing with the Relic of Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos) after the Vigil Mass on the First Saturday of the Month, starting in December.
Still, good news keeps on coming! We’ll celebrate All Saints’ Day on Thursday, November 1. It’s a Holy Day of Obligation, and Mass will be offered here at 7:30 am and 12 noon. Later that afternoon I’ll bless the graves at St. Joseph Catholic Cemetery on Main Street at 4 pm and at historic Highland Cemetery at 7 pm. Please attend if you wish!
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Fr. Paul D. Counce
