Notes from St. Pat's Pastor

The Catholic “and”

Judy Serwatka — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:24:34 +0000

In today’s Gospel, we hear that Jesus was His own Authority. The first witness to Jesus’ authority was from someone who would know: the devil. Unable to resist Jesus’ command, the unclean spirit had enough fighting pride to claim that he had be defeated only by the Son of God. Prudently the people in the synagogue wondered about Jesus’ teaching which was so hard to understand that they could not repeat what he had taught. They had to wonder if the devil’s response was an honest one.

From The Pastor's Desk

Judy Serwatka — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 20:56:03 +0000

HELPING THE HUNGRY One of our parish’s most outstanding ministries is The Table of Plenty. I vividly recall the late Mrs. Ruppenkamp who wanted to get this ministry of meals for people having temporary and long term problems going here: she knew how to push my buttons!

From the Pastor's Desk

Judy Serwatka — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 16:52:00 +0000

Fr. Meade will offer an Adult Education class called, “How to find the Scriptures in the Bible”. This class will take a tour through the bible, which will help us know how to find our way around the scriptures.

From The Pastor's Desk

Judy Serwatka — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 16:23:00 +0000

HARD WORK FOR EVERY HOLY FAMILY I am not married, of course. May I recall something to you that I observe? All of you married people, even people in love, will understand this phenomenon better than do I. First, let me tell you about something I observe in Joseph and Mary before I may so audacious as to put a word on this family dynamic for you and your own.

From The Pastor's Desk

Judy Serwatka — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 16:24:00 +0000

OME BY ANOTHER ROUTE Sometimes a gift becomes a problem! The Wise Astrologers might seem to be the answer to a poor family’s prayers. They bring costly gifts, and their presence might well confirm for Mary and Joseph that there are wonderful human beings in this world, after all!

From the Pastor's Desk

Judy Serwatka — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 16:11:00 +0000

WHERE IS THERE “PEACE” ON EARTH? The year 2011 was a cantankerous one. If you had told me that the leader of Libya, fresh from a year of being the Chairman of an African Council of Nations and considerable oil deals with European powers, would face a full scale revolution and his own death in the streets, I would not have believed it, last January.

From the Pastor's Desk

Judy Serwatka — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 21:27:31 +0000

‘TWAS THE WEEK BEFORE CHRISTMAS A week before Christmas many people are excited or anxious about “going home for Christmas.” “Home” means different things for different people, especially the people from the same family! There are so many people who run through the full gamut, even gauntlet, of emotions. Some parents are excited about having all of their children and further offspring “coming home,” and they plan to make a wonderful holiday resting on the bedrock of so many wonderful memories of previous gatherings.

From the Pastor's Desk

Judy Serwatka — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 16:25:57 +0000

SIN: THE DAMAGE THAT KEEPS ON HURTING FORGIVENESS: THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING At the bottom of this bulletin page, you will find the schedule for Confession Services at our parish and the neighboring parishes offered in the Advent Reconciliation Services.

READY FOR LIFE: THANK YOU JOHN KATZMAREK

Holli Wilson — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 01:17:25 +0000

This past week a real gentleman and true parishioner passed from this life to glory. John Katzmarek was probably one of our finest parishioners who most people never knew. John and his wife Marilyn take care of our parish cemetery. You might not notice this from the street, but it is a different shaped parcel of land, designed in the 1800’s for horse drawn vehicles, with a layout that shows either the tendency for ground to shift or interesting ideas from our ancestors what were not consistently followed by their immediate descendants. John and Marilyn really took on a labor of love for the relatives and friends of their ancestors and fellow parishioners over the long decades in organizing and keeping records, attempting to verify locations, and dealing with the many issues of care and maintenance for this sacred space. John, himself, was hardworking and humorous. People who used him for sharpening their tools knew him to be prompt and almost reluctant to charge people for his services. John knew how important tools were to people, and he had a real sympathy for the working person who wanted to use their talents to help their family get by. He liked to tell the story that he began building his house when Marilyn accepted his proposal for marriage, and it was finally completed on their Twentieth Wedding Anniversary! This family is an example of having a dream and taking the practical step-by -step approach to working this dream. Maybe it is not as important that a dream becomes a reality as the dreamer becomes a real cooperator with the workings of God, someone who becomes a worthy steward of the dream that God has for us.

John and Marilyn met when they were teenagers. I wanted to be a priest since the time I could remember wanting to do anything. If I could say anything to the teens of our parish it would be that you are always being told that you do not have to have your life in order so young, that you should have lots of experiences in dating a great number of people, and that you do not have to worry about being so “intense” about something at an early age. You are being indoctrinated to believe that contraception is the most important answer for health and pregnancy issues: as if the person you are becoming is not that important if you do not notice it. Are you a user? Are you someone accustomed, but angry, about being used by somebody else? Do you think that the argument that you or anyone else is responsible, themselves after all, for their own choices, as if those choices do not reveal your character? It well may be true that most people will not meet up with the work and purpose of their life at the earliest of ages, but I think that the neglect to consider the needs of Church and State and how one could fit into these things shows a deficiency in educational and learning methods: you will miss opportunities when you are not mentally alert to notice them. It is also probably true that most people will not meet the love of their life on their first date. I think you will miss much, however, and run into too many of the wrong people while getting the wrong experiences, consequently drawing the wrong conclusions about people if you do not think about what they deserve and need according to God’s designs. We all could learn a great deal about how to live from John Katzmarek.

SPEAKING OF THE UNIVERSAL CHURCH WE OUGHT TO ACTIVELY SUPPORT OUR PRESENT POPE

Holli Wilson — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 23:38:52 +0000

In the here and now we have an opportunity next week with the Oct. 16 Second Collection to support the here and now successor to St. Peter chosen for us by God in Pope Benedict XVI.