St. Vincent de Paul Church

Dear Family of St. Vincent de Paul,

I am grateful for your assurance of prayer for my continuing recovery. And it is continuing: I am getting a little stronger every day and I fully expect to be well enough to go home within a month or so. But I do not realistically expect to get to be strong enough to perform all the ministry that you have a right to expect of your pastor.

I have therefore decided that it is time for me to retire. I have submitted my letter of resignation of the office of pastor to be effective Monday, February 27^th at noon, and the Archbishop has accepted it. We will have a Mass at St. Vincent’s on Sunday, February 26^th at 10:30 AM to give me an opportunity to sum up my ministry and say farewell to each of you. A reception will follow and I hope as many as possible of you will help celebrate the Mass and the ensuing party.

I will try at that liturgy to express my gratitude for all that you have done for me and with me over the past 43 years. Continue reading →

Fitting these words on our banner (above) on the back of St. Vincent took some clever design work. For a sign meant to be read while waiting at stoplight 20 yards away, 13 words might as well be a James Joyce tome.

We did it however (Thanks, Tom Hyatt!), because at this moment in time we really want to proclaim these words from the Gospel of John to ourselves and to all. The idea for this banner grew out of conversations among parishioners about the direction of the country, the needs in our city and more. The emotions expressed in this dialogue have been, at times, dark—parishioners speak and write of feeling uncertainty, despair and anger and frustration.  Many are stepping out in their faith, letting these powerfully emotions serve as energy for change. To be sure, our faith tells us even amidst the brokenness of our world: Continue reading →