September

Pope Francis’ message is to embrace the Gospel of joy and mercy...

He said: “By faith, we know that “the Creator does not abandon us; he never forsakes his loving plan or repents of having created us. Humanity still has the ability to work together in building our common home” (Laudato Si’, 13). As Christians inspired by this certainty, we wish to commit ourselves to the conscious and responsible care of our common home.” By this message, let us also commit to make our parish a common home — a community of love and mercy.

Furthermore, for the source of our joy is “an endless desire to show mercy, the fruit of our own experience of the power of the Father’s infinite mercy” (Evangelii Gaudium, 24). May we start from our common home to show God’s infinite mercy!

His Holiness, Pope Francis!
What a great blessing that the Vicar of Christ, the Roman Pontiff, the Holy Father, Pope Francis comes to visit us and our country! With this historic visit, he comes to bring the Gospel of Joy! As a Vicar of Christ, we therefore, welcome him with warm and open hearts and minds. He will physically be with few thousand brothers and sisters in the East Coast. We can’t be near him and see him personally, face to face, but we will definitely feel his presence as he will canonized our very own St. Junipero Serra who served and spent his life in the West. During the canonization in the East, Pope Francis’ heart will also be here in the West.

He is the epitome of genuine service, humility and love. “If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.”

We love you, Pope Francis!

Brother Joshua Keeney is a seminarian of our diocese. He will spend his Pastoral Year in our Parish. He is here with us to know and learn parish life and ministry. Our role as a Parish is very important and essential to his formation to the priesthood.

There are two aspects of priestly formation. First, it is the so-called intra-seminary formation. A seminarian is formed in the four walls of the seminary spiritually and intellectually. Second, a seminarian should undergo an extra-seminary formation. Pastoral Year is a more extensive field education. Since a seminarian is preparing himself to be a priest, he has to be immersed pastorally - in the parish life and ministry - and continues to discover himself through human relationships with the people of God. Living in the parish, he will learn and reflect on the life of a priest and at the same time get to know the People of God, here at St. Philomene's. Let us therefore support and form him in this indispensable formative year with our love, kindness, patience and understanding. Let us make his pastoral year worthwhile.

Join me therefore to welcome, Brother Joshua into our Parish!