Pastor's Letter for the July 4, 2021 bulletin

Thank you to all who organized and participated in last week’s Sts. Peter & Paul Feast Day Mass and picnic in Lore City.  Despite singing “Rain Down” as our closing hymn at St. Benedict and “Hail, Redeemer King” as our closing hymn at Sts. Peter & Paul at our Sunday Masses on June 27th, Our Lord provided trouble-free weather that day! In fact, even though it was so blazing hot during the day, after simply staying in the air-conditioned social hall for the picnic foods, by the time the children’s picnic games began, the sun had ducked behind some clouds and the temperature had dropped by ~10°, making it more comfortable for that part of the picnic. May the Lord continue to bless us as a parish as a whole because of the community and resources we have through Sts. Peter & Paul Oratory!

It looks like the pilgrimage to the Holy Land and Egypt can now move forward with a greenlight. Hopefully free from other negative developments, we are planning for the journey to be Monday, October 11th through Friday, October 22nd, leaving from the Pittsburgh airport. I will be contacting those who have expressed interest in the past to solidify our group numbers.  At this point it looks like we have a sufficient number of participants to be our own group rather than needing to join together with another parish from Texas.  We’ll be making more information known over these next several weeks, including Bible passages and historical information to connect with the sites we would be visiting each day!

As I mentioned in last week’s bulletin, we currently have 3 groups of 3-5 people that meet weekly as small faith-sharing groups, called “Discipleship Quads.”  They have a curriculum of discussion topics and reading material to prepare for and to facilitate the weekly time of reflection.  I would like to invite all parishioners who would like to participate in a faith sharing group like these.  We would plan to form them specifically as men’s and women’s groups and these groups have proven to flow well even with differing age groups and backgrounds.  My own parents have participated in groups like these for many years and could testify to their benefit.  We had a couple of people this past week express interest, especially for a daytime group. Please let me know if you would like to participate in one of these newly forming groups.  The current groups meet on Wednesday evenings, but, again, additional groups could meet on other days and at other times of the day. 

Among the national issues for which Bishop Monforton and the U.S. bishops as a whole have asked our response is regarding potential changes to the Hyde Amendment and other similar legislation. As noted at our diocesan website, “The Hyde Amendment and similar laws have protected taxpayers from funding elective abortion for 45 years…Both Democrats and Republicans have supported [this amendment] for nearly half a century. [Now it is facing pressures to be overturned.] Billions of taxpayer dollars could be used to pay for abortion. It is critically important for Catholics to send a strong message before Congress moves forward to impose taxpayer-funded abortion. Catholics are urged to sign the petition on NoTaxpayerAbortion.com.” 

May the Lord help us to experience the transforming power of God’s mercy!  May Our Lord help us to be always ready for the gift of eternal life in Heaven!