Pet Peeves - Sept. 12, 2010

One of my pet peeves is noticing parents dropping off students for religious education classes on Sundays and then skipping Mass. Another pet peeve is celebrating First Communion for 100 children in May and then rarely or never seeing these children at Mass. A further pet peeve is preparing students for Confirmation and then noticing they are no longer active in our worship life. What gives? As Catholics we are a Eucharistic people. Weekly we gather so that our lives can be fed by the Bread of Life, by the wisdom of God’s word and the support we receive from fellow believers. When people are absent we are deprived of their gifts and their presence. As Catholics we form a community in an otherwise isolated and fractured world. During this year we have focused on Evangelization, a core teaching of our faith. We have had listening sessions, annulment workshops, developed a robust CD collection, and still our congregation has not grown.

As a pastor I try to be present not only at Church but in the community. On occasion I attend sporting events, plays, graduations, Blue and Gold dinners. I do this because of the value of presence and interest in people’s lives. As we begin a new year I invite you to take your participation in our parish life seriously. It all begins at the Lord’s table where we are reminded that we are called to be the hands and voice of Christ in the world.

Fr. Bob Hawkins