Dear Parishioners,

What a beautiful Holy Week, Triduum, and Easter weekend we had with overflowing crowds who came to celebrate God’s love offered to us through the gift of His Son. We baptized 17 people, had 9 people enter the Catholic Church, and confirmed all of them plus an additional 14 adults. It was an amazing night of Sacramental grace. Of course, at all the Masses, each of us renewed our own Baptismal promises—rejecting Satan and sin and affirming our Catholic faith. It was truly a joy-filled Easter day, and now we find ourselves in the 50-day celebration of Easter.

This Sunday is the Easter Encounter and Great Easter Egg Hunt for our young people, although the adults also enjoy walking around visiting the different ways Jesus appeared after the Resurrection. This will be after the 9:00 AM Mass out in our beautiful courtyard area.

The second Sunday of Easter is also Divine Mercy Sunday, and we will have an additional Mass at 3:00 PM, the Hour of Mercy, which will include the Divine Mercy Devotion and Benediction with the Blessed Sacrament. God’s mercy is unending if we simply trust in His divine plan.

We awoke on Easter Monday, the first day of the Octave, to news that our Holy Father, Pope Francis, had died early in the morning of that day. The Church now mourns and prays for the repose of his soul. We have started a nine-day novena each morning at the 9:00 AM Mass. It is also on our webpage.

The novena will culminate with our parish community celebrating a Memorial Mass on Wednesday, April 30th at 7:00 PM for the repose of Pope Francis’ soul. It is a way in which we can give thanks to God for Jorge Bergoglio, Pope Francis, to pray for him and also pray for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit as our Church, through the Cardinal electors, will select the new Roman Pontiff.

The whole world pays attention to us at this crucial time, and it is a real opportunity for us to evangelize and share the Good News. Unlike a political election, where someone wins and someone loses, this is an outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the selection of the new Pope. We will rejoice when we hear the words, “Habemus Papam”—we have a pope.

In the days ahead, may our hearts be filled with the hope Pope Francis proclaimed in this Jubilee year.

Next weekend, we will have our local Dean, Vicar Forane, Fr. Jess Ty, visit us at the 11:00 AM Sunday Mass for the celebration of Confirmation and First Holy Communion. It is a great joy to journey with these young people on their path of faith as they receive the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the gift of the Lord in the Most Blessed Sacrament. The Mass will be a bit longer with the celebration of these Sacraments.

Again, we rejoice in a faith that is alive and being shared.

A special thanks to all who extended hospitality last weekend with the crowded parking lot, Church, and the extra Masses in the hall. It was a blessing to see so many of God’s children here, and I am confident that He touched them in some way to follow Him. We plant seeds and let the divine Master tend them. I was filled with gratitude in the witness of this community of faith—true missionary disciples. We welcomed the stranger, the lost, and those who wander.

Remember to celebrate the 50 days of Easter with the same vigor and passion as Lent.

He is Risen. Alleluia, Alleluia.

Easter Hope in the Resurrection,

Fr. Fred

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