Dear St. Philomena Parishioners,<\/p>\n
Blessed weekend to you all! First of all, thank you so much for such a wonderful welcome and first weekend as pastor of St. Philomena! It was a true joy to pray with you at each of the Masses and great to greet you after. It will definitely take me a while to get down names, but I am joyful and excited to grow with you as we move forward.<\/p>\n
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The most common comment I received after the 9am Mass was about the Oath of Fidelity and Profession of Faith\u2014several people commented that they didn\u2019t remember seeing that before. I noted that they for sure wouldn\u2019t have seen it during the past 16 years! =) My Dad and Mom joined to watch on the livestream\u2014they said they could hear the sound of the pen as I was signing the documents\u2014definitely a shout out to the great sound quality we have on the livestream!<\/p>\n
As I mentioned in the homily during the weekend Masses, the Oath of Fidelity and Profession of Faith are simply my promise to do my best to be a good pastor for you. I promise to uphold the teachings of the Catholic Church and as the Oath stated, \u201cIn fulfilling the charge entrusted to me in the name of the Church, I shall hold fast to the deposit of faith in its entirety, I shall faithfully hand it on and explain it, and I shall avoid any teachings opposed to that faith.\u201d\u00a0 I also promise to follow the discipline of the Church and all ecclesiastical laws. Additionally, I promise obedience and unity with our Bishop, and to work to foster true Communion together.<\/p>\n
This last promise, the one that focuses on unity, has really been on my heart these last two years during my time of preaching for the Eucharistic Revival. Certainly we all know that we live in a world affected by sin and division\u2026sometimes we feel the burden of those sorrows within our own families or even within our hearts. Countless times during the last two years people have approached me to share faith challenges in their families or the sorrow of having family members who aren\u2019t active in our Catholic Faith. What should we do? How do we fix it? What is a pathway to true unity?<\/p>\n
Without a doubt our best and most certain pathway to true unity is Jesus. He is the Prince of Peace\u2026He died on the cross to conquer sin, divisions, every obstacle\u2026He is with us in the Sacraments to strengthen us and draw us closer to together in His love. When we feel we need more peace and unity, the invitation is to go to Jesus. I\u2019m so thrilled to be at a parish that has a Eucharistic Adoration Chapel. Jesus is there waiting for us\u2026He is always there when we need Him. (There are instructions on the parish website if you are interested in visiting the Adoration Chapel\u2014look under Faith Formation and then Prayer and Adoration.)<\/p>\n
This week, I\u2019ll be away for the Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis. While I\u2019m not a crowds person at this point in my life, I am excited to experience a huge stadium full of people praying together in the Mass and Adoring Jesus truly present in the Eucharist. Hopefully, this great witness of faith will be inspiring and strengthening to many! Please know of my prayers for our Parish Family from the Masses there and that I will send you all my blessing from the Mass in Lucas Oil Stadium.<\/p>\n
In Christ,<\/p>\n
Father Luke<\/p>\n
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