Weekly pastor’s post (May 11 – 17)

Weekly pastor’s post (May 11 – 17)

Habemus papam! After commending Pope Francis to the Lord, we have occasion now to celebrate the election of our new pontiff, Pope Leo XIV. And what a celebration it is, particularly for us who share his homeland of the United States! While we know that the pope is a man like any of us, the men occupying this office have always been not only physically but also culturally distant. Now we have a pope who is a White Sox fan, a Chicagoan, and - at least to see the Apple Watch on his wrist last week - quite possibly a bit of a technology geek to boot! Though it is has always been true, I find myself appreciating more fully the regular humanity of the pope.Image by Edgar Beltrán/The Pillar courtesy Wikimedia Commons (Creative Commons...

Archbishop Etienne on the seal of confession

Archbishop Etienne on the seal of confession

Yesterday (May 4, 2025), Archbishop Etienne released a statement on the recently passed law here in Washington state that threatens the seal of confession. His statement may be found at the website of the Archdiocese of Seattle, where it can be viewed or directly downloaded in PDF format. I am including the text in its entirety below. We are grateful for Archbishop Etienne's faithful and firm leadership - please keep him (and all Catholics of the state of Washington) in your prayers. (please note: I have copied the text, formatting, and links of the Archbishop's statement from the official PDF file into this post for ease of reading on any device. Any errors should be assumed to be mine and mine alone - if in doubt, please reference the...

Loving as God loves – including (especially) ourselves

Loving as God loves – including (especially) ourselves

Happy Easter and aloha from Hawaii! For the last two weeks (and one day more!), I am with my family on the island of Oahu for vacation. This has been a long-awaited trip – in part a year-delayed anniversary present from my parents to celebrate my 15th anniversary of ordination to the priesthood! That milestone took place last year (2024), but with the Archdiocese of Seattle’s Partners in the Gospel program shuffling all of us priests around, it was agreed that putting things off a year would be a more prudent (and needed!) time to get away.If you follow me on social media (Twitter/X or Facebook), you’ve likely seen my daily posts of photos out here. I’m no great photographer, but I love documenting my trips – in subsequent years they help...

Easter greeting, Easter prayers

Easter greeting, Easter prayers

Happy Easter from Hawaii! The day after Easter Sunday my family and I flew to the island of Oahu for a much-anticipated two weeks of vacation together. As we continue into this season celebrating the Lord’s resurrection and His triumph over sin & death, my prayer is that the graces He has won will transform our world and our lives.On that note, I’d like to ask for your prayers for two very special intentions. The first you undoubtedly know: prayers for the repose of our Holy Father Pope Francis. The tradition of novemdiales (nine days of mourning) is likely a familiar one, given that we have said goodbye to several popes over the last few decades, but it is an important reminder that we all must stand before the Lord to account for...

Weekly pastor’s post (May 11 – 17)

Weekly pastor’s post (April 20 – 26)

As you have undoubtedly heard, our Holy Father Pope Francis was called to his eternal reward yesterday, Easter Monday (April 21, 2025) after twelve years of papal ministry. We have been blessed by his faithful ministry and leadership - may he now enjoy the blessings of rest & reward with the Lord in heaven. There are many and varied traditions surrounding the death of a pope - our chancery has issued general guidelines and a liturgical guidelines document. Because of the priority of the octave of Easter - the climax of Christ's ministry and mission on earth - all Masses for the Dead must wait until after Divine Mercy Sunday. Already we here on the Olympic Peninsula are preparing several Masses across our parish family - we will have...

Weekly pastor’s post (May 11 – 17)

Weekly pastor’s post (April 13 – 19)

At last we arrive at Holy Week - the destination towards which all prior liturgical seasons and celebrations have pointed. The Annunciation, the Visitation, the Nativity, the finding of Jesus in the Temple, the Baptism of the Lord, the forty days in the desert, and His all-too-brief three years of ministry among us have culminated in this: Jesus' Passion and death. Though the Triduum takes place over just a few days, the Church will linger on the mystery of God dying - of man killing God - with a mixture of guilt, sorrow, and gratitude. 'By His wounds we are healed', we proclaim - and yet, it is our hand that inflicts them. How can we but tremble at the awesome mercy of the One Who above all others has a claim to vengeance - and wills...

Weekly pastor’s post (May 11 – 17)

Weekly pastor’s post (April 6 – 12)

I was away for nearly the entirety of last week and am only just in these last hours of the week finalizing what was supposed to be an early release pastor's post! So much for the plans of this man in the face of those of the Lord. Who needs sleep anyway! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ So what has this pastor been doing so much of away from his parish family this week?!? A reasonable question, that. The first day (Monday) was dedicated to my priest support group, which meets once a month. We spend a holy hour together, spend time catching up over snacks & drinks (typically coffee and sparkling water!), and then go through a formal check-in according to a list of areas we've agreed to be accountable to each other: daily prayer (Mass, the Office, the...

Weekly pastor’s post (May 11 – 17)

Weekly pastor’s post (March 30 – April 5)

Some weeks are busier than others, but boy has this one been a whirlwind! It is rare that I manage to go to every parish on the Olympic Peninsula in as many days, but that's exactly what I did this week. Mondays are my day each week to spend at Saint Mary Star of the Sea in Port Townsend, offering Mass and checking in with the staff there. I spent Tuesday with my family in Seabeck before returning home to my rectory in Queen of Angels. On Wednesday a couple of the staff and I made our way out to Saint Anne in Forks to complete some projects and check in with Father Ed & the office volunteers there. Thursdays are my day each week to spend at Saint Joseph in Sequim, offering Mass and checking in with staff there. Though I returned to my...

Weekly pastor’s post (May 11 – 17)

Weekly pastor’s post (March 23 – 29)

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Annunciation. I am reminded of one of my favorite readings from the Office of Readings. It is a homily by Saint Bernard titled "In Praise of the Virgin Mother" and the caption text in the breviary fittingly reads "The whole world awaits Mary's reply". The imagery of the anticipation all of creation - not just the archangel Gabriel and surrounding (if invisibly so) angelic choir but the heavens, earth, stars, sea, oceans, rocks, trees....everything leaning in as Mary draws her breath to respond. Through her 'yes', the floodgates of graces for which we so long were cast open and the Word of God became man, first in the Virgin's womb and eventually making Himself known to all. The unconscious mirroring...

Our seventh parish family townhall gathering (February 28, 2025)

Our seventh parish family townhall gathering (February 28, 2025)

I am pleased to share with you the audio of our monthly parish family townhall gathering. As always, you may watch the video here – and I’ve included the timestamps below for reference & easy access – but the best way to navigate the video is to watch it on YouTube and use the timestamps there. Recent events, especially Father Ed's heart attack (he's doing much better now: you can read a bit about it in this week's pastor's post), conspired to keep me from posting this as quickly as I might otherwise. Thank you for your patience - and for your prayers for him (please keep them up!). Nonetheless, we had a great time at the parish family town hall gathering. I hope you enjoy catching up with it - and plan on joining us for our next...

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Archdiocese of Seattle newletter (C2P)
Northwest Catholic
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Blogs
Decentfilms (Deacon Steven Greydanus)
Simcha Fisher (Simcha Fisher)
Fr. Moore (Father Jeffrey Moore)
The World is Quiet Here (Thom Ryng)
The Anchoress (Elizabeth Scalia)
Truth in Love (Archbishop Etienne)

Podcasts
Restore the Glory
The Gloria Purvis Podcast