One of the blessings of starting a new assignment is that things take a while to really swing into gear – which often means a bit of anonymity and quiet in the meantime. I caught myself thinking last week how it had been a long time since I walked into a Costco, a hardware store, or the local grocery store and no one knew who I was! A month in, and that’s already changing – someone caught me off-guard with a cheerful “Hi Father Maurer!” as entered Safeway to grab snacks for yesterday’s kick-off of Wednesday evening vespers & board games. I continue to be humbled and grateful at the kindness of folks as I settle in.

Today is the one-month mark of my time here on the Olympic Peninsula. One one hand, a lot has already been accomplished: our first parish family townhall meeting, a new dedicated emergency phone line & call system (see our website for details!), a revamped residency arrangement & pastoral presence plan, inter-office online calendaring, and priest offices & office extensions established – to name a few! Many (many!) hours have gone into helping establish a new foundation for ministry as a parish family under one pastor – I am extremely grateful to our staff and volunteers who are making this possible…..while continuing to serve our communities in their day-to-day needs.

This week also marks the start of more visible work: connecting with our liturgical leaders across the parish family and starting to talk about what that means for prayer & worship in our churches and to the homebound. Over the next couple of weeks I will be meeting with councils and commissions of several of our parishes – the first of what will be regular gatherings to extend that same foundation for ministry as a parish family beyond the walls of our offices! Even as we continue ministering to our parishioners and neighbors, we’ll be looking at how we can begin fulfilling the promise of Partners in the Gospel.

But it’s not all meetings & emails! I was delighted last night at the turn out for vespers and games in the gym of Queen of Angels – probably some 25-30 people of various ages dropped in at different points. I’m afraid I didn’t fare to well in the games I played – I was handily defeated in cribbage, absolutely trounced in Super Smash Bros Ultimate, and only just managed to win at a game of Munchkin because the other players were new and didn’t yet know the rules ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ But there was lots of laughter and plenty of fun all-around…. and some excellent singing as we prayed vespers!

Whether behind the scenes or in the pews, good things are happening on the Olympic Peninsula. I am heartened by how the Spirit is moving among and with us – I hope you are too! May we continue together as the Body of Christ – in prayer and in play – with confidence that our efforts and His will glorify God, drawing us closer together to Him.

Have a great week – and rest assured of my prayers for you all.

P.S. As promised to a particular parishioner (you know who you are ;-)), here’s one of my favorite (English) chants: “To You Do We Come” (sung by the Nashville Dominicans in their album 800 Years of Gospel Mercy)

July 29 – Today’s memorial of Saints Martha, Mary, and Lazarus is a relatively new addition to the General Roman Calendar. Formerly only the memorial of Saint Martha, Pope Francis expanded the memorial to celebrate all three siblings in January of 2021 – acknowledging recent studies and the the Roman Martyrology (which commemorated the three together). Read about them at Franciscan Media’s website.

July 30 – Saint Peter Chrysologus, whose memorial is today, has one of the neatest monikers: “of the Golden Words”. Though not a groundbreaking preacher, he was notable short sermons that packed a strong punch – he fought strongly against abuses and paganism within his diocese. The authenticity of his sermons eventually led Pope Benedict XIII – thirteen centuries later! – to declare him a Doctor of the Church. Read more at Loyola Press.

July 31 – Introspection sometimes gets a bad rap, but it was this gift that brought Saint Ignatius of Loyola – whose memorial is today – to recognize something profound. While recovering from wounds received during his time as a soldier, he realized that reading the lives of saints and about Christ left him with lasting inspiration and consolations – unlike worldly reading, which left less hopeful than before. Eventually his exploration of this discernment of spirits would lead him to write The Spiritual Exercises – still published, studied, and inspiring Christians today! Read about him at the Jesuits’ website.

August 1 – Hot on the heels of the memorial of the founder of the Jesuits, today we celebrate the memorial of the founder of the Redemptorists, Saint Alphonsus Liguori. Dedicated to preaching and serving the poor, he eventually discerned God’s call to a “mission among the people”. Read about him at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception website.

August 2 – To round out our week of founders of religious communities, today’s memorial of Saint Peter Julian Eymard is celebrated by the community he co-founded with Margherita Guillot – the Servants of the Blessed Sacrament. His dedication to the Eucharist led him to be nicknamed the Apostle of the Eucharist. Read about him at the Vatican News website.

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Priests celebrating their anniversaries this week