This last week has been a rather extraordinary mix of sorrow and joys. As most everyone has heard by now, Father Dennis Robb died sometime this last Sunday. Over the summertime and at his request, he and I had recently made arrangements for him to take the 1 pm Mass at Saint Joseph on the first Sunday of the month. Thanks to his new home dialysis setup, he had found a second wind to his day-to-day life and was delighted at being able to do more than in the past. Just this last Saturday evening, he was sharing with the parishioners who were to pick him up how glad he was to be able to celebrate Mass with the parish. It is no small consolation to consider that he went to bed on Saturday excited to serve and undoubtedly woke up to the excitement of the Lord’s welcome into eternity.
For those of us on this side of heaven, he is already much missed. We are quite close to having the final details sorted for Father Robb’s funeral arrangements – as you might imagine, aligning things between a bishop, priests & deacons of the archdiocese, Father Robb’s family, and our two central region parishes is a bit of an operation! I am hopeful that we will have things ready to announce early this coming week.
Of course, life continues on in our communities and across our parish family. If you read my pastor’s insert from last week (linked below), you’ll know that we’re preparing for what we’ve dubbed ‘OVC Days’ – OVC being an acronym for the Office of the Vicar for Clergy. This relatively small office of the chancery serves every parish & priest in the archdiocese; there is truly not a single Catholic in the Archdiocese of Seattle that has not benefited from their ministry. OVC Days is a small effort to express our gratitude for the support they offer us – often quite invisibly! I am delighted at both the opportunity we have to make such a return and at the enthusiasm with which parishioners have embraced making it awesome.
Speaking of the archdiocese, news broke yesterday of a settlement between the State of Washington and the bishops – the state has withdrawn it’s attack on the seal of confession. Thanks is especially due to our bishops for taking up this battle, the Becket Fund for their part in legal representation, and the many, many Catholics (and others!) who stormed heaven with their prayers. There is a temptation that sometimes tries to take root in our hearts, telling us that not only is the world entirely against us but that it is pointless to resist. We are once again reminded that though we yet walk through the valley of tears, placing our trust in Christ is not a losing proposition!
Before I sign off for the night and the week, I would share with you one final bit of good news. This one actually started some years ago, when a couple approached me during my time as pastor of Saint Mark in Shoreline. He was a returning Catholic and she wanted to become Catholic. Both hoped to be married in the Church. However, their situation was…..complicated – and there were no easy paths forward. The more we talked, the more we realized that what lay in front of us would be the work not of weeks or months but likely years. Though we made great progress in tackling that work – including welcoming her into and him back to the Church, I was reassigned to the Olympic Peninsula before it was complete.
Fast forward to several weeks ago, when I received a voicemail from them – they hoped to come visit and perhaps go out for dinner: would I be free after Masses in a coming weekend? I couldn’t immediately respond and had to wait a few days before calling back. But it seems that God had a hand in that, because the very day I could call, I received a letter from the bishop’s office: the work we had begun had finally reached a resolution and they were free to marry. Moreover, when I called them, they were travelling and had not yet received the news – I got to be the one to tell them!
When they returned home, they shared with their pastor (Father Cody Ross) the good news and it was he who came up with what is in retrospect an obvious idea: why not get married by Father Maurer while you’re up visiting him?
So they did! After the vigil Mass today (October 11) at Saint Mary Star of the Sea, Bill & Heidi were joined in the sacrament of matrimony. Joining in the celebration were two parishioners who graciously – and enthusiastically! – volunteered to witness the wedding, along with an altar server who kindly stuck around to make sure the pastor didn’t goof things up (he didn’t!). It was a brief but joyous occasion. I am so proud of them for persevering to reach this day and honored to be able to bear witness to the fruits of their labors. Please join me in prayers of praise & thanksgiving as Bill & Heidi celebrate their nuptials – another reminder of God’s providence and care for His children.
October 5 – Most parishes have a very particular image of Christ in them: that of the Divine Mercy. It is a stylized representation of the Lord, with Jesus robed in white, one hand raised and the other pointing to His heart, from which a red ray & a pale ray come forth. What is perhaps less known is that this is likely the only image of Jesus that He Himself commissioned! Appearing to Saint Faustina Kowalska (today’s saint), Jesus appeared to her in just this way and instructed that a painting be made as He appeared to her so that those who venerated this image might know Him and His protection. And so it happened that the devotion of Divine Mercy came about – Divine Mercy Sunday (the Sunday after Easter), the Divine Mercy chaplet, and prayer at the hour of Divine Mercy (3 pm – the hour when Jesus died on the cross). Read more about Saint Faustina at the Vatican News website.
October 7 – Today’s memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary is very dear to my heart. In no small part, this is due to the place that the rosary has come to fill in my prayer life – a devotion that I quite frankly disliked (and even resented!) in my youth but came to love as a priest. This was in part due to the encouragement & exhortation of my brother priests, but also due my first pastorate being that of a parish (Holy Rosary in Tacoma) named in honor of this title of Mary. To any who struggle with the rosary, I would offer my empathy (I get it!) and echo the exhortation of those who so encouraged me: give this devotion a chance in your prayer life, especially in this month of the rosary. Read more about this memorial at Catholic Culture..
October 9 – Saint John Henry Newman, memorialized today, is perhaps a name especially known to those who come into the Church from a Protestant denomination. Himself a renowned preacher within the Church of England, his journey to Rome began when he began to examine teachings of the early Church Fathers. Though he dedicated himself to reforming the Church of England to better reflect the early Church, his efforts were met with resistance. He eventually came to realize that the fullness of the faith was found within the Catholic Church and converted. He was ordained a priest and gave great witness even while under suspicion for his conversion from Catholics and Protestants alike. Pope Leo XIII made him a cardinal – but not, at Newman’s request, ordaining him a bishop. He was canonized by Pope Francis only recently in 2019. Read more about him at the Vatican News website.
October 11 – We don’t know a lot about Saint Philip, though what we do know comes right out of Sacred Scripture. When deacons were chosen in the Acts of the Apostle to assist them in the day-to-day needs of the community, Philip was among those selected seven. Perhaps the most famous story involving him is of his conversion of the eunuch – within which is one of the more convicting lines we Christians would do well to consider: “How can I [understand], unless someone instructs me?”. The eunuch’s response to Philip’s sharing of the gospel speaks is likewise an encouragement for our own witness: “Look, there is water. What is to prevent my being baptized?” Read more about him at FaithND at Notre Dame’s website.
This week’s “Why Do Catholics Do That?” pastor’s insert (from the October 5, 2025 bulletins)
Priests celebrating their anniversaries this week
- Rev. Andrii Oliinyk (October 10, 2021)
- Rev. Peter Phong Van Nguyen, S.D.D. (October 14, 1995)
Remembering our deceased priests
- Fr. Richard J. Basso (October 6, 2018)
- Fr. John A. Jennings (October 7, 2018)
- Fr. Peter Ryan (October 9, 1910)
- Fr. Thomas Delahunty (October 9, 2007)
Fr. Cody Ross is an amazing priest! He played an incredible role in our daughter’s life while chaplain at WWU.