Hello from vacation! This week I am (mostly) out of town at the Emerald City Comic Con (Thursday through Sunday), with my parents & brothers joining me for the first two days. As I understand it, there are some parishioners who are also attending – and some former parishioners too! – that I hope to bump into at some point during the convention. It has been one of the great and affirming delights since ordination to realize more & more how God uses our weaknesses & struggles as well as our desires & delights to show His glory in our lives AND in ministry. I’ve been going to ECCC since 2014 and it has never failed that I run into folks who could use a little bit of priestly presence – and are pleasantly surprised to find that there is a priest who is as geeky as them (and, I daresay, that I am not the only one!).

This last weekend I was away too, but for a more explicitly ministerial reason: the second of the archdiocese’ semiannual ‘Betrothed’ retreats. This is only the second one for which I have served as chaplain, but I am excited to have been invited to be part of this important part of marriage prep for couples who come to the retreats. This time around, there were around twenty couples who came to the retreat. The team of leaders – led by Kimberly Abadir, director of the Lifelong Formation Department of the archdiocese – is extraordinary: they are faith-filled, enthusiastic, and knowledgeable couples who aspire to share the good news of God’s call to the covenant of marriage. And the couples! Talk about folks who are open to the Holy Spirit, even when the call is individually & communally challenging. We ended that retreat with a clear sense that God was working in and among everyone present – truly a blessed weekend!

There has also been a touch of sorrow over the last few days and indeed weeks. Most recently was the sudden and unexpected death of Father Vaiula Iulio – during his celebration of a funeral Mass, no less. Father Vaiula – or simply ‘Vai’, as we knew him in seminary – was an upper classman to me when I entered seminary studies at Saint John Seminary College in Camarillo, California. Despite his intimidating size & presence, his easy smile and kind demeanor quickly overwhelmed any hesitancy in getting to know him. I can’t claim that we were close, but he was friend to every man on campus – and always ready to find an excuse for a barbecue: you could always find Vai and co. near a grill on the edge of the field. It was a wonderful surprise to find that he had come to the archdiocese to serve his fellow Samoans (and many others) at Pope Saint John XXIII parish in Tacoma. Though I did not know him in his priesthood, he was a wonderful man and will be dearly missed by so many.

Earlier in February, we also said goodbye to a man perhaps not well-known by most Catholics but whose service has touched literally every community across the archdiocese. Ed Williams (RIP, March 18, 1942 – February 4, 2026) served as the Chief Financial Officer of the archdiocese for many, many years. Despite holding such a lofty position, Ed was an extraordinarily down-to-earth man. Early in my priesthood, I was pastor of Holy Rosary & Saint Joseph parishes in Tacoma. While Saint Joseph was financially stable, Holy Rosary was facing more than half a million dollars of debt and financial struggles that deeply unsettled their new – and quite inexperienced! – pastor. I don’t know how many times I called Ed with my worries and asking him for advice, but one day he made a startling (if typical, I suspect!) offer: he lived relatively close to Holy Rosary – would I mind if he started attending our Finance Council meetings to help me out? I happily took him up on the offer and to this day remain grateful for his gentle guidance and generous attentive care. May he and Father Vaiula enjoy the blessings of eternal joy with the Lord and all the saints.

I would end on a related prayerful note – with assurances of my own prayers for you (and a request for yours for me)! According to Canon Law (CIC 276 §2, /4), every priest is required to make an annual retreat and mine starts Sunday evening through Friday afternoon. I will be making my retreat at an undisclosed location somewhere in the archdiocese (I’ll tell you about it afterwards ;-)), with a heavy focus on unplugging (turning off my cell phone – a rare treat indeed!), spending time with the Lord, and discerning how He is calling me to greater intimacy with Him. Please keep me in your prayers and know that you will be in mine.