Dear Parishioners and Friends:

 This week, on Tuesday the 25th of July, we celebrate the 32nd anniversary of the death of Father Edward McKaharay, a boy of this parish, who returned as the pastor. He died all too early, please remember him in your prayer.
 
I must say,  your prayer is truly effective! Remember all my laments last week, and my request that you pray that the tabernacle would be restored........and that the Building Department would finally come to inspect and approve the new chair lift? Well on Monday morning the tabernacle WAS restored.....and on Tuesday, the Buildings Department Official arrived, conducted the inspection, and approved the lift! Keep those prayers coming........and thank you!
 
Tuesday is the Feast of St. James the Apostle.  He is called “the Greater” because he followed Jesus before the other disciple with the same name, James the Less, whose feast we celebrate on May 3rd (The Feast of Philip and James).
 
While summertime is often quiet at the parish, this summer various members of the Pastoral Planning Committee continue to meet, implementing some of the many wonderful ideas to come out of the parish survey. These words from Pope Francis’ homily at the Cathedral of St. Peter & Paul in Philadelphia remind me of all that is happening here these days. 
 
“One of the great challenges facing the Church in this generation is to foster in all the faithful a sense of personal responsibility for the Church’s mission, and to enable them to fulfill that responsibility as missionary disciples, as a leaven of the Gospel in our world. This will require creativity in adapting to changed situations, carrying forward the legacy of the past not primarily by maintaining our structures and institutions, which have served us well, but above all by being open to the possibilities which the Spirit opens up to us and communicating the joy of the Gospel, daily and in every season of our life.

We know that the future of the Church in a rapidly changing society will call, and even now calls, for a much more active engagement on the part of the laity. The Church in the United States has always devoted immense effort to the work of catechesis and education. Our challenge today is to build on those solid foundations and to foster a sense of collaboration and shared responsibility in planning for the future of our parishes and institutions. This does not mean relinquishing the spiritual authority with which we have been entrusted; rather, it means discerning and employing wisely the manifold gifts which the Spirit pours out upon the Church. In a particular way, it means valuing the immense contribution which women, lay and religious, have made and continue to make, to the life of our communities.”
 
I hope you might consider some way in which you can better enrich the parish community......please pray about it, and please pray for peace.
 
Father Duffell