Thank you to all of our parents and children for attending our Teaching Masses at St. Camillus and St. Vitus. I also want to thank Father Anthony for his assistance in doing some of the Teaching Masses. I look forward to having all of our children and parents at Mass every week.

On Sunday, September 15, after my last Mass, I drove to the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia as part of my duties as chaplain to the FBI. I sit on the steering committee for chaplains representing the Northeast. I spent several days training new chaplains for the Bureau. After that, I was off to my annual priest retreat. The law of the Church requires every priest to make an  annual retreat. This is probably one of the wisest      demands of  Cannon Law with regards to clergy. None of us can offer to others what we ourselves do not possess. Every priest must be seriously connected and committed to Christ in order to draw others to Him. This retreat is a time for the sacrament of reconciliation and to sit at the Lord’s feet and listen. Much like the story of Martha and Mary, we are busy and anxious about many things, but the Lord reminds us that the most important thing is to listen to Him.

Next week, I will be joining all of the priests of the Diocese for a multi-day convocation at Oglebay, West Virginia. Every two years, the Bishop gathers all the priests in the Diocese at Oglebay and puts forward his agenda. This year is a very critical time since it is almost one year since the implementation of what the Bishop has been calling On Mission.
My gratitude to Deacon John, Deacon Dan, Fr. Molka, Fr. Nick and our entire pastoral staff for assisting us so that Fr. Brendan, Fr. Anthony and I can attend the convocation. Please know that we will be keeping all of you in our prayers during this time. Please keep in your prayers the priests of the Diocese and all of our seminarians, deacon candidates and permanent deacons, as well as religious women and men of the Diocese. As you well know, these are challenging times, with the grace of God, we are up to the challenge! Please pray for vocations.

Thanks to everyone who participated in, and made the Craft and Food Festival of Holy Spirit Parish possible. In addition, congratulations to the teens and the leaders 
of our newly established CYO volleyball extravaganza!     
 
Please plan to attend the Holy Spirit Fall Fest Family Gathering at St. James site Sunday evening, September 29, from 5:00 to 9:00 pm. See hsplc.org/upcoming-events on our website.

I am very grateful to all of you who have remained faithful and continue  to offer your time, talent and treasure to the service of Christ, His Church and our Parish!

         God love you,