Greetings in Christ, all!
In our Church tradition, we have an amazing concept called The Corporal Works of Mercy. These works of mercy are depicted in our stained glass windows of our church. They are: to feed the hungry, to give drink to the thirsty, to clothe the naked, to give shelter to travelers, to visit the sick, to visit the imprisoned, and to bury the dead.
These are the seven best things we can do as Christians and we try to do them faithfully. As part of that, my last parish school and several others in our diocese and the diocese next to us had a wonderful tradition: Whenever we had a funeral, the kids would all come out of the school and pray a part of the rosary for the dead and those who mourn them.
I cannot tell you the impact this had on our parish and our school. Families would emerge from the Church, led by the priest and servers, ready to place the casket in the hearse. As they came out the doors, they would hear the voices of our kids praying for them…it was amazing…a true blessing for our students and for the families laying their loved one to rest.
Starting very soon, we are going to do this at Holy Family. Our school is our parish and our parish is our school. We mourn together, we hope together, we pray together.
When we did this at my last parish school, the kids absolutely loved it and the people who experienced it wrote letters of gratitude for the experience. If you have kids at our school, please feel free to join them for this prayer experience anytime you are able.
I also have to tell you that we are once again experiencing a high volume of scammers contacting you all pretending to be me.
Please, please share this information:
As your priest, I will never, ever text or email you and ask you to send me gift cards for anyone. I will not ask you for financial assistance through email or text. I will never do that.
It might look like my email address, it might appear to be me, but it is not. I do not do that.
I am so deeply saddened that these soulless monsters prey on your generous hearts and on the relationship we have formed as priest and community. I pray they repent before they face judgment. I also pray God protect you from these people.
A final note: If you get a text from me asking for bacon or cake, that is not a scam, that is me and I urge you to act without delay.
I love you all. Thank you for letting me be your priest.
fjk