We have copies available at Sacred Heart Church for the Tri-Community. Our copies are available for $5.00. We will begin selling them after Mass on November 1. Call our parish office if you want to purchase a copy before hand. The book is published by Ave Maria Press, Notre Dame, Indiana.

Here is a description of the book: Continue reading →

Sacred Heart Retreat Center, Sedalia, Colorado

I offered a brief presentation today on my experiences of people surviving sexual abuse. The clergy have been meeting since Tuesday at Sacred Heart Retreat Center in Sedalia, Colorado. My presentation was part of a discussion on the Safe Environment Policies for the Diocese. This brief talk tells the tale of some people I have known in Portland, some of the circumstances have been changed to protect people’s identity. 

Thank you for this opportunity to share with you a few stories of living and working among people who have suffered sexual abuse. I moved here in July after spending over eleven years serving at Saint Andre Bessette Church in Portland, Oregon. The small parish serves people surviving urban poverty, people living outside, people battling long-term addictions and people living with mental illness. Continue reading →

This is the outline for my keynote address to “To know one another by name”. I am very grateful for everyone at Catholic Charities for inviting me for this morning’s conference. I am so grateful to have heard from so many people who attended the conference of their great work in the Diocese of Colorado Springs. The names that are listed in this talk have been significant teachers in my life as a priest. I want to honor their stories with great reverence and thank God for my time with them to learn their names and witness their stories. 

Thank you all for this opportunity to speak with you today. I am delighted to know that this conference exists for all of you serving people in need. I want to thank you all for acknowledging the circumstances of people in poverty in your own parishes and our common call to extend our lives well beyond our personal and ecclesial boundaries. Thank you for your ministry. Thank you for getting to know the names of strangers, especially our sisters and brothers who experience urban and rural poverty, consistent loss and social neglect. Continue reading →

We all belong: Preaching to our family of believers

Several years ago I was setting up the chapel for the celebration of The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. I was quietly reflecting on my homily and the fact that in our urban parish community there are few families that fit a traditional model. I noticed the three people who had already arrived in the chapel to pray quietly before Mass. Continue reading →

I want to thank everyone at Liturgical Press at Saint John’s Abbey in Collegeville, MN for offering our parish community 350 free copies of Give Us This Day. I wrote a reflection for October 29 in this present issue. To learn more about this practical guide for daily Mass and prayer: Click here.  I am very excited to be part of the team for this wonderful resource for the Sacred Liturgy. I want to thank especially, Mary Stommes for her invitation to me to be a contributor to Give Us This Day.