Friends,

This past week we celebrated Fathers’ Day during which we honored and prayed for our fathers both biological and spiritual. Thank you for your prayers. Although I had a strong urge to focus my homily on fatherhood, the liturgical impulse to preach on the readings of the day prevailed. In this short article, therefore, allow me to brie$y share some of my thoughts on the significance of fatherhood in the lives of our children. I deem this to be very important because our fathers significantly shape how we handle responsibilities and challenges and view life in general in our adult lives. The way our fathers treat our mothers for instance, will determine how the boys will treat women in general and their wives in particular, as adults.

Dear Friends,

What a great blessing it is for me to be called to serve you here at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel as your pastor at this point in my priestly life. I am convinced that this is not by coincidence, it is by providence. In a month’s time, I will be celebrating my 32nd year of priestly ordination. During these past years, I have no doubt that the Lord has been at work, building, molding, and motivating me just for this moment. While He has done amazing things for me, He has also allowed me to face various challenges over the years in order to purify and strengthen me so that with His help, I may come out a stronger person to serve you. I will share some of these in future articles.

Dear Friends,

So much serious stuff has been going on around us this past couple of months that I would like to lighten the atmosphere a bit with this light article which I write in the place of Fr. Charlie. As I do so, let us continue to pray that Fr. Charlie enjoys his well-deserved rest as he prepares to move onto his new assignment. Let us also welcome Fr. Bitrus Maigamo who will be serving us in this month of June and of course, keep in your prayers Fr. Gabriel Terrill who will join us in July as our Parochial Vicar.

This article was inspired by my recent experience and conversations about aging while on my vacation in Uganda. Many people I encountered there kept on remarking that I look younger than my age and that I don’t seem to age. While I kind of enjoyed those compliments, in reality I feel very different now than ever before and I don’t like it. I recall that when I was young, I looked forward to growing old but no one ever warned me about the other frustrations that come with age such as aching bones, frequent doctors’ appointments, impatience, whining about the present state of affairs, worrying about retirement and everything else. I noticed this even more clearly when I found myself among my fellow “old men” in my village reminiscing about the past good old days and condemning the children of these day.

Dear Friends,

It has been more than 20 years that merchant cards have been sold at OLMC to help fund school expenses. This program, administered by the Home and School Association, has benefitted many teachers and their students over the years. School volunteers standing in their spot selling cards after the Sunday Masses is a sight we are all accustomed to seeing.

Much has changed since the program was "first initiated—especially with the way that so much is done online. Today, schools in our diocese that still have SCRIP programs do all of their transactions online. These online sites allow you to purchase the cards and credit our school account, all from the comfort of your home.