Dear Friends,

The Atlantic, a prestigious magazine based in Washington, D.C., recently published an article entitled “How Extremist Gun Culture is Trying to Co-opt the Rosary.” Written by Canadian Daniel Panneton, it was heavy on conspiracy theory and identitarian hysteria, and very light on facts (let alone theological accuracy).

Dear Friends,

One of the main issues dividing Christians from non-believers—and even Christians from other Christians—is abortion. Is it a human being? Or does the mother have the right to decide to end the child’s life?

Dear Friends,

One theme that is consistent among Bishops, Catholic commentators, authors and observers of the Church in the 21st century, is the need for all Catholics to be actively engaged in sharing our faith. Our efforts need to be directed to fallen away Catholics or to anyone who is seeking God.

Dear Friends,

As most of you know, Pope Francis has appointed Bishop John Dolan as the 5th Bishop of our 52-year-old Diocese. Before coming here, Bishop Dolan was the Auxiliary Bishop of San Diego and is a native of the San Diego area.

As with all major moments in our Catholic Church, the transfer of authority from Bishop Olmsted to Bishop Dolan, was a beautiful and tradition-laden event. It began the evening before his formal Installation (August 1st) with Solemn Vespers at the Cathedral. Priests, Deacons and their wives and all religious men and women were invited. At 5:30pm, when the church was silent, we heard 3 loud knocks on the main door. It was Bishop Dolan; he was following a long-standing tradition of rapping on the door as if to say, ‘let me in to take charge of my Cathedral’ (the bishop’s parish).

Dear Friends,

As many of you know, Catholics in the U.S. have begun a 3-year campaign to help us all better understand and embrace the great gift of the Holy Eucharist. Deacon Dave Knebelsberger, and a group he has assembled, are praying about and planning a variety of ways to help us all to achieve this goal. We will be joining in all that our new Bishop proposes to the parishes, but I would like to see OLMC experience a Eucharistic Revival with our own initiatives as well. More details to follow.

Dear Friends,

Thanks to all of you who made our Patronal Feast day a great success. The St Theresa Group and Sr Maria Isabel for all of their planning; the Knights for providing a great dinner on Saturday night; our St Vincent de Paul Chapter for ice cream galore; Donna Higgins for the beautiful OLMC banner; our new statue of OLMC provided by a generous parishioner; to all of the children who processed into Mass with flowers for our Blessed Mother; the Living Rosary Group, Sodality, the Evangelization Team, the Ushers and our Maintenance Staff; to all of the generous parishioners who helped with set up and tear down; and (despite the risk of seeming self-serving) to the Still Waters Band for providing the music on Saturday night. And to anyone I’ve omitted to mention, Thank You!

Dear Friends,

My dear brothers and sisters, I extend my love and gratitude for each of you on this Solemnity of our Patroness, Our Lady of Mt Carmel. Because the Church understands the profound importance of honoring the parish patron, we are able to supersede the given Sunday readings and prayers for this date with those for Our Lady of Mt Carmel.

Dear Friends,

The euphoria of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on June 24th overturning the 1973 decision Roe v. Wade as well as the 1992 decision Planned Parenthood v. Casey is starting to subside. Nonetheless, all Catholics--all Americans--who believe in the sanctity of human life are deeply grateful that this court rectified the egregious and deeply consequential errors of that decision. But we cannot assume that the battle is over. In some ways, it has only just begun. (I heard one commentator quote Winston Churchill after the Allies finally won a battle at El Alamein: “This is not the end; nor is it the beginning of the end; but it is end of the beginning.”)

Dear Friends,

Next Friday we will be hosting the praise and worship team, The Well. They are a group of young adult Catholics who travel to different parishes leading the community in contemporary praise music, Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and an exhortation on the Word of God. We are blessed to have them come to OLMC and share their love of God and talents with us. What they do is very similar to what Life Teen calls XLT nights. It is a time to worship the Lord in the Spirit and allow Him to move in powerful ways among us.

Dear Friends,

Miguel Nuñez, our new Youth Minister, has settled in and is making plans to restart a youth ministry here at OLMC. We will be using the Life Teen/Edge models for both high school and junior high students. Our Sunday 5:00pm Mass will be the liturgical focus for the high schoolers, so those who attend that Mass can expect the music to be a little more upbeat and (hopefully) attractive to the teens.

To be successful in evangelizing and discipling our young people, Miguel will need several volunteers for the core teams, preparing meals, helping with logistics, etc. If you want to be a part of this outreach to the youth of our parish, please contact Miguel at miguel@olmctempe.com.

Dear Friends,

Next week is the Feast of Corpus Christi, where we give thanks to God for granting us the Gift of the Holy Eucharist. It is also the beginning of the three-year Eucharistic Revival initiative, sponsored by the American Bishops. The purpose of the Revival is to fortify us against the storm we are facing in the culture and our Church by uniting us once again around the source and summit of our faith--the Holy Eucharist. We will keep you informed as the process unfolds. You can also sign up on the website to find out more and to receive updates directly:

www.eucharisticrevival.org/mission-vision-and-timeline