Weekend Shares with Fr. Lapeyre

December 1, 2024

    It scarcely takes any time at all the few weeks from Thanksgiving to one of the greatest feast days of December. Christmas is here in just a few weeks! Now that Thanksgiving is over Advent is a short but special time before Christmas for a reflection on the end of time and the hopefulness that Christmas represents to us. Christmas is one of the six Holy days of Obligation in which a Catholic is supposed to go to Mass. These days are considered special feast days that are like another Sunday. One of those feast days we tend to miss and skip over though, it’s another important feast day that is occurring this next week, which is often overlooked by many Catholics, is the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. It has been transferred to December 9th, this year so that we don’t confuse it with the second Sunday of Advent. Catholics are therefore not obligated to worship at Mass this day. If you don’t know though, the Immaculate Conception is not just part of the name for St Mary up by the River Raisin in Monroe. The Immaculate Conception is a patronal feast day for our whole country. It is a feast day celebrating Mary who is our National patron. She is the Mother of Jesus who was not merely an important historical figure. Jesus is both God and Man. And He lived and died for our sins. And since He is our Chief Lord and God, High king and High priest, His Mother is our Queen Mother, and Our Lady. Don’t forget to honor her sometime next week on December 9th. It is normally one of the great Holy Days of Obligation we celebrate as Catholics. However, since it was transferred it is not mandatory to attend Mass this year. If you were to look at the Calendar for our Holy days of obligatory mass attendance, they are mostly celebrations of Mary. Why? Because Mary is just that awesome! In fact, she is an awesome patron. From personal experience I highly insist that you enlist Mary’s aid in whatever need and whatever struggle you are having. There is no person in creation with more grace than Mary. This is a theological truth and a solemn teaching of our faith. She really has God’s ear and is the perfect mother for you. So, this next week is a really important one for Mary. It also has another feast day too. We celebrate Our Lady of Guadalupe that same week December 12th. Don’t ignore Mary, if you can’t attend Mass, during one of these feast days, at least do something in honor of Mary. You won’t be disappointed by her aid for you!

God Bless you!

-Fr. Lapeyre

November 24, 2024

    In our day, we are calcified in our negative outlook on life and faith. It is easy to focus only on how darker the world seems in the growing days of winter… “The world is a dark place…” “No one respects the truth  anymore…” “I can’t stand it that Christmas decorations were up during Thanksgiving…etc...” Our outlook about many things can be changed if we look to a Christian sense of Hope that is remembered at this time. Thanksgiving is of course a time to relax with family and even reflect on many of the numerous disjointed messages delivered to us in the media (No danger there?). It can be a tough time for some, especially for those who have recently lost family. It also means that we have about 5 weeks until Christmas!



 The Old Testament scriptures really emphasize to us how important the sense of hopeful expectation of the coming of the Christmas Incarnation is a part of our spiritual lives. Our faith teaches us that Hope does not disappoint. (Rom 5:5) And if we have Hope, then we are given the answer to what makes the whole year about grace. Because God does provide us help. He does answer the cry of the poor. He did choose to take our likeness and appearance, enter into our weakness, into circumstances of danger and fear which were nothing to romanticize about. He was born into a world filled with the pathetic, and chaotic. But He makes real our redemption, forgiveness, and divine life. His coming into the world was even through family struggles. Whatever happens this Thanksgiving or Advent, do not forget that Jesus Christ has a story for you. He has a job for you. He has a future for you.

God Bless you!

-Fr. Lapeyre

November 17, 2024

   So, Thanksgiving is less than two weeks away! What traditions have you had for the celebration of Thanksgiving? Is there a particular dish that has your family story to it? My parents moved us up to Michigan from New Orleans when I was very young. And although Thanksgiving was for a long time “just another holiday” for many years, after one trip back to New Orleans, my mother decided she was going to make at least one dish that brought the feel of New Orleans cooking up north. And so, she found a recipe for oyster stuffing. Ever since then, we have refused to have a meal without this dish. While we’ve had other New Orleans cuisine around the Thanksgiving holiday, the one requirement every member of the family insists on, is oyster stuffing. You may not be a seafood enthusiast, but New Orleans conveniently has access to a plethora of seafood options. I’ve considered that perhaps the story of the loaves

and fishes should be considered the first thanksgiving. Historical origins to the pilgrim holiday aside, it’s certainly true that those first settlers who sailed across the ocean from Europe to the North American continent were Christians. Hence, they wouldn’t have even been there had there not been that first event of Jesus and his followers by the sea of galilee.

 Thanksgiving is a time for family and to give thanks to God for the years blessings. With less than two months to spare, the year 2024 is nearly over. What happened to you this year? Has this year been a cause for thanksgiving? Even if bad things have happened, losses or disappointments, perhaps you haven’t worked out everything that is going to happen in the next few years. One of the things I recommend is to find some way of cherishing the important events and people in our lives. It’s no accident that we have memorials of past events, or that

we celebrate anniversaries. Time can put distance between an anniversary, and in the routine of simply “living” day to day the important things in our life become mundane and important people forgotten. Sure, it’s possible to have Turkey, cranberries, pie, and such on any day of the year. Graduations, trophies, honors, and all the blessings of life can easily become something that just happened in the past, forgotten, placed into an attic or basement tomb. But it is a beautiful privilege we have to be alive today.

 You probably have so many things to be thankful for. Even if this year has been basically the same for you as previous years, even being spared major life changes has been a blessing! Perhaps you are now enjoying the fruits of perseverance during years past. Perhaps you know that tomorrow there are all kinds of unknown fears. This might be your first time hearing it, but we have a rare privilege as Catholics to be alive today. Even in the worries, we all know the same God who remembers us. He is even willing to listen to you and wants to hear a few words of thanks. 

God Bless you!

-Fr. Lapeyre

October 13, 2024

    Several years ago, but not many, I was talking to a woman in a parking lot who had lost both her son and her husband. Her grandkids and her other daughter were the only family she had in this world, and even then, she could only rarely see them as they were out of state. Nevertheless, she had a very cheerful and hope-filled heart. As we spoke, she told me that she was listening to the sound of my voice at the Mass. It was a genuinely nice compliment! But I was not sure what to say as a response to her compliment right away, honestly. I wonder if I only thought to say that she was being truly kind or if I remember responding back, “thank you for those words of kindness.” As a priest or for any public speaker, complements like that, can warm the ears for hearing it. Like a good word for a job well done.

I have known people who have lost the gifts of speaking, or singing, which they once had. An operation or an illness transforms their own unique voice. Turned around, there are those who lose their hearing. Every sound is all the more precious for the changes that have affected their experience of the world around them. I pray that God one day will let them finally hear and experience the sounds that they missed due to illness: every word of thanks which they could not hear. The profound miracles of Jesus Christ about restoring sight to the blind, and hearing to the deaf are also certainly reminders that heaven is a place that restores whatever it is that we have lost.

Everything is an open book to God. (Ps 139) He also cares for our souls, and desires that we remember that we follow Him to get to heaven. In a world which so often leads us into delivering obnoxious or false ideas to one another. I regret forever whenever I have said hurtful things, and or spoken about things foolishly. I especially regret the foolishness of my youth. Something to think about though, when we speak to one another, wouldn’t it be best to not forget that there are human beings in front of us? We all have the ability to tear down someone’s reputation with words. Ask yourself, “do I speak lightly about someone I find fault with?” Detraction is also a sin. The built-in microphone of our voice is a unique gift we possess that does not require batteries. Our voice can be good or bad not just by sound but by what we use it for. We sometimes forget to say, “good job,” and “thank you,” to people regularly enough. I sometimes have to remind people that the unique voice that we have is still the microphone for

Gods own voice in the world.

Through the centuries, God has relied on human voices to reveal Himself to us as our loving creator. The scriptures provide countless examples of God’s voice echoing through all sorts of prophetic people. Jesus is the Word of God himself speaking and calling us to work for His divine mission. This week we can promise to God that we will pay closer attention to the words He wants us to hear and be ready receive it with a glad and thankful heart. We should remember that we have a precious gift that God intends us to use charitably. The voice you have is powerful! Go ahead and use that beautiful voice of yours!

“I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (Jn 13:34-35)

God Bless you!

-Fr. Lapeyre

October 6, 2024

    I often wondered what benefit it was to say that “I’m spiritual but not religious.” Some people I have asked that question to then reference God right away, and others are more circumspect in stating their faith. In our broken world you and I both know that it sometimes takes extraordinary effort to understand and “get along” with family, or friends and coworkers. But is there any difference between merely being spiritual and being Catholic? Do not get me wrong, I am not saying that faithful Catholics practicing what the Church has traditionally given us is not spiritual. What I am saying is really, that there is more real spirituality in Mass and the teachings of our faith then there is in one’s insistence that they do not need religion. What is the difference? Well, it is easier to go and pray your own prayers without someone else telling you how to talk to God. People might be nicer to you if they do not know anything about what you really believe and practice. Jesus for you can be a nice picture on the wall that in your mind you hear nothing but His acceptance. He might just be a simple hero of a story you read about.

 Is that really spirituality though? I have even asked when someone claims to be “spiritual and not religious,” do others call you spiritual? If that is not the point, how is it indistinguishable from a hobby? Any serious look at Jesus in the Gospels would show that the faith He founded was not merely a private hobby. Sure, He gathered his disciples to teach them on the “mountain top” sometimes (John 6:3). Often, Jesus is called “teacher” or “rabbi” not because He healed the sick, forgave sins, and so forth. He was called teacher because He was able to hand on knowledge of God and the spirituality God intends for us so that His disciples could learn and imitate these lessons. It is no accident that every movie and every story that features Catholics always show us the image of a Church building. The spirituality of Jesus Christ and our Catholic faith is present even in the architecture where we gather. It is not simply a dining hall, bowling alley or movie theater. Consider it more like an academy of the Holy Spirit.

 When I was in Monroe, a student once asked me. “Father, aren’t all priests really the same?” I was joyful then because for me in my personal experience, which is easily yes and no answer. Just like all of us, we are Baptized, we may have the same Lord who is Jesus Christ, and so there is something that defines us. It sets us apart from the world, but there are many different Catholics out there. Just the same, there are many different priests, even though we do not get to compare notes all the time. How long has it been since my last conversation with those who I had gone to seminary with? Priests try to reconnect, but in our hustle and bustle society, there aren’t enough hours in the day to make a trip out to see someone half across the Archdiocese. And I remember once trying to set a time to meet up with a classmate from another diocese. It took a month to figure out a meeting time that worked with both our schedules and another two months until we could sit down to lunch together!

 One of those things that sticks out the most events where I meet other priests though, it is how different everyone in the presbyterate is. I mean, and maybe in your experience, priests seem to look all the same. We dress in black and wear white collars, but there are personal differences on manners and expressions that we have; Many are outgoing, but some, they have to get to know you a bit before you see their openness and sense of humor.

 Priests are like most people. But given an important position of leading and ministering to God’s people and are tasked to, “pursue in their ministry and by their life…to procure the glory of God the Father in Christ.” (Blessed Pope Paul VI) Well that is the mystery of God. That He can make us into His instruments. In the Mass, the priest gives thanks to God for “continuing to gather his people together,” and a corollary truth is this, “The whole community of believers is, as such, priestly.” (CCC 1546) We are all members of a baptismal priesthood. In our own way we too are being made into a rich means for that purpose.

“let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help.” (Heb 4:16)

God Bless you!

-Fr. Lapeyre

September 29, 2024

September 8, 2024

   Love math! In their own way, the answers that can be discovered mathematically offer certainty about our world in so many ways we take for granted. A machine just works, and we can be certain that it works, or we can be certain that it works without giving any consideration as to “how it works,” why? Because math is the same wherever you go. Someone somewhere figured out what it took for an electric motor to work, and with mathematical certainty they made a working machine that washes dishes. All the components of a washing machine have a mathematically clear explanation as to “how they work.” However, for most of us, whether we are innocent about math or not, most of the things in our lives are contingent on technology that requires math.

   Our calendar that tells us, “What day it is,” also requires numbers. The liturgical year and what feast day we are on would be unknowable without us numbering our days correctly (Psalm 90:12). One anniversary that falls on a milestone of my life would be the year I entered Seminary. I was 23 years old then and coincidentally it has been 23 years since September 11th. The two events were not in the same year nor related except by sharing the same number. Have you ever heard people claim that the loss of America’s innocence lies in the events surrounding September 11th? No, I am not saying that this is something new or incomparable to other events in the past. When I think about my own experience though, I remember clearly that Tuesday Morning getting up to the words of my brother saying, “A plane just struck one of the towers of the World Trade Center in New York!” I had only once ever been to New York, but with all the events unfolding that day, the feelings of a then eighteen-year-old young man mostly focused on questions. Was this horrible tragedy going to happen again? What was my role in the future? I think everyone would soon struggle with “a sense of obligation” that such events needed some responses. Complicated events proceeded from the complicated and certain threads of mankind’s sinfulness. I tend to think that the shock of it all was amplified because young people my age had little experience to understanding it; “Who would do such a thing?”

 Loss of innocence is a term people use to describe a time when something bad has happened. A Christian use for the term always accounts for the original biblical fall of Adam and Eve. Catholic teaching does not say a specific mathematical date exists for when the fall of Adam and Eve happened. But we as Catholics must believe that there was a biblical Adam and a biblical Eve. That is to say that even if an individual Catholic believes in evolution, as a Catholic, the Church requires us to believe in the teaching that we have a common ancestor, Adam and Eve, who fell from grace somewhere at some time in our past. (You can read more about it from Humani Generis by Pope Pius XII) As far as science and math are concerned there is no specific answer to whether there was or was not a “biblical Adam.” But we are to believe that revelation which has been handed onto us includes the doctrine of Original Sin and the Fall. A concept that entails our common ancestry in Adam and Eve. It means that we all inherit an inclination to do evil which we call concupiscence. From the original sin of Adam and Eve a chain of events would manifest into history from the first killing of Abel by Cain, even on to 9/11. When one event started, a whole series of consequences would be the result. But for many people the September 11 attacks are less a description of a particularly broken age, and more about a common experience all people have in the light of fallenness of the world. Is there a response to us from God? Why of course! Pope Saint John-Paul II in Redemptoris Missio gives us the insight “Before leaving his disciples, [Jesus] gives them a ‘new commandment.’” The response to many of our troubles is always new in the sense that each of us must accept it in our own lives. “Love one another; even as I have loved you” (Jn 13:34) There is still always a right response. God has taught us

that there is a right answer. Faith in him is not just about reading some books, but to learn to be like him. God loved us from the beginning even when we became His enemies He loved us.

May God bless you!

Fr. Lapeyre

September 1, 2024

  There is a popular saying that many people may have heard in some form, “It is always darker before the light of a new day.” We are entering the new school year, but In the Summertime by Mungo Jerry still plays somewhere on the latest model cellphone. A store visit for post it-notes sees a mother and children gathering supplies for the upcoming school year. I remember as a student when Labor Day weekend was considered to be… ‘The end of summer.’

 If you notice that days have been growing shorter with the impending end of ‘summertime’… It is still a wonderful time to begin the process of making new friends! For some of our new kids in school who may have beginning year worries, I want to encourage you. You have a good year ahead of you! You might worry about the huge shift in your life when summer quickly transitions to fall and winter. School is a time to discover more about yourself, the world, and God’s work in your life. In many ways, Labor Day is a transition for us as a Parish and school. Is summer really over? On the calendar it is not, but there is definitely something different to the days in the month before and the days following Labor Day. We sometimes think of the impending winter as a time of darkness, work, ice, and anxiety. The months of the year remain but they become shorter. People (like me) make annoying comments, “did you know that 2024 has only four months left in it?” “Christmas is less than four months away!” “September 22nd is the autumnal equinox!”

 I have wondered about the number of words that we use for no seeming purpose other than to agitate. I say this knowing that this is personally an awkward thing to overcome. St James connects our use of words to the spiritual life, and he tells us that, “If anyone does not fall short in speech, he is a perfect man, able to bridle his whole body also.” (Jas 3:2) It is something to think about. If you know the answer to a question you are about to ask someone, or even and or especially if you do not want to know it, what profit is there in asking? We have so many things that resound noisily in our world. Here is a question, do you think that social media conversations, like Facebook, tend to bleed into even the way we treat our everyday conversations with people? Especially, when we use the internet anonymously, have we been good stewards of our speech? It is easy to become negative, and it is quite easy to say disrespectful things on the internet, such words people would never say in person to someone. Here is something to think on though. The scriptures tell us that a blow from the tongue is worse even than physical violence (Sir 28:17). Let us remember that even though this is an election season, it certainly is not a time to fall into the temptation to be disrespectful on the internet, or even in person.

May God bless you!

Fr. Lapeyre

August 25, 2024

 Years ago, I assisted at a Knights of Columbus (KofC) council in Monroe, which was holding a ceremony for the installation of its officers. You may not know who the The Knights of Columbus are. They are a Catholic Fraternal Organization with a praiseworthy history of charity and patriotism. So, at the event, we all said aloud our nation’s Pledge of Allegiance. If you want to know more of the history about the Pledge of Allegiance to impress friends at parties, the phrase “One Nation Under God” owes its origin to the efforts of the members of the Knights of Columbus. In 1951, the phrase was included in our individual recitation of the Pledge, and through the efforts of the Knights of Columbus, the phrase was added to the official United States Flag Code on June 14, 1954, by a joint resolution of Congress, which voted to amend the code in response to a large public campaign to change the words to the Pledge of Allegiance.

 It happened at the dinner following the ceremony. I sat down to eat dinner, and an old habit of mine manifested itself. There is one thing that a Theological education habitually instills in you when you are at Seminary. One of those things happens to be the good Catholic equivalent to the Pledge of Allegiance… “Bless, Us, Oh Lord, and these thy gifts...” …And yet I had already given the blessing before the meal! The prayer is a kind of mantra… So habitually a part of my life that I nearly forgot we had already prayed. Luckily, I was able to avoid notice. How many “Our Father” prayers are my penance?

 When I got to the point of grace before our banquet meal, it was notable that we did not use that blessing prayer specifically. Reflecting back to that time I ask myself, how often have you ever said prayers without just reciting them from memory? Now, do not read into that as if I am saying that the repetition is not good. In fact, it is laudable that our formulaic prayers are offered fervently and often. However, I wonder if it is difficult (like it was for me long ago) to realize that we can also talk to God in prayer with our own words.

 I remember one occasion as a teenager, when an Air Force Colonel in Colorado invited me to say a few prayers before a meal. I was encouraged by my superiors at the time to simply use my own words, but I was a young Catholic man and a cadet in the Civil Air Patrol at the time and speaking in front of genuine officers and enlisted members of the Air Force. This event was at a dinner prepared for us at a US Air Force Base in Colorado. All I can say was that while standing in a room with active-duty officers, I chickened out and said the same rote prayer I always knew.

 Later on, though, the next month I took the time to work up the courage to say my own prayers. It is not as if we cannot talk to God in the same prayers we have handed onto us. These prayers are excellent for us. And sometimes collections of short prayers can even help us understand the richness and grace of our faith. There is no prayer greater than the Eucharist, and the prayers of the Mass are in fact all focused on the one prayer and offering of Jesus on the alter. The Vatican II Council says that the Eucharist “is the fount and apex of the whole Christian life” (Lumen Gentium, 11).

Have you ever wondered why we say the Lord’s prayer at Mass? Because it is an offering of our affirmation to God, a pledge of faith. The miracle of the Eucharist at every Mass should incite a response and pledge from us. St Cyprian of Carthage (a hugely important Church father) would tell us that the Lord ’s Prayer is an excellent prayer.

How many and how great, briefly collected in the words, but spiritually abundant in virtue! So that there is absolutely nothing passed over that is not comprehended in these our prayers and petitions, as in a compendium of heavenly doctrine.

But we also need to consider that prayer is first and foremost an offering of the heart to God. This is not because we do not have numerous good things to pray, but rather that if we have not actually talked to God but recited to Him, “if once in a while,” we might be missing out on what makes those recited prayers so excellent. So, try forming a prayer on your own? How about starting with addressing Him with respect, requesting help, and ending with praise and thanks to God? If we do this, we might realize that it is easy to pray. God does not strike us with a lightning bolt for our requests. He wants to hear what it is you want to say. It might even seem laborious to do this. It is good theology to actually think about, “what makes God worthy of so much praise?” and “why it is I need something from Him?” A religious education is there to give you the answers and tools for a faith life. Do you make use of what you learned?

May God bless you!

Fr. Lapeyre

August 4, 2024

 “What’s the point of a Holy Hour anyway?” … So begins an article in which I attempted seven years ago to convince a set of parishioners to make the time somewhere to pray an hour before God. Bottom line, it is something we need. A Holy Hour is an hour is a very Catholic devotion in which you set aside to pray and contemplate God in prayer. It occurs either before the Blessed Sacrament, or in a private space to pray. If it is in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament it also maybe a wonderful way to obtain a plenary indulgence (Manual of Indulgences: Norms and Grants, P 48.)

 There are several reasons to make an hour of prayer. My experience is that three things happen in this kind of prayer. I find something, a gift of grace, an insight to focus on, and reaffirmation of the love God has for me. The whole moment may also be for some an experience of torture… I mean that in an effective way, really! There may be too many stresses someone has to bring to God that day. They may also not feel anything, nothing at all. However, the moment is nothing specifically about what you feel internally, but about silent reverence towards God. The quietness before God may even have nothing but a sense of blankness or ideas and idle thoughts besiege the moment and take me away from considering God. In those moments I know that turning back to God rather than giving up is meritorious and not mistaken. That you can turn thirty times in thirty minutes, or sixty times in sixty minutes, back to God is making spiritual progress. All the deliberate focus on God, giving God your time and attention in this case is never a waste, and in fact, better for you than not. You can also reflect on the things God has done for you, give thanks to God. You can ask God for “What has he said in the past.” You can reflect on what you understand about Him in the scriptures. If reading scriptures, does a word jump out at you?

 St. Teresa says, “Contemplative prayer in my opinion is nothing else than a close sharing between friends; it means taking time frequently to be alone with him who we know loves us.” (CCC 2709) When we “look to” God we are letting Him put into our lives and others the gifts of grace to sustain us. When St Theresa speaks of God as a friend we have to think about our prayer in terms of a relationship. St John Vianney once noticed that a villager would pass by his Church entrance to look at the Blessed Sacrament for a few minutes and then be on his way to work in the fields. He asked him “what he was doing?” The villager would say to him, “I look at Him and he looks at me.” St John Vianney recognized immediately the profound truth about contemplation before the Blessed Sacrament and would repeat this story to others.

 Do you ever think about “why God doesn’t answer prayers?” It is possible we have not even asked that question right because we haven’t actually asked God for anything. We have not even prayed to God. God respects who we are enough to prefer that we ask when we want something rather than giving to us only like infants who have not a voice to speak. He may in fact be waiting for you to ask, rather than helping you to a weak will. Think about it, what if God also is not just like a friend but one of the best of friends (in the superlative sense) you have ever had? A loyal friend does anticipate our needs, but they also respect our desires enough that they will want to listen to what we want. Further, God does not want you to be the worst version of yourself, but to borrow an analogy from Matthew Kelly, “He wants you to be at your best.”

 When we turn to God in prayer, we encounter not only the one who has total regard for us, but also the one who knows our weaknesses, respects us and listens to our concerns, teaches, and reminds us to better ourselves, and also models and supplies the grace and virtue to a new life. Ultimately, He is guiding us to eternal life. What are you willing to do to get closer to God?

Sunday July 21, 2024

Don’t you just wish that you could see what happens in the future!?

Transitioning into a new parish makes me reflect about the future and all of the novel changes that await. After five years of ministry in one place the transition is definitely more involved in comparison to shorter assignments. When anyone begins a change of life like moving, or starting new jobs, or making a new residence and new ministry, the anticipation of things to come ratchet up both the experience of excitement and the stress. The uncertainty of it all makes us look for past comparisons when we remember making a move. We can ask, “What’s going to happen?” and, “Do I even want know what is going to happen?”

Some people say the words, “life is about the journey,” and that should be all that is important to us. Stressing out over change just happens if you focus too much on the future and not on the journey now. It is a good sentiment that at its best means that we gain wisdom through experiencing life’s transitions. As we make our way in life, we should recognize that many of the destinations we arrive at and the places we stay are only a temporary stop to the next transition.

One of the things that our faith instills in us is a new perspective on our journey of life. It is the overall outcome of the world. It does not tell us what we will face one particular life event specifically, as if only one kind of challenge is our fate or only that one specific kind of achievement is our reward. It challenges us to really live in the now. We really only spend a little time in the short space we fill. We only have a few moments to enjoy a graduation, or a wedding, or a new job position before another new change pulls us along the road. Jesus says, “Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself. Sufficient for a day is its own evil.” (Matt 6:34)

More and more I see the wisdom that God has placed us here for a reason. We learn to focus more on the hope that comes to us from faith. We are in some way going along the road which Jesus laid out for us who said, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” (Mark 8:34)

Jesus is the visible revelation of the inexpressible and invisible. He can and does offer us “the way” (Acts 18:26) to everlasting life. We have to see in following him the better way of being ourselves. To begin to find new ways to depend on God, and in order to do that means transitioning from what ties us to the ground. If you can read (Matthew 6:34) with confidence it is only because He tells us that after assuring us that He will provide for you!

Read Matt 10:29-32.

Sunday July 14th, 2024

Greetings to everyone in our Parish!

If you would, permit me to share a few brief facts about myself. I was originally born in New Orleans, but grew up in Royal Oak Michigan. One surprising fact about my life is that my education was homeschooled from the second grade up to college. Another fact about me is that I was once a Civil Air Patrol Cadet. For much of my life, I was interested in being a military pilot.

After many years discerning that desire and after experiencing a newfound conversion in my own life, I realized God calling me to something else, something far greater than that for which I was once hoping. On October 19th, 2013, I was ordained a Priest at the Church of Saint Mary of the Immaculate conception in Monroe, Michigan, for the Archdiocese of Detroit. I served as the Associate Pastor four years at Saint Mary, by the River Raison, in Monroe.

After that, I was assigned to St. Mary Queen of Creation Parish New Baltimore, and after two years I was then serving at Our Lady of the River Parish in Marine city. I have recently arrived here in St. Joseph!

The past 10 years as a Priest and shepherd of God’s people is truly humbling and it has been a profoundly transformative to my life. I am an alumni of St. John Vianney College Seminary at St. Thomas University in St. Paul Minnesota, with a double major (B.A.) in both Philosophy and Catholic Studies. I have also studied for a time in Rome through a study abroad program. Seeing parts of the world outside of the United States has inspired my beliefs about God who calls all of us to the one universal (Catholic) faith. I received my Master of Divinity (M. Div) at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, and also a Bachelor of Sacred Theology (S.T.B.).

I hope to diligently assist Fr. Robert Slaton and Fr. Rohen in the ministry of Jesus here in the Lumen Christi Family of Parishes, and I am grateful for your generous welcome. I want to thank everyone who has assisted me in my shuffling from one part of the Archdiocese of Detroit to St. Joseph Parish.

May God bless you!