Dear Parish Family,

The command from God "Do not be afraid" appears more often in Sacred Scripture than any other instruction. This command shows us that fear is the biggest stumbling block to our relationship with God and others. The crippling fear that often overtakes our good intentions and best efforts truly undermines the work of the Holy Spirit in us. The remedy to fear is courage, trust, and faith in God. With God at our side, of whom should we be afraid? We enter our daily lives with a deep trust, surrender, and serenity knowing that God sees us and all things in their entirety. We have only to be faithful and look to our God to provide our daily bread for all situations, especially for those circumstances beyond our understanding and control. 

Nicky, Kara, five of our core members, and I participated at Life Teen's Catholic Youth Ministry Convention in Arizona from June 7-10. The Holy Spirit was ever-present and generous in forming our hearts through Mass and Adoration, talks and seminars, and in our encounters and discussions. We came back from the convention not only refreshed and renewed for ministry and with practical ideas to implement in our youth ministries, but more importantly with the Lord's vision for our parish and our youth. 

Over the next few weeks, I will unpack a few of the graces of this Life Teen convention. For this week, I want to focus on Youth Ministry as a work of the entire Church. Youth Ministry is much more than a "program" entrusted to a subgroup of ministers of the Church. We all have a role in welcoming newly baptized members as a parish community, supporting our families by promoting Catholic education and faith formation offerings, and forming teens and young adults in the faith of our Church. As they say, "it takes a village" to raise a child, and it takes the entire Church and parish community to form young disciples.

We are blessed by our renewed Life Teen High School Youth Ministry and our newly formed EDGE Middle School Youth Ministry. My hope and expectation for us as a parish is to renew our prayer for our young people searching for Christ who holds the truth and meaning for our lives. We also need to find ways to say YES to Christ's invitation to serve our young families and the new generation of disciples who will infuse our holy Church with the grace of God through their own YES to our Lord. We invest in our young people and families to give them the opportunities they need to encounter Christ and have a vibrant relationship with Him and His holy Catholic Church.

Our new Parochial Vicar, Fr. Sean Neville, has begun his assignment with us. He celebrated Masses at St. Patrick's last weekend to introduce himself. He will celebrate the 10 am Mass and preach at all the Sunday Masses this weekend at St. Mary's. A welcome reception will be held for him after all Sunday Masses this weekend for Fr. Sean at St. Mary's. 

We will also be celebrating Farewell Masses for Fr. Fabian this week and next as he prepares to head home after June 30.

- St. Patrick's June 20-21: Fr. Fabian will celebrate Masses at St. Patrick's this weekend, and we will have a reception in the lower hall for him after the 9:30 am Sunday Mass. 

- St. Mary's June 27-28: Fr. Fabian will celebrate the 4:30 pm Vigil and the 12 pm Sunday Masses at St. Mary's and preach at all Masses on June 27-28. We will have a reception for Fr. Fabian in the Banquet Room following the 12 pm Mass that weekend. If you are considering a gift for Fr. Fabian, cash or check would be best since he will have a lot of his belongings to pack and bring home with him. 

I am yours in Christ,

Fr. Scott Goodfellow