Bishop’s Note
It is a rainy Friday morning as this is being written. Yesterday, the feast of Our Lady’s Assumption, went very smoothly as far as the ceremonies go. The grotto looked very nice thanks to Frs. Simpson and Brueggemann, who have been working diligently to clean it up. They even had time to dye the water blue in honor of Our Lady!
Fr. McKenna mentioned that Black Cat was on the stone wall watching the clergy process to the grotto for the Blessing of Herbs. Frankly, I am glad I did not see him because that would have been too much of a funny distraction for me! But I am glad to know that our cats are Catholic cats who love Our Lady! Or maybe he had his eye on the goldfish in the grotto pond. Hmmm.
Mrs. Florence Swinney, after several years of very good work in our school, has moved on. Florence was one of our students from the very beginning and knew quite well how everything was to operate. Personally, I am sad to see her go. She was very good with the little ones and always had a well-organized and disciplined classroom; and she always had some interesting projects for the children to work on. Thank you, Florence, for all your years teaching!
Our Lord always takes such good care of us as can be seen once again in this situation. One very good teacher’s departure leaves a big gap to fill, but Our Lord has provided us with two additional teachers for this year. Sister Regina, our newest oblate, will teach the Kindergarteners. I know she will do a fantastic job, as she is very good with children. Sister Ulrica will take the challenge of adding on the 1st graders to her already full schedule and Miss Mikesell will take on one more grade. Mr. Dominic Caggeso also joins our staff this year and will be helping Dr. Stanislowski with the middle school and high school grades. Fr. Lehtoranta, always so faithful to his duties, will not only be teaching Religion and Latin in the school, but will be teaching two classes to our seminarians as well. As you can see, things continue to change here at St. Gertrude’s!
The Oblates still need a house. I am sorry to say that with all the other duties here, I have not had time to go house hunting yet. After the last meeting with the architect a few months ago, we have put the rectory addition on hold for an indefinite amount of time. I would still like to purchase a house nearby for them so that they can live in their own community and still be close enough to the church that it will not be too hard for them to go back and forth. If anyone local has any leads on a house I would be most interested to hear about it.
I am going away for a much needed break this week. Fr. McKenna will hold down the fort along with Fr. Lehtoranta for the next couple of weeks. We have the feast of the Immaculate Heart this Thursday. Come to Mass to honor her and to make reparation for all the offenses committed against her!
Yours in the Immaculate Heart,
Bishop McGuire