The Bishop’s Note
The sunny weather sure has been a nice change. Last Sunday, it rained for most of the night, but very quickly changed to snow just before the first morning Mass, immediately sticking to the ground. It was a bit odd. However, I was very edified at how many of you came, even from far distances, to attend the evening Mass because you couldn’t make any of the morning ones. It was a good reminder to others that we have four Masses to choose from. If you cannot make it in the morning, there is an evening Mass; if you can’t make it in the evening, there are three morning Masses. Oftentimes, with a little imagination, we can adjust our work schedule just enough to be able to conveniently make one of the Masses, and when it is a question of bad weather come early to beat the snow, or come later when it has stopped. Hopefully, we are done with the snowy Sundays now, and we won’t have to worry about these issues.
Fr. McKenna has been up in North Dakota where the temperatures reached -18. It is cold, but I think deep down Father likes going there and talking about the record cold temperatures! Personally, I am not a cold weather person. Florida summers are much more to my liking, so I know that I would not do well in North Dakota winters. Seriously, how did the old missionaries like Fr. Peter De Smet survive out there? We have heating, cars, etc. Not them. The only heat was a campfire, and they rode on horseback or in a covered wagon. Still, Fr. McKenna is welcome to all that cold weather!
School pictures were taken by Victoria Cerise. Thanks, Victoria! It is nice to be able to send pictures home with the children. Yearly pictures were always a thing for us growing up. I remember that in grade school there was always a class photo, too. These are the best! It is very fun to have those memories of the kids we spent so much time with…and it is a good reminder to offer a Hail Mary for them!
Thanks be to God, one priest has recently left the SSPX! He published a letter to the faithful informing them of his reasons. In summary, he recognizes that the “popes” after Vatican II are not true popes at all. This is truly a triumph of grace in a soul and everyone should say a prayer of thanks to God. Many people think that the SSPX Mass is just as good as any other Latin Mass. Did you know that the SSPX even forbids its young people to attend those “Trad Cat Meetups” for young adults of any Traditional Catholic group? The reason they give is that they do not wish their faithful to associate with sedevacantists. See! Even the SSPX itself recognizes that they are different from us. That is the point. The SSPX IS different in their theology on the Church, and they offer their Masses in union with a heretic. It is for this reason that we do not allow parishioners to go to the SSPX. It is also to be noted that we do not approve of our parishioners going to the Trad Cat Meetups when they do occur. Well, that was a bit of a tangent, wasn’t it?! Anyway, thanks be to God for the priest who left the SSPX and has become a sedevacantist.
Already one week of our pre-Lenten preparation season is behind us, and there is now only slightly more than a week left until Ash Wednesday! How much of your Lent have you planned out thus far? “Time is of the same value as God Himself.”
– Bishop McGuire