Being away from the parish for several weeks, I missed celebrating mass with you and other parish events like the Mardi Gras, which I learned was another success this year with an additional feature to the silent auction—the pastor will cook for the winner and his/her family. That made me nervous! But I will try to make the winner happy and schedule it at their convenience.

I thank the members of the pastoral council and volunteers for making this event a success. On the other hand, I also thank the parish staff for taking care of the parish while I was away, the priests who covered for the masses, confessions, and other pastoral duties in my absence, and the extra ordinary ministers of holy communion who did communion services. Thank you!

My vacation was good in a sense that I was able to accomplish what I intended to do. I performed the baptism for my two nephews and the wedding for my brother. I visited my diocese. No bishop has been assigned yet since the move of my former bishop to a larger diocese and becoming an archbishop of the Archdiocese of Lipa. I then talked with our Diocesan Administrator and shared with him my intention of extending my stay and possible incardination in the Diocese of Greensburg since my five year contract has been completed and supposedly to go back to my diocese. He gave me permission.

Now that I have returned, I need to catch up with everything in the parish including all the upcoming events. During this season of Lent, our mass on Wednesday will be celebrated at 7:00 P.M. to provide an opportunity for working people to attend mass. Stations of the Cross will still be said Friday evenings at 7:00 P.M. with adoration of the Blessed Sacrament an hour before the Stations. The Lenten Series, sponsored by the Ministerium of Freeport, began last Thursday and will continue every Thursday at 12:00 Noon until March 22nd. I am scheduled to speak at the United Presbyterian Church on March 1st. Last Sunday, we also started the series called Alteration: The Mystery of the Mass Revealed, from 9:30 -10:40 A.M. The sessions are scheduled for three consecutive Sundays, beginning at the same time.

With all these events, I invite you to join and participate. These are opportunities where we can spend our season of Lent in a more spiritual and meaningful way to become attune to God and listen to Him more. This will be our break from our usual week as we continue our observance of the Lenten Season.