From the bulletin for The Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time (2026 Oct 18) October 18, 2026 - 29th Sunday of Ordinary Time - Annual Parish Financial Report “But Father, tell us how the parish is doing financially!” In my three years as a pastor, no one has ever said that to me. I suppose that the new arrivals see that the roof is not caving in and Masses take place as scheduled, as so things must be fine. And perhaps those who have been around figure that though the parish

From the bulletin for The Twenty-Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time (2026 Oct 11) Oct 11, 2026 - 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time Brother Alphonsus Martel—the only habited Christian Brother on faculty at the time—was the “business faculty” at my high school until his death my junior year. I had him for two or three courses beginning with Accounting. He was something of an institution, and his classes were like none other. Each period began with an impromptu “prayer” which ran for abo

From the bulletin for The Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time (2026 October 04) Oct 4, 2026 - 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time Arriving at the intersection of University Avenue and Vandalia is always unnerving. Looming large on the north end is, of course, the local abortion mega-center, whose presence is amplified all the more by Planned Parenthood’s giant billboard overlooking the crossing. While we go about our ordinary days, perhaps on a bright, sunny day, within those wal

From the bulletin for The Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time (2026 September 27) September 27, 2026 - 26th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Deeper Dive The Gospel for this Sunday, the parable of the two sons, on the surface seems straightforward enough. In fact, its lesson can be summed up in another saying of Our Lord: “Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven” (Mt 7:21). The first son me

From the bulletin for The Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time (2026 September 20) Sunday, September 20, 2026 - 25th Sunday OT “All those years of prayer. That mountain of prayer!” These were the words of a member of our community who recently lost an adult child. Taken out of context, they might be understood as a complaint; even an accusation: “All those prayers… and this is how God responds!” But that wasn’t how they were meant. In reality, these words were a testament to

From the bulletin for The Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time (2026 September 13) Parish School of Prayer, Episode 26: At the Feet of Jesus “Mary sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving” (Lk 10:39-40). We all know the scene. Tell me: what was each heart of these two sisters filling with? Mary’s was being filled with one thing: Jesus’ words. Martha’s was filling up with anxiety and worry about many things. And, eviden

From the bulletin for The Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time (2026 September 06) A NEW VISION FOR FAMILY FAITH FORMATION AT ST. MARK’S At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when most of my workday transpired in the Rectory third floor office, I participated (not sure why) in “Think Tank” led by the PES Sisters regarding family ministry at St. Mark’s. The fruit of those conversations involving PES members, parish staff, and St. Mark’s parents, was to transform our Faith Fo

From the bulletin for The Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time (2026 August 30) August 30 - 22nd Sunday OT - Fall Preview Summer 2026, we hardly knew you. You entered quietly into our midst, stayed not entirely uneventfully, and now comes the time to release you into the swiftly fading past, for time marches on. September is the month of getting back together. Though not everyone at St. Mark’s is gone for all of the summer, it seems we are never all here from June-August. S

From the bulletin for The Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time (2026 August 23) August 23 - 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time In late 2023 my Aunt Julie was diagnosed with ALS. The degenerative disease first manifested itself as an emergent speech impediment in my aunt, then just 63. Over the next two and a half years, that “impediment” spread throughout the muscles of her body. I was able to fly to visit her in April of 2024 and spend a few days with her and the family while she

From the bulletin for The Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time (2026 August 16) 20th Sunday - The Eschatological Adventure, Revisited: Epilogue [Author’s note: during the summers of 2024 and 2025, respectively, this venerable publication ran parts 1 and 2 of the Eschatological Adventure, a fictional envisioning of the last things for the individual (Part 1) and for the cosmos as a whole (Part 2). Though those hoping for a Part 3 this summer were disappointed (all two of them!),

From the bulletin for The Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (2026 August 09) 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Aug 9 - Postcard from Peru As I type this, the “sounds of Lima” come filtering through the very thin windows of the community library at the “San Jose” PES house in Peru’s capital. What kind of sounds? Mostly automobile-related. The constant “call and response” of car horns. Some of which are full melodies (custom car horns here are like ring tones were back there in t

From the bulletin for The Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (2026 August 02) Mission Report to St. Mark's It was such a joy to be back with you this past weekend to celebrate Mass and preach. Even though the visit was short, it was a beautiful gift to see so many familiar faces, catch up with old friends, and spend a little time with the parish that was such an important part of my life for so many years. When I think about St. Mark, I think about home. I first came to St. M

From the bulletin for The Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (2026 July 26) 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time - July 26 I once heard this story. Perhaps it is apocryphal. But it was presented as true. So there was this rural town in Mexico. (OK that part is definitely true). It was hot there, all year round. Really hot. Since the village was poor, no one had air conditioning. Maybe not even electric fans. The best they could do in the heat of the day was to sit out on their porch

From the bulletin for The Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (2026 July 12) 15th Sunday of Ordinary Time - Midsummer “Parish Temporal Affairs" Update For those who are wondering, Fr. Patrick is slated to arrive this week from Peru, where he was leading a mission trip and then stayed for a couple weeks of home-visit. Dcn. Jose, who has been spending a month of his “deacon summer” in Sacramento having a very different pastoral experience, will arrive this week as well. Next week

From the bulletin for The Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (2026 July 05) July 5 - 14th Sunday of Ordinary Time/Independence Day Weekend How does one celebrate his nation’s 250th anniversary? I suppose it’s a little late to be asking the question. But there is occasion for “doing it up big” this year. Those who have lake places in the family will, indubitably, celebrate every year. And those who don’t, I imagine, will find a place to grill out and wear flip flops, perhaps t

From the bulletin for The Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (2026 June 28) June 28, 2026 - 13th Sunday of Ordinary Time Last week I attempted to describe a phenomenon of history by which mankind tends to overcorrect for past excesses and “throw the baby out with the bathwater” in its efforts to progress beyond the perceived failings of its fathers. In the context of the Liturgical Movement in the first half of the 20th Century, one of those “babies” that was in danger of bei

From the bulletin for The Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time (2026 June 21) June 21, 2026 Twelfth Sunday of Ordinary Time Hegel wasn’t right about everything, or even most things. But he did put his finger on something when he observed that human history is characterized by an oscillation between “theses” and “antitheses”. His faith in inexorable historical progress through a “synthesis” of the two, however, is too-rosey a reading. Just as often, what results is a pendulum swin

From the bulletin for Corpus Christi (2026 June 07) Parish School of Prayer: Consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus June is the month of the Sacred Heart. This year, on the eve of the Solemnity, the bishops of our country will consecrate the nation to the Divine Heart of Our Lord, using this prayer: O Most Sacred Heart of Jesus: You know the longings of our hearts, and you desire that we enjoy friendship with you. From your pierced side, you have poured out the wellspri

From the bulletin for Trinity Sunday (2026 May 31) May 31 - Trinity Sunday In the past two weeks, the following ministries and/or activities have concluded for the programming year: OCIA Family Faith Formation Bible Study Preschool Capital Campaign Others surely could be added (Boy Scouts?). In the next couple of weeks, Ignite will extinguish and the choir will wrap up a phenomenal 2025-26 season, as the liturgical cycle essentially breaks until the Assumption with the Solem

From the bulletin for Pentecost (2026 May 24) May 24 - Pentecost Except for a few weeks in September, from summer of 2021 to summer of 2022 St. Mark’s was without any maintenance staff. To paraphrase Michael Scott, “somehow we managed.” A Latino family came on Sunday nights to clean in the church. A facilities management company was contracted to take care of the mega-boiler and large projects. A local lawn service company took care of the mowing and snow plowing. Since I had