Letter from the Pastor

Several years ago, there was a story in the news about a family in a small town in Florida.  It consisted of a father, a mother, and two young sons.  They were a normal    family, except for one problem.  Both boys had AIDS.  They had each contracted the virus through a blood transfusion.  Their presence in the public school was bitterly resisted by other parents, whose children attended that same school.  One night, under suspicious circumstances, the family’s house burned to the ground.  Finally, they were forced to move to another town.  They had been rejected by their own community. […]

The first public event that Jesus attended with His disciples was a wedding.  It took place in a small Galilean Village called Cana.  For a man planning to change the world, that seems a strange way to start – by attending a wedding in a country town.  And yet, Jesus performed His first miracle there. As weddings go, it was apparently quite an occasion.  To the bride and groom and their families, it was doubtless one of the major events of history.  All weddings are special to someone.  Your own wedding – past or future – was or will be […]

Six days a week – Monday through Saturday – we live our lives in a highly competitive world.  Nations compete for power.  Politicians compete for votes.  Business competes for customers.  Workers compete for victories.  All of us, it seems, are competing with someone for something that both of us want but only one of us can have.  That is how we live six days a week.  Then on Sunday we come to church at Annunciation-Our Lady of Fatima for worship and encounter a totally different emphasis.  In Church we pray that God’s will might be done on earth as it […]

Most people have a favorite and regular place to sit in the Church.  Standing up in the sanctuary week after week, I learn to look for certain people in certain places.  If on a given weekday or Sunday you are not in your place, there is not much use in looking any further because that usually means that you are not there.  I am not sure what this signifies, except that we are creatures of habit.  We like familiar places and things and faces for the simple reason that they are familiar.  Nevertheless, it was that particular quirk of human […]

In recent years, thoughtful people from all walks of life have become increasingly concerned with preserving and protecting our natural environment.  There was a time when such concern was expressed by only a few scientists; and they, for the most part, were regarded as radicals and alarmists.   The rest of us seemed to think this earth was so expansive and so enduring that we could abuse it forever without  noticeable consequence.  Now, we are being forced to change our thinking.  The years of neglect have started to take their toll, and it is becoming increasingly clear that environmental pollution is […]