This weekend I am celebrating Masses at St. John the Baptist parish in Healdsburg, California and will be back in the office on Wednesday, August 1st after my 10-day vacation. It’s hard to believe that June and July have passed by so quickly.  With August on the horizon, kids will soon be heading off to college and high school – some for the first time.  Grammar schools will be starting mid to late August, and it seems that summer will be gone!  But wait!  Let’s not rush it!  We still have Vacation Bible School coming up at Our Lady of Mercy August 6^th through 10^th.  We look forward to welcoming our children for “Shipwrecked – Rescued By Jesus” for a half day of fun, games, music, crafts and learning about Jesus. Thanks to Jill Levine, Mary Jo Trapani, and all the adult and teen volunteers for making VBS an enjoyable experience for our children.

In today’s Gospel reading we remember that most famous picnic in religious history.  How many people were there?  Some say 5,000.  Did that include women and children?  We know there was at least one child – girl or boy, nobody knows for sure – who was vital to the story.  This event wins the prize as scripture’s number-one picnic because the New Testament narrates a version of it six times: twice each in Matthew and Mark, once in Luke and once in John. Today we hear John’s rendition.  John’s story involves a variety of characters.  First, Jesus looks at the mass of people.  Then he brings Philip into the action, asking him where they can buy food to feed that crowd.  Philip responds as a pragmatist, not-so-gently reminding Jesus of the limitations of their funds.  Then Andrew enters into the conversation, saying that there’s a child who has five barley rolls and two fish.  Altogether that adds up to seven morsels – the number symbolizes completeness, but in this case it seems more like complete inadequacy.  Now we are at the heart of the story.  Just when the disciples have pointed out the absurd limitations of their ability to respond, Jesus has them tell the people to recline in preparation for a feast.  While thousands look on, Jesus take the food and prays.  John says that Jesus “gave thanks.” That implies that he acknowledged that the food he held came from God and belonged to God.  Once the child handed it over and Jesus gave thanks over it, it was recognized as God’s food, and it was therefore God’s goodness that the crowd was going to share.  No evangelist describes how the bread multiplied and the how is not the point John wants to make.  The point is that God met the hunger of the people, beginning with the unstinting generosity of one of the least among them – a child.  So what does this story mean for us today?  Some understand it like the miracle portrayed in the movies when bread shoots out of baskets like popcorn.  That interpretation gives God the responsibility to do everything.  Many people who know poverty see it a different way.  People who have passed the end of their rope and still survive, recognize this as an example of God’s providence.  They can tell story after story about how God sent someone at just the right moment; how someone found the money for rent on the morning before eviction, how a donation came in on the day the orphanage ran out of food….how God comes through again and again, through some often unsuspecting, usually unexpected, generous soul.  This story reminds us that God can work wonders with the little we have if we are willing to give it all – like the child in today’s Gospel.

Have a Blessed Week!

Father Don

This weekend and next I will be away on a 10-day summer vacation to where else but Sonoma County California!  I visit and stay with a friend Tony who lives in Santa Rosa.  He works in the tasting room of Ferrari-Carano Winery outside of Healdsburg. I’ve certainly enjoyed learning about wine from listening his “spheel” as he pours for the guests at the several wineries where he has worked over the years.  And I have certainly enjoyed the “perks” of his wine industry discount when we visit other wineries throughout Sonoma, Napa, Mendocino and Lake counties.  And in the many years I have visited, some of Tony’s friends have become mine as well.  I look forward to spending some time with Fr. Sean Rogers, pastor of St. John the Baptist parish in Healdsburg and seeing some of the parishioners I’ve gotten to know.  I will be celebrating Mass there on July 21^st and 22^nd and July 28^th and 29^th to give Fr. Sean the opportunity to get away for a weekend, as he is the only priest in the parish.    Fr. Sean graduated from the University of Notre Dame and played and was on the football team.  He has been a priest 11 years.  His family owns a fruit and veggie stand with a small market in Santa Rosa.  Always a great place to stop for fresh fruit, sandwiches and snacks before heading out for a day of wine tasting!  I look forward to seeing Vernon and his two Chiweenie dogs.  They are the cutest little things!  A cross between a Chihuahua and a Dachshund.  Vernon, originally from Hawaii, manages a Starbuck’s Coffee Shop in Windsor and last time I visited we went whale watching. I hope to catch up with Travis and learn about his new position promoting tourism in Mendocino County.  Previously he worked at Handley Winery in Philo.  I hope to catch up with Michael (originally from Chicagoland and a Cubs fan) and his wife Rose.  Michael sells wine barrels.  During my visit last summer, he gave me a tour of the cooperage.  Really interesting how wine barrels are made!  My favorite will be spending time with Anne Vercelli.  Her father Joe was part of the beginning of the wine industry in California.  Back in the day he worked at Italian Swiss Colony.  A name revered by old-times.  Anne teaches culinary arts at the Santa Rosa Junior College, organizes several prestigious wine tasting events, judges wines and bakery competitions at the Sonoma County Fair and other events.  Some of her classes are taught at Shone Farm where the kitchen is named after her father.  In addition to all that, Anne works as hostess on Sunday at a delightful bakery/breakfast/lunch place, Costeaux in Healdsburg.  But the BEST is that whenever I come out for a visit she hosts and prepares a 6 to 8 course meal at her house with different wines with each course and invites all my CA friends!  It’s an amazing evening!!  So that diet that Fr. Mark announced I was going to start a couple months ago will just have to wait to August 1^st!  I look forward to hiking in the Armstrong Redwood grove in Guerneville and walking the oceanfront.  Perhaps a canoe trip down the Russian River. Oh! Did I mention the wine tasting??

Whatever you and your family are doing to enjoy summer, please be safe and enjoy God’s wonderful creation!

Have A Blessed Week!

Father Don

Today 71 teens and 14 adult chaperones along with Fr. Mark are leaving for a week long mission trip to Troy, Missouri.  They will be part of a group of 400 teens and adults from churches all over the country, along with 60 teens from St. Raphael in Naperville. During their time there they will be repairing homes of needy seniors and low income residents.  I ask that you keep our teens and adults in your prayers this week for a safe journey there and back, and that they truly encounter Jesus in the people they meet and the ministry they do.

This year we are participating in the Diocesan Mission Cooperative.  Next weekend we welcome Father Jevic Pendon from the Diocese of Romblon in the Philippines who will preach all the Masses making a mission appeal to help the poor in his Diocese.  A second collection will be taken.  Since the second collection will go through our accounting system, checks should be made out to “Our Lady of Mercy” with Philippine Mission in the memo line.  This way your donation will appear on your year-end contribution statement from the parish.  If you give cash, put in in an envelope with your name and envelope number so that your donation can be accounted to your contribution statement.  Thank you in advance for your support of our brothers and sisters in need.

You’ve heard the saying….want to make God laugh?  Tell him your plans!  Think about your life 20, 40 or even 60 years ago.  What were your plans?  What did you envision for your future?  What did you hope to be when you grew up?  Did you achieve your hope, or are you doing something with your life that you never imagined?  Questions like these encourage us to consider the paths our lives have taken and find the hand and heart of God in the midst of it all.  In that way, we become open to new paths and to new calling we might never have dreamed of answering.  Most of us have to work to make a living.  So we educate ourselves and get a job.  Amos in our first reading had two jobs.  He was a shepherd and a dresser of sycamores.  While at his Job, Amos was called by God to speak for God, to be a prophet.  Judging from his conversation with Amaziah, being a prophet was never on Amos’ to-do list.  On the contrary, he did not even want to be associated with the guilds of prophets whose frenzied ecstasies were very strange and difficult to discern.  Nevertheless, by God’s grace, Amos prophesied, and as a result, his words continue to challenge God’s people to uphold God’s justice and be defenders of the poor and downtrodden.  Jesus had been a carpenter and was called by God to leave that safe and relatively comfortable life behind in order to call people to “repent and believe, for the kingdom of God is at hand” (Mark 1:15).  So closely attuned was Jesus to God’s call that he suffered rejection, torture and mockery, and in the end, he gave his life.  When Jesus called the Twelve, each already had his own means of livelihood.  But at Jesus’ invitation, each was willing to set aside his job and share in Jesus’ vocation.  His instructions to them were simple – they were to preach repentance, heal people and continue Jesus’ battle with the powers of evil.  What has Jesus called you to do and to be?

Have a Blessed Week!

Father Don

Two weekends ago we celebrated the 30^th anniversary of the founding of Our Lady of Mercy parish.  Our theme was “Though Many….We Are One” – celebrating how rich we have become as a parish over thirty years with the diversity of ethnic origins our membership.  Streamers of flags of many nations hung above the baptismal font symbolizing that through baptism, no matter what our ethnic origin, we are now one in Jesus Christ.  And what a beautiful celebration we had!!  The founding pastor, Fr. Gerald Tivy, now 80 years old and retired came back and along with his older brother Fr. Tom Tivy, celebrated the 4:00pm Mass on Saturday.  I invited Fr. Hugh Fullmer as well to come back and celebrate a Mass that weekend, but he was away on an Alaska cruise.  The dessert reception after all the Masses featuring homemade goodies from the ethnic background of our parishioners was outstanding!  Thanks to all who baked or donated these wonderful treats!  The picnic on our grounds with food trucks of various vendors was a tremendous success as well.  All enjoyed food, fellowship and dancing to the tunes parishioner DJ John Wehrel played. So kudos and thanks goes to a lot of people:  Marty Kadziela, chair of the Pastoral Council and PPC members for the initial ideas and impetus for celebrating our 30^th anniversary; Doug Kieffer for recruiting parishioners to read the scriptures at Mass in different languages and the lectors themselves, Marck Mocarski, Stefania Chase, Babes tiongsen, Marie Reitenbach, Lourdes Indad, Robert Pelegrini, Maybird D’Silva, Sissy Roy, Veronica Manzanares, Lucero Manzanares, Sergio Noyola and Ernesto Pacheco; the gift bearers, Kalathiveetil Family, Rinon Family, Manzanares Family, Pacheco Family, Nicole Achebo, Ndoko Family and Some Family; the Knights of Columbus Honor Guard, Robert Pelligrini, James Lambert, John Melisi; Art & Environment and Set-up, Karen Schwartz, Len Eickhoff, Linda Eichoff, and Marty Kadziela; Liturgy Coordinators, Phyllis Anderson, Larry Harris, Vince Wardein, Maybird d’Silva; Coordinator of desserts, Phyllis Anderson; Hospitality, Jim Marks and Phyllis Anderson and all the kitchen helpers; Photographers, Maybird D’Silva and Jeanne Daill; and the food trucks were organized by Alessandro Vazquez of Brew Avenue Events.  And a special thanks to the over 120 parishioners who baked or donated goodies for the dessert reception.  We had desserts from 19 different cultures.  I hope you were adventurous and tried something new!  If I’ve inadvertently left anyone out, please accept my apologies.  And a big thanks goes to all of YOU who joined in celebrating our 30^th anniversary!

Now that summer is in full swing, I hope you and your families are enjoying some rest and relaxation.  For those of you traveling, I pray you have a safe journey…..and don’t forget, you can find Mass times wherever you are at www.masstimes.org or download the app “Mass Times For Travel.”

Have a Blessed Week!

Father Don

They say there are only two things certain in life – death and taxes.  I would like to add a third certain thing in life – CHANGE.  No matter how we try to avoid it, most of us have difficulty with change.  It unsettles our comfortable routine and that which is familiar.  Many of us resist change and try stubbornly to hold our ground.  For me, the most difficult struggle is not changing of assignments (most of the time that is a good thing), but of aging.  I find myself more frequently listening to music of the late 60’s & early 70’s (my high school and college years), longing for those carefree disco days! And wondering why the youth of today find this music “old fashioned”!  I also realize how irrelevant I have become to teens and people in their 20’s and 30’s.  When I was first ordained (age 29) I was in demand to give talks and retreats to youth.  That stopped when I was 40, and now in my mid 60’s young people think I am really old! At least the little kids still like me – I guess I am more of a grandfather figure to them!  And that blows my mind!!  HOW did I get this old? And last month I filed to begin collecting my social security!  I still want to deny that I have some arthritis, that sugar levels are gradually increasing, that changes in diet would be beneficial, and that sometimes my energy level isn’t where I think it should be.  And the reality of possible retirement in four years makes me scared of a new chapter in life. CHANGE!

So, I admire those who can face new chapters in life and re-make themselves!  Last weekend our Director of Liturgy and Music for the past 25 years said good-bye to the parish.  His farewell article in the bulletin was very gracious.   I have only had the pleasure of working with Larry for only one year, but I have been very grateful for his dedication to OLM, his attention to detail, his knowledge of liturgy, his musical gifts and talents, and of course his goofy humor!!  In my 37 years of being a priest I have never experience something so beautiful as the orchestra and choir he puts together for the Christmas midnight Mass.  So on behalf of Fr. Tivy, founding pastor, Fr. Hugh, all the priests, deacons, religious and staff who have served during your tenure, as well as the parishioners, I express our profound gratitude for all you have done for and meant to this parish community.  God bless you as you re-make yourself and future! As Larry mentioned in his article he will be spending more time playing jazz-gigs and giving individual piano lessons – and sleeping in on Sundays…..subbing at parishes on occasion.

Gee!  Guess I should start pondering about re-making myself instead of longing for my youth!  Wonder if there is a vineyard or winery in Sonoma County California that will need a chaplain in a few years?  Guess I’ll have to wait until that next chapter (CHANGE) happens in life to find out!

Have a blessed week and a safe and enjoyable July 4^th celebration

Father Don