Pastor’s Corner — March 2nd, 2025
St Patrick’s Day Celebration: Space is Limited, Sign Up Required
You’re invited to our annual St. Patrick’s Day celebration on Saturday, March 15th, at 6:00 PM as we come together to honor our beloved patron saint. Like previous years, our gathering promises to be an evening filled with fellowship and laughter, a vibrant display of our parish community.
What to expect:
• A visit from a “special guest”: hear the inspiring story of our patron saint
• A “fun zone” for young parishioners: activities designed especially for our little ones.
• Traditional Irish dinner: enjoy corned beef, potatoes, cabbage, and a variety of side dishes prepared with care. Sit with your friends or make new ones
• Irish dance performance: Delight in a 6:30 PM performance by a talented group of very young Irish dancers
• Beer & wine table – Hosted by the Knights, offering a selection of beverages
A team of dedicated volunteers will be on hand to ensure a memorable evening of fellowship, faith, and fun as we celebrate our shared heritage and the guiding spirit of St. Patrick. As you enter O’Kelly Hall in the Parish Life Center, you’ll have the opportunity to explore displays from nearly 20 active ministries, each sharing their mission and impact through small table exhibits.
Secure your tickets. Tickets: $12 each for adults, children and teens (17 and under) attend for free. All attendees must register to help us provide an accurate catering count. Space is limited.
Come celebrate with us and be part of our wonderful parish community. Hope to see you there!
Lenten Penances: Love is the Point
Lent is a special season of penance that helps prepare us to enter more deeply into celebrating the mysteries of Jesus’ passion, death, and resurrection. It’s a time of deeper personal conversion in love. Therefore, we never undertake penances for their own sake. Everything we “give up” or every additional devotion we “add” must be for the sake of growing in greater conversion in receiving love from God or giving his love to others. Love is the point of it all. The Church enjoins penitential practices upon us because, as a good mother, she wishes that each of us love Jesus more perfectly. Lent is thus a perfect time to take seriously growing our spiritual life and our relationships.
If we were to compare how strict the Church practiced fasting and abstinence from meat just a few centuries ago to now, we would understand that what the Church is asking of us today is fairly weak. Below are the current Church norms for Lenten fasting and abstinence from meat here (from the USCCB website):
Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are obligatory days of fasting and abstinence [from meat] for Catholics. In addition, Fridays during Lent are obligatory days of abstinence [from meat]. For members of the Latin Catholic Church, the norms on fasting are obligatory from age 18 until age 59. When fasting, a person is permitted to eat one full meal, as well as two smaller meals that together are not equal to a full meal. The norms concerning abstinence from meat are binding upon members of the Latin Catholic Church from age 14 onwards.
New St Pat’s Knights of Columbus Weekly Lenten Fish Fries!
Our St Pat’s Knights of Columbus have taken the baton from the Dad’s Club and will begin hosting a Lenten Fish Fry every Friday in Lent (except Good Friday of course) in O’Kelly Hall from 4:00pm-8:00pm, beginning Friday, March 7th. The menu includes a choice between delicious fried cod, garlic butter salmon, fried shrimp, or mac-n-cheese.
I’m very proud of our Knights for taking on this big new ministry to create space for parish fellowship and to raise money to help with the charities the Knights so generously fund. More information can be found here.
Stations of the Cross Moved to 5:30pm on Fridays
This Lent we are moving the Stations of the Cross to 5:30pm in the Church on Fridays of Lent.
Lenten Penance Services in the Deanery
Like we did in Advent, each parish grouping is hosting a penance service for Lent for the whole Deanery:
• Wednesday, April 9th at 7 pm (at St. John the Baptist) | six priests available
• Thursday, April 10th at 7pm (at St. Joseph) | five priests available
• Saturday, April 12th at 10:00am (here at St Pat’s) | eight priests available
Since we only have three penance services in the Deanery, we will have more priests available than we typically do. But since we have less of them, we also hope that everyone doesn’t wait until the last service to have their confessions heard :)
Lent is a great time to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation and these communal services are great ways to celebrate and receive God’s mercy and forgiveness together.
Your servant in the Lord,
Fr. Mathias