Pastor’s Corner — May 26th, 2024
Note from Parish Seminarian William Ulmer
Dear St. Patrick’s Parish family: For the past three years, I have had the privilege of serving our Lord by studying for the priesthood. However, the Lord has been moving me in a different direction for some time now, and I would like to inform you all that I will be withdrawing from seminary formation.
The Lord has blessed me immensely through my time in seminary, and not in the least by slowly yet caringly revealing his next steps for me. I am grateful for his providential hand guiding me through the discernment process.
Thank you all for all your prayers and support, all your kind greetings and well wishes. Not every seminarian is blessed with a supportive parish family, but I have been blessed abundantly and “my cup overfloweth.”
After graduation this May, I will be moving to New York for a year to teach underserved youth in the Bronx. I am excited to give back for the many good things the Lord has given me! Thank you again for your continued prayers as I make this transition, and please know of my prayers for you. God bless you all!
Thank you, Meghan Fiebelkorn!
Meghan, who has been a very close collaborator and confidant of mine at St Pat’s for years has a special announcement for the parish:
Dear fellow St. Pat’s parishioners: After much thought and prayer, I have decided to step down from my position here at St. Patrick Parish. As summer nears, and as my kids grow, I believe it’s in the best interest of our family for me to spend more quality time with them and with the management of our household. St. Patrick has been our family’s home parish for nearly twenty years, and the relationships we’ve built are an incredible blessing to us. It has been an absolute joy to serve the Lord alongside you. My last day on staff will be May 30th, but don’t worry, you’ll still see our crazy crew around these parts!
I am deeply thankful for all God has given to the parish and to me through Meghan. While we are really going to miss her around the office, I am sincerely happy for her and her family. If you see her around, please thank her for her service to the parish!
Two Errors To Avoid On the Environment
One of the dangers of approaching moral problems predominantly from a political perspective is that moral problems cannot be really understood completely in terms of political categories. Differing approaches to moral problems are actually rooted in various philosophical/theological worldviews, some of which take into account an accurate conception of the human person and some not so much. Politics is always downstream from philosophy and theology. So having a faulty worldview will ultimately affect our ability to not only diagnose a problem accurately but solve it. In other words, political thinking that contradicts the Christian worldview rarely helps us to see reality clearly to solve the moral problems of the world. Such thinking as applied to problems usually either exacerbates that problem or creates new ones.
One example of this is issues around the environment. Just mention this and people think of political posturing and extremes on this topic. But if we think with the Church about this we can detect two opposite errors that when we avoid can help us approach the environment from a Christian perspective. As Colin Smith points out so well in his article The “Wild and Perilous” Catholic Balance on the Environment” we need to avoid these errors:
1) Utilitarian Error: Nature is Not an Object. In other words, creation has its own dignity, it’s not merely an instrument for man’s ends to do with whatever he wishes. Creation is a gift and we are to be stewards of creation, not its absolute master. We cannot trash the gift of creation; we need to understand our real responsibility to care for the earth.
2) The Environmentalist Error: Nature is Not God. In other words, our understanding of creation needs to be understood in light of God, who created us in his image and likeness. If creation is a gift from the Creator it should never be elevated to a divine status (“Mother Nature”) in such a way that it becomes a supreme value over human person or our worship and devotion that is due to God alone.
I encourage you to read the article.
Harrison Butker’s Graduation Speech?
You may have heard about the speech from NFL kicker Harrison Butker at Benedictine College on May 11th. If you haven’t, it has created quite a stir. I’m writing about this here not because I agree with everything he says, but because I think his speech represents the kind of concerns that younger Catholics have about the Church and the world. I think it’s important for us to understand where a lot of younger Catholics are these days who very much resonate with his speech. While we don’t have to agree with everything he says (e.g. his clear preference for Latin Mass, his specific observations of political and church leaders, etc), I do think his speech offers a valuable moment for us American Catholics to reflect on what’s happening in the Church and the world today.
Your servant in the Lord,
Fr. Mathias