Pastor's Notes - 03/17/2019

     We profess in the Creed: One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.  So what is Catholic? From #830 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the word "Catholic" means "universal," in the sense of "according to the totality" or "in keeping with the whole.”  The Church is catholic in a double sense: first, the Church is catholic because Christ is present in her. "Where there is Christ Jesus, there is the Catholic Church." In her subsists the fullness of Christ's body united with its head; this implies that she receives from him "the fullness of the means of salvation" which he has willed: correct and complete confession of faith, full sacramental life, and ordained ministry in apostolic succession. The Church was, in this fundamental sense, Catholic on the day of Pentecost and will always be so until the day of the Parousia.

     Secondly, #831 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, states that the Church is Catholic because she has been sent out by Christ on a mission to the whole of the human race.

     By being the Catholic Church, we attend and participate in Mass in any Catholic Church which is in union with the Holy Father, Pope Francis.  Thus, we can attend Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes, St. John the Baptist, St. Vincent de Paul, St. Gertrude, St. Ann, St. Ignatius, Holy Family, etc. and that satisfies the Third Commandment of keeping Holy the Sabbath.  We also can go to Catholic Churches through the United States, Europe, Mexico and the world.  We are reminded by the Annual Catholic Appeal, or recently the Beyond Sunday Campaign, that we are a bigger church than St. Francis Borgia.  We have done a fantastic job of building our parish and its identity, but what we have lost sometimes is the true sense of being Catholic.  We are a part of something bigger.

     There is also an opinion that the school exists for itself and not for the parish.  The parish is the center of our community and the school exists to educate the youth of our parish.  Fr. Kevin would love to have the area parishes give financial assistance to the High School, just as we do for the grade school, but that is not the reality.  All parishes send an assessment to the Archdiocese, which is then distributed to the Archdiocese High Schools, like St. Francis Borgia Regional High School. 

     Before Fr. Buehler was transferred from our parish, I planned one of my bucket list wishes -- Cardinal Spring Training.  I will be leaving Tuesday, March 19 and return on Tuesday, March 26.  Fr. Kevin has graciously accepted to fill in during my absence. 
   
Thanks for all you do!

Father Joe Wormek

Pastor