We all want to wind up somewhere on purpose. The problem is that often we wind up somewhere and wonder: How did I get here? This is not where I want to be. So, one day you find your business filing for bankruptcy, or your spouse filing for divorce or your best friend no longer speaking to you. It happens to all of us in different ways, at different points. And it happens usually because we don’t define what success looks like or as I like to put it, we don’t define what a win looks like.

Dear Friends,

“Oh when the saints come marching in…” You’re gonna want to be in that number this coming Thursday when St. Bernadette comes marching into our Parish! This is the first time that the relics of the Saint, from the Sanctuary at Lourdes, France, will be on tour in the U.S. and we are fortunate to be one of the hosts. Of course, St. Bernadette is tied to Our Lady though the apparitions at Lourdes.

Dear Friends,

One of our esteemed US Senators recently gave her uninformed opinion about “how those pro-lifers don’t care about women.” Well, actually Senator, we care very much. Not only about women but about their unborn child as well. In fact, we care so much that since 1973 we have opened and operated, at our own expense, over 4,000 Pro-Life Centers and Clinics to assist women with prenatal and postnatal care.

Dear Friends,

For those of you who keep track, it’s been a year since I came to Our Lady of Lourdes. I have to admit that the Sun Cities area (and I’ll include in that the North Peoria area) is a very nice place to live. In fact, it seems to me that you have to work really hard to be miserable if you live particularly in Sun City West. There is an endless stream of things to do, people to meet, fun to be had all wrapped up in a safe, rather quiet (except for those F-35’s) active senior adult community. It has been a big change from my days in the ASU College town of Tempe.

Dear Friends,

The long and winding road that led to the overturning of Roe v Wade required almost 50 years of playing legal jujitsu. In 1973 the Supreme Court actually decided two cases Roe v Wade and then Doe v Bolton. In Roe, somehow the Justices found what no one else had ever found: that a woman has a constitutional right to an abortion. Then Bolton said restrictions can be placed on that right. Putting restrictions on something that is declared a constitutional right is always were trouble starts. When and what restrictions can be placed on a constitutional right always leads to lawsuits that seek clarification. In another recent example, the Court also took up a case on when and what restrictions can be place on the constitutional right to bear arms.

Dear Friends,

Since the leaked Draft Opinion from the US Supreme Court, indicating the possible overturning of Roe v. Wade, over forty individuals, organizations, churches and at least two dozen Prolife Pregnancy Care Clinics have faced incidents of intimidation, violence or vandalized often with threatening graffiti such as “if abortion aren’t safe than you aren’t either.” https://sbaprolife.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/6.15.22-Pro-Abortion-VandalismViolence-Interruptions-Of-Worship.pdf  And a few Clinics have been firebombed. Message’s from the pro-abortion hate group, Jane’s Revenge threatened: “We demand the disbanding of all antichoice establishments, fake clinics and violent antichoice groups within the next thirty days. We are forced to adopt the minimum military requirement for political struggle."

Dear Friends,

A season of change has come to the Diocese of Phoenix with the appointment of Bishop John Dolan, who will take over the helm in August from Bishop Olmsted. In many ways, the new Bishop is in a position to take the Diocese to the next level.

Dear Friends,

According to some news sources, “Homeland Security has officially notified the bishops there are credible threats to the safety of Catholic churches, clergy, and bishops if the Supreme Court overturns Roe. Violence has been called for beginning the night such a decision is handed down.” Sad and frustrating.

Dear Friends,

My first reaction to hearing of the school shooting in Uvalde was to go tense and queasy. Having run an elementary school for more than two decades, my first thoughts were “not again, dear Lord why and what if”? What if that were my school? Those were my kids? Whenever violence would erupt in a school I would always think “are we doing enough to keep the kids safe”?

Dear Friends,

Does prayer change anything? That seems to be a question that some are asking in light of the awful massacre at the Supermarket in Buffalo. After such a diabolical mass shooting, many people said things such as, “we send our thoughts and prayers to the families.” Almost immediately, others declared that prayer is useless; after all, they reasoned, if prayer worked, the tragedy would never have occurred, especially in a place where people were praying. Fair enough.

We stand at the turning point. After almost 50years of defending the sanctity of human life it looks like we are poised for a long-awaited victory with the overturning of Roe v Wade. Granted this will not end abortion but it will demonstrate the faulty logic of Roe and the power of changing hearts and minds, one at a time.

Instead of Fr. John’s weekly letter, let’s play a little game! We’ll ask 25 Catholic trivia questions. If you get at least 18 of them right, bring your correct answers by Bernadette’s Brew after the 9:00am Mass and get a free cup of coffee! We will publish the answers on the last page of next week’s bulletin. Get ready…. Get set… Go!

Dear Friends,

When I was young (er), I was Dustin Hoffman - or at least people thought I was. People would ask me if I was, and sometimes I would even give my autograph. Ironically, I also worked for a lady named Mrs. Robinson, strictly business relationship, of course. Actually, she was Jewish, but “Jesus loves you more than you will know.” I thought of this when I saw a rerun of the film “The Graduate” with Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft.