Dear Friends,

It’s de rigueur, right around the time of any major Christian holy day, to read stories in the Media that are anti-Christian, anti-God and especially ones that attack organized religions (never Islam but the rest are considered fair game).

Dear Friends,

And when the broken hearted people living in the world agree, There will be an answer, Let It Be….

-“Let it Be” by the Beatles”

We are the broken hearted who have found the answer. Most of us have had the “slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” pointed at us, and yet rather than remaining as victims we find the answer in faith. What we agree on even amid so much disagreement is that Jesus is the answer to our broken hearts and wounded souls.

Dear Friends,

Most young people in their late teens and early twenties are looking forward to and planning their future. Whether its finishing up college, moving into a career, saving up for a new car or planning to be married, it’s an exciting time in life. But not for all. Why do some young people lose the hope and the excitement of a future? Why is the suicide rate among young people skyrocketing, and why do some young men decide to blow up their future and the future of dozens and dozens of others? It’s easy to point the finger of blame at this or that but as we have found out, it’s much harder to find effective solutions that could stop the metamorphosis of a bright young teenager into a cold-blooded killer.

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”?