Dear Parishioners,

First of all, I just wanted to express my deep gratitude to all of you for welcoming me here to Our Lady of Lourdes Parish and the Mission at Lake Pleasant Parkway. Thank you for your welcome and hospitality. As your new pastor, it has been wonderful to experience your hospitality and love.

I cannot believe it has already been four months since my coming here! How time flies! Over the last several weeks, I have been getting to know you all. I have also been learning as much as I can about you the parish, and it has been a delight.

In my short time here, it has become abundantly clear that God is, and has been at work here at Our Lady of Lourdes for some time now. He has already been working in dynamic ways. I also get the sense that this God, who is evidently at work here at our parish, wants to move in even bigger and better ways as we go forward.

This is especially the case given the unique period of history that we are living through, with all the circumstances and unique challenges that we are facing both in our wider society and even in the Church. God wants to pour out special graces on those who are willing and open to receive them, in order to accomplish great things for his Kingdom through them. As such, by God’s providence, we find ourselves in a situation where we are being called to not only witness our faith in the world around us, but we have also been chosen for the special task of quite literally building up the body of Christ. This, of course, is the task of building the new Church community at Lake Pleasant Parkway.

This is truly amazing folks! If we can think about it; in the times we are living through, it has become all too common that Catholic Churches are closing and consolidating all over the place due to decline, yet here we are, opening and building a new Catholic Church due to growth and spiritual vitality! My friends, this is awesome! We get to be a part of this. God is truly working here!

It is my hope therefore, that in the coming weeks and months, I continue to meet and get to know as many of you as possible. I am really excited about the fact that in the coming weeks our community will be growing as our winter residents return. I look forward to meeting all of you too. I also pray that as we go forward, we may remain open to receive the special graces that I believe, God wants to pour out on us for his purposes. May God bless you all and keep you in His peace.

Please be assured of my prayers and pray for me too.

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