St. Anthony has accomplished so much in the last three years because we have such a strong, faith-filled community. We have rebounded from the COVID pandemic. We had a hugely successful capital campaign thanks to your generosity. Our 50th Anniversary celebrations have sparked new life in the parish. We had a great parish mission. In June we will have our 50th Anniversary gala and finally the closing mass with Bishop Hicks.
This June also marks my 30th Anniversary as a priest. With all these great things happening and the parish being in such great shape, I wanted to do something special to celebrate my 30th Anniversary. With that in mind, I asked Bishop Hicks, and he graciously granted me a 4-month sabbatical to celebrate my 30th Anniversary. The sabbatical will start January 2024 and I’ll be back early May 2024. I feel truly blessed and grateful to have been given this opportunity for spiritual and theological enrichment which I will share with you in my ministry when I return.
I am very happy here at St. Anthony and look forward to many more years as your pastor. I ask for your prayerful support on my journey just as I feel your loving prayers every day. I wanted to share my happy news with you so that we all had time to prepare and ensure that parish operations will go forward smoothly while I am away.
In order to defray the costs of the sabbatical to me and to the parish, I am applying for a grant from Lily Endowment. One of the requirements of the grant is that the parish be aware of my sabbatical and that it also supports me in taking one. As I mentioned earlier, your prayerful support and well wishes are incredibly important to me.
In my absence, Fr John Ohner, OSA, our weekend associate, has graciously agreed to be the temporary administrator of the parish. Please feel free to share any comments or concerns with me either after Mass, via email or at the parish office. I look forward to hearing from you.
I want to take a moment to thank Fr David Colhour, CP for the wonderful parish mission we just experienced. He gave of himself so freely and graciously. And I was pleased how many turned out for daily mass and for the evening sessions. It really brought a time of renewal to our parish and enhanced our Lenten journey. Thanks to all who worked on making the mission a huge success. This could not have happened without the efforts of so many people working behind the scenes so, thank you!!