From the Vicar — June 21st, 2026
Happy Father’s Day!
Happy Father’s Day to all the fathers of our parish! Thank you for your leadership of your families, how you care for your children, and how you witness the Father’s love to the world. Your wives need you, your children need you, and the world needs you. I hope this day is a blessing to you. I also recognize that Father’s day can be a day of deep reflection. Father’s Day has certainly been a unique day for me these past few years. Ever since losing my dad six and half years ago, it definitely hasn’t been the same: I have felt his absence in so many ways, but on this day in particular, it is poignant. Predominantly though, it is a day of gratitude for my father and for the gift of his life and all that he taught me.
But Father’s day has also taken on a very different character since becoming a priest. As I have said before, when I got ordained and sent to St. Pat’s, I suddenly had thousands of spiritual children, many of whom are two or three times my age! It is quite the experience, but I have been incredibly grateful for how this parish has embraced me over these last few years.
Fathers, what we do is not easy. Being a father isn’t for the faint of heart. I want to share a bit from what I preached last year on Father’s Day. It is a simple word of encouragement to all fathers to remember where your fatherhood comes from, and where you can look to, especially in the difficult moments:
“You have a Father. You are not alone in this. Whether you are a brand new dad and this is your first Father’s Day, or a father with teenagers needing lots of extra strength and patience, or a father whose kids have left the house, and now you wonder, ‘what does it mean to father my adult children who are becoming fathers themselves?’ You are not alone in this. You have a Father. God declares that he is your Father. That the Love of the Father is the most ancient reality.
God wants to father you. God wants to father you in all the places of your heart and life that your earthly father couldn’t, wouldn’t, or didn’t father you. He wants to father those broken and wounded places in your heart that keep you from being the husband and father he has made you to be. The places you feel inadequate, the places you feel like a fraud or a failure.
The Father’s heart is longing for you. He declares that you are his son, that you are made in his image, that you are his delight. The God who formed the heavens and the earth, and who fixed the foundations of the earth and set the limit of the sea, is your Father, and invites you to walk in his fatherhood. To let him father you as you seek to be a father too.”
Happy Father’s Day, brothers.
The Shamrock Festival
Time and again this past weekend, I was in awe at how incredible the Shamrock Festival was. From the carnival rides and the game tent full of endless fun, to the beer tent full of good music and conversation, the whole thing was a beautiful experience of community, faith, and joy. I saw kids delighting in ferris wheels, elephant ears, and goldfish. I heard parishioners engaging visitors in conversation in the beer tent and inviting them to come check out St. Pat’s. It was a genuinely edifying and uplifting experience.
In all of it, I am most grateful for all the incredible people who made it possible. Our parish and school staff played a big role, but it wouldn’t have been possible without countless volunteers who gave hours and hours of time both leading up to the Festival, and for the duration of the weekend. And it wasn’t just the time they put in, but also the enthusiasm and joy with which they did it. Numerous attendees told me how impressed they were with not only the size and scope of the Festival, but also how well run and staffed it was. Each part was attended to excellently.
The Shamrock Festival was truly a gift to our parish, our school, and our wider community. I hope that it will continue to be such a blessing for many years to come.
Your servant in the Lord,
Fr. Joshua