Pastor’s Corner — August 30th, 2026
The St Patrick’s Ministry Guide Is Now Available in Gathering Space
If you were at Mass at St. Pat’s this weekend, you heard Fr. Peter share what it means to be a good steward by receiving everything from the Father and giving everything back to him. (If you missed this first homily, you can listen here.) This weekend, as we continue our preaching series on Stewardship, we have available at all of the entrances an updated version of St Pat’s Ministry Guide. If you are already volunteering in a ministry at St Pat’s, thank you so much! We have so many ministries because of so many volunteers.
But my hope is that all parishioners who have some availability look through this guide to see the kinds of ministries we have and pray about where the Lord might be asking you to use your time, talents and treasure. The booklet contains the contact information for the appropriate staff member who can connect you to the leader of each ministry. Thanks ahead of time for choosing to serve others as part of living out your discipleship with Jesus.
You Don’t Have to Do It All Yourself: Who Will You Invite to Alpha?
Alpha at St Pat’s has been quite fruitful in bringing people who are non-Catholic into the Catholic Church and reengaging parishioners in their own faith. As a basic course in Christianity, Alpha is a place where people can come and experience love of a community and hear the good news of Jesus Christ. It’s a place where people encounter God anew or for the first time. Many parishioners outside of Alpha don’t get to hear about the good testimonies of what God is doing.
Having a parish committed to evangelization means you don’t have to evangelize by yourself. We do this as a parish family. We all have people who don’t believe in Jesus or who don’t practice their faith. Such people are the perfect people to invite for free food and conversation. Offering to go with someone is a great way of walking with them in their journey. Who will you invite?
Alpha starts again this Fall. This year it’s on Thursday September 24th from 6:30-8:30pm. Please consider inviting someone to Alpha. Please go here to register.
My Sabbatical This Fall
Though this certainly hasn’t been secret, it might be news to some people; I’ve been planning to go on a sabbatical this fall. For every ten years of ordination, priests in our diocese get three months of sabbatical time. The purpose of the sabbatical is to spend some time away for some ongoing study, ongoing formation, and rest. I’ve been ordained for sixteen years and still haven’t taken one yet.
Most priests in our diocese do not take their allowed sabbatical every ten years. I suspect it’s primarily because they simply can’t find a long-term sub for their parish when they are gone. Frankly, we don’t have a lot of retired priests who can cover our assignments long term. So when I heard last fall that Fr Tim Nelson, a priest in our diocese, was retiring last July, I quickly asked if he’d cover St Pat’s so I could do a sabbatical. He said yes.
Most of my sabbatical will be in Rome, Italy, where I will be spending time studying theology, spending time with some priests, seminarians, and other people I know in Rome. (Maybe I can get an audience with Pope Leo?) In addition to having a couple of ministry trips I’ve planned, I will likely do a retreat during that time. The general dates of my sabbatical are Oct 2026-January 2027. I’m still in the process of finalizing the date I come back, but it’ll be after Christmas at some point. I’ll say more about Fr Tim and the transition closer to when I leave.
Your servant in the Lord,
Fr. Mathias