Pastor’s Corner — July 5th, 2026
Parish Festival: Thanks and Recap
This weekend we’ve added an insert about the Shamrock Festival, so I’ll keep this short. I am SO thankful for the hundreds of volunteers who helped make this festival a success! I’m also thankful for all of you who bought and sold raffle tickets and came to the festival with your family! The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. If you haven’t filled out this survey, please do.
I couldn’t be more proud of our parish and school community coming together to celebrate our parish identity and welcoming people from the local community. Special kudos goes out to Jacob Jacovetti and Melissa Botsford and the whole Festival Committee for leading this effort.
New Seminarian from St Pat’s: Bentley Tran
I received word a few weeks ago that Bentley Tran (St Pat’s parishioner) was accepted into seminary! Bentley has been a stalwart server of ours and active in the Jeremiah 1:7 discernment group in the past. I asked Bentley to write something about himself:
My name is Bentley Tran, and I will be attending St. John Vianney College Seminary in Minnesota. I was born in Howell, and I am an only child of my parents and was raised Catholic. I went to Brighton High School and graduated in the summer of 2025. Recently, I attended one year of college at Detroit Mercy and was studying accounting. However, I felt that I was missing something in my life and that God was calling me to seminary. The thought of priesthood had been in my mind for several years and throughout my years in high school. However, I chose to put this consideration aside to go to college, looking at different career paths before settling with accounting. After many prayers and contemplation, I became more convinced and saw clearer signs that I should attend seminary, and there was a deep feeling in my heart that became harder to ignore that this was the path God wanted me to seek. The main attraction of priesthood to me is the consecration of the host and transubstantiation where bread and wine are raised, becoming the body and blood of Jesus Christ. When the mass is done with beauty and reverence, I find this especially highlighted and emphasized. Thank you for all your prayers. Please continue to pray for me.
From our parish, we now have three diocesan seminarians, one young woman entering religious life, and another young man who is currently applying to be a seminarian for a religious order. God is good!
Welcome Fr. Peter!
We are so grateful that Fr. Peter will be joining us at St. Patrick this week as our parochial vicar. Fr. Peter’s first official day as parochial vicar will be on Wednesday, July 1st. I look forward to having him here full-time and know that his gifts and his love for the Lord will bless our parish immensely! Welcome back Fr. Peter!
HOMILY NOTE: ATTENDANCE AT WEDDINGS
In my homily last weekend, I noted as an example that many are likely struggling with how family members respond when we have to make difficult decisions about not going to weddings. I referenced two examples: refusing to go to a same-sex wedding and those who believe it’s highly imprudent to attend a wedding of a Catholic who is getting married outside the Church. Let me bring a little more clarity on this in three points:
1) It’s perfectly okay to attend wedding ceremonies of couples outside of the Catholic Church if neither of them is a baptized Catholic.
2) Catholics can never attend a same-sex wedding ceremony or attend any event that celebrates said, “marriage.” Since we must assume that such a “marriage” is celebrating something evil (homosexual acts), we cannot celebrate it, even if civil society does. We are to love the people well, but we cannot agree to their actions. Our presence would be tantamount to grave scandal for the couple and others who know we are devout Christians.
3) Catholics should avoid going to the wedding ceremony of a baptized Catholic(s) who is getting married outside of the Catholic Church. The primary reason we shouldn’t attend is that such a marriage is invalid. Baptized Catholics are bound by the oversight of the Church and without an official minister of the Church present, the couples are unable to contract a valid marriage. In other words, they are not made one flesh outside the Church. Therefore, the main concern of a Catholic attending an invalid marriage is causing scandal.
Catholics might be able to attend a wedding of a baptized Catholic outside the Church, if the following conditions are satisfied:
1) The baptized Catholic getting married is not doing this out of rebellion against the Catholic Church
2) You have personally had a private conversation with the Catholic party and let them know you disagree with this and that you want them to have a valid marriage.
3) You have made known to all of your Catholic family and friends who are attending the wedding that you disagree with the decision. If you know a baptized Catholic who got married outside the Catholic Church, you can lovingly encourage them to get what’s called a convalidation, which is a new consent (marriage) in the Catholic Church. In addition to confession this will normalize their relationship with the Catholic Church and give them a valid marriage.
These topics can be difficult to wrestle with and many who are in these situations struggle with discussing it or don’t know who to ask. I’ve had many good conversations with Catholics on these topics and encourage you to seek answers when needed. If you have any questions on a particular case, feel free to contact Heather, me, or Fr Peter to discuss.
Your servant in the Lord,
Fr. Mathias