Pastor’s Corner — May 31st, 2026
Welcome to the Family: New Catholics and More Confirmations!
This past week we had another large group of people joining and coming into full communion with the Church through the sacraments.
Please join me in congratulating: Sara Beuter, Michael Brauer, Paul Cavanaugh, Augustine Cesar, Nora Coddington, Casey Cummings, Justin Fiebiger, John Gira, Adam Jenkins, Cody Konieczki, Emily Kovath, Eric Meldrum, Evan Nunn, Kyle Richardson, Michael Sabourin, Kristen Stetz, Nathan Tsiang, Sarah Tsiang, Melissa Turnbo, and Ian Wemyss.
So many people with such unique stories of faith and courage in making this decision. Praise be to God for his grace in their hearts! Special thanks to Anne Guminik and all of our sponsors and wonderful parish volunteers who help with all of this.
We bring people into the Church several times a year. This brings our total number of people brought through our OCIA process (and adult confirmations) to 61!
Prayer for New Bishop: Cards Available in Pews This Weekend
The Diocese released a prayer for a new bishop a few weeks ago. We will have copies of these in the pews this weekend. Rather than praying this prayer at every Mass, please take one home and pray it often so that our next shepherd is a good shepherd, the right shepherd for our Diocese. Come Holy Spirit!
Consecration of Country to the Sacred Heart and Home Enthronements at St Pat’s
You may have read that the US Bishops will be consecrating the entire country to the Sacred Heart of Jesus on June 11th. This is fantastic!
In concert with this, next weekend we will be handing out images of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to every family in the parish with a shortened prayer to enthrone Jesus in your homes. This act of entrustment of your families to the Heart of Jesus is a powerful way of opening up our families to God’s grace in our lives. More information will be shared next weekend.
McCann Hall is Closed until September
As you saw in the email to the parish, McCann Hall is getting renovated this summer. As a result, it will be closed for the summer while it gets a much needed facelift. This means we will not have Coffee and Donuts after the 9:30am Mass until the project is complete. Let’s say a prayer of thanksgiving to God for the two generous families who are making this renovation possible. Stay tuned for more updates.
Magnifica Humanitas: Pope Leo XIV’s Encyclical on Technology and AI
This week the Pope released a new encyclical on human dignity in the midst of so many technological advances today, including artificial intelligence. According to this excellent guide to the encyclical by The Pillar:
Magnifica humanitas (“Magnificent humanity”) applies the principles of Catholic social teaching to the novel challenges presented by artificial intelligence in the realms of education, politics, work, and war.
The document takes aim at the 21st-century technological philosophies of “transhumanism” and “posthumanism,” arguing that human potential is fully realized in Christ and His Church.
The encyclical — which is around 38,000 words and takes two to three hours to read — also includes a striking acknowledgement of the Church’s slowness to offer an outright condemnation of slavery, while calling for new efforts to eliminate slave-like conditions in the digital economy.
I have not read the encyclical yet (it’s really long), but I trust The Pillar and its explainer to get to the heart of what it’s about, if you don’t have time to read the document.
Your servant in the Lord,
Fr. Mathias