Pastor's Corner

This weekend begins the season of Advent. A number of years ago, Bishop Joseph Maguire of Springfield, MA, wrote a pastoral letter to the people of his diocese entitled, Enduring Love, about the meaning of Advent as a time of preparation for Christmas. He asked them to pledge to spend the season of Advent in preparation for the birth of Christ and resist anything that tries to make the feast of Christ’s birth a secular, commercial holiday. I’d like to share with you a portion of his letter with the hope that you, too, might make this pledge.

It doesn’t seem possible we’ll be celebrating Thanksgiving this week. One fundamental spiritual practice of our Catholic faith is by expressing gratitude to God. We offer thanks and praise to God every time we come to Mass! It is an acknowledgement that all is gift from Him from whom all good things come. In a culture that often looks for what we can get, our faith tradition focuses on what we can give, including thanks. It is in the spirit of Psalm 116:12, "How can I repay the Lord for all the good He has done for me?" that we instinctively seek to give back in some way, even if it’s a token of our gratitude.

In a world characterized by a growing prosperity of some and an increasing poverty of others, Catholic Social Teaching calls us to use a basic moral test to measure how we as individuals and as a society are treating our most vulnerable members. With the chasm between rich and poor widening in our country and in the world, we need to recall Jesus’ story of the Last Judgment (Mt 25:31-46), which clearly describes the accountability we must render before God regarding how we have put the needs of the poor and vulnerable first. This is what the Church refers to as the Preferential Option (Choice) for the Poor.

Do you remember hearing your mother say, “Be careful whom you make friends with!”

She knew associating with someone who would not be a good influence could cause you to do something you’d later regret; for example, you might get in with the wrong crowd. She may have also wanted to protect your little brother, who looks up to you, from being negatively influenced by the bad language or behavior exhibited by you and your friends.

In the month of October, the Church marked Respect Life Month. As we begin the month of November, the Church remembers all of the faithful departed, commonly known as the month of All Souls. It is a month when we pray in a special way for all of those who have died, and particularly for those who have need for purification before being united to the Lord in heaven, traditionally known as purgatory.

You may remember Bishop Mark O’Connell generously filling in on occasion here at Holy Family to celebrate Sunday Mass. Well, he won’t be available to help us out much longer because Pope Leo XIV appointed him the Bishop of the Diocese of Albany, New York last Monday. He will be installed on December 5, 2025. Those who know him knew it was just a matter of time when he would be asked to lead adiocese.

On October 4, 2025, Pope Leo XIV issued his first official document, an apostolic exhortation entitled Dilexi Te (“I Have Loved You”), making as his own the draft of a text unfinished by his predecessor, Pope Francis. Apostolic exhortations are among the Church’s most personal and pastoral teachings—letters from the pope that inspire, guide, and challenge the faithful to live the Gospel more deeply.

Archbishop Richard Henning in his Sept. 26, 2025 I Believe article in the Archdiocesan newspaper, the Pilot entitled “Our Nation’s Soul” reflected on his observations of what is happening in our country.

He writes, “Like many in America, I have felt the pain of the violence and chaos that have erupted repeatedly in recent years. The darkness that lurks in the human heart has been on display to a degree that the horrific has become ordinary.

We welcome back to our Faith Formation department, Jen Castricone, who will serve as our new Coordinator of Family Faith Formation.

As many of you know, we have been looking for a faithful, joy-filled, creative person who is ready to embrace the opportunity to help rejuvenate our ministry with families, invest in relationships with our parishioners, and implement a vision that promotes growth in faith. It’s taken a while to find someone, and Jen fits the description perfectly!