Have you ever heard of a podcast? Many of us have and some of us actually do subscribe to podcasts, which is a regular (i.e. daily or weekly) program through the internet, that often involves a person or persons sharing their point of view on a topic or topics. An advertisement for one of these says that one of the episodes each week is on a topic that interests him and the other one is on a topic that interests his viewers or listeners.
I have decided to do something similar with my pastor's column. I will have one week that I will choose a topic for the column and the next week I will delve into a topic that parishioners of Sacred Heart are interested in. If you have an idea for a topic (of course within the Catholic realm), please send it to me at my email address, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. While I'm giving this email address to you, I think it is a good time to remind you that "scam people" continue to try to pose as me by sending emails asking something of you (supposedly from me). If you look at the email address the scam is coming from, it is usually not even close to mine. One time someone just added an extra "l" to Bill and I didn't catch the difference at first myself.
Getting back to parishioners helping to choose the topic of the pastor's column, please realize that, depending on how many ideas come in, it may be awhile before I get to a submitted suggestion. Please include your name and phone number so I can get back to you in the event I might need clarification on the topic you wish to be covered in my pastor's column.
Today, briefly, I want to write about a question someone sent me about purifying the sacred vessels after Communion at Mass. We all grew up seeing this done by the priest (and later by deacons) right after Holy Communion. As a longtime altar server, I remember bringing the cruet of water over to the priest at the altar after he returned from puttimg the ciborium of consecrated hosts back in the tabernacle. As you know, over time, the number of vessels that need purifying has grown, especially when the precious blood is given. The Church's liturgical directives now give the priest the option of purifying some or all of the vessels after Mass. I exercise this option, and, when a deacon has not assisted me at Mass, I go to the credence table on the weekends after saying goodbye to those leaving Mass, and purify the vessels. I do want to thank our sacristans who patiently wait for me or the deacon to do this before returning the vessels to the sacristy and washing them. I also want to publicly thank our head sacristan Mark Lukasavige and all the assistant sacristans who come early for Mass and stay later than most for the exercising of their duties! They are all a blessing to me and to our congregation!
I have decided to do something similar with my pastor's column. I will have one week that I will choose a topic for the column and the next week I will delve into a topic that parishioners of Sacred Heart are interested in. If you have an idea for a topic (of course within the Catholic realm), please send it to me at my email address, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. While I'm giving this email address to you, I think it is a good time to remind you that "scam people" continue to try to pose as me by sending emails asking something of you (supposedly from me). If you look at the email address the scam is coming from, it is usually not even close to mine. One time someone just added an extra "l" to Bill and I didn't catch the difference at first myself.
Getting back to parishioners helping to choose the topic of the pastor's column, please realize that, depending on how many ideas come in, it may be awhile before I get to a submitted suggestion. Please include your name and phone number so I can get back to you in the event I might need clarification on the topic you wish to be covered in my pastor's column.
Today, briefly, I want to write about a question someone sent me about purifying the sacred vessels after Communion at Mass. We all grew up seeing this done by the priest (and later by deacons) right after Holy Communion. As a longtime altar server, I remember bringing the cruet of water over to the priest at the altar after he returned from puttimg the ciborium of consecrated hosts back in the tabernacle. As you know, over time, the number of vessels that need purifying has grown, especially when the precious blood is given. The Church's liturgical directives now give the priest the option of purifying some or all of the vessels after Mass. I exercise this option, and, when a deacon has not assisted me at Mass, I go to the credence table on the weekends after saying goodbye to those leaving Mass, and purify the vessels. I do want to thank our sacristans who patiently wait for me or the deacon to do this before returning the vessels to the sacristy and washing them. I also want to publicly thank our head sacristan Mark Lukasavige and all the assistant sacristans who come early for Mass and stay later than most for the exercising of their duties! They are all a blessing to me and to our congregation!