This past Monday, I made a day trip to St. Mary's in Altus, Arkansas to celebrate a Mass during which my cousin Brian and his wife, Michele, received the Sacrament of Marriage. Both before and after the Mass, I went to the parish cemetery to look for grave markers of "Elsers" who lived in the area, went to Church at St. Mary's, and raised their families in the Catholic faith there. I saw monuments marking the gravesite of both my great-grandfather and great-grandmother whom where dead before I was even born, but whom I got to know about through my grandmother (their daughter-in-law), when I used to visit her in Fort Smith. I also found the monuments where my great, great-grandparents are buried, and discovered that they died within two weeks of each other in December 1904. I can only wonder how difficult life was for them from the time they were born (1840) until the time they died. One constant in their lives was their faith in God, lived out in the Catholic Church as parishioners at St. Mary's. I found also the grave marker for my aunt, Mary Katherine, who died only three weeks after she was born in 1934. I look forward to meeting her as well as other family members of the past, some of whom I knew or knew of, and some that I know nothing about other than their names.
It is wonderful during this Easter Season to reaffirm and celebrate our belief not only in the Resurrection and Ascension of Our Lord to heaven, but in the hope we have in our future lives with Him and all those judged worthy of a "dwelling place" in the Communion of Saints; which hopefully, will include many people who passed the faith down to succeeding generations and lived their faith in good times and in hard times as well. Sometimes I look at the future that my young great-neices and nephews will have to face, and wonder how they will get through it. I pray it is with faith in Jesus Christ and a loving, giving relationship with Him that is nurtured and strengthened by the faith of family and friends around them.
It is wonderful during this Easter Season to reaffirm and celebrate our belief not only in the Resurrection and Ascension of Our Lord to heaven, but in the hope we have in our future lives with Him and all those judged worthy of a "dwelling place" in the Communion of Saints; which hopefully, will include many people who passed the faith down to succeeding generations and lived their faith in good times and in hard times as well. Sometimes I look at the future that my young great-neices and nephews will have to face, and wonder how they will get through it. I pray it is with faith in Jesus Christ and a loving, giving relationship with Him that is nurtured and strengthened by the faith of family and friends around them.
"Where does time go?" That is a statement that many of us make, especially as we grow older. Since I am looking at my 60th birthday (in October), I can honestly say that time seems to be going faster than I remember it passing not that long ago. This past Thursday, St. Mary of the Springs in Hot Springs started a celebration of the 150th anniversary as a parish, making it one of the oldest parishes in Arkansas. Since my roots are in Hot Springs, I can honestly say, I remember the 100th anninversary Mass at St. Mary's as I would have been about 9 years old, and served that Mass as well as the 12:15 Mass every Sunday there.
The Arkansas Catholic had a very nice article about St. Mary's in its May 4 edition which included a picture of and quotes from my godmother, Nat Martin, who was baptized there 91 years ago and has been a parishioner there longer than anyone who is alive now. St. Mary's has always been known as the "tourist" parish, as the pews sometimes have more visitors than parishioners in them.
After having two pastors for a combined total of 60 years from 1913-1974 (Monsignor Carroll, 40 years and Monsignor Gaffney, 20 years), the parish has had a number of different pastors since then, including Monsignor Leo Riedmueller of fairly recent times who was there as pastor for 18 years. Monsignor Gaffney was the pastor there during my formative years and was a great influence on my vocation to the priesthood. While associate pastors came and went pretty quickly during those years (one or two years each), the consistency of pastor and my serving Mass every Sunday (and a lot of First Saturdays and funerals) along with my brothers, led me to believe that God wanted me to be on the altar every Sunday (and Saturday night) as a priest called to serve God's people on the altar and in so many other ways. As I prepare to celebrate by 33rd year as a priest (May 31) and start my 10th year as pastor of this wonderful parish, I give thanks to God for the "staying power" of churches and church families like St. Mary's and the witness of priests who inspire vocations and care so faithfully for the flock entrusted to them by the bishop.
I know that I am truly blessed to be here at this time of my priesthood! Thanks to all of you who pray for and support me in my priesthood. God bless you!
The Arkansas Catholic had a very nice article about St. Mary's in its May 4 edition which included a picture of and quotes from my godmother, Nat Martin, who was baptized there 91 years ago and has been a parishioner there longer than anyone who is alive now. St. Mary's has always been known as the "tourist" parish, as the pews sometimes have more visitors than parishioners in them.
After having two pastors for a combined total of 60 years from 1913-1974 (Monsignor Carroll, 40 years and Monsignor Gaffney, 20 years), the parish has had a number of different pastors since then, including Monsignor Leo Riedmueller of fairly recent times who was there as pastor for 18 years. Monsignor Gaffney was the pastor there during my formative years and was a great influence on my vocation to the priesthood. While associate pastors came and went pretty quickly during those years (one or two years each), the consistency of pastor and my serving Mass every Sunday (and a lot of First Saturdays and funerals) along with my brothers, led me to believe that God wanted me to be on the altar every Sunday (and Saturday night) as a priest called to serve God's people on the altar and in so many other ways. As I prepare to celebrate by 33rd year as a priest (May 31) and start my 10th year as pastor of this wonderful parish, I give thanks to God for the "staying power" of churches and church families like St. Mary's and the witness of priests who inspire vocations and care so faithfully for the flock entrusted to them by the bishop.
I know that I am truly blessed to be here at this time of my priesthood! Thanks to all of you who pray for and support me in my priesthood. God bless you!
I am always ready and willing to tell anyone that I am a proud Knight of Columbus (and have been for over 30 years). Today, I am proud and happy to tell anyone that I am chaplain for Council 10208 of Hot Springs Village, especially after seeing the number of awards our council received at last weekend's state convention including "Large Council of the Year" award and state family of the year, Bob and Mary Anne Honzik.
I want to thank those Knights who work so hard with their efforts to help others directly and indirectly through our fundraising activities. When I think of the relatively few members (in proportion to the total number of members we have in our council) who accomplished so much and give so many hours, often with the support and encouragement of their wives, I can't even imagine how much more we can do in the future if more of our members get involved in at least one-or-two of our activities in the coming fraternal year (starting July 1).
I will not take the time and space to say why the choice of Bob and Mary Anne Honzik is WELL DESERVED, because it would take much space to list all the projects they have started and made successful (like the Seminarian Fundraising Dinner here at Sacred Heart). I just want, on behalf of myself and my brother Knights in this Council, to thank the Lord and them for giving us such a wonderful example of putting one's faith into action -- time and time again.
I also want to thank our parishioners for being so supportive of the Knights in their fundraising activities. Finally, I want to urge our men who are not Knights of Columbus yet, to consider this Catholic fraternity of men and join us in doing the Lord's work in so many ways. It's never "too late" for you to join us and be proud in future that you were a member of this wonderful group of "faith-filled" men who want to grow as "men of faith" in word and in deed.
I want to thank those Knights who work so hard with their efforts to help others directly and indirectly through our fundraising activities. When I think of the relatively few members (in proportion to the total number of members we have in our council) who accomplished so much and give so many hours, often with the support and encouragement of their wives, I can't even imagine how much more we can do in the future if more of our members get involved in at least one-or-two of our activities in the coming fraternal year (starting July 1).
I will not take the time and space to say why the choice of Bob and Mary Anne Honzik is WELL DESERVED, because it would take much space to list all the projects they have started and made successful (like the Seminarian Fundraising Dinner here at Sacred Heart). I just want, on behalf of myself and my brother Knights in this Council, to thank the Lord and them for giving us such a wonderful example of putting one's faith into action -- time and time again.
I also want to thank our parishioners for being so supportive of the Knights in their fundraising activities. Finally, I want to urge our men who are not Knights of Columbus yet, to consider this Catholic fraternity of men and join us in doing the Lord's work in so many ways. It's never "too late" for you to join us and be proud in future that you were a member of this wonderful group of "faith-filled" men who want to grow as "men of faith" in word and in deed.