A Letter from Fr. Paul - July 23, 2017

Nothing has changed in the Catholic Church about “gluten” and communion: the recent statement from the Vatican, greatly misrepresented by the media, simply restated the long standing requirement for at least a trace of gluten in communion hosts. At Pius we get our hosts from one of the approved sources, the Benedictine Sisters in Clyde, Missouri. And while the hosts have a slight trace of gluten (they are marketed as “low gluten,” not “gluten free”), parishioners who have severe celiac disease are receiving these hosts with no reactions and are pleased with them.

Update on our participation in the Catholic Stewardship Appeal: as of July 14, we have donated 41.76% toward our goal of $25,000. This appeal supports diocesan programs that are vital to the parishes. If you have not yet supported this appeal, please do so.

This weekend at Masses we remember the parishioners of our sister parish in Guatemala who were martyred in their civil war at the end of the last century.

Our Gospel this weekend presents the wise farmer who allows the weeds and the grain to grow to maturity, lest the grain be damaged by trying to remove the weeds too early. I believe we can benefit from reflecting on this wisdom! I experience much division in the world, in our families, in our school and work communities. And often that comes because we are so quick to be willing to judge and condemn others who do not live up to our standards. We do not know what is in another’s mind and heart. Yet we judge and talk and spread “the truth” about another and their intentions. Social media makes it easier than ever to “wipe someone out.” This is wrong, wrong, wrong, and the source of much tension and unhappiness in our world.

I invite us this week to reflect on our tendency to judge and condemn others, both through words and social media, and resolve to keep in the front of our minds, “judge not, lest you be judged.”

-- Paul James Portland, SDS