A Letter from Fr. Paul - June 4, 2017

The ordination of Michael Neeland, SDS last Saturday was a beautiful and inspiring event. Many visitors commented on the wonderful music. I thank Sarah and Joann Willmering, Karen Manning, Sue Langel, and Sue Haertel for their generous help in preparing for, serving, and cleaning up after the reception.

Graduation was held Friday evening at Wauwatosa Catholic and the school year ends this week. I thank the principal, Heidi Hernandez, and all the teachers and staff for their ministry to our children. Enjoy the summer!

St. Pius was featured in the Catholic Herald last week. You can read the article at http://catholicherald.org/news/local/building-body-christ/.The Catholic Herald has been reformatted to contain more local news; Br. Silas Henderson, SDS, who presents adult formation opportunities at Pius, is now one of its writers. I encourage you to support the paper by subscribing.

A recent request for feedback by the Jesuit magazine America caught my attention. People were asked to respond to the question: How were your children received by your parish? Were they welcomed or shushed? This is a critical question. I cannot tell you the number of people who, over the years, have shared with me a story like this: they always went to Mass, they had children, people complained to them or gave them dirty looks when a child made a noise, they decided not to go to Mass until the children were older, they got out of the habit and didn’t return.

I am pleased that we are welcoming to children. We are a community, a family. A family has children. Sometimes children are fidgety. Thank God the families are with us, getting the strength and support they need to be good, Christian mentors to their children: for with the feast of Pentecost we celebrate the fact that Jesus has not left us orphaned, that he has sent His Spirit, in addition to giving us the Eucharist and the community, to strengthen and support us in living out the Gospel. And who needs that support more than parents raising children in our world today! As we celebrate Pentecost and conclude the Easter season, let us thank God for the gift of the Spirit, the gift of the Eucharist, and the gift of the community, renewing our commitment to take advantage of all three to strengthen and support us in our commitment to live Gospel values!
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Come Holy Spirit and live within us and our families and our community!

-- Paul James Portland, SDS