I have accepted the daunting challenge from our faithful parish webmaster, John Paul Vidal, to begin a blog. It will be an opportunity to share with parishioners, and perhaps other interested parties, on an occasional basis, an informal mélange of events, life and people at St. Cecilia’s, our wonderful parish in Irondequoit, New York.  I have been privileged to pastor this community for six years, and it has been a great blessing to me. The parishioners are warm and generous, and have been excellent teachers.

I will also use this opportunity to share a little about some of the activities that I am currently involved in, such as this past weekend at South Bend, Indiana. I currently serve as a General Editor at Ave Maria Press, for a “Concise Guide” series of books that will be of some help, hopefully to the many people now engaged in pastoral ministry. Some of the past titles have included works on canon law, the social teaching of the Church, and, most recently, on rights in the Church. My task in this regard is to locate authors and titles to address some of the pressing pastoral needs in the Church today. I went to South Bend to the offices of Ave Maria Press located near the famed University of Notre Dame campus, to meet with the editorial and marketing staff to review progress and discuss some possible future titles in the series. Hopefully we are on a good trajectory to provide some helpful resources for our pastoral ministers.

I also had the opportunity to renew acquaintances at Moreau Seminary where I boarded for the weekend, the same place where I stayed during my recent sabbatical. It is the formation home for vocation recruits for the Congregation of Holy Cross, the community that has been so instrumental in the foundation and development of Notre Dame. It was great to see many of the priests, seminarians and candidates that I had previously met and they were most gracious and hospitable. Concelebrating at one of the weekend liturgies at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart is always a highpoint, experiencing the dignity and beauty of the Mass with the participation of the wonderful choir of the University.

And, needless to say, the weekend was a ringing success with the Fighting Irish crushing Purdue! Those who have attended a football game at Notre Dame know the excitement of the festivities and celebrations campus-wide, especially the Friday night pep rally.

It was a great weekend, both productive and relaxing. But it’s good to be home.

Stay tuned…