Underground

I decided to do my Christmas letter in blog form again this year since the highlight of the year was my trip to Matamba in Tanzania to visit our sister school, St. Monica's.  You can see the details and pictures of the trip below.  It was an incredible experience and I hope to return someday in the not too distant future.  There is much that remains to do in helping the school get on its feet.  I am encouraged by the vision of Valentine Malilla, the lead teacher, and Fr. Mbiche, the founder and director of the school.  It will be of great benefit to the children of the area, many of whom are orphans.  If you are interested in learning more about the school or would like to support it in some way, please give me a call.

It has been a busy year, especially in my work for the Diocese as Director of Divine Worship.  After the introduction of the new translation of the Roman Missal which contains the prayers we say at Mass I thought things would slow down a bit.  No such luck.  We had a significant number of big events in the Diocese this year which kept me on the move.  During Lent we had the Rite of Election in which those to be baptized or recieved into the Church are presented to the Bishop for his affirmation.  Then it was on to the Chrism Mass during Holy Week.  In June we celebrated the ordination of Jason Kern to the priesthood.  Fr. Jason is from Owatonna so there was a good group from town there.  The next week the Diocese hosted a major evangelization event which drew around a thousand people.  There were several communal prayers, a holy hour and Mass and Eucharistic Procession for me to organize.  I am grateful for the help of so many people which made it all possible.  In August the Minnesota Catholic Education Association met in Rochester and I was responsible for the two Masses that were part of the convention.  Again, the local help was tremendous.  In September, St. Stanislaus Kotska Church, where I served in my first assignment was named a minor basilica which honors its history, beauty and significance.  It was wonderful to be a part of that.  In October we opened the Year of Faith.  The last two months I have been catching my breath before the next year's liturgies.  I continue to enjoy my work but do need to find a way of bringing better balance into the parish and diocesan roles.

In July I attended the National Convention of the National Association of Pastoral Musicians in Pittsburgh.  I learned a lot since I felt that one area I had not kept up with was the area of new music.  It was good to see old friends and meet new people.  One special person I reconnected with was Tony Alonso who is a composer and church musician with great promise.  He was a student and parishioner at St. Edward's in Austin while I was pastor there.  It was good to see and visit with him.

As part of that trip I also spent some time visiting friends and classmates.  It was especially great to reconnect with E. Michael Yulich and meet his family.  I also was able to have dinner with Fr. Kris Stubna who had just been named rector of the Cathedral in Pittsburgh.  We went to a great Italian restaurant.

The big project for the coming year will be a capital campaign to fund an addition to our church facilities.  We had been working with the city of Owatonna in hopes of acquiring the former hospital property that sits adjacent to the parish.  However, the cost of removing the old structure was prohibitive and a grocery store has purchased the site and is working on razing the building.  The company has been very good to work with as we try to meet some of our needs without actually owning the property.  Please pray for us as we work to add new office space, provide more private living space for the priests, gain additional meeting space and expand the narthex.  If any of you have won the lottery and are looking for a worthy cause - let me know!

The last two weeks have been filled with music as Kantorei, the choir with which I have sung for over 20 years, presented our Christmas concerts.  We did three this year in addition to a Messiah sing-along in St. Cloud.  That was nice since my family was able to attend.  We sang at the Paramount theater which was the movie theater growing up.  It brought back lots of memories.

One of the wonderful things about singing with Kantorei is that it gets me into the spirit.  I have most of my shopping done.  My cards are written - although not yet mailed.  The tree is half-decorated which I want to complete today.  The end of the week is shaping up to be fairly light in terms of meetings so I hope that holds.   It would be great to move into Christmas in a slightly less hectic manner.

May God bless you during this Christmas season.  May it be a time of joy and peace.