Dear Parishioners,

Today we celebrate the Fifth Sunday of Easter. Unfortunately we live in a caustic environment, where kindness, love, or renewal are often mocked as soft or unrealistic. It can be legitimately discouraging. But the word from the beginning was that it would not be easy, and the pathway would be through pain. Nothing is achieved without imagination, and today’s readings provide a vision for those of us willing to continue the quest for something new. Like the early Christians, we can help to create a renewed earth.

Next weekend we will celebrate the Sixth Sunday of Easter. The early church struggled with a common problem: who was in and who was not. The requirements were related to the cultural and religious practices of Jewish converts. Similar questions plague us to this day regarding who belongs in our country, our neighborhoods, our schools, even our church. The answers are easily found in Jesus’ call to keep his word of love and peace. You would think we would have figured it out by now, but tribalism runs deep.

A Word about the Ascension: In MOST of the United States the Bishops have moved the Feast of the Ascension from the Thursday after the Sixth Sunday of Easter (this year Mary 30) to the Sunday following, this year, June 2. So May 30 is NOT a Holyday of Obligation in this part of the United States. If you are in the Northeast or in Nebraska it is; so if you aren’t traveling there next week, do not worry!

Congratulations to ALL graduates. Our 8th grade class of 2019 will be having their graduation Mass and ceremony at 5:30 P.M. this coming Wednesday, May 22. We congratulate them and thank their parents for choosing Catholic Elementary Education. (Please note that the Exposition / Adora- tion of the Most Blessed Sacrament will end at 5:00 P.M. this coming Wednesday and will not resume that night.) Our Kindergarten graduation is at 11:30 A.M. this coming Tuesday, May 21. Since the parish supports the school, all parishioners are invited to both ceremonies. To all who are graduating this year, we all want to wish you sincere congratulations. In the bulletin for the Ascension, June 1 and 2, we will list all those who WANT TO BE RECOGNIZED this year. So, if you are graduating this year, and would like to have your name in the bulletin that weekend, send a note to Patty Greaves, [email protected] with your name, school, degree (if college), and major if you wish. Other than our own 8th graders we will only list those who wish to have their names listed. Thank you. The bulletin deadline for the June 2 bulletin is the morning of Tuesday, May 28.

Our Parish School year ends at noon this coming Friday, May 24th. We thank all the school and parish community for the support of our school. We thank Mrs. Genny Callier, who is leaving this year, for her three years of service as our Principal. Our technology program has increased leaps and bounds during her tenure. We still have work to do, but the work that has been started is something about which she should be very proud. Of course she didn’t do it by herself. She had the support of our Teachers, School Board, Technology Committee, PTO, and other interested parents and parishioners. Thanks to other school personnel who are not returning next year. We will publicly thank them in next week’s bulletin. By the way there is an All School Mass at 8:15 A.M. on Friday, May 24th. Of course our 8th graders and kindergarteners will have already graduated and won’t be present!

Bulletin Cover. The bulletin cover this weekend has a picture sent to me by a priest friend in Portugal of the Candle Light Procession in Fatima on the eve of the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima, which was celebrated last week on Monday, May 13. May we pray for peace in the world, as was requested by Our Blessed Mother when she appeared to the three visionaries in 1917.

Building: There are pictures in the bulletin this week of the progress in the basement / Msgr. Schneider Hall for the renovation of the hall, serving kitchen, and the building of the addition for the new elevator.

Wednesday Rosary and Adoration: As we have been doing throughout the school year the Rosary at 7:45 A.M. on Wednesday mornings will be for the school community: students, parents, faculty, and staff, along with the needs of the parish. (The Rosary the other days of the week will remain at 7:40 A.M.) Adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament will continue throughout the summer following the 8:15 A.M. Mass until 9:00 P.M. … normally in the side Chapel / Cry Room. If there are exceptions (like this coming Wednesday, May 22, when Exposition will end at 5:00 P.M. because of the Graduation Mass at 5:30, and will NOT resume following the Mass), we will put it in the bulletin and try to send out a “blast e-mail.” PLEASE remember that the chapel / cry room is available for prayer “24/7/365” by entering in the Southwest Corner of the Church, “the sacristy entrance.” While the rest of the Church gets locked each evening, that room is ALWAYS available.

Priesthood Ordinations for the Archdiocese of Saint Louis will take place beginning at 10:00 A.M. this coming Saturday, May 25.  We are blessed to have seven men being ordained priests, with five of them immediately going into parish work here in our Archdiocese, while the other two will be in parishes for the summer, “to get a taste of Parish Life,” but will be returning to Rome in the Fall to finish their “Fifth Year” and receive Pontifical Degrees for future use as Archdiocesan Priests. The Deacons to be ordained priests are: Reverend Misters Andrew Auer, Samuel Inameti, Mark Minden, Anthony Ritter, Patrick Russell, Stephen Schumacher, and George Staley. Please pray for these men, along with the two newly ordained transitional deacons, Rev. Mr. Chris Smith and Rev. Mr. Dane Westhoff (who will begin his ministry here on or about May 30). Please pray for vocations to the priesthood and religious life! Thank you.

Memorial Day: Just a “head’s up” that on Memorial Day, this year, a week from Monday, May 27th, we will have only a 9:00 A.M. Mass. Following that we will have a brief ceremony at our parish / school flag pole. Following that our Scouts will decorate the graves of the veterans who are buried here in our cemetery, with American flags (as many will have decorated graves at Jefferson Barracks on May 26th). If you are a veteran, please consider bringing some of your uniform, to wear at the ceremony. If you are a member of the American Legion, the VFW, AMVETS, or some other Veterans Organization, and there are “uniform” caps for those organizations, certainly bring / wear the appropriate attire.

May God bless us all. In the Risen Lord Jesus,

Father Joe Weber