Happy Sunday and Happy New Year!

This Sunday 2023 comes to a close and tomorrow we begin a New Year. Monday will also mark 6 months for me being back here in Flagstaff. As the year closes I can’t help but express my deep gratitude to each of you for welcoming me back so warmly to this amazing community. It has been a great gift to be here and serve this wonderful parish. I look forward to 2024 and everything the Lord has in store for us.

Happy Sunday!

Today is the 4th Sunday of Advent and Christmas Eve. I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas! This week, I would like to share with you the famous Christmas sermon from St. Leo the Great. It is a beautiful exposition of the mystery of the Incarnation and the dignity of the Christian.

“Dearly beloved, today our Saviour is born; let us rejoice. Sadness should have no place on the birthday of life. The fear of death has been swallowed up; life brings us joy with the promise of eternal happiness.

Happy Sunday!

On this third Sunday of Advent we hear from the Gospel according to John. He recounts for us the ministry of St. John the Baptist in the desert and those wondering who he is. He tells them he is not the Christ, but rather, “I am the voice of one crying out in the desert, ‘make straight the way of the Lord,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.” This voice in the desert is the voice of the one who calls each one of us to repentance.

Happy Sunday!

This year Advent is rather short. We have just finished the first week of Advent and yet Christmas is two weeks away. This year the 4th Sunday of Advent is December 24th. This means that we will have our regular Sunday schedule and then our Christmas schedule beginning Sunday evening. We are required to attend a Mass on Saturday night or Sunday morning (for our Sunday obligation), and then one of the Masses for Christmas Eve or Christmas Day as well (for our Christmas obligation).

Happy Sunday!

Well, if Fr. Matt’s health has recovered and no other unexpected events occurred, then this Sunday will officially be my installation as pastor. In any case, I am so glad to be back in Flagstaff and to be a part of this parish once again. This past Fri, Dec 1, was Fr. Carlos Gomez’s official start date here at SFdA. I am grateful to have help, especially from someone so experienced as Fr. Carlos. Please keep him in prayer during this time of transition.

Happy Sunday!

This Sunday we are glad to welcome Fr. Matt Lowry in his role as Episcopal Vicar of the North. Fr. Matt is celebrating the 8:00am Mass to install me as pastor of SFdA. It’s hard for me to believe that it’s already been 5 months that I’ve been back in Flagstaff. I love it here and am incredibly grateful to Bishop Dolan for asking me to serve as pastor here at San Francisco de Asis. Thank you to all of you for welcoming me back so warmly. It has been such an easy transition to come back here and I am thankful for each of you.

Happy Sunday!

I hope everyone is doing well as we prepare for Thanksgiving. I have a number of exciting updates. First, you heard last weekend that Bishop Dolan is assigning us a new parochial vicar, Fr. Carlos Gomez, beginning on Fri, Dec 1. Fr. Gomez was the pastor of St. Augustine in Phoenix for the last 17 years. He is currently finishing his sabbatical and is looking forward to coming here.

Dear members of SFdA community,

First of all, I would like to express my deep gratitude to Fr. Dan Connealy, to the parish staff, and to all of you for your love, care, support, and prayers since I came to this parish for my pastoral year. I am so blessed to be part of this wonderful community. It has been a great experience for me. I am so grateful to God for each one of you.

Happy Sunday!

It’s good to be back from retreat and see everyone. Thank you so much for all of your prayers. In the week and a half before I left for my retreat I had four funerals. I want to offer a special thank you to all of our funeral volunteers. We have so many wonderful people dedicated to serving families in their time of grief. Many people give up weekday mornings to come and lector for a funeral or simply attend. In fact, at one of the funerals, the person who died only had her daughter and son in law present.

Happy Sunday!

I am writing this ahead of time since I will be finishing up my retreat this weekend. Thank you for your prayers for me while away. This week we have a Holy Day of Obligation on Wednesday, November 1st. Please see the Mass schedule in the bulletin for the Mass times and locations. I will be back for all of these Masses.

Happy Sunday!

This past Friday I left for my retreat. I will be gone until All Saints’ Day. Please keep me in your prayers during this time of retreat. I am grateful for Fr. Peter and the Newman priests for covering Masses, confessions, and sick calls while I am away. At first, when I found out I would be the only priest for a few months I was hesitant to take my already scheduled retreat. However, our office staff and these priests have been incredibly gracious in helping cover the needs of the parish while I am away.

Happy Sunday!

As the semester gains steam it makes me thankful for all the wonderful volunteers we have in our parish. One way that many of you volunteer is by bringing Holy Communion to the sick and homebound. A few weeks ago on a Sunday, one of our wonderful volunteers reached out and told me they had just been to visit someone in the hospital who was very ill and dying. The gentleman (we can call him Leo) had asked to be baptized. Leo was in his mid thirties and had been sick for a while. Our volunteer prayed with him and soon reached out to me to see if baptism was possible. That Sunday I had all the Masses, but being able to go see Leo after the last Mass of the day was so energizing!

Happy Sunday!

We are a week into October and I can’t believe it. Time has flown quickly since I’ve been and I’ve been grateful for every moment. Thank you for welcoming me back to Flagstaff so warmly. As October gets going we have much to look forward to. This past week on the 4th we celebrated the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, our patron. St. Francis was very special to me before I was first assigned here.

Happy Sunday!

Thank you to everyone who showed up to Texas Roadhouse this week to support our school fundraiser. It was a great evening and fun to see so many of you there. Please keep our middle and high school students in prayer this coming Saturday. We will be hosting a retreat all day for them. It should be a great day, as of this writing I’m not sure if registration is closed but I’m sure it never hurts to reach out to Katherine Buckley if your middle or high schooler is interested in attending!