From the Desk of Fr. Brian Dear Parishioners: You may notice a few differences in the way we pray and decorate the Church during the season of Lent. These differences allow us to focus more on the mystery of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Differences in Liturgy During Lent, we do not sing or recite the…
Dear Parishioners: Bitter cold greetings from the rectory. I hope you are staying relatively warm; I heard it was even down to the 20’s in Florida. This Wednesday is February 11th, the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. Lourdes is located in southern France, at the foothills of the Pyrenees Mountains. On 11 February 1858,…
Dear Parishioners: Cold, snow–covered greetings from the rectory! I hope everyone weathered the storm. As I write this letter (Wednesday morning), we are also scheduled for more snow this Saturday night into Sunday. We’ll see! It still does not come even close to the blizzard of 1978 – you should google it to see the…
Dear Parishioners, This week throughout the Diocese, we celebrate Catholic Schools Week. Here at St. Patrick, we are extremely blessed to have a parish Catholic school. As you may know, some Catholic schools have closed over the years. We are having an OPEN HOUSE for St. Patrick School this Sunday, January 25th, from 11:30 AM…
Dear Parishioners: The Christmas season is now over and, surprisingly, the Lenten season is almost upon us. Easter is very early this year (April 5th) so that means Ash Wednesday (February 18th) and Lent are very early this year as well. However, for a very brief period, we enter into “ordinary” time. Visually, this can…
Dear Parishioners: As you may recall, I wrote a letter in the July 5–6, 2025 Bulletin when we opened the 2026 Mass Intention Book. At that time, I wrote that as a Diocese we are experiencing a serious shortage of priests, and we must be prudent in the number of Masses offered here every day…
Dear Parishioners: This weekend, we celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany, the “manifestation” of the Christ-child to the whole world. This feast is also often referred to as “Little Christmas.” In Europe, this is the day in which gifts are exchanged because this is the day the Wise Men, the Magi, gave their gifts to…
Dear Parishioners: This weekend, we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family. The Feast provides us with an opportunity to reflect upon our own families. The Church tells us that the family is the domestic church; the family is the place where we first and foremost encounter God. It is in the family setting that…
Dear Parishioners: As you may have seen, I am back home from my “prison stay” in Buffalo and I am pretty sure that it is for good! I am very, very happy to be back at St. Patrick’s parish! In November 2013, Pope Francis published a pastoral exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel).…
Dear Parishioners: As you know, we hosted our First Annual Family Festival a few weeks ago. I think it was fantastic, and I hope you and your family had a great time. As you can imagine, that success can only come about with a great deal of “behind the scenes” work. That took a lot…
