FROM THE PASTOR'S DESK

To those attending the pilgrimage on May 5th to Our Lady of Victory National Shrine and Basilica: the “motor vehicle coalition of the willing” will depart from the Notre Dame parking lot at 8:15 a.m. If you’ve ever wanted to see a Roman Basilica up close, here is your chance!

The Easter Vigil Mass and Easter Sunday Masses were very well attended! Congratulations to the OCIA members - their Confirmation Saint name is in parentheses: La Shana Barnett (Gertrude the Great), Angela McConnell (Anne), Mia McConnell (Angela), Jacob McConnell (Francis of Assisi), Bob Stewart (Jude), and Abbey Murphy (Hubert). They have been on a long journey, the journey of a lifetime, which continues!

The sacred music for the Sacred Paschal Triduum was beautiful, and the Churches are magnificently decorated- thanks to everyone who helped make this happen!

Liturgical ministry training sessions are here! There is an insert in the bulletin with the dates and times for Ushers, Holy Communion Ministers (this includes anyone taking Communion to the homebound), Lectors, and Altar Servers. Anyone who helps with Communion, whether at Mass, or in any way whatsoever, must come to one training session- it will be explained what the Bishop requires. This is a great opportunity to get more involved in parish life!

As I write this, Pope Francis’ funeral was yesterday, and he is buried at the massive Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome. He passed away on Easter Monday, and is reported to have waved goodbye to his nurse just before suffering a stroke and coma. We pray for the repose of the soul of Pope Francis, the 265th successor to St. Peter. Back on Dec. 17, 2024, Almudena Martínez-Bordiú wrote a very interesting article for Catholic News Agency about Pope Francis. Here is the first part of the article:

As He Turns 88, 8 + 8 Interesting Things About Pope Francis

Did you know that the Pope says a specific prayer every day to keep his good humor?

Did you know Pope Francis was a nightclub bouncer, his favorite movie is La Strada by Federico Fellini, and that he doesn’t watch television? On the occasion of his 88th birthday, these and other interesting facts about Pope Francis are highlighted below.

1. How did he discover his vocation?

On the feast of St. Matthew the Apostle, Pope Francis discovered his vocation to the priesthood after going to confession when he was 16 years old. It happened on Sept. 21, 1953. It was Student Day in Argentina, which coincides with the day when spring begins in the Southern Hemisphere and is celebrated with a big party.

“Before going to the party, I passed by the parish I attended and I found a priest I didn’t know and I felt the need to go to confession. This was for me an experience of encounter: I found Someone who was waiting for me.”

“I don’t know what happened; I don’t remember. I don’t know why that priest was there, whom I didn’t know, why I had felt that desire to go to confession, but the truth is that Someone was waiting for me. He had been waiting for me for a long time. After confession I felt that something had changed,” the Holy Father shared.

He said that after that confession he said that he was no longer himself: “I had heard something like a voice, a call: I was convinced that I had to be a priest.”

2. What is his favorite dish?

Nov. 19, 2022, was one of those rare occasions when Pope Francis left the Vatican without an official program. The reason? A family reunion in Asti, the Italian city where his cousin Daniela di Tiglione, who was celebrating her 90th birthday, lives.

On that occasion, Pope Francis was able to enjoy his favorite dish: bagna cauda, a typical Piedmont dish prepared with anchovies, oil and garlic and used as a sauce for vegetables.

3. He likes dance.

Before being ordained a priest, especially during his youth, Pope Francis enjoyed tango, one of the most emblematic dances of Argentina. He also liked the milonga, another typical dance from his homeland.

4. He was a bouncer in a nightclub.

Like many young man, Jorge Bergoglio worked various jobs to earn his first salary. Although his first job was scrubbing the floors of the hosiery company where his father worked, in 2013 he confessed to a group of young people that he was also a bouncer at a nightclub. Thanks to that experience, he began “to guide the disillusioned to the Church.”

5. He’s missing a lung.

When he was 21, he had to have a lung removed due to an infection, which has caused him to suffer from some breathing difficulties in recent years.

6. He has refused forgiveness only once.

On more than one occasion, Pope Francis has encouraged priests to forgive “everything” in the confessional and to “not torture” the faithful in the confessional.

During an interview on Italian television in January, he stated that in his more than 50 years as a priest he has refused forgiveness only once, “because of the hypocrisy of the person.”

7. He says a prayer every day to keep his good humor.

On several occasions, Pope Francis has praised a good sense of humor and stressed that sadness is not a Christian disposition. He has even gone so far as to say that the “hallmark of a Christian” is joy and not being a sourpuss.

To be good-humored, he says a prayer from St. Thomas More every day, a prayer he has referred to in numerous public appearances, most recently with the president of France, Emmanuel Macron.

“Lord, give me a sense of humor. Grant me the grace to understand a joke, to discover in life a bit of joy, and be able to share it with others,” the Holy Father prays every day. [end of first half of article]

Pope Saint Pius V (Pope from 1566-1572), the Pope whose job it was to implement the historic Council of Trent, pray for us. Father Miller