Letter from the Pastor
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August 20, 2023We all wish to thank to Father Pius for his presence with us this summer and bid a fond farewell. It was a blessing to have Father with us this summer. His prayerful and reverent offering of the Mass, his thoughtful sermons and his gentleness reflect a good and holy priest. Father will be going back to Rome to study in September, in the meantime he will be staying with another priest here in Rockland enjoying some time away. God Bless you and thank you Father Pius.
It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year
Andy Williams’ Christmas song became a very creative and funny commercial for Staples regarding back to school, “the most wonderful time of the year.” Many of our young parishioners are heading back to school or going for the first time away to college; there is a sense of excitement, a sense of uncertainty, even a bit of angst, a new beginning waits.
College means learning, exploring, experimenting, risking and becoming an independent human being as never before. The first time you have to do your own laundry brings home that reality! We ask God to accompany you on this journey of change – for the possibility of learning and intellectual rigor, for wisdom and sound choices, for creativity and fun, for healthy relationships, for all of life’s gifts. College can be a wonderful experience. But like life, there are traps and pitfalls that one who is prudent need to avoid.
In the history of the world, out of 21 notable civilizations, 19 collapsed because of moral decay, laziness, and an anti-intellectual attitude. They crumpled from within, people living without good moral character. Character shapes the destiny of a person indeed all of a society. I think that all parents naturally want their children to be successful. But it's their character — their honesty, responsibility, kindness, perseverance in difficulty, courage despite danger or social pressure — that makes them more than just successful. It is to become a man or woman of virtue, good habits for living. If one lacks character, brains and success don't count for much. So find a good teacher, not an easy one—someone who will lead a student to ask the important questions, and then help to find the truth to those questions. The real mystery of teaching is not that there are questions, but that there are answers.
Whatever college or university you attend and wherever you go, go with the Lord and stay close to Him, and everything else will fall into its proper place and time, even your future.
Check out the Newman Catholic Center on campus, stay in touch with your parish, learn well, be a true Christian gentleman and a Christian lady, be of good character, go to confession often and Mass on Sundays, say your daily prayers, and above all else, call your mother!
Know that you are in your parish’s prayers.
