Weekly Columns

Weekly Words from The Rock

Questions Last weekend, I posed some questions from the life of Father Schuster. Here are the answers. Question: During the course of a year, the pastor is the celebrant at many funerals. In celebrating a funeral, what is the one symbol which is not used? Paschal/Easter Candle Incense Oils Pall Aspergillum (Used in sprinkling Holy […]

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Musical Musings from Joy

Thank you to EVERYONE who came up to sing with us for this weekend’s Open Sing. We were thrilled to have you, and are sincerely hoping you’ll consider joining us full-time next fall. In a couple of weeks, I will be making the trek to Baltimore, Maryland for the National Association of Pastoral Musicians’ (NPM) […]

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Weekly Words from The Rock

Questions This weekend I would like to pose some questions from the life of Father Schuster.       Question: During the course of a year, the pastor is the celebrant at many funerals. In celebrating a funeral, what is the one symbol which is not used? Paschal/Easter Candle Incense Oils Pall Aspergillum (Used in […]

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Musical Musings from Joy

Next weekend, we will have our first Open Sing of the year. We’ve had one before and I’ve mentioned it in previous articles, but I’m still getting some questions. Hopefully this will help you decide whether or not you want to take part! What is an “Open Sing”? An Open Sing is the opportunity to […]

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Weekly Words from The Rock

On this weekend of honoring the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, I would like to share a couple of questions which I have kept in my bulletin folder. The first one comes once again from Msgr. Charles Pope found in the July 31, 2016 edition of Our Sunday Visitor on page 15. Question: The […]

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Musical Musings from Joy

As the school year draws to a close, so does the 2017-2018 Music Ministry. This was the most fulfilling year I could have hoped for, and I hope those of you who are with us regularly got to witness their gifts and talents, too. To say I am proud of and humbled by them is […]

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Weekly Words from The Rock

Memorial Day. Here are some of my thoughts on Memorial Day. “Memorial Day – a time to honor our fallen war heroes, a time to honor loved ones who have passed on, a time for quiet prayers of thanks for the battles fought for our freedom. Memorial Day is a time of remembrance shared by […]

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Musical Musings from Joy

Many don’t realize that staying in Ireland after my two years in Wexford were up wasn’t an “automatic” thing. In fact, I decided pretty late in the game that I was going to take a leap of faith and turn down a full scholarship/assistantship offer at an American college in order to attend the Irish […]

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Thank You Operation Hometown Gratitude

Thank you for all of your hard work with putting the boxes together. They all looked very nice, you have a lot of artists in the making. I shared all of the boxes with my platoon, they enjoyed them very much and brought a smile to everyone’s face. All of the stuff you sent us […]

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Weekly Words from The Rock

Pentecost Jesus Christ is Risen. Alleluia. Alleluia. For fifty days, we have celebrated and proclaimed this message. With Pentecost, the Season of Easter culminates and moves us back into Ordinary Time. Pentecost surrounds the giving of the Holy Spirit to the Apostles. It is the birthday of the Church. I want to share with you […]

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