From Father Steven - July 20, 2025

Father Steven Clemence • July 18, 2025

 

 

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

 

I hope you are having a wonderful summer—visiting family and friends, enjoying beautiful places, and, above all, continuing your prayerful life with the Lord. It can be challenging at times to maintain our spiritual routine while on vacation. St. John Bosco exhorted young people to make time for recreation, not relaxation—there is a difference between having moments of fun and letting our guard down. Remember, the devil never rests; he is like a lion looking for someone to devour. A balanced life is always best: a little bit of work, a little bit of fun, and a little bit of prayer. Indeed, we should take advantage of the summer to do things we often don’t have time for during the rest of the year.


On a separate note, in case you were not here last weekend, I announced that our Archbishop, Richard Henning, has extended my term as pastor for another six years. He is very pleased with what he hears about the parish, which is a reflection of your efforts and your prayers. I must confess that I, too, am very pleased to see the work that God is accomplishing in our community. There are many graces that God has bestowed on our people—many stories of individuals returning to the Church, receiving the sacraments after many years, and much more. One of the greatest privileges I have is witnessing God at work in people’s lives. Of course, we also share in the sorrows and struggles of our parishioners. But after these years, I can say that, counting both the joyful and the difficult moments, I am very happy to be your pastor. My primary duties are to teach, sanctify, and govern the parish. I have done my best to fulfill these responsibilities. I know I don’t have much to offer, so I kindly ask for your patience with my limitations. I too walk alongside you on this path of growing closer to the Lord. Mistakes have been made in the past, and there may be more in the future—hopefully fewer. Please continue to pray for me and for all priests. We truly need all the prayers we can get.


Next week, I will accompany a group of 51 young people on a pilgrimage to Rome for the Jubilee of Youth. Fr. Gabriel will also be going, although with a different group. Fr. Victor will remain here with you, along with Fr. Cássio Dalpiaz, a longtime friend of mine from Brazil. He is a priest from Brasília and will soon be going to Portugal to complete his doctoral studies on the connection between Literature and Theology (he has done extensive work on the theology behind Tolkien’s writings). He speaks English, Portuguese, Spanish, and French. Some of the youth going to Rome are children of immigrants who faced difficult times not long ago. Thank God their situation has improved, though some families are still dealing with immigration-related issues. These young people are struggling to cover the full cost of the trip, so they will be asking for donations after Mass.


Lastly, I’ve invited some parishioners to share their testimonies in the upcoming bulletins. I hope these stories help convey some of the beautiful things happening in our parish and in the lives of our people.


Let us continue to pray that more souls may choose the “better part”—that is, to love and serve the Lord.

 

God Bless,

Fr. Steven

 

From Father Steven - November 30, 2025

By Father Steven Clemence • November 26, 2025
Dear Brothers & Sisters, I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving with your loved ones! Please see the letter below from Fr. Victor about Advent. God Bless, Fr. Steven —————————————————————————————————- Growing up I have always associated ADVENT with Christmas with all the Christmas carols, food, gifts and family reunions. It was much later that I understood that Advent is the month-long preparation for that much awaited day. If we have 4 seasons throughout the year: winter, spring, summer & fall; the Church has 6: Advent, Christmas, Lent, Paschal Triduum, Easter and the Ordinary time. And Advent is the first season that ushers the first day of the Church’s liturgical year. It is like New Year, like January 1. Advent comes from the Latin word, adventus, meaning coming or arrival. A Father of the Church speaks of Jesus’ three comings. First, we all know that Jesus Christ was born more than two thousand years ago in that town called Bethlehem. Second, when he ascended to his Father, he promised to remain with us always, but will come again at the end of time. As to when, we do not know. That is why, he tells us: 'be vigilant and ready anytime as he may come at a time and hour we do not expect.’ That is why, advent fills us with so much hope and expectation. Finally, there is also his third coming. The first one was in the past. The second will happen in the future, but his third coming is today, in the daily events of our life. The book of Revelation presents this very well. ‘He is outside, knocking at the door of our heart, if we let him in, he will come and dine with us.’ What a gift, to be graced by the presence of our Lord. This year 2025, Advent coincides with the feast day of St. Andrew, November 30. Each week has its theme: the anticipation of Christ’s second coming - the first week; then John the Baptist tells us “prepare the way of the Lord.” on the second Sunday; then we switch to a joyful note, the Gaudete Sunday for the Lord is to come; and the fourth Sunday, Mary & Joseph leading us up to the nativity. The date when Advent was first observed is hard to determine as this evolved over time in several places. In its earliest form however, it may be traced back to the church in France in the 4th century. It was a time of preparation for the Feast of the Epiphany when converts were baptized. In the 5th century it was officially introduced into the church calendar. But its character was similar to Lent but later became more joyful in anticipation for the birth of Christ. The Advent we know today began in Rome. Pope Gregory I in the late 6 th and early 7th century, composed many prayers, psalms, and themes. And by the 10th century the season of Advent included 4 Sundays & weekdays leading to Christmas as we have today. Like Lent, Advent has some elements of penance in preparing, quieting and disciplining our minds & hearts for the full joy of Christmas. Its liturgical color is purple, except on Gaudete, meaning “rejoice” Sunday, where the priest may wear the rose color vestment. The late Pope Francis reminds us: “Advent is a journey towards Bethlehem,” and that memory directs us with eager longing for the second coming of Christ at the end of time.” Advent comes at the dark[est] time of the year, when the day is short and night is at its longest. Yet it is during this time when Jesus Christ, the true light comes to cast away our darkness. Truly advent is a hopeful season that keeps pointing towards the eternal light that shines in the ‘night of our life’ to show us our way back home to the Father. God Bless, Fr. Victor

From Father Steven - November 23, 2025

By Father Steven Clemence • November 21, 2025
Dear Brothers & Sisters, This week we have the opportunity to gather around our loved ones to give thanks! Eukariston in Greek… if it sounds familiar, it is because the Eucharist—Mass—is a great thanksgiving! I’m sorry for the turkey and stuffing lovers… but the Lamb of God is the one who truly satisfies us! However, how often are we grateful to God and to our loved ones? How often do we stop to give sincere thanks for all their hard work? How often do we return their goodness to us? Unfortunately, not enough… so let’s change that script. Let’s take this opportunity to voice our inner gratitude to those around us and to Jesus! Even though there can be some tension when getting everyone together under the same roof, let’s not forget what we are doing and why we are doing it. There is nothing better than to love… even when that love is not returned! The following day is known as Black Friday—deep discounts and great sales everywhere. In the past, people lined up in front of stores in the middle of the night. Now stores begin their sales almost a week before Friday. Online retailers have also kept people from waking up in the middle of the night. Here in the parish, this Friday there will be a great opportunity to score wonderful deals… and we won’t need to wake up so early! Starting at 8:00 a.m., we will have another 24-hour adoration. We thought that these days would be perfect to give people the opportunity to come and give thanks to God as well. He has been so good to us! How could we not return His infinite love through finite means? As we come together on Thursday and acknowledge what our loved ones have done for us, let us also do the same for God. I invite all of you to come and take a moment to think and contemplate all the good things God has done for us throughout our lives. Instead of having Black Friday, we shall introduce Adoration Friday! Next week will be First Friday, and I invite you to learn more about it—how the Sacred Heart of Jesus manifests itself on the First Friday of each month. As we know Friday to be a penitential day for the Church, it is also a day full of graces for those who do not miss out! I would like to take this opportunity to give you some updates regarding upcoming events. Archbishop Richard Henning has asked all the parishes in the Archdiocese to pray a Novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe in preparation for the upcoming 500th anniversary of her apparition to St. Juan Diego. He will be visiting parishes and presiding at this very important moment for us. We will begin the novena on Thursday, December 4th, at 7:00 p.m. It will be trilingual so that the whole parish can participate. Each day, different parish groups will be responsible for leading the novena. We will conclude it with Mass on December 12th, with the presence of our shepherd, Archbishop Henning! It will be very important for him to meet part of his flock. It will also be a great moment for our parish to welcome him into our spiritual home! We are still planning it. We also decided that, in this Jubilee Year, we will have a Christmas Concert on December 21st at 3:00 p.m. All the parish choirs will come together to sing Christmas carols. We are very excited to gather everyone once again! I mentioned before, but I remind you again, that we also have our parish feast in the middle of all this. The Immaculate Conception will be celebrated on Monday, December 8th. We will have the regular holy day of obligation schedule 07:30 a.m. and 12:10 p.m. as well as our traditional trilingual Mass at 7:00 p.m. We will pray the novena before Mass, and then proceed with the celebration. There are many good things coming up… and many more that we cannot imagine! Let us give thanks, for God’s love is everlasting (Ps. 136). God Bless, Fr. Steven