CELEBRATING THE FRATERNITY OF PRIESTS AS PASTOR OF OUR LADY OF LOURDES..........

As a child and young adult, attending Church - altar serving, lectoring, and eucharist ministering, at Mass, I was impressed with the spirituality and pastoral sociability of the priests serving us. And as I grew up and became more associated with priests, I was intrigued and inspired, with the rapport and friendships they shared. Fraternity between the priests of the Sacramento Diocese has always been a priority for our presbyterate, spiritually, socially, and interpersonally. Thus I have always valued and tried to maintain the fraternity of priests in my own ministry and did so regularly as Pastor of St. Joseph's, Yreka; St. Thomas the Apostle, Oroville; and Holy Family, Citrus Heights;. To the best of my ability I will do so also here at Our Lady of Lourdes, Del Paso Heights / Rio Linda;. At the conclusion of this past Monday's blog column, I mentioned that Father Charlie Brady was celebrating his birthday. As my first priestly fraternity dinner as Pastor of OLOL, I have decided to host a birthday dinner in his honor with some of our fellow priests. Frs. Charlie, his brother Vincent, who is one of OLOL's three former Associate Pastors, Fr. Tony Traynor, Msgrs. Ed Kavanagh and Andy Coffey, will join me for dinner tonight, as we affirm the fraternity and friendships we share and celebrate his milestone birthday, in this 55th anniversary year of Fr. Charlie's priestly ministry in the Diocese of Sacramento. As we preserve and further the fraternity among priests, it is my hope that many more of our newly ordained priests and young people will also have a positive and productive experience of the primacy of priestly fraternity and celebrate it, so as to increase the efficacy and effectiveness of garnering and nurturing vocations to the priesthood..........In The Faith And Fellowship Of Jesus Christ Our Great High Priest, Fr. Troy