TWO WEEKS IN, THE PARISH YEAR PERCOLATES INTO ACTION..........

Since my arrival at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish as Pastor on July 1, the transition has kept me well occupied, six, and sometimes seven days a week, getting the lay of the land and covering the pastoral, administrative, and from mid July to mid September, the clerical duties of parish life.  Summer is normally a less hectic time in parish life, affording those of us newly placed, the opportunity to settle in with less pressure.  My first eight weeks were just such an experience and my two week vacation at that point well timed, so that my return two weeks ago, the weekend of the start of the new Parish Year, allowed me to start fresh in serving and leading the People of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish entrusted to my priestly, pastoral care.  The first two weeks of Parish Year 2010-11, have been full of activity.  Breaking in  new Parish Secretary, who is doubling as our 5 pm Saturday and 8:30 am Sunday Mass organist; kicking off the Religious Education classes for Grades 1-8 and teenage Confirmation; Baptismal Preparation instructions for parents and godparents; Catechetical Sunday's Catechist Commisioning; the Parish Picnic; the beginning of Faith Seeking Understanding Adult Education series, "The Mass Explained"; and a myriad of appointments, phone calls, and business matters, affecting the parish, needing to be held, answered, and addressed.  One of the current frustrations the new Parish Secretary and I are dealing with is getting the FAX machine working again, as while I was away and the parish office was closed, it stopped functioning.  We have replaced the ink cartridge and yet 24 hours  later, we have just received the first of four faxes sent today, a fax we requested to be sent.  Oh the joys of parish life !!  ha ha !!    This coming weekend brings three more Baptisms, making six for me to date here at OLOL.  So goes the opening weeks and months of my ministry here with the Canossian Sisters, Father Traynor, and the parishioners of Our Lady of Lourdes.  I am pleased to be here and to see the weekly Sunday Mass attendance increasing, as together we pray, worship, and minister, for God's Greater Glory and the Common Good...........Mary, Mother of God - Our Lady Of Lourdes Pray For Us,   Fr.  Troy