Pastor’s Weekly Letter

Dear Parents, Guardians and Parishioners:               The children who attend our parish school and our parish religious education program are most  precious not only to you but to all of us in the Annunciation-Our Lady of Fatima community.  We strive to work together in order to better meet their needs and prepare them well for the future.  As a result, family and community involvement is a high priority for us.               Our wonderful parish of Annunciation-Our Lady of Fatima continues to combine the efforts of all our parishioners–clergy, professed and lay–to assist one another in proclaiming the teachings and   value […]

The earthquake which devastated Mexico City a few years ago had saddened the hearts of many with scenes and stories of human suffering.  But ironically, this unbelievable tragedy had periodically gladdened the hearts of everyone with stories of heroism and hope.  One such event was the rescue of two little babies, a boy and a girl.  Both were buried for several days in the rubble of the hospital where they were born.  Rescuers were surprised to find them, not only alive, but in remarkably good condition and crying at the tops of their voices.  A physician interviewed at the scene […]

It often appears to me that the church in the latter part of the twentieth century, and now  in the   beginning of the twenty-first century, has a golden opportunity to make the gospel of Jesus real and relevant to a world that is weary of wars, weary of emptiness, and increasingly weary of moral degradation.  It is time to make all things new.  It is a time when we should prepare ourselves to be the church at its best.  We must remind ourselves that the world is most ready now for the message of God’s love, delivered by people like […]

I suppose there are times when everyone longs to recapture the carefree innocence and joy of childhood.  We wish that for just one day we could shake off the burdensome responsibilities of adult life and put our feet under Dad’s table once more.  Admittedly, this emotion carries with it  an element of escapism, but it is not necessarily all bad. There are, of course, some characteristics of childhood that we should outgrow and leave behind forever.  Such childish traits as impatience and a total self-centeredness have no place in adult life.  But there are certain basic elements of childhood that […]

All of us are familiar with the Ten Commandments.  We have heard about them all of our lives.  Many of us could recite most of them from memory.  They are the moral and ethical foundation upon which our society is based.  Without them, it would be impossible for people to live together in peace and harmony.  But there is another set of laws that are even more basic than the Ten Commandments.  We could call these the “Twin Commandments”.  They, too, are found in the gospels. The first is a quotation from the book of Deuteronomy in the Old Testament:  […]