Pastor's Corner - St. Sebastian Catholic Church

April 3, 2011

Dear Friends in Christ,

A few weeks ago, Life Pregnancy Services held a gathering in the parish hall to share their needs with the parish community. Among the needs were volunteers, monetary donations and donations of diapers, formula and other things mothers need for their babies. Their highest priority was the need for volunteers. St. Sebastian’s is a Church promoting Pro-Life so I think we would be of great witness by volunteering for them, as their ministry is essential for women who choose life over having an abortion. I encourage you to volunteer some of your time, talent and treasure to them. You can reach them at 829-6661 if you can help.

In this, I must practice what I preach so I have offered an office space for Life Pregnancy Services on the parish grounds so that they no longer have to worry about rent. Also, I feel they truly belong on the parish grounds because of their ministry. Therefore, beginning in May, they will be located at St. Sebastian’s parish. In order for this to happen, I need a group of volunteers to help me move all the stuff out of their future office. If you can help, please call me at the rectory.

In Christ, Fr. Raúl

March 27, 2011
Dear Friends in Christ,

I was so amazed at the turnout for our Lenten Parish Mission and with Deacons Jim and John. I was sharing with Msgr. Hynes that I learned many things during the 4 evenings. For example, when a protestant/evangelical Christian challenges our Teachings with a Scripture quote, have them read 4-5 verses before and after the quote to show how they misunderstood the meaning. May God continue to bless Deacons Jim and John and their ministry throughout the Church. They also have a radio show that can be heard on EWTN radio in case you want to hear more from them.

A few weeks ago, I was approached by a group of young men that had formed a Gregorian Choir and offered to sing at our Saturday evening Masses. They made their debut last week; they sounded very good and were well received. They offered to sing as volunteers and will join our parish and sing at the 5:00PM Mass on Saturdays.

Finally, I would like to talk about the use of Latin in the Mass. I have been adding a little more Latin to the Mass because the Second Vatican Council document on the liturgy states that, although the Mass is in the vernacular, the people should know how to say/sing the Latin responses. Also, we are in a multilingual parish, not just Spanish and English, and Latin can be our unifying liturgical language. However, I have notices that it has become difficult for some of you to use a lot of Latin all at once. Therefore, we will go slowly. For now, we just need to remember 2 responses and a few of the chants. These are:

Priest: Dominus vobiscum.

People: Et cum spiritu tuo.

Lector: Verbum Domini.

People: Deo gratias (pronounced gratsias).

Priest: Ite, missa est.

People: Deo gratias (pronounced gratsias).
Priest: The Lord be with you.

People: And also with you.

Lector: The Word of the Lord.

People: Thanks be to God.

Priest: Mass is ended go in peace.

People: Thanks be to God.

There are also some parts of the Mass that I will say/chant in Latin but you can respond in English, or Latin, if you wish. Thank you for your patience and participation.

In Christ, Fr. Raúl

March 20, 2011

Dear Friends in Christ,

I have noticed that we have had many second collections recently. Collections for the Japanese earth-quake/tsunami for Catholic Relief Services, for the Church in cen-tral and eastern Europe, and there will be 2 more appeals for mon-ey this month; one by the Little Sisters of the Poor this weekend and the Diocesan Ministry Appeal next weekend. Some of these are not on the schedule for second collections and it might be too much for some of you. I apologize if this has been the case for you. I promise that after this month we will not schedule too many "surprise" second collections.

I have been asked by some parishioners if I ever go to parishioners homess for dinner? The answer is yes. I think this is a great way to get to know the people of the parish. I have not been so open/vocal about this because I have some dietary restrictions because I have type 2 diabetes and I am trying to maintain a healthy glucose level and because I don’t like to burden people with having to cook a "special" meal. Or even a "fancy" meal. That being said, if you still want to have me over for dinner I would be delighted to come.

Finally, I would like to welcome this weekend Deacons John Beck-mann and Deacon Jim Russell who will be conducting our parish mission this week. We are honored to have them here and look forward to learning more about our God and His Church.

In Christ, Fr. Raúl.

March 13, 2011

Dear Friends in Christ,

The Gospel this weekend is a good reminder that, no matter how hard we try to get closer to God, Satan will be there to tempt us. In the Gospel the devil tempts Jesus 3 times while he was in the desert. We hear in the first reading, “Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the animals that the LORD God had made.” The devil played a key role as the tempter who tricked Adam and Eve to sin. These 2 readings demonstrate to us that we will be tempted when we are at our strongest (the Garden of Eden) and when we are at our weakest (the desert).

As we enter the season of Lent we enter at our strongest, with a lot of will power and very conscience of the Holy Spirit working in us. A few weeks into Lent, or maybe a few days for some, the disciplines of Lent seem to get harder to follow as we delve deeper into the desert. We begin to slip from the prayers we promised to do, from the things we were going to fast from and from the generosity that we were going to have. We can do one of two things: give in to those temptations or turn to God and ask him for the graces necessary to faithfully complete our Lenten journey.

In spiritual direction I learned a phrase many years ago that is used in 12 step spirituality: HALT. If we are Hungry, Angry, Lonely or Tired it will be easier to give into the devil’s temptations. However, if we become more aware of the HALT in our lives we can bring that to prayer and ask Jesus to feed our hunger through the Eucharist, to calm our anger through the sacrament of confession, to heal our loneliness through the community of the Church and to extinguish our tiredness through the fire of the Holy Spirit.

In Christ, Fr. Raúl

March 6, 2011

Dear Friends in Christ,

We had a very good meeting last Saturday when I hosted “An Evening with the Pastor.” Although the turnout was less than 30 people, some very important items were brought up. Below is a brief list of the major points that were brought up:

Liturgy/Mass

· Can the Sunday 10:30AM Mass be moved to 9:30AM?

· Announce who requests the Mass intention.

· Too much Latin.

· Not enough Latin.

· Putting in a Communion rail so they can have the option to kneel for Holy Communion.

· Catechesis/instructions before/when changes are made.

· Instructions for receiving Holy Communion.

· Location of the choir.

· Building & Grounds

· Are there leaks in the Church?

· Can the roof be painted instead of replaced?

Sacraments/Religious Education

Can the comfirmandi wear red robes/gowns at the confirmation Mass?

Finances

Does the parish have a debt? No.

I will look into these items and present them to the proper committees. On that note, I have formed a Parish Pastoral Council that is separate from the Parish Finance Council. The Parish Pastoral Council consists of: Fr. Raúl, Dn. Tino, John Galten, Joe Hernandez, Chris/Elena Eich, Pam Zieminski and Yolanda Cervantez. More members will be added to Parish Pastoral Council in the near future.