Anointing of the Sick

07-30-2023Pastor's LetterVery Rev. Richard C. Wilson, VF, Pastor

Dear Friends in Christ,

“When the Church cares for the sick, it serves Christ himself in the suffering members of his Mystical body. When it follows the example of the Lord Jesus, who “went about doing good and healing all” (Acts 10:38), the Church obeys his comment to care for the sick (see Mark 16:18) (Prot. No. 1501/72, Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship)

The Catholic Church teaches that anointing of the sick is one of the seven sacraments instituted by Christ. It is mentioned indirectly in Mark 6:13 and specifically commended to the faithful by James the apostle: “Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; 15 and the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.” (James 5:14-15)

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Have You Tried "Hallow"?

07-23-2023Pastor's LetterVery Rev. Richard C. Wilson, VF, Pastor

Dear Friends in Christ,

From July 10th to July 13th, I was privileged to attend the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology Conference in Wheeling, WV. The theme for our week was “Journey to Holiness.” Our speakers included Dr. Scott Hahn, Dr. John Bergsma, Dr. Ralph Martin, Dr. Lawrence Feingold, and others. About 250 priests attended from 38 states. There was also a U.S. priest who came from Vladivostok, Russia, and a British priest from the Diocese of Leeds. It is always so very special to be with brother priests and to learn from sound Biblical theology. There’s no doubt but this conference will help me to be a better priest.

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Pilgrimage to Italy!

07-16-2023Pastor's LetterVery Rev. Richard C. Wilson, VF, Pastor

Dear Friends in Christ,

So, here’s my story….or part of my story…I have been blessed over the years to be able to travel, first through the U.S. Army, later through my business and then as a priest. I have travelled to about 35 countries around the world. I have been blessed to be in Rome and other parts of Italy four times in my life, twice as a Protestant and twice as a Catholic, but never as a priest. And since Italy is one of my favorite countries, I really want to go back to Italy again, but this time as a priest.

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Meek and Humble of Heart

07-09-2023Pastor's LetterVery Rev. Richard C. Wilson, VF, Pastor

Dear Friends in Christ,

For a Christian, strength is found in weakness. Our teacher is Jesus Christ, and he wants us to learn from Him to be meek and humble of heart. The world may brush the simple aside and call them ignorant, but Jesus’ prayer to his Father teaches us to value the greatness of the little ones among us. God himself chose them to be preachers of His Holy Gospel.

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STEM Center Construction is Underway!

07-02-2023Pastor's LetterVery Rev. Richard C. Wilson, VF, Pastor

Dear Friends in Christ,

We had an exciting event last Thursday in the life of our parish and school! Bishop Fabre was here and blessed and led the groundbreaking for the STEM Center at Saint Mary Help of Christians Catholic School. It was moving to see students from the school out there with hardhats breaking ground as well! What a marvelous and incredible event for our parish and school! Here are some critical details about our new Center.

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Respect for the Dead

06-25-2023Pastor's LetterVery Rev. Richard C. Wilson, VF, Pastor

Dear Friends in Christ,

“The corporal works of mercy consist especially in feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and imprisoned, and burying the dead.” (Para 2447, Catechism of the Catholic Church)

So, burying the dead is a corporal work of mercy. All faithful Catholics certainly deserve a proper Catholic funeral Mass and burial. All too often, in my short time here, I see that faithful Catholics are not offered a funeral Mass. I don’t know all the reasons for why that happens, but I do know that a Catholic funeral Mass is the highest form of prayer that can be offered for a deceased loved one. Why would a person not want that for someone they love?

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The Joy of Being a Father!

06-18-2023Pastor's LetterVery Rev. Richard C. Wilson, VF, Pastor

Dear Friends in Christ,

This weekend our secular world reminds us to honor, love and pay proper respect to our fathers. They, along with our mothers of course, gave us life. We look to them to help us in life, to teach us how to work, how to be a good citizen, how to love our country and most importantly, how to love our God and those who surround us.

My dad, Woodrow Charles Wilson was born on June 25th. He died on May 11, 1977, but if he were alive today, he would be 110 years old on the 25th. My father was not overly affectionate, but we always knew that he loved us…all nine of us. We grew up poor, but we were never hungry. I learned many things from my father. He taught me to be honest in word and in deed. He always emphasized that we should not be prejudiced against people of a different race and treat them equally. My father did not practice his Seventh Day Adventist faith, but he always would take us to our church, Bethany Lutheran Church and he never spoke against the faith.

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Pride Month: In whom should we have pride?

06-11-2023Pastor's LetterRev. Richard C. Wilson, VF

Dear Friends in Christ,

June is known as the month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus principally because the solemnity of the Sacred Heart is celebrated during this month. This year, the solemnity falls on June 16. The date changes each year because it is celebrated on the Friday after the Corpus Christi octave, or the Friday after the second Sunday after Pentecost. The feast dates back to 1673, when a French nun who belonged to the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary (Visitandines) in eastern France began to receive visions about the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

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0th Class Reunion at West Point

06-04-2023Pastor's LetterRev. Richard C. Wilson, VF

Dear Friends in Christ,

As I write this, I am attending the 50th Anniversary of my graduation from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. I must tell you that it’s hard to believe that it’s been 50 years, but I don’t think that both my driver’s license and my birth certificate are incorrect!

I don’t know the exact number, but we have over 550 classmates that are back for our reunion out of about 944 that graduated in 1973. Thank God for nametags or otherwise we would not recognize one another. In our lives, a lot of water has gone “under the bridge” or “over the dam” as they say. 115 of our classmates have died and we will have a special memorial service for those who died within the past year. I will have the privilege of praying the benediction at that service.

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Wind and tongues of fire ...

05-28-2023Pastor's LetterVery Rev. Richard C. Wilson, VF, Pastor

Dear Friends in Christ,

Today the earthquake that shook the entire universe and turned humanity upside down is happening once again. The coming of the Holy Spirit. It's true that Easter Sunday will continue being the center of history; but if there had never been a Pentecost, Easter would only be an event of the past. The Holy Spirit makes Christ actual and contemporary in every age.

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Science & Engineering Design Approved at 90% and more...

05-21-2023Pastor's LetterVery Rev. Richard C. Wilson, VF, Pastor

Dear Friends in Christ,

SEA Academy - There was a meeting of the Diocesan Building Renovation Advisory Committee (BRAC) on May 11th. They reviewed the design for our Science and Engineering Academy for our School in great detail. The good news is that they approved us at the 90% design stage. This means that we are on track with our plan to break ground for the Academy in late June. We extend a huge thank you to all who donated and pledged so very generously! It is truly amazing to come into a parish and see such a huge project being undertaken and to have the cash and pledges in hand. Thanks so much to our fund-raising committee, the Finance Council and all who have worked so hard and faithfully to get us to this stage. May all of us be faithful to keep praying for the success of this project. “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.” (Psalm 127:1)

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Why is your son or daughter not attending St. Mary Help of Christians Catholic School??

05-14-2023Pastor's LetterFr. Richard C. Wilson

Dear Friends in Christ,

This is truly an exciting time in our parish school’s history. Soon we will begin to see construction on our new campus expansion, the Saint Mary Help of Christians Catholic School Science and Engineering Academy. With the increased physical space that the new addition will provide, we will also have the opportunity to increase our enrollment capacity! We rejoice for the ability to expand the work of one of the Church’s most important missions, educating our youth. News is spreading throughout the community of our growth, and we have seen an increased number of tours of our school and new family enrollments. Before we fill all our spots with students from the community, we want to give every opportunity to enroll our parish families first.

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Who is Jesus?...Seriously...Who is He to you?

05-07-2023Pastor's LetterRev. Richard C. Wilson, VF

Dear Friends in Christ,

Just before being elected Pope, Cardinal Ratzinger warned that we live in a “dictatorship of relativism.” This philosophy basically says that everyone's personal ideas about what is true or false, right or wrong are equally valid, as if there were no objective truth or right at all. People of our modern world consider everything to be relative; they don’t believe that there could be a “truth, a way” to which they can commit their lives. In our Gospel today, Thomas doubted, but Christ gave him the clearest answer possible: “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”

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