Dear Parishioners,

Congratulations to our newly elected Parish Council members who are: Rosa Grand, Clair Marchiano, Phil Tafoya and Greg Thornbury.  They inched by a very slight margin over the other nominees.  The total votes by parishioners were 1,078 for women and 1,097 for men with winners barely edging out their opponents.  There is a meeting this Friday night at 6:00 pm at the Parish Ministry Center for all Parish Council members, outgoing and incoming.
           
While Fr. Brian Timoney is away in Ireland attending a cousins funeral, Fr. Vince Cotter and I spent much of last week at a Convocation for the priests of the Diocese of Oakland, held in Napa from Monday afternoon through this morning.  Considerable research was done about our Diocese in preparation for the Convocation.  Here are some of the major findings:

• More than seven in ten priests say our unity is “somewhat” or “very” weak.  This reflects a weaker sense of unity among the priests of Oakland than in other Dioceses.  In contrast six in ten describe unity between the Bishop and priests in positive terms.
• Almost half of the priests were born outside the United States.  The proportion of foreign born priests in Oakland is quite high.
• Oakland priests are slightly more likely to describe themselves as “liberal” and less likely to describe themselves as “somewhat conservative”, compared to other Dioceses.  Priests ordained before 1978 are more likely to describe themselves as liberal.
• One strong challenge is diversity, race, ethnicity and nationality.
• One of the biggest practical concerns for the priests of Oakland is the high amount of debt the Diocese has incurred for settlement for clergy’s sexual abuse cases and the Cathedral.
• Oakland priests are more positive in their attitude about their Bishop than is typical.  While part of this is probably a “honeymoon period” with the new Bishop, he seems to be genuinely liked personally, and they feel he cares about them and view his arrival with a great deal of hope.

Our homilist this this weekend is Kate Doherty.  She has a master’s degree in Pastoral Ministry from Boston College and has been an outstanding member of our Parish Staff since 2006.

  Kate serves as Associate Pastor and continues to lead our annual Confirmation Program.  She also serves as staff person for our Social Justice Ministry and Adult Education. 

Your Pastor,
Brian T. Joyce