Dear Friends,

Father, there are two things I love about you: Your Sermon and your Socks! These were the words uttered to me by one of our very cheerful and faithful ushers one day after Mass and it took me completely off guard. I didn’t know how to react to this ‘complement’ because I believe that was what he meant to communicate. However, the more I came to think about it the more I realized that there are many ways we can and actually do influence others even without knowing including through mundane things like socks.

Dear Friends,

Our Divine Mercy Adoration Chapel building project about which I gave you an update this past July, is moving forward even though not at the speed we had anticipated. This is because we had to change architectural firms and update our contracts, which has caused some delays. The architectural firm we were using initially went through unforeseen changes due to which, they could no longer provide the services we were contracted for.

Dear Friends,

I was inspired to write this article on this topic by someone I was counseling a few days ago who was angry with God after losing both parents and two siblings in an accident several months ago. Just before that he had lost his beloved grandmother after a long battle with cancer. He heard a preacher say that God is Good which riled him even more. Now, in Uganda and in most parts of East Africa, there is a common call by preachers at the beginning of their homilies which goes: “God is good”, and almost reflexively the congregation answers: “All the time!” And the preacher with greater energy continues: “All the time” and the audience responds: “God is good, and that is his nature, Wow!” But if God is good, all the time, then why is there evil wondered this friend of mine? Dear friends, this is perhaps one of the oldest and most persistent rhetorical, philosophical, and theological human questions Christian theology in particular, has struggled to answer albeit, unsatisfactorily to many. I will not claim to have a satisfactory answer myself either.

Dear Friends,

Last Friday, August 25, 2023, five men were formally admitted by Bishop Dolan to begin their three-year formation to the permanent diaconate. This included Peter Parian, one of our own parishioners. He was accompanied to the ceremony by his lovely wife Eva and children Paula and Christian, and me. Please, let us keep Peter and his four companions in our prayers.

As I participated in that very inspiring liturgy (Rite of Admission to Candidacy for holy orders), I was struck by a very encouraging hope that despite the rough time our Churches here in the United States has been through due to among others, the Clergy sexual abuse, there is hope emerging. To be sure, the said clergy sexual abuse had a great negative impact on vocations to the priesthood, diaconate, and religious life. Also, as a result of it, many Catholics either fell away from the Church or stopped coming to Church altogether.

Hello, brothers and sisters in Christ!

You have likely seen me around these past two months, and perhaps we have had a chance to speak. But, for those who don’t know me, my name is Fr. Gabriel Francis Alexander Terrill, but you can just call me Fr. Gabe. I am your new Parochial Vicar, and I am excited to be with you and serve you in my priestly ministry. To give you a better idea of who I am, I thought I might share a bit of my vocation story and how I became a priest.

Dear Friends,

Yes, August 21st, is my birthday but unlike all the previous ones, I was not even almost aware of it until Facebook reminded me of it last week and Kelly just asked me to write something about my birthday from my heart. But this got me thinking as to why I don’t have any excitement and mood of celebration in me about my birthdays anymore? The obvious answer is the fact that I am becoming older and I don’t like it! But the more I thought about it, the more I also realized that it is not just about getting older but that getting older has re-ordered my priorities. I came to realize that over the last couple of years of living in my new country, the United States of America, I could have been greatly influenced by some aspects of our culture that constantly wants more and faster of most everything. I realized further that the more things I acquired for myself on my birthdays, the less fulfilled I was at every birthday. This new world order created by my new culture has therefore, made me to introspect the meaning of this particular birthday, which a friend of mine described as simply a bunch of numbers.

Dear Friends,

A few days ago, I was having a brief conversation with a priest friend about this and that in our lives as pastors who have just recently taken over parishes. Something he said about adoration during that conversation not only shocked me but also made me sad, and got me thinking. He said he had replaced the full day adoration schedule in his parish with Mass at noon because he didn’t want to give people the reason to leave the church because of adoration! To leave the Church because of adoration? What a pity! To leave the Church because of adoration would mean that even if those people he is trying to retain come to the noon Mass, they most likely have no idea who they are coming to encounter or receive. If they did, they would never have enough of Him let alone leave the church because of Him being exposed for adoration. Moreover, those who want to leave the Church will still find other reasons to leave the Church no matter what. Therefore, pampering to those few denies the many the opportunity to spend time with the Lord in adoration. However, an excerpt from Matthew Kelly entitled “Beautiful Eucharist”, gives a very good perspective to this issue of leaving the Church. Matthew Kelly says:

Dear Friends,

Two weeks after my arrival here at our parish in June of last year, I got a call to go and anoint a sick person in our neighborhood to which I responded promptly. However, when I reached the apartment indicated on the address, I got confused how to locate the exact room number. Fortunately, I found a gentleman in the parking lot, and I asked him to help me locate the room number. After looking at the number he said: “Oh, you are looking for the Jesus Guy”. What an identity to be described by – “The Jesus Guy!”

Dear Friends,

A few days ago, after Mass, I was chatting with Dave Fesko, the sacristan. He brought about the topic of gossip and how he hated it. I cannot remember how that conversation came about but it inspired this short article. This is because gossip is usually attractive but very toxic and destructive to a community especially when they target the personality of someone or people. Besides, they also break the cardinal virtue of charity. Unfortunately, despite this, gossip happens almost everywhere even in the Church. Therefore, it is a vice which should never be entertained especially in the Church. That is why I always say that if you are tempted to say something bad about somebody, just shut up!

In reflecting further on this topic of gossip, the following story from Pope Francis about Socrates as to why we should not gossip came to my mind. I would like to share this with you. Hope you will find it useful.

Dear Friends,

On July 20th, 1991, something very significant happened in my life – I was ordained a Catholic priest in my home parish in Uganda! In a few days’ time therefore, I will be celebrating the 32nd Anniversary of my priesthood. As I reflected on this milestone in my life, I realized that it was not by accident that I am celebrating this particular anniversary among you as your new pastor, or to some as your son and to others as your brother and friend. I am so grateful to God for each of you, whichever way you look at it.

Dear Friends,

I felt the need to give a brief update on our perpetual adoration chapel project after receiving several anxious queries as to what is going on since Fr. Charlie moved from the parish. I think you deserve to know after the very remarkable contribution and support you have extended towards this project. As you all know, Fr. Charlie had desired to complete this project before leaving our parish, but I told him that I will make sure that it is completed as quickly as possible since he has done a great deal of the work. Besides, I also firmly believe in this project because personally, the Eucharist and Adoration have always meant so much to me from my childhood to my priesthood and as I pointed out in last week’s article, focus on the Eucharist will also be one of the pillars of my service here among you as your pastor.

Dear Friends,

Today, July 1, 2023, I offcially begin my ministry among you as your Pastor. I do so with profound gratitude to God for giving me the opportunity to serve you in this phase of my priestly life. I am honored. I expressed the same sentiment in the first article I wrote a few weeks ago and I repeat it yet again because gratitude remains my primary focus and love will be my instrument to express it. I am deeply grateful to all the pastors who preceded me most especially Fr. Charlie our immediate former pastor, for preparing me in various ways, knowingly or unknowing for this moment. I am also grateful to the Servants of the Plan of God for their years of great service to our parish and school. May they all be blessed as they begin another phase in their pastoral and evangelization mission wherever the Lord has now assigned them. I thank the staff of both the parish and of our wonderful school for serving with me diligently in this community. Finally, I thank you my dear parishioners, for showing me tremendous love this past year as I served as your associate pastor. Many of you have expressed lots of excitement and support when I was named as your pastor three months ago. That meant a lot to me and will continue to mean a lot to me for years to come.