The priests' convocation a couple of weeks ago was held at the new lodge at Paris Landing State Park on Kentucky Lake. It is a beautiful place, both the building and the setting. One especially striking feature is the view from the room set up to be our chapel. It was perfect! It has a pitched ceiling and a glass wall looking out onto the lake. Every time I saw this view during prayer or Mass, I kept being reminded of an experience from my pilgrimage to the Holy Land. When we visited Magdala on the Sea of Galilee -- it's actually a lake -- we entered a chapel there that had a glass wall facing the water, like the lodge at Paris Landing! The views were remarkably similar.

A few weeks ago, I was in Washington, D.C. for an ordination and to visit my sister, who teaches at Catholic University of America. One day we had taken the metro into downtown Washington and were returning to the CUA/Brookland area where she lives. On trains like that, you can end up in a seat facing backwards, even as you move forward. I know that some people don't like seats like that, but they don't bother me. As my sister and I were sitting facing backward, we saw a young man coming forward, approaching us from the back of the car. He came right up to us.

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce you to the new pastor of Saint Rose, Fr. Christiano Nunes da Silva “Fr. Chris.” He will be beginning in the parish during the last week of June. Father was born in Fortaleza, a city on the northeast coast of Brazil, in 1972. He pursued studies in the sciences with the goal of becoming a veterinarian. Along the way, he worked as a quality control supervisor in the clothing industry and as an administrator at a center for medical imaging in his hometown.

I would like to invite everyone in the parish to the Corpus Christi procession after the 5:00pm Mass on Sunday, June 19. Corpus Christi ("Body of Christ" in Latin) is the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Before we move out of the cycle of preparation for and celebration of the Easter Mysteries which started at the beginning of Lent, the Church gives us one more Sunday to focus exclusively on the gift of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist before we move into the Sundays of Ordinary Time once again.

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce you to the new pastor of Saint Rose, Fr. Christiano Nunes da Silva – “Fr. Chris.” He will be beginning in the parish on Monday, June 27. Father was born in Fortaleza, a city on the northeast coast of Brazil, in 1972. He pursued studies in the sciences with the goal of becoming a veterinarian. Along the way, he worked as a quality control supervisor in the clothing industry and as an administrator at a center for medical imaging in his hometown.