Thank you very much for your support and your prayers through these summer days. I am sure that they were a big part of the peace and joy that I experienced during vacation time. I am grateful as well for my coworkers whose generosity makes it possible for me to take time away. And, could I ever forget my dear friends — Bishop Howard Hubbard and Father Tom Powers — for their companionship and friendship.
It has been good to come home. It always is. These August days have been very pleasant. There is plenty to do but a more relaxed summer pace allows more time in which to get it all done. I have enjoyed the opportunity to spend time in preparation for some presentations I’ll be making over the next couple of months.
The week to come will be an active one for many in our community. This weekend we celebrate our diocesan high-school youth convention at the Conference Center at RIT. I look forward to being with the young people there and to celebrating Sunday liturgy with them.
Another important event will be the annual Santa Mision that gathers our Hispanic community for a week of prayer, instruction and the celebration of our faith. It is always my pleasure to celebrate the Friday evening Eucharistic Liturgy with them.
Believe it or not, on Tuesday afternoon at Church of the Assumption, Fairport, we’ll have the opening meeting in preparation for this year’s Catholic Ministries Appeal. People from all over the diocese will be there in person or connect through teleconferencing to begin this task that is so very important for the health and well-being of our diocese.
Sprinkled throughout these coming days are a variety of activities that will put me in touch with the people of our diocese — an evening of summer enrichment with the people of Our Lady of the Lakes Catholic Community, Mass with the prisoners at the Monroe County Jail, a visit to Camp Stella Maris, an evening at St. John Fisher College to watch the Buffalo Bills practice and the installation of Barbara Swiecki as pastoral administrator of the parish cluster of Guardian Angels and Good Shepherd, Henrietta, and St. Joseph in Rush.
This writing activity and the people it calls to mind make me very pleasantly aware of why it is always good to come home. It means a renewal of daily activity with the people of the local church whose faithfulness, generosity and kindness always inspire me.
I hope that you are finding some good measure of rest and relaxation for yourself these days.
Peace to all.
