Well I thought this was going to be my last article here at Saint Mary Mystical Rose—but surprise ... it’s not!

The Bishop called me last week and asked if I would stay on longer for our family of Saint Mary Mystical Rose, Holy Family and St. Augustine. The reason they have asked me to stay on temporarily longer is because the priest, Fr Kishore, coming from India, is tied up in immigration and is unable to come to America right now because of all of the Covid stuff.

I was overjoyed and elated to get a little extra time here at the parish. It is temporary, but it is without a date insight to depart. I will continue to live at the house near St. Francis/Maximilian and split some time at our rectory here in Armada. I’m excited to experienced my first Armada fair and spend the summer (at least I hope to) in the country!

—Let’s get moving—
I may be here one month, it may be two months, it may be 10 months. Let’s get some stuff done! If you have been itching to get something started or done at the parish now is the time. Let’s do some good stuff and prepare our parish and community for the future.

—why do we exist—
Why does Saint Mary Mystical Rose even exist? Why did our founders, many of your parents and grandparents settle here and build a church? The only reason why we exist is to bring people into a life-changing encounter with Jesus Christ! We don’t exist to make people feel good. We don’t exist for coffee and donuts after Mass. We don’t even exist just for the sake of having a church in the community.

We exist to give right worship to Almighty God, and to be a beacon of hope for those who do not know Him. So having said that we have a great asset in the Armada fair in our very backyard. Upwards to 50,000 people walk through the fair every year. many are wayward from the way of salvation in Christ Jesus. Let’s help bring them back to Jesus.

This year at the fair we would like to do two things: we’d like to have a small table next to The food booth. It will be a simple table that offers rosaries and how to pray the rosary. Then letting people know that the church is open for them to pray in.

Secondly, when people park we are going to offer them small tea light candles. And let them know that they can go in and light a candle in our church and offer a prayer. What I would like is to have people in the church throughout the entire day while it is open, praying. They are to be there praying for everyone who stepped foot in a church and to guide the people how to light the candles. To greet the outsiders. To be hospitable, warm, and welcoming. This is why we exist. To bring people to Jesus. To usher souls back to salvation. God has given us this opportunity let’s take it and run with it.

Let’s get to work! All for Jesus!!

In the Heart of Jesus and Mary,
Fr. Steve