ear Parishioners and Visitors,

In just a few weeks it will be election day. I urge all of us to vote. However, we need to be informed voters. We need to know where the candidates stand on the issues of our day. Don’t vote blindly; vote informed. As the USCCB tells us, “We strongly urge all parishioners to register, to become informed on key issues, and to vote. The Church does not support or oppose any candidate but seeks to focus attention on the moral and human dimensions of issues. We do not authorize the distribution of partisan political material on parish property.” Remember that your vote counts. Don’t take this important civic duty for granted. Be informed so that you can vote wisely.

This weekend I am away from the parish for a once-in-a-lifetime event: the 50th Reunion of my Cardinal O’Hara Graduation Class of 1974. I will be the celebrant of the Mass on Saturday, October 19 at the chapel at O’Hara. I am looking forward to seeing remembered faces and catching up on classmates’ lives. We will also remember the approximately 10% of the class that have gone home to the Lord. Please remember me and all the members of the O’Hara Class of 1974 in your prayers this week.

Also, on Wednesday and Thursday of this week, I will be in Baltimore at St. Mary’s Seminary. My class will be celebrating our 40th Graduation Reunion. I am not sure who will be there as some have died, and some have left the priesthood. I know that there will be at least three of us and I am looking forward to seeing Fr. Butler and Fr. Moore for the first time in a number of years. Again, I ask for your prayers for my seminary classmates, both living and deceased.

To be honest, I am not sure where the time has gone and am in awe of God’s goodness to me. It was only a short time ago that I was one of the young guns of the diocese and now there are only nine priests ordained longer than me who are still active. I am now a seasoned veteran. God is indeed kind and merciful.

Have A Great Bethany Beach Week! 
Stay Safe!  Stay Healthy!

Work is still ongoing at both St. Ann Church and the Masterson Center. Painting of both has been completed and the re-carpeting is in progress. To make the coming and going from Masses a little easier, during our time at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, the 7:30AM will remain a quiet Mass and the 4:00PM and 9:00AM will become quiet Masses as well. That means no music for these Masses. This is only until we return to St. Ann Church in a week or so.

Fr. Cocco and I will be leading a pilgrimage to Italy for the Holy Year. The pilgrimage will take place in October of 2025. Some highlights are Rome, Florence, Siena, Assisi, Monte Cassino and San Giovanni Rotondo. An information meeting will be held on Monday, October 28 at 6:00PM in Delaney Hall. Anyone interested in learning more about the pilgrimage is invited to attend.

Prayer for civility
St. Francis de Sales

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace. Where uncivil words prevail, show me how to model love. Help me remember the God-given dignity of all and invite others to do the same. Show me how to build bridges and not walls, and see first what unites us rather than how we diverge. Let me seek to understand before asking to be understood. Give me a listening heart filled with empathy and compassion. May I be clear in sharing my own position and respectful and civil in describing those of others. Let me never tolerate hateful ideas. May I invite all to charity and love. Lord, help me to imitate Your compassion and mercy. Make me an instrument of Your peace.

Amen.

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