Claretian Visit
On Thursday, Fr. Gerardo and I were blessed to welcome 14 Claretian priests to Lynden for a Q&A session about our parish family and Fr. Gerardo’s ministry here.
To begin at the beginning, I am an Archdiocesan priest, working directly for the Archbishop of Seattle. Fr. Gerardo and Fr. Manuel, however, are religious order priests, specifically members of the Claretian Order (official website, Wikipedia).
Each year, the Claretians gather their “newly” (within 10 years) ordained priests for a check-in and learning opportunity (the Archdiocese of Seattle does this with 5-years and under priests). This year they also chose to sprinkle in a few Pastors, to increase learning and build deeper connections within the order. And Whatcom County was pleased to host this group for a few days, as they visited the Claretians here and up in Vancouver, B.C.
Because the Claretians are new to this Archdiocese and parish family, they asked Fr. Gerardo and me to make a presentation about the ministry up here, and then we did a Q&A that also included parishioners and parish staff. I was honored to be part of their gathering and to have them express such curiosity about our parish life and mission.
Two interesting things that I learned: (1) Whatcom County appears to be the only “mixed” assignment in the USA/Canadian Claretians – meaning that every other Claretian works at a parish that only has Claretian priests; and (2) the Claretians run the historic California missions of St. Gabriel and Los Angeles – two extremely important landmarks in the history of North American Catholicism.
Fr. Stephan in Mexico City
Fr. Stephan spent this week in Mexico City, making a pilgrimage to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe. I made a similar trip last year. I would recommend it to everyone! There is a direct flight out of Vancouver and it is a very reasonably priced – but still high impact – pilgrimage to make.
Spirit of Newman
Viking Catholic’s annual fundraiser, the Spirit of Newman, is happening on Saturday night. This is a huge event that Fr. Tyler, Emma Fisher, Trish Prenosil, and many students pour themselves into. It is also a very moving event, as it features many stories of student conversion.
Please pray for all those involved, that it would be successful. The mission to the colleges is vital for the faith of the next generation.
Altar Candles
I had a parishioner ask me recently about the number of candles on the altar, a question I have received many times before. It would be good to publish that here.
Traditionally, Catholic altars have 6 main candles. (The exception is that a 7th candle is added when a bishop presides at Mass.) Two candles are lit for ferial days (days without any special celebration) and memorials of the saints. Four candles are used on Feast days. And six candles are used for Solemnities.
This roughly corresponds to categories III, II, and I in the Table of Liturgical Days I referenced two weeks ago. However, I still light all six for Sundays, regardless of liturgical season. And I never know what to do with funerals and weddings – I will sometimes do two and sometimes six.
Fr. Moore 