Listen to this note instead: https://morefrmoore.podbean.com/e/june-04-2026-pastors-note/
County-Wide Mass and Picnic
Reminder that Mass times next weekend (June 13/14) are all changed. You can find the Mass schedule at https://www.whatcomcatholic.org/mass and an explanation in last week’s Pastor’s Note.
Ordinations on Saturday
This Saturday, Fr. Tyler and I will be heading down to Seattle to concelebrate the ordination of two new priests, one for our Archdiocese and the other for St. Martin’s Abbey in Lacey.
You can find event details here. If you cannot drive down to Seattle and would like to watch the ordination online, you can click this link.
Both ordinands have Bellingham connections.
Soon-to-be-Fr. Simon Stehr did his Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) rotation at Peace Health – St. Joseph during the summer of 2024 (while living with Fr. Moore at Assumption).
Soon-to-be-Fr. Damien-Joseph Rappuhn, OSB was a student at Western in the early-to-mid 2010s and actively participated in the Newman Center. He comes to visit Bellingham regularly, usually to serve as the godfather for some of his Western friends.
1st Communions
We also have our First Communions in Bellingham this Saturday! We are so proud of all of our 1st Communion children in Bellingham, as well as the children in our other county churches who have received their 1st Communions over the last few months.
I am sorry that I have been unable to celebrate most of these 1st Communions, including the ones this Saturday. We are already two years into Partners in the Gospel, but there are many basic functions, like avoiding calendar conflicts, that we are still struggling to figure out. We appreciate your patience as we continue to improve.
Upcoming Staff Changes
In conjunction with the end of the Fiscal Year on June 30th, we are making the following internal staff changes:
- Dr. Mabalot to Regional Director of Liturgy and Music – Dr. Mabalot, currently the Director of Liturgy and Music at Assumption, will now serve the entire county. He will continue to serve as the chief accompanist at Assumption on the weekends. We are still negotiating the specifics of his job description, but his regional responsibilities generally include:
- Creating the county-wide liturgical calendar and carrying out liturgies that cover more than one church community.
- Helping me create procedures for our liturgical ministers and to carry out trainings.
- Coordinating our disparate Choir Directors.
- Lorena Duarte to Executive Assistant for Clergy – Lorena, currently Location Manager for St. Joseph (Lynden) and St. Peter, will move to the Executive Assistant for Clergy. In this role, she will manage all of the priests’ calendars, will ensure we have priests at all of our liturgies, and will arrange meetings with and for priests. The contact information for requesting a meeting with a priest remains the same: priests@whatcomcatholic.org.
- Liliana Marshall to Location Manager (St. Joseph/St. Peter) – Liliana, formerly the Executive Assistant for Clergy, will move to the Location Manager position for St. Joseph (Lynden) and St. Peter. In this role, she will be the face of these two communities, supporting all of our different groups and volunteers and providing reception services in the Lynden office. Liliana will continue to spend one day each week providing Spanish language support for the Bellingham Faith Formation programs.
The next major staff change will be to carve out employee time to serve as the Regional Director of Communication. We want to have a unified bulletin, a better website, and minimal presence on social media. We may also work to unify reception across the county, freeing our Location Managers to do more specialized work like communications or event planning.
Fr. Moore 