Listen to this note instead: https://morefrmoore.podbean.com/e/october-21-2026-pastors-note/
Reminder – Final Listening Sessions
Introductory video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wao1xBYeiQM
Calendar and Registration Link: https://www.whatcomcatholic.org/sessions
This weekend:
- St. Anne, Saturday, 6:30 pm
- Sacred Heart, Sunday, 12:30 pm
If you have not yet attended a listening session, I really, really want to encourage you to attend one of these sessions. Parishioners who attended the last three weekends have told me that these questions were more helpful than previous rounds and that their discussions were robust and spirited.
I understand that these discussions can feel limited and overly structured, but this really is our best process to hear from the most people with the most nuance. The alternative is to not be heard at all!
“Living Saint”
I recently watched the 2019 film “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”, which is a dramatized version of the relationship between Fred “Mr.” Rogers and journalist Tom Junod. I was struck by the following dialogue between the journalist and Joanne “Mrs.” Rogers. I think it is an excellent encapsulation of what we Christians mean by virtue. And a reminder that all of us are capable of sainthood, if we just work at it with the grace of Jesus Christ.
Journalist: “How does it feel to be married to a living saint?”
Mrs. Rogers: “I’m not fond of that term. If you think of him as a saint, then his way of being is unattainable. He works at it all the time. It’s a practice. He’s not a perfect person. He has a temper. He chooses how he responds to that anger.”
Journalist: “That must take a lot of effort.”
Mrs. Rogers: “Well, he does things every day that help ground him. Reads scripture, swims laps. Prays for people by name. Writes letters, hundreds of them. He’s been doing that since I met him.”
Catholic Demographics
The Pontifical Mission Societies just released its report on worldwide Catholic Statistics. It is not a long read, and it is 100% interesting enough to be worthwhile. (Report itself, EWTN summary)
Rather than printing all the numbers here, I want to highlight how Whatcom County compares to two worldwide averages.
Worldwide % Catholic by population: 17.8%
Whatcom County % Catholic by population: 7.8%
Worldwide Catholics per priest: 3,491
Whatcom County Catholics per priest (incl. retired priests): 3,073
Now, obviously, these numbers are going to look different in Saudi Arabia than in Poland, so these averages are probably more useful on a country-by-country basis than on a worldwide basis. Nonetheless, it is fascinating to think that you are on average more likely to meet a Catholic on the street outside of Whatcom County than within Whatcom County. And to realize that our “priest shortage” is slightly better than priest availability around the world.
Finally, I’ll highlight a number from full report: the Americas (combined) are 64% Catholic, while Europe is only 40% Catholic. Now, that is a lot of Latin American Catholics, to be sure, but it still makes me thankful for the hemisphere in which I was born.
