As announced at last Sunday’s Masses, we bid farewell to Fr. McFadden - (St. Anastasia) and Fr. Bongard - (St. Helena/St.Titus). We wish them both all the best and much happiness in their new parish. They have become a part of our parish family, and we will miss their humor, excellent homilies, and friendliness. Please keep them in your prayers as they get settled in their new assignments and begin a new phase in their priesthood.
We will have no assistant here at St. Philip Neri, as there are simply not enough priests to adequately staff the needs of the archdiocese at this time. We will need to adapt to the fact that there is only one priest and will have to make changes to adjust.
We often say to pray for vocations, but do we really pray for vocations as part of our prayer life? The shortage of priests is very real, and frankly, the future doesn’t offer much hope. Priests are now covering parishes where, at one time, there were two or more priests. Please, pray for, encourage, and support vocations. The call is going out, but it seems harder to answer in today’s society. It takes personal courage and family/community support to answer God’s most special call.
Our Lady Queen of the Clergy, pray for us!
For more information on vocations, please visit the Archdiocesan Vocation Office or call 610-667-5778.
Join the parish community next Sunday, June 18th after the 8:30AM Mass for a good bye reception in the cafeteria for Fr. Bongard & Fr. McFadden. We wish them all the very best in their new assignments.
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