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Dear Parishioners,
Most people have hobbies. Many people are sports enthusiasts such as my brother, Jim and his wife, Regina. They are rugby fans and travel all over Ireland, Britain, and Europe to rugby games with lots of friends and have a blast. Many people love baseball, basketball and of course, the latest safe sport, soccer. I am not particularly enthused by sports, but I can definitely say my hobby is to travel. I love to experience new places, learn different cultures and experience how different people live in a foreign land. While I was pastor at St. Rose, I led pilgrimages to many parts of Europe. We all travelled as a family, enjoyed beautiful religious sites and I celebrated masses in famous cathedrals and holy shrines. We had the opportunity to meet local people, experience local food and culture and enjoy local wines. COVID, of course, put a stop to all our travel plans. I do hope next year that we at St. Luke can have a parish trip, but I’ll talk about that another time.
Fr. Alex and I have travelled together many times. We both have inquiring minds and love to get to know new cultures and make new friends. I am excited to tell you that this Sunday, July 18th, Fr. Alex and I depart for a wonderful trip. We fly from Newark to Seattle Sunday evening, rent a pick-up and off we go! Can you imagine two priests driving through the wine country of Washington State in a pickup? Because of COVID, there were very few rentals available and within our price point so this is the only vehicle we could get. Look out Washington State! We will have a few lovely days in the wine country, sample different wines and get to explore that beautiful Northwestern part of our country. We will spend a night in Seattle, and we are looking forward to touring the Boeing factory; the means by which most of us get to get away! On Friday, 23rd, we board the Celebrity Cruise ship for Alaska. I wanted to see Alaska for many years, and this is an ideal time because although Alaska is so very far away, it is still the US, and we don’t need to worry about quarantining or any such difficulty. The ship will dock in several areas, and we will get to see this majestic part of our country. I know we have a trip planned to a glacier, a ride on a river boat and we might get to meet some grizzlies. Hope they are friendly! On Sunday, the 25th, we dock in the small town of Ketchikan where I have already reached out to the local pastor, Fr. Frank. On that Sunday, we will have the pleasure of concelebrating the Sunday mass at the parish of Holy Name Church in that town which has a population of about 1,000 people. Fr. Frank has invited us to join the parish for a picnic after mass. A great opportunity for both of us to get to know local parishioners. I am very keen to get to know how Catholics live-in small-town Alaska, how the area was populated, what the lifestyle is like in the winter and basically, how a parish runs in a remote part of the world. I am sure I will learn a lot from this short 6 hour visit and I look forward to sharing this with you in both in homilies and bulletins in the weeks to come. Our ship returns to Seattle on Friday, July 30th and we fly back to Newark in the late afternoon. I look forward to seeing you all for the weekend masses of July 31-August 1.
A big thank you to Fr. Hubert who oversees the parish during my absence. I am enjoying having Fr. Hubert here at the residence with me and it is great for me to be able to leave the parish in reliable priestly hands. Thanks to all my devoted staff. I so enjoy working with our outgoing, caring and collaborative staff members. We are all enjoying serving you and watching our parish flourish.
I look forward to sending you photographs through the bulletin and Facebook during my absence.
Fr. Owen