Fr. Jim's Blog

I just read Pope Francis' last Wednesday audience presentation. It is on charisms and how they must be welcomed and exercised within the Church. This is a very important topic that is always in need of sound teaching.  Below you will find Pope Francis' inspiring teaching.  Dear Brothers and Sisters, Good Morning, From the beginning, the Lord filled the Church with the gifts of His Spirit, thus rendering her always alive and fruitful. Distinguished among these gifts are some that are particularly precious for the building and journey of the Christian community: they are the charisms. In this catechesis, we want to ask ourselves: what, exactly, is a charism? How can we recognize it and receive it? And, above all, the fact that in the Church there is a diversity and multiplicity of charisms, is this seeing positively, as something good, or rather as a problem? In ordinary language, when there is talk of a “charism,” it is often understood as a talent, as a natural abil...

I am currently at the Palisades for our Good Leaders/Good Shepherds program. Things are going very well and we are learning a lot about different leadership styles.  We are getting a lot of resources and I am glad our Archdiocese offers this class. It should be very helpful. I brought all of my video equipment with me in the hopes of taping my first Pastor's Corner and posting it this evening. I got everything set-up only to find that the foot that holds the video camera and teleprompter in its place on the tripod is missing. It must be on my camera which I was using this past summer. I thought for sure I saw it attached to the bottom of the video camera but I must have been hallucinating. I will have to wait until tomorrow evening after the Pastoral Council to get it done. Fr. Ron Knudsen, our new parochial vicar, is moving into the rectory as I post this entry. Unfortunately, he has gotten called away to help in a parish where there was no one to cover, so I will have all of ...

I have been enjoying a busy week. What a great way to start with the All Parish Mass and Picnic. A special word of thanks to everyone who came together to volunteer and make it such a great success. I am especially grateful for Tom Gray who came forward to coordinate everything. God has sure been good in providing beautiful weather. Many people were inquiring about a dunk tank:) I didn't miss that contraption for some odd reason.  I am waiting for a piece of equipment to arrive (should come tomorrow) to complete my first videocast of the Pastor's Corner which I blogged about last week. I will try and keep future ones to around 3 minutes but because this will be the first one, it may go a little longer.  Fr. Peter Adoko-Enchill will be leaving our parish for the Grays Harbor parishes on Monday. It has been a great joy to share priestly ministry with him. He will be missed.  We will be welcoming our new parochial vicar, Fr. Ron Knudsen, on Tuesday. It is an incredible...

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, I will begin a three year program called  Good Leaders/Good Shepherds  at the end of this month. This program will help me become a better leader and pastor. I have heard from other priests who just completed the program that they acquired very helpful skills and tools to help them in parish ministry. I am really looking forward to the program.  One of my personal goals is to do a better job communicating with the parish leadership and community. It is a real challenge with the busy demands of meetings and appointments to find time to just share a reflection or thought or just thank people for their faith and dedication to the Lord. After some thought and prayer I have decided to start  The Pastor's Corner . I will make a weekly video broadcast and podcast to help provide a weekly forum to communicate with the parish and school. I am going to find a corner in one of the rooms in the rectory and set up my little recording s...

I have been busy rebuilding my personal website and adding new pages. The new theme I purchased is responsive to tablets and smart phones and much easier to navigate. You can check it out by clicking here. 

Cardinal Francis George, Archbishop of Chicago, has written an excellent article on the disturbing trends in our country that are eroding our religious freedom. Please pray for him as he is critically ill with cancer and has cancelled his visit to Rome to meet with Pope Francis. I read that he is undergoing an experimental chemotherapy. Here is a link to his article.

This was the roughest water I have ever fished on. Our guide said 80% of his customers wouldn't have spent the day where we were at. While it was a bit dangerous, our efforts paid off. We caught coho salmon, a chinook salmon, and I landed a 76 lb halibut, and my brother caught a 64 lb halibut. I am not sure whether we will be going out to the same spot tomorrow and what the conditions will be like but we are off to a good start. Our guide stopped saying the "f" word after he found out I was a priest. I didn't have that effect when we went deer hunting in Alberta:) I am normally not able access this blog service while we are here because of a restriction they have on the internet system. For some odd reason it is off tonight. This may be the only post while I am here. The seaplane trip here was amazing! Beautiful scenery. I found out the De Haviland Beaver seaplane we were traveling in was built in 1958! It was freshly painted and ran good. I think we are g...