Last weekend, I asked several people two questions: First, what is your fear (or fears) right now? Do not think. Respond right away. Say whatever comes to your mind... Second, what has been your GREATEST FEAR in your life? This is a deeper question. Take your time, all the time you want. Not surprisingly, the first question led to a large num- ber of different answers. Several said: I do not have any fears at this very moment. Others said: I am afraid that I will get sick, lose my job, or that my wife and my kids might become very ill. What surprised me the most was the similarity of many answers to the second question. They centered around...

What a JOY for a large number of our parishioners to be present at the Ordination Mass of Father Juan Pablo last Saturday. The National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, the second largest Catholic Church in our country, was packed! Our parishioners had the best seats, as Deacon Juan Pablo had reserved seats for us in front... Father Juan Pablo had served our parish since May 2022, first as Summer Seminarian and then as Deacon throughout the year. He had truly loved our parishioners. He had touched many people he interacted with. He served us in many different ways. He enjoyed teaching our seventh graders on Sundays. He enjoyed baptizing a large number of children. He preached the Good News of the Gospel at many of our weekend Masses. He was always ready to help us with the major events taking place in our parish. Father Juan Pablo will also be remembered for...

What a Joy to attend the Ordination of 14 young transitional Deacons at St. Matthew’s Cathedral last Saturday! Especially as two of them had served our parish as summer seminarians. John Winslow was with us four years ago. His home parish is St. John Regis in Hollywood, MD. His great-uncle John Aley has been a parishioner at OLHOC from the very beginning. I met him at the end of the Ordination Mass. He was beaming with joy. Isaac Sagastume has been with us the last two years. His home parish is in New Jersey. His family had come from Costa Rica. It was a joy for all of us to have newly ordained Deacon Isaac celebrate his first Mass as Deacon at our parish Sunday morning. His parents and close family were also present. Deacon Isaac had asked us to...

Last weekend we celebrated the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. Preaching on this Sunday is challenging. It happened to be “Deacons’ preaching Sunday” (held once every five weeks). We have been blessed to have three deacons assisting us since last September: newly ordained Deacon Juan Pablo was assigned to our parish in his last year of preparation to the priesthood. In his last homily as Deacon, Deacon Juan Pablo focused on...

Have you met a living Saint? When was the last time you thought about living Saints? I will never forget the conver- sation we had with Bishop Olivier Leborgne in Montreuil-sur-mer, northern France last April. You may recall I wrote to you about our latest pilgrimage "In the footsteps of Father Martin". Six of us had gone to the most northern part of France to help prepare the centennial cel- ebration of the death of Father Narcisse Martin. We left beautiful Waldorf on Easter Monday. Our first overnight stay...