Dear Friends, This past Monday the church celebrated the feast day of Saint Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist. In a homily on the call of Matthew, one of the great theologians of the Church, Saint Bede the Venerable, reflected on the importance that the conversion of this one tax collector had on the world. Tax collectors were among the most despised people in…

Dear Friends, To all of you who have been impacted by the fires, please know that you are in my prayers. I was in Mount Angel with Archbishop Sample and several other priests when the fires started and they asked me to express their concern and prayers for you. As we begin the long process of recovery, many people are asking how…

Dear Friends, In last weekend’s letter, I wrote about some concerns that I have had about the security of the parish facilities. As a reminder, if you use a key to enter any of the parish buildings, please make sure that all doors and windows are securely locked and fastened when you leave. Also, please make sure that children are always under…

Dear Parishioners, First, after speaking with the parish staff and some members of the pastoral council, I have sadly decided that the church and parish hall must be locked when they are not in use. I know that this will be a hardship for some of you, but, unfortunately, not everybody who comes into a church does so with good intentions. There…

Dear Friends, This weekend we begin a celebration of the Patroness of our Parish, the Blessed Virgin Mary. We begin by celebrating her Assumption, body and soul into heaven and then next weekend, on August 22, 2020 we will celebrate her crowning as Queen of Heaven and Earth. Mary is the patroness of our parish, our archdiocese, and our nation. We can…

Dear Friends, In the Beatitudes, Our Lord Jesus tells us, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” If we want peace in our world, it begins with each one of us. We all have a personal responsibility to be a peacemaker… within our families, at work, in our parish community, in our city, state, and nation, and…

Dear Parishioners, My letter this weekend is sort of a good news/bad news letter. It’s always best to get the bad news out of the way first. It probably won’t come as a surprise that with the COVID-19 situation we will not be able to have the parish picnic this year; hopefully we will be able to have it next year. It…

Dear Parishioners, This is Fr. Brent, your new priest and administrator. In this first letter, I’d like to briefly introduce myself and tell you how happy I am to be with you at Our Lady of the Mountain Parish in Ashland. I grew up in Applegate, went to Hidden Valley High School, and then Oregon State University, where I originally studied in…

Dear Parishioners, Words cannot really express how grateful I am for having been given the privilege of becoming a part of Our Lady of the Mountain Parish Community. God is really good and wise. In His infinite wisdom, he taught me so many things here at Our Lady of the Mountain. As you all know, I just turned 11 years old as…

Dear Parishioners, In the coming Sundays, some of the youngest members of our parish community are receiving Jesus in the Eucharist for the first time. How exciting it must be for them! I love how in the midst of all the changes we have to adjust to because of the pandemic, the life of the Church continues. The Holy Spirit will always…

Dear Parishioners, Happy Birthday to our Church! As we celebrate Pentecost Sunday, we also celebrate the birth of our Church. In our celebration, let us be reminded of the mission that we have as members of our Church. In all of the four gospels, Jesus sent the disciples on a mission. But he did not want them to go alone or on…

Dear Parishioners, Brothers and sisters, the Solemnity of the Lord’s Ascension we celebrating today is the visible departure of Jesus to his Father, marking the end of his appearances to the disciples as a group. Jesus will come again, as proclaimed in our first reading. The time between his visible ascension and his return at the end of time is the era…

Dear Parishioners, I am pleased to announce that next weekend, we are ready to reopen. Although there is a limit to the number of people who can attend at each Mass, it is an opportunity to be together and physically receive Jesus in the Eucharist. However, there are things that need to be clear to everyone. Please see the enclosed insert. It…

Dear Parishioners, To all the mothers of our parish community here at Our Lady of the Mountain, Happy Mother’s Day to all of you! Thank you for all the love that you give. As I have said before, your love comes close to the love that our Lord gives us – unconditional and free of charge. Thank you very much. May God…

Dear Parishioners, The Fourth Sunday of Easter is also known as the Good Shepherd Sunday. Next to Easter and Christmas, this Sunday is perhaps one of the Sundays that I always look forward to and the reason is because the parish church I attended with my family as I was growing up is called The Good Shepherd Parish and every fourth Sunday…