Dear Parishioners, Today, throughout the Archdiocese of Portland in western Oregon, every parish is asking for their parishioners’ help to assist the parish-based ministries supported by the Archbishop’s Catholic Appeal. On behalf of Archbishop Sample, I thank all of you who gave last year. I assure you that the funds you gave helped provide ministry to those who would not have been touched without your support. When…

Dear Parishioners, Next weekend is Commitment Weekend for the Archbishop’s Catholic Appeal. During Mass we will watch a video from Archbishop Sample about the Appeal. If you received a personalized commitment card in the mail, please bring it to Mass with you as we join together to support our Catholic Church in western Oregon. If you did not receive a commitment card in the mail, pledge envelopes will be available during Mass.…

Dear Parishioners, This weekend is the awareness weekend for this year’s Archbishop’s Catholic Appeal, (ACA). In the next couple of weekends, we will be reminded of our responsibility to help in the mission of the Catholic Church here in Western Oregon. I would like to ask all of you to once again, prayerfully discern how much you can contribute to this appeal. Every amount you donate will go to the…

Dear Parishioners, The year 2019 is now in full swing and there are a lot of activities lined up for our parish community in the coming months. Please take note of our schedules. The Parish Pastoral Council will have their annual scheduling meeting this coming week and our Adult Faith Formation Committee will be meeting soon for some scheduling as well, and I am so excited for the activities that we…

Dear Parishioners, The Gospel that we have for this Sunday shows that the mission of Jesus Christ seems to center on the poor, the prisoners, the blind, and the oppressed. And reading the Gospels, we can see Jesus responding to this mission through his love of sinners, his acts of forgiveness, his compassion to the lowly, the oppressed, and the poor. Indeed, he has brought with him the compassion of  God. When he…

Dear Parishioners, In our Gospel this Sunday, we are again reminded of Mary’s great faith in her son. She knew Jesus could do something that would save the wedding couple from an extremely embarrassing situation. So she points the servers to Jesus and she tells them to “Do whatever he tells you.” Do whatever he tells you… and they did. They filled up with water the six jars when…

Dear Parishioners, Today we are celebrating the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord by John and it signals the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. This is where the people witnessed the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove descending upon Jesus Christ and throughout the ministry of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit led him. St. Luke in his account of the gospel repeatedly indicated this: “Jesus, led by…

Dear Parishioners, Today is the Feast of the Lord’s Epiphany and in some traditions, this is the day when people give their Christmas gifts to each other and they do that probably because it is during the Lord’s Epiphany when the Magi gave gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh to Jesus Christ, “the newborn king of the Jews.” Not all of us…

Dear Parishioners, As we celebrate today the Solemnity of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph I would like to once again invite you to make your resolutions and pray for the strength and the courage to be faithful. Do not be discouraged if you see yourself fall, the important thing is to rise again and keep on trying. The Lord…

Dear Parishioners, Merry Christmas! I wish you all the love Jesus, Mary and Joseph experienced on that first Christmas night and may you and your loved ones share the peace and happiness of that love with each other. You will all be in my prayers as I celebrate Mass this Christmas. May God continue to bless us all. In Christ, Fr. Maro

Dear Parishioners, This Sunday is the third Sunday of Advent and we call it Gaudete Sunday. Gaudete is Latin for rejoice. But the Greek word for rejoice is Chairos and chairos is the root word for Charis – and Charis means grace. Grace is the unconditional, undeserved, unearned, unmerited gift of God’s love to all of us. It we try to connect all these together, we will realize that to…

Dear Parishioners, The Gospel that we have for this Sunday, the Second Sunday of Advent, marks the first appearance of John the Baptist. And in his first appearance, his call for repentance was unwavering. He called people to transformation – he called them to a change of heart. This call to repentance, brothers and sisters, never stopped and it will never stop until our Lord finally comes again in glory.…

Dear Parishioners, As we enter a new Liturgical Year in our celebration of the first Sunday of Advent, let us take time to once again reflect on who Jesus is for us. I think it is good to be reminded that the baby Jesus born in Bethlehem on a cold night more than two thousand years ago is the same Jesus who suffered and gave up his life for…

Dear Parishioners, What a great way to celebrate the end of the Church’s liturgical year as we celebrate today the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe! It is always good to be reminded that Jesus Christ is our King but we have to understand that His kingship is different from our general knowledge of kings and kingdoms of this world. If we look at…

Dear Parishioners, Thanksgiving Day is not part of the culture I grew up with, it is not a holiday that we celebrate in the Philippines; but I believe that it is truly something that should be celebrated all over the world. It is a wonderful practice that builds relationships not only among people but also and more importantly, it builds relationship with…