Even before going through the information that was sent to me about our V.I.Ps for the month of June, Dave and Cherry Schwulst, I already knew what I wanted to share first about them. It is the fact that they are among the "regulars" who rarely miss a daily Mass here at Sacred Heart Church. At times they are in the pews and at times they are on the altar as altar servers (and sometimes Dave as a lector). Their participation in daily Mass started almost immediately after they came to Hot Springs Village and joined our parish. Their positive and uplifting demeanor is strengthened in their personal encounter with Jesus in Word and in the Sacrament of His Body and Blood. They are also "social" people who connect with others after Mass and are blessed and are a blessing to others for doing so. This very day that I am composing this pastor's column they were altar servers at Mass and afterward, they shared with me that this same day (June 25) is (and now was) their 30th wedding anniversary. In the presence of other daily Mass regulars, I offered a prayer and blessed them.
Inspired by the Lord, Dave and Cherry are active outside of the many Masses they participate in. Cherry is an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion at Mass and she and Dave weekly take Communion and share fellow-ship with to one of our dear couples, Dick and Peg Birzer. They both share in the blessings of Eucharistic Adoration including once a month taking one of the early morning (1:00-2:30 a.m.) time slots. They both have a missionary zeal and were part of a parish group that were catechized on "Forming Intentional Disciples". Dave serves in the office of "lecturer" for our Knights of Columbus Council, is one of our facilitators for a COR group of men on Thursday evenings, and is quite active in the SOZO men's addiction treatment ministry in Jessieville. Cherry, since joining our parish, has completed a 5-year program and has been certified as a spiritual director, and is now assisting a number of men and women to grow in the Lord through spiritual direction for them. As far as I know she can accept more directees if you are open to it. Call her at 309-831-7230 or e-mail her at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Cherry is faithful in participating in our Tuesday/Thursday 10:00 a.m. exercise group and encourages everyone to give it a try.
It is obvious to me and to others that Dave and Cherry take their faith seriously and feel blessed to support and be supported by so many fellow parishioners. Since I see them so often, it is hard to believe that they have only been parishioners for a little over 3 years! I hope and pray there will be many more years to come!
Inspired by the Lord, Dave and Cherry are active outside of the many Masses they participate in. Cherry is an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion at Mass and she and Dave weekly take Communion and share fellow-ship with to one of our dear couples, Dick and Peg Birzer. They both share in the blessings of Eucharistic Adoration including once a month taking one of the early morning (1:00-2:30 a.m.) time slots. They both have a missionary zeal and were part of a parish group that were catechized on "Forming Intentional Disciples". Dave serves in the office of "lecturer" for our Knights of Columbus Council, is one of our facilitators for a COR group of men on Thursday evenings, and is quite active in the SOZO men's addiction treatment ministry in Jessieville. Cherry, since joining our parish, has completed a 5-year program and has been certified as a spiritual director, and is now assisting a number of men and women to grow in the Lord through spiritual direction for them. As far as I know she can accept more directees if you are open to it. Call her at 309-831-7230 or e-mail her at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Cherry is faithful in participating in our Tuesday/Thursday 10:00 a.m. exercise group and encourages everyone to give it a try.
It is obvious to me and to others that Dave and Cherry take their faith seriously and feel blessed to support and be supported by so many fellow parishioners. Since I see them so often, it is hard to believe that they have only been parishioners for a little over 3 years! I hope and pray there will be many more years to come!
It should surprise no one that within our parish there are a variety of opinions on a number of topics. Some are happy with the color of the new carpet, while others are disappointed that we didn't replace the red carpet with red carpet. Some like the fact that we change the time of the Saturday evening Mass to 4:00 p.m. during the winter months while some would like us to keep the Mass at the same time all year long. Some have expressed the opinion that the sanctuary area of our adoration chapel is "too cluttered" while others feel that the sacramentals that are on the wall and on the floor are a blessing and a complement to the main focus in the sanctuary which of course is Jesus Christ, body and blood, soul and divinity in the monstrance.
Recently I received feedback from a number of people who share that last opinion and describe the blessings that come to them during their prayer and reflection time in the chapel. One person (Al) said the images (of Mary, Joseph) are a reminder of all that we can aspire to be as human beings as we adore and pray to Jesus. The image of St. Joseph reminds him of what he needs to be as a husband and father. Another person (Gerald) said the statues remind him of the nearness the saints are to Jesus. I would add that the saints (especially Mary & Joseph), call us through their example to strive to be near Jesus in our daily lives. A third person (Rick), who chooses to sit toward the back of the chapel, said looking up there at Mary and Joseph behind and above Jesus speaks to him of the Holy Family and the days and years in which Mary and Joseph watched over Jesus and cared for him as loving parents are called to do for their children. Some expressed disappointment when going into more "modern" Catholic Churches and either not seeing images or statues of Mary and Joseph at all or seeing them in remote areas of the church. I am happy to receive such thoughtful reflections and agree that such images which adorned those walls long before many of us moved into this parish need to stay where they are. The Church does tell us, however, that we should not have duplicate sacramentals in the same holy space, even the crucifix itself. That is the reason the altar servers place the processional crucifix off to the side (outside of the sanctuary) during Mass, I have therefore decided to remove the statue of Our Lady of Fatima from the sanctuary area of our chapel and replace it with the small statue we have (which was donated by the family of deceased parishioner JoAnn DeJanovich) of St. Michael the Archangel and hope those who spend time in the chapel will take time to ask for his intercession against the "the wickedness and snares of the devil" which are many and which lead us away from the Lord and His love and peace.
Recently I received feedback from a number of people who share that last opinion and describe the blessings that come to them during their prayer and reflection time in the chapel. One person (Al) said the images (of Mary, Joseph) are a reminder of all that we can aspire to be as human beings as we adore and pray to Jesus. The image of St. Joseph reminds him of what he needs to be as a husband and father. Another person (Gerald) said the statues remind him of the nearness the saints are to Jesus. I would add that the saints (especially Mary & Joseph), call us through their example to strive to be near Jesus in our daily lives. A third person (Rick), who chooses to sit toward the back of the chapel, said looking up there at Mary and Joseph behind and above Jesus speaks to him of the Holy Family and the days and years in which Mary and Joseph watched over Jesus and cared for him as loving parents are called to do for their children. Some expressed disappointment when going into more "modern" Catholic Churches and either not seeing images or statues of Mary and Joseph at all or seeing them in remote areas of the church. I am happy to receive such thoughtful reflections and agree that such images which adorned those walls long before many of us moved into this parish need to stay where they are. The Church does tell us, however, that we should not have duplicate sacramentals in the same holy space, even the crucifix itself. That is the reason the altar servers place the processional crucifix off to the side (outside of the sanctuary) during Mass, I have therefore decided to remove the statue of Our Lady of Fatima from the sanctuary area of our chapel and replace it with the small statue we have (which was donated by the family of deceased parishioner JoAnn DeJanovich) of St. Michael the Archangel and hope those who spend time in the chapel will take time to ask for his intercession against the "the wickedness and snares of the devil" which are many and which lead us away from the Lord and His love and peace.
I didn't realize after announcing that my pastor's column this week would be on the interview of Pope Francis by Norah O'Donnell of CBS News both on "Sixty Minutes" and an hour-long program a week ago, how challenging it would be to do it. There's much that could be said about various aspects of the interview in addition to what was asked, and how the pope responded. I'm just guessing that the pope and/or his aides had little if any input as to what subjects would be brought up and perhaps not a "heads-up" on the questions themselves. It was the agenda of the executives of CBS that might have dictated the topics and questions as it seemed to me to be slanted in a certain way. I'm thinking particularly about the topics of migration and climate control. I thought the pope's responses were not specific about a certain country, and brought out the right of people to migrate, especially in situations of violence and poverty and the call of the Gospel to welcome migrants in a Christ-like way. Of course, there are the rights of countries for a variety of reasons to have conditions and even limits on immigration which have been acknowledged by our American bishops, which the pope either didn't comment on OR the CBS executives did not include it for the viewers to see. This, again, can make any interview slanted and potentially biased when not sharing everything that was said by the one being interviewed. On climate control, the pope admitted that we are past the point of no return as far as man-made actions that have affected and are affecting such things as the warming of the planet's temperatures. The pope did not hold back in saying that it is foolish to not acknowledge the reality of the situation and its negative and long-term bad effects on our planet. To say it is the highly industrialized countries that are practically doing the most damage to the atmosphere and climate is speaking a truth that many (especially some who live in such countries) do not want to acknowledge or even hear. I applaud the pope's responses to some of the questions he was asked as he used the platform to speak on something much broader than was asked, including the issue of the abuse of children. While reiterating the Church's no-tolerance approach to credible instances of clergy abuse (including the full force of the law and Church law which leads to a priest being defrocked as a priest), he also spoke of the terrible scourge in our society in general where abuse is happening within families and by other people in positions of authority and trust like teachers and coaches who are harming our children. Pope Francis holding the first International Day of Children at the Vatican brought out the importance of children in our society which means not only protecting them from harm, but also respecting what they (and the elderly) have to offer to us! More on the Pope's interview in next week's column.