|
PASTOR'S PAGE |
Dear Friends:
Over the past 11 years you have no doubt heard in one way or another two blessings for which I am most grateful in my life: my education and the gift of friends. This weekend I get to share both of those blessings with you in the form of one person: Father Bert Chilson, pastor of St. Therese Parish here in Aurora.
Father Bert and I have known each other for almost 40 years. We both graduated from St. Thomas Seminary and were ordained for the Archdiocese of Denver in June of 1978. Through the years we have shared many experiences of ministry and I even had the good fortune of living with Father Bert for brief periods of time in other parishes. Bert is one of the best pastors in the Archdiocese and I am so very grateful to share ministry with him here in Aurora. (Two other stellar pastors are Father Steve Adams at St. Pius and Father Terry Kissell from St. Michael’s, another classmate of Father Bert’s and mine.) So I am very aware of the gift of friendship as I welcome and ask you to welcome Father Bert to Queen of Peace this weekend.
Father Bert and I are doing what many would call a “pulpit swap” this weekend. St. Therese Parish has a ministry that is truly a blessing both to his parish but for the Aurora area. St. Therese Parish has an elementary school and provides a quality Catholic education to students in our area. Father Bert is here this weekend with members of the St. Therese School community to share with us the great opportunity that students in Aurora have to receive a quality Catholic education so that they can be formed in faith to pass on that faith to the next generation. While Father Bert is here with you I will be celebrating at St. Therese.
I can personally testify to the value of Catholic education. One of the great blessings of my life was getting a good education. A good education opens so many doors. I can remember my parents being insistent that my sisters and I got the best education we could and since they had received a Catholic education they knew that the quality of that education was something they wanted for us. (An additional blessing is that both my parents and all my uncles and aunts went to the same Catholic school as we and our cousins did!) I am convinced that with a good education, with full support and encouragement of the parents and with the support of the greater
community, a child who has been educated in a Catholic school will have the tools she or he needs to succeed in life.
St. Therese (and St. Pius too) as well as our other Catholic schools (Escuela de Guadalupe – an incredible school with a unique and effective program of education, Bishop Machebeuf High School, Regis Jesuit High School, St. Mary’s Academy, and Mullen High School) where Queen of Peace is represented in the student bodies, are a treasured ministry in our Church community.
I am proud of the work that Father Bert, Ms. Dement, the principal at St. Therese, the faculty, staff and the great parents of St. Therese (and especially our Queen of Peace parents) do to make sure that our kids learn about God, the Church and the world in which they live. They will be richer and happier and better individuals for it.
I am pleased to ask you to welcome Father Bert, Ms. Dement and the members of St. Therese to Queen of Peace this weekend.
Peace,
Father Marty Lally
|
|
|
