Last Monday, May 4^th, Anthony Jackson, a parishioner of ours, left for St. Martin’s Abbey in Lacey, Washington to become a Benedictine monk. What a blessing for Anthony and the whole Church! Please keep Anthony in your prayers as he’ll need them. I’ve attached a short autobiography of Anthony’s vocation at the end of this pastor’s column.

Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into heaven. We want that as well. Receiving the Last Rites before our death is one powerful way to ultimately reach heaven. Sadly, many Catholics don’t receive the Last Rites because those taking care of them in their dying days don’t reach out to a parish to have a priest come and administer the sacraments to them. Let’s talk.

The Annual Catholic Appeal

This week’s Pastor’s Column is a special collection of the 15 Prayers of St. Bridget.

The Sunday after Easter is called Divine Mercy Sunday. In light of what our sins did to Our Lord on Good Friday, and His mercy upon us after His Resurrection; this day, Divine Mercy Sunday, is a day in which we meditate upon Our Lord’s mercy, thank Him, and worship Him for it.

In past pastor’s columns at Easter, I’ve written about the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. This year I want to write about a different kind of resurrection, that of the Church.

This Sunday is Passion Sunday, popularly known as Palm Sunday. At Mass we participate in the telling of Jesus’ passion and death. That was the worst thing that has ever happened, yet it led to the greatest thing that has every happened, at least for humanity: the Resurrection of Jesus and our potential resurrection as well. Here I include many facts from the Shroud of Turin in Italy, the burial cloth of Jesus.

We hear in this Sunday’s Gospel the account of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. But what if we were to rise from the dead only to continue to suffer for eternity? It wouldn’t be worth it. What if we were to rise from the dead free of what causes suffering? What if we could be free of what causes suffering in this life? What if we could be free of sin? That would be worth it.

In a follow up to last week’s pastor’s column on the virtues, I thought I would write one on the vices. Many of you have seen the “How to go the Confession” guide that Holy Redeemer has been using for years; now at St. Thomas and Star of the Sea. In it, there is an excellent examination of conscience. The list of sins in it has helped thousands of penitents to get a better grasp of what acts would constitute serious sin, when coupled with knowledge of the seriousness at the time it was committed, and freedom on the part of the penitent at the time it was committed.

Two Sundays ago, I wrote a pastor’s column called “Do Something Special for God this Lent.” In the top five of twenty-four recommendations was going to Confession at least once during Lent.

We are fortunate at Columbia River Catholic to have multiple times and locations for the sacrament of Confession.

Last Sunday two different parishioners in two different communities asked me whether or not they needed to keep their Lenten resolution on Sundays or if those were days off. Basically, they wanted to know if their dietary resolutions needed to be upheld on Sundays during Lent or if they didn’t. What about those Lenten resolutions that aren’t dietary? My reply is that our Lenten resolutions are not mandatory, but gifts given to God. Whether we abide by them daily throughout Lent or not is up to us. Which gets to our motivation for making Lenten resolutions in the first place.

Lent is an extended penitential season when Catholic Christians try to become better Catholic Christians. Specifically, we try to make some sort of special sacrifice for God’s glory, the salvation of souls, and atone for our sins and the sins of the whole world. Some people do big things for Lent and some people just one small thing, but we should all do something for Jesus–who did everything for us. 

In these turbulent times — marked by conflict abroad, fragmentation at home, and profound questions about our shared moral life — the Church once again lifts high the Gospel as the light by which we must walk. The Second Vatican Council, Catholic Social Teaching, and the Jan. 9, 2026, address of Pope Leo XIV to the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Holy See, illuminate our path with clarity and a renewed urgency.

Parish Mission: Monday, February 9 – Thursday, February 12Beginning this weekend, Fr. Emmerich Vogt (Dominican) will begin a pre-Lenten mission at Holy Redeemer by preaching at all the Masses. The mission will end on Thursday, February 12. I hope you can make at least some of the mission, if not all of it. Click here for the schedule.

From Archbishop Paul Etienne

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Like many of you, I take time at the start of the new year to reflect on the previous year and pray about priorities for the future — not just for myself as your archbishop, but for the archdiocese as well. I take my ministry as your archbishop very seriously. While it can be challenging at times, I am grateful and honored to serve God and you in this way.

We are blessed to know, love, and serve Jesus Christ in the one and only Church He established with St. Peter and the Apostles. That blessing isn’t deserved; it has been freely given to us by others. We, in turn, must freely pass on what has been given to us. All Catholic parents are responsible for their children’s religious upbringing.

“Then Peter said in reply, ‘Lo, we have left everything and followed you. What then shall we have?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man shall sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on the twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life.” Mt 19:27-29

Epiphany is a Greek word that means revelation or manifesta- tion. Two Sundays after Christmas we celebrate the manifesta- tion of the infant Jesus to the three non-Jewish Kings/Magi/ Wisemen. Although we celebrated it last Sunday, January 4, I want to address it a little further here. In celebrating Epiphany, we are acknowledging the reality that Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, came for all of us, not just the Jews.

“Behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”

 The Sunday before Christmas I ran a pastor’s column about the Holy Family settling into Bethlehem and the cave in which baby Jesus was born. Today I write about Our Lord’s birth in the cave and the shepherds who saw the angels and visited Our Lord.

Two thousand years ago in the first Advent, the week before Jesus’ birth, the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph would have been traveling from Nazareth to Bethlehem. What was it like reaching Bethlehem and settling into the cave? Fortunately, in the visions of Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich we have an idea.  Blessed Anne was the greatest visionary on the Life of Jesus the Church has ever known. She passed away in 1823. You can find all of her visions from Angelico Press, much of them are free online as well. In this pastor’s column I share some of what she saw concerning the Holy Family’s travels from Nazareth to Bethlehem.