I want to bring you up to speed on some parish family property items.

The first is a reminder that as part of Partners in the Gospel, the Archdiocesan initiative to restructure the Church in Western Washington, the three communities of Columbia River Catholic will be suppressed and reestablished as one parish. That will probably happen for us before the end of 2027. When that happens, we will not be called Columbia River Catholic, or Holy Redeemer, or St. Thomas Aquinas, or Star of the Sea; but one new name that we will participate in choosing in the Fall of 2027.

Last Wednesday evening, we held our annual one-night mission on the holy angels hosted by a priest of Opus Sanctorum Angelorum (Work of the Holy Angels). People who attended the mission had the opportunity to attend Mass, hear a talk on the angels, witness people consecrate themselves to their guardian angels, begin a program to consecrate themselves to their guardian angel next year, and then begin a multi-year program to consecrate themselves to all the angels.

Instead of dressing up your kids for Halloween as a fake superhero, popular cultural figure, or monster, how about dressing them up as a saint or angel?  Instead of having them trick or treat through demonically-themed lawns and front doors, how about having them come to the church for Christ-themed fun? This Halloween, let’s protect our children and reclaim this festivity from its current godless and even satanic manifestation, and return it to its Catholic origins.

My pastor’s column will begin with some housekeeping items about music at Columbia River Catholic. Then the column will conclude with a discussion about Sacred Music, the style of music that the Church asks of Catholics at Masses where there is music.

Columbia River Catholic concluded phase one of Partners in the Gospel with an insert in the bulletin on September 6th. You can find that report, along with all things related to Partners, on our website at crcatholic.org/events/partners (or by clicking on the Partners tile on any of our parish websites). We are now launching Phase Two of Partners entitled, “Who Does God Want Us to Become?”

On October 7, the Church will celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. It was on that date in 1571 that a Catholic navy defeated a Muslim one at the Battle of Lepanto. For more than a generation the Muslim Turks had conquered all before them in Europe and in the Mediterranean. With no local Christian power able to stop them, Pope Saint Pius V worked very hard over the previous year to unite the divided Catholics of Western Europe to meet the Muslim threat. A navy was assembled under the leadership of Don Juan of Austria to take on the much more powerful and experienced Muslim navy—a Muslim navy that carried 120,000 soldiers meant to sack Rome.

Recently I reread a little booklet called God Reveals the Six Classes of People and the Reality of Hell by A.J. Marcus. In it, A.J. quotes a seer from a century ago named Josefa Menendez. Among Josefa’s claimed revelations, one concerned the six classes of people in their relationship with God. I was inspired to reflect upon those six classes of people from the early 20^th Century and adjust them according to 21^st Century Catholic Christians. Take a look at these and see where you think you mostly fit and if you would have described them any differently.

Every year, all the parishes and missions of the Archdiocese of Seattle not only submit a detailed report to the Archdiocese, but they also share an annual report with their parishioners, so you are aware of how your parish family’s resources of time, talent, and treasure have been employed. Here are some highlights for 2025-2026.

Every June the priests of the Archdiocese of Seattle (priests of Western Washington) gather at Ocean Shores for four nights and three days for what is called “Priest Days.”  There is always a guest speaker who speaks to some aspect of our ministry.  Last June the topic was priest morale. 

Through Partners in the Gospel, we have begun a strategic planning process to re-envision parish life in Western Washington. As we respond to real and changing conditions in our Archdiocese, especially the continued and worsening shortage of priests who can serve as pastors, our Archbishop has asked us to examine how our Parish Family of three communities can most effectively combine into a single parish.

With this pastor’s column, I want to bring you up to speed on Columbia River Catholic’s organizational leadership. Over two years ago, parishes and missions throughout the Archdiocese of Seattle began the largest reorganization in our history called Partners in the Gospel.

Currently Columbia River Catholic has a Preschool and Kindergarten using the school building on St. Thomas Aquinas’ campus. We are seeking permission from the Archdiocese to move onto First grade and beyond.

Recently some work has begun on remodeling the old confessional in St. Thomas Aquinas’s church to restore it to use, and we’ll commence work in the coming months on the one at Star of the Sea and the second confessional at Holy Redeemer. We are remodeling confessionals at Columbia River Catholic to be safer and more comfortable. To do this, we are converting them into anonymous-only confessionals. Here’s why…

I spent last week (July 21-26) at Ignite NW, a one-of-a-kind Catholic convention for high schoolers. It was a real shot in the arm for the 300 kids and 175 adult volunteers who attended at least some of it. Of those 175 adults, about twenty of them were young adults aged 18-25. These young adults are committed to their Catholic faith—some zealous—willing to help others on their journey with the Lord.

I’m writing about the Liturgy of the Hours, a topic I can write about quickly with a lot of copying and pasting from the internet. That’s a good thing because I’ve been at Ignite Northwest this past week, a five-day conference for high schoolers at the University of Portland. It is led by priests, consecrated religious, and a lot of lay folks, many of whom are from our parish family (roughly 475 people in total).

Vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life are super important to us. Today I’m giving you an update on some of the young people from our parish family that are pursuing religious life. 

Last year Columbia River Catholic had a fundraiser and food packing event for an organization called Cross Catholic Outreach (CCO). It was a big success, providing thousands of meals for hungry children in the Third World. We’re doing it again this year and hopefully annually going forward.

I saw a movie a couple of months ago called The Story of Everything. It is excellent and I highly recommend it. It succinctly lays out the origins of the universe—and life—using the empirical evidence we have discovered over the past five centuries, and especially in the past century. After watching the movie, no honest person can believe that the universe is eternal.

Following up on my pastor’s columns about the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the First Friday and Saturday devotions, I here present to you a step-by-step rite of consecration of your home to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. This is a powerful devotion that will help to protect your home and family from the enemy, as well as to help foster a personal relationship with Jesus Christ through His Sacred Heart.

Religious devotions are religious practices that are not obligatory. After the Precepts of the Church which are obligatory (attending Mass on Sundays, Confession at least once a year, etc.), devotions are the surest way to achieve communion with God and to serve Him.