Fr. Don’s Weekly Letter ~ 15 June 2025

Dear Good People of Saint Bernadette,

You might think that Christmas or Easter might be the busiest times of the year for the parish. They are busy, for sure, especially when you think of all the confessions leading up to them and preparations of the church and liturgies.

But this year, I think the last two weeks have been the busiest of all. It was an unusual confluence of the end of the school year, graduation, and Pentecost that formed the backdrop of end-of-the-year activities for nearly every parish ministry or group. I was double or triple booked most evenings and I apologize that I couldn’t get to everything. It wasn’t possible.

But it has also left me with so many thoughts and things to write about that I’m wondering where to start.

First of all, the school. The end of the year, with its many traditions and a lot of fun, has been reported each week to you in the bulletin by Dr. Burgess, our principal.

One of the highlights for me was the 7th and 8th grade volleyball tournament. First, 7B beat 7A and then 8B bested 8A. Finally, 7B was victorious over 8B. To be honest, it wasn’t the best volleyball people have seen, but the entire school gets to come and cheer, and the kids have the best time. It is perhaps the loudest experience of my entire year (except the Catholic Charites Ball) and it took me nearly a full day to get the ringing out my ears.

I had to give my regrets both to the Knights of Columbus and their annual Grand Knight’s dinner and the Capital Wind Symphony concert on Friday night because we had so many parishioners participating in the Together We Rise Against Hunger meal packing event. It was great to be out in the world seeing so many Saint Bernadette people as well as meeting people from other churches, synagogues and mosques.

What brought all of us together was that we packed bags of rice, soy protein, dried vegetables and vitamins, each bag making six servings. We exceeded our goal of 150,000 meals in five shifts Thursday and Friday evenings and Saturday morning. It is a truly profound way to feed the hungry. The bags we filled and the boxes we packed are making their way to the Philippines for a feeding program in elementary schools. In many places of the world kids come to school just to be able to eat. This way they learn and get a much-needed meal.

The Graduation Mass—as well as the Mass the last day of school—and the awards ceremonies that followed told the story of how smart and talented our parish kids are. From the perspective of looking back on all the accomplishment and success of a truly good school year, our gratitude to our amazing faculty, administration, and dedicated parents gave me a great deal of
satisfaction for so much work done this year.

And, finally, one of my favorite things is Solemn Vespers on Pentecost night, when the beautifully composed and executed sung prayer gives such a sense of peace and goodwill, and unity, as we bring all of this to a close and move back into Ordinary Time. And, on top of it, we celebrated with Mike Harrison and unveiled his beautiful gift of “The Madonna of the Veil.”

We saw Ordinary Time green briefly between the Christmas season and Lent, and now we will be wearing green until November 29! Somehow, I feel like that will be here before we know it.

All of this is to say that these things don’t happen by themselves. You are the community who comes together and, using your gifts and talents, make things happen. Imagine any of this without the singers in the choir or the people who prepared all the many receptions over the past few weeks. Thanks to leaders in our brilliant school community, our teachers and admin staff, especially Dr. Burgess. Thanks to our parish staff, especially Rick Caporali who organizes us to make things happen, and David Mathers who makes it beautiful.

Now let’s focus on making Ordinary Time Extraordinary! Stay in touch between all the trips and summer fun, and watch for new developments in all areas of parish life.

The Lord be with you.