Dear Friends, 

The saints remind of us our destiny—that we strive by the grace of God and their good prayers to be in the future where they now are. 

But the saints also remind us of our past. The saints we celebrate in August remind us of our local past, our diocesan history. 

August Fourth we remember St. John Vianney, a French priest of humble birth who, after ordination was sent to the little town of Ars. For the next 41 years he served as the parish priest: celebrating mass, hearing confessions, and teaching the Catholic Faith. He had the gift of reading hearts, of being able to tell penitents their sins before they could confess them. He would often spend 8-12 hours a day hearing confessions.  

Pope Pius XI named St. John Vianney the patron saint of parish priests, so this month please do pray for the Cathedral clergy, or your own parish priest. 

August 8^th is the Feast of St. Dominic, the founder of the Dominicans. We are fortunate in this diocese to have all three expressions of the Dominican life—the friars, the nuns, and the religious sisters. Some of you may have been taught by the Springfield Dominicans. The nuns pray for us in their monastery near Girard, and the friars are their chaplains. We thank God for the many years of blessings, preaching, and teaching the Dominicans have provided for our diocese. 

August 11^th is the Feast of St. Claire of Assisi, and the 14^th is St. Maximilian Kolbe, both Franciscans. We give thanks for the Franciscan Friars, Sisters, and Brothers who have served in our diocese in parishes, schools, homes for the disabled, and by providing excellent healthcare and care for the poor. May God continue to bless their ministries. 

With gratitude and joy for the days ahead! 

Fr. Seth 

PS—for those looking ahead: August 15^th is the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary, and normally it is obligatory to attend Mass on that day. But as it falls on a Saturday this year, it is not obligatory to attend Mass for that Solemnity (though I certainly encourage you to do so!). 

Dear Friends, 

This weekend we welcome to the Cathedral Monsignor Peter Vaccari, President of the Catholic Near East Welfare Association (CNEWA), for our annual Mission Appeal. 

Pope Pius XI founded the CNEWA in 1926 as an instrument of love and a sign of hope for those in need scattered throughout the historic but unstable lands of the ancient Eastern churches — the Middle East, Northeast Africa, India, and Eastern Europe.  

They pray for and with those who suffer in these lands, and they relieve suffering by rushing emergency relief to places of crisis, responding to human need, and working to develop local leadership in difficult places and situations. 

Monsignor Vaccari became the president of CNEWA six years ago. But God had prepared him for such a responsibility by blessing him with varied ministries throughout his life. Ordained a priest of Brooklyn in 1977, he has served as a parish priest, seminary professor, chaplain with the Air Force Reserve, rector of the seminary of the Immaculate Conception in Huntington, Long Island, and as rector of St. Joseph Seminary in Dunwoodie, New York. 

Monsignor will preach each of the masses, and we will take up a collection for CNEWA this weekend. 

We thank Monsignor for being with us, and for his very important work. Please keep him and CNEWA in your good prayers. 

With gratitude and joy for the days ahead! 

Fr. Seth 

Dear Friends, 

Some things change; some things stay the same. 

As for change, I’m modifying slightly our OCIA process. OCIA (formerly RCIA) stands for Order of Christian Initiation of Adults. It’s the formation process the Church provides to prepare the unbaptized for baptism and to live the Catholic Faith after the Easter Vigil. 

Starting September 10^th, this year’s OCIA will meet weekly instead of biweekly. This means every Thursday evening from 6 to 7:30pm we will gather for a meal and then make a pilgrimage into the holy places of what Catholics believe, how we worship, how we live, and how we pray. The Bible and the Catechism will be our guides, and I will be inviting guests in to share their love for God and His Church as well as their expertise in certain areas.  

We will engage our minds, hearts, souls, and yes, have some fun along the way. Jesus wants us to enjoy loving Him and our neighbors! 

If you’re not baptized, or if you are a non-Catholic Christian, and interested in the Catholic Faith, I invite you to consider OCIA here at the Cathedral. There’s no obligation, just an invitation to learn more about Jesus, to consider becoming his disciple, and to encounter the ancient Tradition of the Catholic Church. 

If you are interested, please contact the Cathedral office. 

As for things staying the same, our Families of Faith program will forge ahead from where we left off. For those unfamiliar, Families of Faith is our formation program for families with school-aged children. It’s purpose is to help parents be the first and best teachers of the Faith to their children.  

While the children are being taught by our excellent catechists, the parents will continue with me or another presenter the topic we didn’t finish last year: the Catholic Church and Science.  

Topics will include Jesus’ self-offering, the purpose and benefit of the Church, the four kinds of happiness, and how we transform suffering through faith and prayer. If your family would like to join us for this, please call the Cathedral office. We meet the first and third Sundays after the 5pm Mass starting with a potluck on September 6^th. 

With gratitude and joy for the days ahead! 

Fr. Seth 

I’m back!

Whether it will be like General MacArthur or a bad penny, the bishop has asked me to return to the Cathedral and follow Fr. Alford as the next rector of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. 

I’m deeply honored.

Fr. Brian has done a fine job in his tenure and I hope I can continue in the goodness he and the Cathedral staff have maintained. I thank him for his excellent pastoral care as well as the fraternal charity he’s shown me over the years. We’ve known each other for almost twenty years, beginning in the Altiplano of Peru through the prairies of our diocese. He’s been a good friend, and his willingness to make my transition to the Cathedral as smooth as possible has been a godsend.

I say I’m back because, as some will recall, I was here from 2014-2016 as the parochial vicar. After ordination, the Cathedral was my first assignment under one of my people: Fr. Chris House. I have many wonderful memories from my first time here with him, Fr. Marty Smith, Deacon Larry, Bill Vogt, and all the rest. I know there are many more good memories to come with old friends and new. 

I thank the Bishop for his trust in me, the Cathedral staff for their generosity of spirit, and you, the parishioners and visitors of our mother church for your faith and support.

I’d also like to thank my former parishioners in Vandalia and Ramsey, and also my friends in New Berlin, Waverly, Franklin, and Alexander. 

In the Gospel of John, Chapter 17 verse 24, as Jesus finishes his Last Supper Discourse, He prays to His Father and says of his disciples (current and future), “Father, they are your gift to me. I wish that where I am they also may be with me.” 

Considering all the good souls I have met in all of my assignments, I know a little of the gift of which He speaks and how He feels. 

Please pray for me.

With gratitude and joy for the days ahead!

Fr. Seth