A little over a year ago, our seminarian Grant Wilson and I had a conversation about the possibility of his taking a Pastoral Year in the diocese. As you may know, seminarians in formation for the priesthood for our diocese study at seminaries located outside of the diocese, limiting their ability to connect with this local Church. And while Christmas and summer breaks offer the opportunity for these men to reconnect with their home diocese, it can still be difficult to get a good idea of what it is like to serve locally for more than a month or two at a time. In Grant’s case, he had not only been outside of the diocese for the past two years, he had been outside of the country, a practice in place for seminarians studying at the Pontifical North American College in Rome. Suffice it to say that Grant was eager to be back home for more than just a summer, and we were glad to welcome him home for a more extended time.

During the past year, Grant has invested himself in various ministries here at the Cathedral. He has been involved in the ALPHA program, GriefShare, Family of Faith, and visits to the homebound, just to mention a few. He filled in on several occasions as Master of Ceremonies for Bishop Paprocki and was a regular presence for the various Cathedral liturgies. Grant shared in the common life of the Rectory by being present for prayer, meals, and other times of recreation with the clergy of the house. Over the past few months, he and Ryan Kehoe kept busy finding things to do, even as opportunities were limited due to the pandemic restrictions.

A couple of weeks ago, as he was preparing to conclude his Pastoral Year, Grant approached me to inform me that he had prayerfully come to the decision that he planned to step away from priestly formation for the time being. On the one hand, this was sad news as he has demonstrated so many fine qualities that would serve him and the faithful well as a priest. At the same time, I know Grant is at peace with his decision, knowing that it comes after having fully invested himself over the past year. He leaves the Cathedral and seminary formation a better man, and in that sense, this is not a loss for the Church, for I have no doubt Grant will continue to put the gifts he has developed in seminary and here at the Cathedral at the service of the Church in some fashion. In the end, God’s will is being done, which is all any of us should ever hope to do, and I fully believe that Grant is being obedient to what he believes God’s will is for him at this time in his life.

As Rector and Vocation Director for the diocese, I take this opportunity to thank Grant for his time here at the Cathedral over the past year, and for the several years of seminary formation with our diocese. I know that Father House, my predecessor as Rector, echoes these sentiments. We assure Grant of our prayers in thanksgiving for what he has shared with this Cathedral Parish for the past year and we pray for many blessings upon him in whatever lies ahead.

Father Alford is the Rector of the Cathedral and serves in the diocesan curia as the Vicar for Clergy, Consecrated Life, and Vocations. 

“[F]or my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”

(Is. 56:7)

These are the words we hear at the conclusion of our First Reading for this Sunday’s Mass. In the Old Testament, the Temple was the central place of worship, of it was there where God’s presence dwelled in a special way (cf. CCC 576). As Catholics, we also read this passage with the awareness that these words also apply to our churches, which serve as the central place of our prayer and worship of God. And God is present in a special way in our churches, even more than in the Temple of Jerusalem, for He is present in His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Eucharist in our tabernacles.

With that in mind, it is sometimes surprising to me that our churches remain largely empty for the vast majority of time throughout the week. Sure, we have masses when people gather together to pray, but what about the rest of the hours? Jesus makes Himself a prisoner in the tabernacle, patiently waiting for us to come to pay Him a visit, spending some time in prayerful adoration in the place where He dwells in a special way. And while it is true that we can (and should) pray anywhere, there is nowhere more special to pray than in a Catholic church.

If you have never taken the opportunity to stop into our Cathedral church during the day to pray, I highly encourage you to do so. The peace that we experience when we step into the silence of this temple can be a profound experience. And since it is a house of prayer, spend some time in prayer in the presence of our Eucharistic Lord. You could spend some time in prayerful thanksgiving for the blessings you have received. You could offer prayers for the various intentions for which family and friends have asked you to pray. You could pray a decade (or more) of the Rosary. You could read a chapter from the Gospels. Or consider this beautiful little story shared by St. John Vianney:

Listen well to this, my children. When I first came to Ars, there was a man who never passed the church without going in. In the morning on his way to work, and in the evening on his way home, he left his spade and pick-axe in the porch, and he spent a long time in adoration before the Blessed Sacrament. Oh! how I loved to see that! I asked him once what he said to Our Lord during the long visits he made Him. Do you know what he told me? ‘Eh, Monsieur le Curé I say nothing to Him, I look at Him and He looks at me!’ How beautiful, my children, how beautiful!

Please know that this church is the Lord’s house, and He has made it a house of prayer for all peoples, especially we who are His sons and daughters. That makes this church your home, so please feel free to stop to pay a visit to the master of the house – He’s here waiting for you!

Father Alford is the Rector of the Cathedral and serves in the diocesan curia as the Vicar for Clergy, Consecrated Life, and Vocations. 

While speaking to others about living at the Cathedral, one of the first things I comment on is the blessing of living in a full house. For just over a month, we have had one bishop, four priests, and two seminarians living at the Cathedral Rectory. It has been a source of great joy to have so many of us around, sharing in various ways in the ministry of the parish and enjoying some great fraternity with one another.

As they say, though, all good things come to an end. This weekend will be the last one for one of our seminarians, Ryan Kehoe, who has been with us here since the pandemic caused all of our seminaries to send their men home early. Wanting to make their abrupt transition away from the seminary more manageable, we attempted to put pairs of seminarians together at various parishes. With the room available, it made good sense to send one of our seminarians here, and Ryan was the lucky one to come to join Grant Wilson who has been with us the entire year.

The new priests in the house affectionately refer to our seminarians as “the kids” and we joke about sending them back to school at the end of the summer. But we all will miss them very much as they have been an absolute delight to have around the rectory and the parish. I hope that many of you have had the opportunity to meet and interact with these two fine men.

Since Grant will be with us a little longer, we can save our farewell for another time and I can write a few things about Ryan. He recently graduated from Bishop Simon Bruté College Seminary in Indianapolis. He is now moving on to theology at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary in St. Louis. For the next four years, Ryan will dedicate himself to being formed in four dimensions: intellectual, spiritual, pastoral, and human. This formation will lead, God-willing, to a man who is more closely configured to Christ, the Good Shepherd, whom He will seek to imitate in ministry to the people of God in our diocese.

Now that he has become a part of our Cathedral Parish family, I invite you to add Ryan to the list of your daily prayers, asking the Lord to give Ryan the graces to be totally open to the work He wants to do in his heart as he prepares for the priesthood. And please pray for all of our seminarians, for the chances are very good (almost guaranteed) that some of these men will serve here at the Cathedral as priests one day. Our prayers for them now will be for their benefit and ours.

Father Alford is the Rector of the Cathedral and serves in the diocesan curia as the Vicar for Clergy, Consecrated Life, and Vocations. 

I continue to marvel at how the living Word of God in Sacred Scripture continues to speak to us with wisdom and relevance to our daily lives. In particular, the Second Readings we have been hearing from St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans have provided some much-needed encouragement for us during these challenging times. This week is no different, as we hear these words:

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom 8:38-39)

A few months ago, I remember mentally inserting the word “coronavirus” into the list of those things that could not separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. At the time, there was so much uncertainty and fear, and these words rang out like a bell to break me out of my negative thinking and returned me to a place of hope.

If we are honest with ourselves, there is still a great deal of fear in our world about the coronavirus, not to mention the many other concerns that affect our lives. And when we are faced with these fears, we do well to hear these words of St. Paul and to bring this question to prayer: “Am I really convinced that nothing can separate me from the love of God in Christ Jesus?” Bring to the Lord whatever your anxiety is and insert it into the list above and be encouraged to move forward in hope.

It is important to note, however, that there actually is one thing that can ever separate us from the love of Christ – ourselves. Our unwillingness to accept His love by turning away from Him and freely choosing to sin pushes us away from His love, and in the case of mortal sin, we separate ourselves completely from His love. We can sometimes point to things outside of ourselves and claim that they are pulling us away from God, or that He is pulling Himself away from us, neither of which is true. He never stops offering His love to us and nothing that happens to us can break that bond.

Therefore, in addition to praying with the above passage, ask yourself: “When was the last time I went to confession?” Maybe I am in need of being drawn closer to His love (or restored to it in the case of mortal sin) which will have the effect of bolstering our faith in the belief that when we abide in His love in the state of grace, absolutely nothing can separate us from His love. His love has already won the victory, and that love promises us a share in His victory of eternal life for those who persevere in remaining in His love through grace.

Father Alford is the Rector of the Cathedral and serves in the diocesan curia as the Vicar for Clergy, Consecrated Life, and Vocations.

“We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” (Rom 8:28)

These words from the Second Reading for this 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time are wonderfully encouraging words for us as Christians to hear. They remind us of the beautiful truth that the Lord is always working for our good, even when the circumstances of our lives seem to contradict that truth.

I do not intend to try to explain the theology of God’s unchanging providential will and how our free will relates to that plan. Just thinking about that can drive even the most astute theologian crazy! Rather, I would like to propose that we reflect on this truth as it has unfolded in our lives. Every one of us has encountered struggles, and while we may have not enjoyed them at the time, we usually come away from those experiences having learned some valuable lessons, lessons which help us as we move on in our lives. This is a basic proof for the validity of the words I referenced above from St. Paul.

As Christians, we are invited to have this belief not just after the fact, but before and during the events of our lives. In other words, when we anticipate something difficult that lies ahead for us, we should be reminded of this promise and know that no matter how difficult the future may be, God can use that in our lives for our good. And when we are in the midst of trials, we can face them with that supernatural perspective that we who love God believe that He has not abandoned us and that He can and will lead us to a place of good.

In all of this, we must remember that the good the Lord brings about is not necessarily according to our definition of good. The good of which St. Paul speaks is the good of our growing in holiness, which sometimes requires purification of our sinfulness. That can be painful, but it is always directed toward helping us to be more like Christ. Even when our trails mean suffering and possibly even death, our faith invites us to be reminded that our greatest good is not to be found here in this life, but it awaits us in the glory of Heaven. It was from that supernatural outlook that led St. Paul to write earlier in this same chapter of his Letter to the Romans: “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are as nothing compared with the glory to be revealed for us.” (Rom 8:18)

So as we face the ups and downs of life this week, maybe we could have these words in our hearts: “All things work for the good…omnia in bonum”, serving as an act of faith that helps us to be reminded that God our loving Father is always aware of our circumstances and is preparing good gifts for us, His beloved children.

Father Alford is the Rector of the Cathedral and serves in the diocesan curia as the Vicar for Clergy, Consecrated Life, and Vocations.

When I was a newly ordained priest, I spent a fair amount of time teaching in the Catholic high school connected to the parish to which I was assigned. At the end of one of the classes, one of the students commented to me that I had said a certain phrase multiple times during the class. She did not mean to be disrespectful and I realize that she must have felt comfortable enough with me to share the feedback, so after some initial defensiveness, I felt grateful to know my tendency to repeat things.

That incident early on in my ministry has made me more self-aware, which is a good thing. And I find that when I reflect on my preaching, I notice a theme that I keep repeating, not so much because it is an unconscious space filler, but because it is so central to how I look at our faith. The theme is divine filiation, which means that we are adopted sons and daughters of God. We receive this adoption on the day of our Baptism, and the bond is rooted more deeply when we receive Confirmation.

When teaching His disciples how to pray, He invited them to begin by calling this important truth to mind as they begin with the words: “Our Father.” (Mt 6:9) I will sometimes give that as a penance in the confessional, asking the person to pray the Our Father, pausing on those first two words, considering how God looks upon them with delight as a loving Father. St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits and a spiritual master, encourages that in beginning to pray, one should “consider how the Lord my God looks upon me.” (Spiritual Exercises, #75) We may be tempted to think that He looks upon us with indifference or even disappointment, but the fact of the matter is that He looks upon us with great love, for we are His beloved children. These two practices may sound rather simple, but they are indeed powerful. I would invite you to give them a shot this week and see if they don’t help you in embracing this key identity more fully.

In our Second Reading for this Sunday’s Mass, St. Paul speaks about how we are invited to “share in the glorious freedom of the children of God.” (Rom 8:21) I spoke about that theme this past Sunday in the homily that I preached at all of the masses. I had mentioned that as the clergy of the Cathedral have the great privilege of helping you to live that freedom more fully in your lives through our ministry to you. Below is a beautiful short reflection for your meditation on what it means to live this gift of spiritual childhood:

Don’t try to be grown-up. A child, always a child, even when you are dying of old age. When a child stumbles and falls, nobody is surprised; his father promptly lifts him up.
When the person who stumbles and falls is older, the immediate reaction is one of laughter. Sometimes this first impulse passes and the laughter gives way to pity. But older people have to get up by themselves.
Your sad experience of each day is full of stumbles and falls. — What would become of you if you were not continually more of a child?
Don’t want to be grown-up. Be a child; and when you stumble, may you be lifted by the hand of your Father-God. (St. Josemaría Escrivá, The Way, #870)

Father Alford is the Rector of the Cathedral and serves in the diocesan curia as the Vicar for Clergy, Consecrated Life, and Vocations.

In the midst of working to return to normal living, the diocesan church, as well as our parish family, was given multiple blessings on Friday evening, June 19th, with the ordination of six new priests and one new deacon. Among those being ordained to the Priesthood of Jesus Christ was one of our own: Father David Beagles.

As you know, for the past several years Father David has been studying at Sacred Heart Seminary in Hales Corners, Wisconsin, just outside of Milwaukee. The past five years have been a time for him to be formed more and more after the heart of Jesus, the Good Shepherd. For many years, Father David has been a loving and faithful son of this parish, serving as a weekday Mass server before his departure for studies. If you talk to members of the faithful in other parishes where Father David has served during his time in the seminary, you will find the same consistent comments: loving, compassionate, gracious, generous, faith-filled, and kind.

We give thanks to God that Father David answered the Lord’s call and that God’s grace has led him to this awesome moment. How blessed we are in our brother, the son of the Cathedral Parish. Father David will soon be moving to St. Francis Solanus Parish in Quincy as the parish’s parochial vicar. Father David, along with his new pastor, Father Steven Arisman, will have the challenge and blessing of being the first diocesan priests to serve the people of St. Francis in the parish’s 160-year history, succeeding the Franciscan Friars.

Along with Father David, the Cathedral’s two new and incoming parochial vicars were also ordained: Father Peter Chineke and Father Dominic Vahling. Please pray for these men and all those ordained with them as they prepare for their first assignment. I know that Father Peter and Father Dominic will serve this parish well.

One of the on-going effects of the pandemic is our inability at present to offer Father David a proper celebration for his ordination. For those who may wish to send him well wishes or a token of congratulations, you may do so by through the Cathedral office, either by mail or by dropping it off; we will see that it finds its way to Father David.

Additionally, we had also hoped to have a celebration for Bishop Paprocki this Sunday evening as Monday, June 22, marks the tenth anniversary of his installation as the ninth bishop of our diocese; that event will be celebrated by the faithful at a later date. Nonetheless, please remember Bishop Paprocki in your prayers that the Lord will continue to strengthen him with the graces needed to be a good and faithful shepherd and successor of the Apostles.

These few months have been trying for many of us in many ways yet God continues to pour out his goodness and grace. These celebrations are proof of that fact. May we have hearts and lives open to receive the good things that God wishes to bestow on us in every season!

Father Christopher House is the Rector of the Cathedral and serves in various leadership roles within the diocesan curia, namely Chancellor and Vicar Judicial.