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I am away with 43 other pilgrims, visiting Fatima, Lourdes, Montserrat, Barcelona, and other Catholic pilgrimage sites in Spain, Portugal, and a corner of France. I have taken the daily mass intentions with me, and they will be offered on the various altar of my journey. This pilgrimage is devoted to our Blessed Lady, and I hope you know that I will pray for you and yours, and ask Mary to watch over and guard you.

Our plan is to break ground for our new state of the art Early Childhood Center in the spring of 2024. Currently, we are at $4.8 million in cash and pledges. We need to reach $6 million to break ground. Breaking ground will lock in prices for materials, which will help us win the race against inflation.

This past week, I have found myself returning to thoughts of those three innocent people killed in Florida by a deranged, racist gunman. Imagine leaving your house for a routine shopping trip and ending up dead simply because some man with a gun doesn’t like the color of your skin. Sadly, the problem of racism is also a problem of violence that black Americans have had to endure for far too long. Racism is a particularly insidious sin, in part because it can be hidden and denied easily. If we allow racist attitudes an unchallenged place in our hearts, we will become ever more prone to acting out our racism. In the extreme, it becomes horribly violent.

Currently, our Religious Education program is still in need of volunteers to teach or assist in our classes. We will have a Sunday morning RE session between the 9:30 a.m. and noon Mass, and a Wednesday evening session. Helping to pass on the faith to the next generation is a terrific way to assist the parish in its mission. Please contact Judi Wilkinson, our DRE, if you would like to volunteer.

Lesson #1: God loves you. We were created by God and made in his image and likeness. He loves us so much that he sent us his only Son to be our Savior while we were still sinners. He loves us despite our sins and failures. He gave us free-will so that we might chose to love him above all things.

Our school community is gearing up for another academic year. We are blessed this year with increased enrollment and a very talented faculty and administration. As you know, our school is our largest ministry. The goal of a Catholic School is always to provide a quality education and to hand on the rich deposit of faith. We'll celebrate our students and faculty/administration on Sunday, Aug. 20. We encourage all kids in the parish to wear their school uniform, or their school's t-shirt. We don't want to forget our public school kids! 

Saturday, August 12 at 10 am, Deacon Rodrigo will be ordained to the priesthood at Our Lady’s Cathedral here in OKC! Everyone is invited to attend the ordination. Because he has served here at St. Eugene for several months as a transitional deacon, I hope we have a big crowd of St. Eugene people attend the Ordination.

Some Christians believe that the bread and wine (or, grape juice) used in their communion services are simply that: bread and wine. They believe the action of sharing communion is a remembrance of Jesus. They are very uncomfortable with any talk of Jesus being present in the bread and wine.

Going into this summer assignment I did not know what to expect. I had never talked to Fr. Jim for more than ten seconds, and Fr. Jerome was ordained the first year I became a seminarian. I did not have any real interaction with these priests who I would be living with for the summer. Despite my worries of not liking the priests or the priests not liking me, I was welcomed to St. Eugene with open arms, and I could not be more grateful.

On July 18, following the 5:30 pm Mass, we will have a family night here in the church and outside of the church. Father Jerome will lead a family friendly adoration period (he’ll teach the kids about adoration and they will join in adoration). Afterward, there will be a Food Truck behind the church in the shade. Everyone is welcomed to attend! OUR LONG AWAITED CHAIRS HAVE ARRIVED!

May 27, 2024 through June 6, 2024, I am offering a pilgrimage to Italy, centered on Rome and a visit to St. Padre Pio’s Shrine. We’ll also visit: Capri; Sorrento; Loretto; Lanciano and Pompeii. If the Pope is in Rome, we’ll attend his Wednesday general audience. If you’re interested, let me know, or go to ttp://bit.ly/Rev.GoinsItaly The tour company with whom I plan my pilgrimages only books four star hotels. The cost of the trip includes airfare, hotels, most meals (lunch is generally on our own) and tips.

One of the ministries funded by the Annual Catholic Appeal is The Archdiocesan Tribunal. While the Tribunal has numerous canonical functions, the most well known is that of annulments.

Traditionally, June is a month consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, in many Latin American countries, children offer flowers to this image during the rosary. When I was a child, I did this, my mother dressed me in white with a red ribbon (like a deacon's stole) and when there was a song in the mystery of the rosary, a group of children would take those flowers to Jesus.

At the moment, we have two main accounts: our General Fund, and our Building Fund. The General Fund is funded primarily by Sunday collections and Faith Direct. We use the General Fund to pay salaries, bills, security costs, repairs and improvements. The Building Fund (One Church Growing Together) will be used for all the costs of building the Early Childhood Center.

Because so many people travel during the summer, and attendance is always a bit lower than the rest of the year, finding enough Eucharistic ministers to properly distribute the consecrated bread and wine during Mass becomes a challenge. We certainly do not want to have cups filled with wine consecrated, and then no one to distribute them to the crowd. Eucharistic ministers must be properly trained and are commissioned by the Archbishop every autumn. We can’t simply pull someone from the pews to fill in.

This weekend you get to hear a little bit from me. These last few weeks I have been in a very reflective mood. The month of May is filled with end of the school year activities. After so many graduations, awards assemblies, field days and fun days, it is hard not to look back over the year that is coming to a close.

“Braxton spent the day with me and Fr Jerome, learning more about priesthood. What follows is his reflection on what that day looked like.” - Father Jim

Fr. Raymond J de Souza has written a very fine article for the Catholic National Register about the liturgical lessons of the recent coronation of King Charles. For those of you who can’t access the article, I am going to summarize the key points below.

We are going to have MAJOR work done on plumbing issues this July. In order to reopen one bathroom and keep two others functioning, we’re going to have a sewer line rebuilt. The entire foyer in front of Ross Hall will be torn up. Ross Hall itself will be inaccessible for the duration of the project.

May is a Marian month and features the customary May crowning of Mary with flowers. It’s a beautiful devotion, as are all Marian devotions. It’s important to remember that we venerate Mary (we don’t worship Mary) because she was chosen by God the Father to be the earthly mother of his only son. Mary’s was the first face that baby Jesus saw; she was the first to believe in him, the first Christian. Her welfare was his last concern before he died on the cross.