Confirmation

Dear friends,

With a heart full of joy I write you this letter. We just finished the Confirmation celebration at St. Andrew and I am so grateful and proud to be your pastor. Bishop Edward Burns was the presider at the Confirmation Mass. He has a great spirit and connected with the youth and adults that were being confirmed, talking with them before Mass and to each of them individually at the moment of Confirmation. I have to share with you as I did with the congregation that it is such a blessing to be the pastor and watch the confirmadi come up and receive the Sacrament of Confirmation. Each and every person comes up beaming and at that moment there is a joy that I can see in their eyes. I had the best seat in the house so that I could see this from the perspective of the sanctuary.

I also got to administer First Holy Communion to about 175 children this year. Talk about joy. It was amazing to see the excitement and wonder when the little ones received Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament for the first time. Not to mention that I got to baptize ten adults and we will be bringing a few new members into the Church who have been baptized in other denominations this weekend. This season is full of joy for me this year (as it always is I guess) but my heart is overflowing and I am so grateful to be a priest and to see the Holy Spirit at work in the lives of so many as they receive the Sacraments.

At the same time my heart is a bit heavy as we will bury three priests within a week: Fr. Bryan Snyder at St. Stephens, Fr. Pat O’Brien at St. Martin’s, and Fr. Michael J. Ryan at the Cathedral. I am glad that the funerals are close to home and that I will be able to attend all of them, God willing. There is nothing quite like a priests funeral. At once there is joy and gratitude for the life of service that the priest had and at the same time the great sorrow for the loss. I guess that is at every funeral, but at a priest’s funeral we see people from every stage of the priest’s life and the different parishes where he has served and all the lives that he has impacted and this is truly inspiring for me. I hope to have a few more years to enjoy the wonderful gift of priesthood.

As Bishop Burns left on Thursday night he said to me a few times how blessed I am to have such a vibrant parish. He could tell that from the one Mass that he came to celebrate. I am reminded over and over how blessed I am to be your priest. I want you all to know I am thoroughly enjoying my time at St. Andrew and Ss. Cosmas and Damian. It makes me aware of how much we can take for granted and I hope that I never take you or anyone who comes to me for granted. I want you to know how much I appreciate you and enjoy serving you. I pray that with the help of God I will continue to grow in my priesthood and relationship with Him, and that He will continue to draw my heart on and help me to grow in my relationship with each of you. You are in my prayers each and every day.

In His Most Sacred Heart,

Fr. Jack D. Shrum