With this Labor Day weekend, we come to the end of summer (as far as the break goes anyway). I was always used to heading back to school after the holiday until I entered seminary and then began classes the week before the holiday. Most universities on the semester system began last week as well. Let us keep them in our prayers, especially our young men and women who are just beginning their classes and seeking to grow in knowledge as they come to know who God is calling them to be.

This week I head out to the Palisades for another module of Good Leaders Good Shepherds. I am really enjoying this program as it has given me some great insights into my ministry and vocation as a priest, as well as help and insights on how to manage a staff and parish. At the end of this module I get to invite a few employees to join me and the other priests and their staff members for a day of exercises. I think it will be beneficial for all involved and wish I could invite the whole staff, but they limited me to three.

After the week of classes, I will be back here for the weekend and then I will head down the road for a while. I haven’t taken a substantial road trip since before I arrived here four years ago. I will head from here to Mount Angel as my first stop. I figure there is no better way to start. I will be able to stay in the monastery and hopefully connect with the Seattle seminarians that are there. I believe that there will be over ten men there this year and we have not had that many men there in about ten years. After a couple of nights I will head to Ashland, OR, where Fr. Angelo Te is the pastor. Staying with him a few nights I hope to see a classical Shakespearean play, as that is what Ashland is famous for and I have never done so. I will then head on to Nampa, ID, outside of Boise for a visit with my friend Fr. Marcos Sanchez. Not sure what there is to do on Nampa, but I am sure we will find something to do in or around Boise. My last leg leads me to Helena, MT to visit my friend Fr. Stuart Long. Fr. Stu is dying of a muscular disease that is similar to Lou Gehrig’s, or ALS. As I may have related to you before, I have learned much from Fr. Stu, especially about humility and hope. He is an inspiration to me and many. I hope to see Bishop George Thomas while I am in Helena as well. He played a key part in my journey to ordination here in the Archdiocese of Seattle when he was our Auxiliary Bishop. The last time I saw him we had tea on his deck with Fr. Stu and my mom as we headed back to Billings, MT to celebrate Mass in the parish of St. Pius X where I was baptized. From Helena I will begin the journey home and probably stay at Bishop White Seminary at Gonzaga in Spokane and visit our men in formation there. We have a substantial group of college seminarians there.

Know that you will be in my prayers as I journey from state to state and parish to parish. I love to visit old churches and missions along the way. I hope to visit the Mission of St. Ignatius north of Missoula on my way back as it is one of the most beautiful churches I have ever visited. Another old Jesuit mission at which I like to stop is the Cataldo Mission just east of Coeur d’Alene. Fr. Cataldo was the priest who established the University of Gonzaga in Spokane.

I will be back at the end of the month, just in time to celebrate the patronal Feast of Ss. Cosmas and Damian that final Sunday in Orting.

Pax,

Fr. Jack D. Shrum