Today the Church canonizes two popes as our newest saints – St. John XXIII and St. John Paul II. The canonization of a pope is not as common as you might think. St. Peter and most of his early successors were canonized, but many of them were martyred and all of them lived prior to the year 500 CE. In the last nine hundred years only three popes have been declared saints. Pope John XXIII was an Italian farm boy with a great wit. Someone once asked him: “How many people work in the Vatican?” He answered “About half of them.” Pope John Paul II was an intellectual, a philosopher, and a playwright. In his early years he inspired us with his boundless energy and love of the outdoors. The two men guided our Church in somewhat different ways. John XXIII promoted the collegiality of bishops acting together as one body; John Paul II believed in a teaching authority centered in Rome. John XXIII opened the windows of the Church out onto a world that teems with hope; John Paul II personally shared his charm in 129 different countries. Both men were loved and revered by non-Catholics as much as Catholics. Both men led the Church to deeper holiness in their own remarkable styles. Today they join that colorful patchwork quilt of holiness that we call the communion of saints. St. John XXIII and St. John Paul II, pray for us. - - - Fr. Jim 

St. Paulinus - a wealthy statesman, a poet, and a convert to the Christian faith - was born in the mid-4th century in Bordeaux, France. He and his wife retired early, moved to Spain, and gave away their wealth to those in greater need. When his wife died, the people recognized his holiness and clamored for him to be made a bishop. While Bishop of Nola in Italy, Paulinus used his exquisite architectural taste in building a basilica in honor of St. Felix, his chosen patron saint. The basilica included a large church bell and, from that moment on, church bells throughout Europe were used to summon the faithful to the beginnings of Mass, holy feasts, or daily prayers, such as the Angelus. Psalm 150 proclaims: “Praise Him with sounding cymbals; praise Him with loud clashing cymbals! Let everything that breathes praise the Lord!” We will ring the bells loudly at Our Lady of Victory Church in Purcell at the Easter Vigil and before each weekend Mass during Easter. How appropriate it is to remember that a convert is the one who began this marvelous tradition, on the night when millions of new converts are received into the Church. The Lord is risen! Alleluia! Let the bells resound with praise! Happy Easter to you all! - - - Fr. Jim

Sometimes my work as an environmental scientist gives me insight into the Church. This week I showed my students a graph of the average surface temperature at a North American weather station over the last 100 years. The line was “zig-zagged” up and down, showing the hot and cold seasons of each year. But the overall trend of the line was to move upward, as the earth has gotten increasingly warmer over the past century. The Church is like that, as we have had highs and lows and made some poor judgments over the years – sometimes misreading the signs of the times, misunderstanding the Scriptures, and, worst of all, putting the institution ahead of the Gospel. But, in spite of all this, we – all of us – as Church, have led countless people into greater communion with our God through His Son Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Our task as Church is to be the shining city on a hill through which “God is preparing a new dwelling place and a new earth where justice will abide, and whose blessedness will answer and surpass all the longings for peace which spring up in the human heart” (Gaudium et Spes).  While we refer to her as our “Holy Mother Church” we remember that we don’t expect our own mothers to be perfect, but we do expect them to teach us how to love.  - - - Fr. Jim