As we find ourselves in the full swing of Lent, there are two things I wanted to communicate to the Family of Parishes; one is a word of gratitude, and the other is preparing for something exciting. First, as you have probably heard, our Director of Family Evangelization, Jose Martinez, has accepted another position
as a Director of Evangelization in another family of parishes, and is moving on from us. We are excited for him in this new opportunity, but also sad to see him go. He remains in our prayers and we are currently looking at how to continue
moving forward with the important work he has started here in our parishes. Secondly, as we are in the thick of planning for  the liturgies of the Triduum, I wanted to let you know that we are going to start teaching the     parishes how to sing the Our Father in Latin in preparation for doing so together at the bilingual Holy Thursday Mass. I imagine this elicits a        variety of reactions from folks in the parishes, from “Neato, I love the Pater Noster” all the way  to “I am going to go heat up the tar in preparation for driving this terrible pastor from my life for the grave sin of making us go back to Latin.” I totally get it. That said, when I was recently combing through some liturgy documents from Vatican II, I found this line and am using it as inspiration: “Steps should be taken so that the faithful may also be able to say or to sing together in Latin those parts of the Ordinary of the Mass which pertain to them.”

The General Instruction of the Roman Missal also expressly recommends this practice to us, saying, “Since the faithful from different  countries come together ever more frequently, it is desirable that they know how to sing together at least some parts of the Ordinary of the Mass in Latin, especially the Profession of Faith and the Lord's Prayer.” Faithful Catholics, when asked about their favorite aspects of their faith, often talk about the universality of it. There is a beauty in knowing what is going on at the Mass even when one doesn’t speak the local language. 
 
Along these same lines, there is a beauty in       seeing hundreds of people from two or more cultures pray their way through the Lord’s Prayer simultaneously, but in different languages. Imagine how incredibly beautiful it will be, a modern Pentecost of sorts, to hear the parishioners in our family unite in the mother tongue of the Church as we celebrate the Eucharist on an evening dedicated to its  institution. I know people have strong feelings about the liturgy and music, as do I. But as we continue to look for ways to be visibly and obviously one parish family, this is a great  opportunity to lower barriers and pray alongside our brothers, showing the world around us that what unites us as Catholics is stronger than whatever might divide us.  Thank you for all that you do for our parish community, and know that we are always praying for you. 
 
Prayers always, 
Fr. McC  
 
 
If you want to get a head start on learning
the “Our Father” (Pater Noster) chant,
use this link for an instructional video:
https://bit.ly/paterchant