- Sometimes Small People Arrive at Big Jobs.
In all my years as a priest I have learned that religious leaders can only lead you to where they themselves have once been. If they have faced their own shadow, darkness, demons- whatever you want to call it- then, and only then, are you in good company. If they have not, proceed with caution.
If ...
Read More - The Church Needs You. And You Need the Church.
This fall is a very busy one! We will soon post and announce so many new events at our webpage and at our Facebook page, but we will excitedly begin with this Sunday’s new church organ blessing and recital!
This will be our first post-pandemic year where we will open fully. We will bring back Small ...
Read More - A Covenant Worth Keeping? A Summer Recap of Changes to Come!
Dear Friends,
Welcome Summer!
It is no secret that we have been the object of scandal and laughter and ridicule from the days of inception. Some just wish to destroy a place that loves with wild abandon, opens its heart to everyone, and serves as well and as many as we do. Some would say it ...
Read More - 2023 Pentecost Message from Father Liam
Father Liam brings us a message on Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit turned everything upside down.
Read More - Summertime. A Blog by Our Pastor
On our way home the other day, Katelyn and I made an impromptu stop to get the car washed in Fort Washington. Jameson and Caleb were in the backseat and unaware of what was to come! We pulled in and soon the car was covered in water and soap and wax in multicolors!
As we passed ...
Read More - A Holy Week of Reflection and Substance: A Time to Change and Be Born New!
As I watched the donkey watch us last year on Palm Sunday, I was reminded of simpler things and things less fancy. I noted the shadow of the cross on his back. It was in his expression that I knew this year needed to be different. This Holy Week was meant to be different. This ...
Read More - Our Moral Imagination Continues to be Put to Death in the Execution Chamber.
[Editor’s Note: Father Jeff Hood is an advocate for the condemned on death row. He is a voice for those without voice and without compassion. Father serves at Saint Miriam as our Chair for Faith, Justice, and Humanitarian Efforts and works closely with our team to ensure we remain vigilant and on target to continue ...
Read More - Nobody Gets into Heaven Without a Note from Someone Who is Poor.
Poverty comes in many forms. It isn’t just financial. Trust me, as a priest I find the poorest people have the largest bank accounts and the weakest spirituality. The love of things that will pass drive people to insanity as they chase the elusive dream of happiness through objects of little permanence. True giving is ...
Read More - Why I Dislike ‘Prayers Ascending’!
“Pray then like this: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.’” – Matthew 6:9
It’s no secret that I despise the phrase “prayers ascending”. It has become an almost trite way for people to offer some form of support to those who request prayer in the immediacy of some event or tragedy or sadness, but ...
Read More - A Life BY Grace, Not Rejection.
We gained a parishioner after my letter regarding abortion went viral! Yay!
We lost a parishioner after my image to honor Pride Month was posted! Oh no!
We are a fickle bunch, aren’t we? We certainly are, at the very least, used to a more commercial cafeteria church where we want what we want and when ...
Read More - A Holy Week of Reflection and Substance.
As I watched the donkey watch us at our Palm Sunday blessing of palms outside this year, I was reminded of simpler things and things less fancy. It was in his expression that I knew this year needed to be different. This Holy Week was meant to be different. This Holy Week will not be ...
Read More - I Lost Holy Week, Now I May Lose Lent: Perhaps in Doing so, I Will Find Life.
I lost Holy Week in 2020. The world around us shut down about March 16th; my first son – Jameson – came bright and early April 9th; Holy Thursday! We had been in labor over 46 hours and confined to a hospital birthing suite where we could not leave due to the pandemic. Father Frank ...
Read More - Come and Pray to St. Francis of Assisi!
Saint Miriam, a Franciscan Old Catholic Parish, has been gifted a First-Class Relic of our Seraphic Father, St. Francis of Assisi! The word relic comes from the Latin reliquirae, meaning, “remains.”
Traditionally, relics, honored in the Catholic Church, are the bodies of the saints or objects connected with them. God as often shown His approval of ...
Read More - The Coming of God. Simply. Beautifully.
Like St. Francis, I have always loved the Holy Season of Advent, but this year Advent has an even deeper meaning for me, as we are pregnant with our second child! Katelyn and I will soon welcome another baby boy. He will arrive, God willing, right before we begin the Season of Lent! And he ...
Read More - God’s Timing is Always Impeccable.
It’s almost time. The holidays will soon be here and many of us will struggle. Some of us have anticipatory grief, others are dealing with actual or delayed grief, some are simply depressed or at least ‘blue’. Some folks are lonely or missing family or just battle with the amount of joy over the holiday ...
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