Pastor's Corner

September 17, 2023  

We started confirmation classes this past Sunday and Faith Formation (formerly known as PREP) classes (for the elementary school kids) begin today. RCIA is also in full operation for those adults who are either unbaptized or are seeking to convert to Catholicism or are Catholic who need First Holy Communion and/or Confirmation.

The Parish Birthday is coming up in 2 weeks, on October 1. Will you be able to attend? Hope so! It should be a great opportunity for fellowship, drinks, food, Handel’s ice cream and a video game truck. Tickets are being sold on the parish website and at the office and the front doors of the parish center.

As I mentioned last week at some of the Masses, I am very concerned about the volume of people who have left Holy Mother Church. St. Bede attendance has not returned to pre-Covid levels. Even pre-Covid levels are not what they were years ago.
I think about this a lot. I think about the people who I never see at Mass. I think about the incredible people who I maybe see only at Christmas and/or Easter. And I think about the many of us who never pick up our Bibles or spiritual reading. Church attendance in the USA has plummeted, so it’s not just a California thing. The national percentage of people who classify themselves as “nones” (having no religion) has climbed while the percentage who classify themselves as Christian or Catholic Christian in the USA continues to decline.
We could go on and on about the various reasons people lose their faith or simply stop attending church; there are many reasons. As pastor I am very concerned about the state of the souls of many. I feel responsible. I keep reflecting on the fact that life is very short and that our goal: heaven … is forever. And nothing is for certain, right? Let us continue to pray for our absent brothers and sisters … those who attend Mass only sometimes … and those who struggle to maintain a spiritual life amidst the challenges of a very complex and very alluring culture.

As seen on Instagram:

“If we think that success, power, or material things suffice to satisfy the thirst in our lives, then we are thinking as the world does. That kind of worldliness leads nowhere; indeed, it leaves us thirstier than before. Jesus instead shows us the way: ‘if any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it’ (Mt 16:24-25). “This, dear brothers and sisters, is surely the best way: to embrace the cross of Christ. At the heart of Christianity is an amazing and extraordinary message. If you lose your life, if you make it a generous offering in service, if you risk it by choosing to love, if you make it a free gift for others, then it will return to you in abundance, and you will be overwhelmed by endless joy, peace of heart, and inner strength and support; and we need inner peace.” – Pope Francis (from a homily, 3 September 2023)

God bless always,   
Fr. Jim Bevacqua, Pastor