While the things that I hold onto for some semblance of security have become more complex over the years, they most certainly have not decreased in number. Obviously, I can’t go walking around with security blankets or pacifiers nowadays (at least not without getting some well-earned judgmental looks), but my phone, laptop, and the massive box of liturgical books I carry in my car at all times keep me feeling as though I have things under control. I’ve even noticed an alarming multiplication of things I always carry on my person. Phone, keys, wallet, other keys, pocketknife, rosary, oil stock, travel stole; the list goes on. If I leave things behind, I feel exposed in a cruel, uncaring world. How little trust I must have as I rely on heaps of junk to get me through the day. Click title for full column.

It would be unfair (straight up untrue, even) to say that Our Lord is guilty of a great deal of empty promises, but it is certainly the case that He is the source of many false expectations. How often does it happen in the Gospel that people expect a King, a Military Savior, a Kicker of Butts and a Taker of Names, and instead Jesus gives them something else entirely? People want to carry Him off and make Him a king, and He slips away instead. In today’s Gospel, James and John, misunderstanding Our Lord and His mission entirely, ask that they can be seated at His left and His right when He comes into His glory. Trying to cut off their misunderstanding at the pass, He offers them crucifixion instead, to no avail. Click on title for full column.

As the Pastor, I generally try to be the one who has the difficult conversations. It’s not that I don’t trust Fr. Jeff to preach boldly on tough issues, but I feel some sort of mother-bird instinct to take the brunt of things that folks don’t want to hear. Maybe it’s because he’s so small, who knows? On the complete opposite end of that spectrum, I recall going to Mass in another Diocese and hearing a transitional deacon give a beautiful stewardship plea for a parish that wasn’t his own in a diocese to which he didn’t belong. I suppose the pastor knew he would do a great job, because I can’t imagine dumping that kind of responsibility on a rookie who didn’t have any of his own stake in the parish. Click title for full column.

I feel as though I talk about the awesome week of saints at the end of September and beginning of October every year, but as we enter this new planning process in the archdiocese, it is more a propos than ever that we count on the wisdom, witness, and sanctity of the great saints whose feasts we celebrate in this timeframe to guide us. St. Jerome, the Archangels, Guardian Angels, St. Therese of Lisieux, St. Francis of Assisi, and Our Lady of the Rosary are all looking on, praying, and interceding as we determine the path forward that will save the most souls. Click on title for full column.

I recently found myself re-reading an old classic, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, thinking about how I would probably be happy to be locked away for a few years with nothing but C.S. Lewis to read. In this children’s fantasy story (which doubles as an extended allegory about Jesus), we hear an important perspective on the King, Aslan, from his loyal subject, Mr. Beaver, who has an appropriate fear of the Lord. When Lucy asks him if Aslan the lion is safe, the reply comes back “Safe? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good.” This idea of a ruler valuing goodness and strength and uniting them together must be preserved, or else we lose the ability to understand what our relationship with God should be.  Click title for full column   

I am disorganized enough that I am often caught off guard by upcoming events. Just today I realized that I was working diligently in my office at OLR when I should have already been at St. James for adoration and confession (sorry, diligent adorers). With that said, I had the foresight to check the calendar to see how many more bulletins I have before we all know the initial draft plan for Beacons of Light, and it turns out it’s just two. With that in mind, I feel the need to both prepare our parishes spiritually and get a few last words in before I can be accused of speaking with some ulterior motive. So, before we get to the public comment period, we should listen well to the words that St. James offers us in the second reading for this weekend. Click on title for full column.

I do not suffer well. There are those who would disagree and defend me even against myself, but they are wrong. I do not have a high pain tolerance, and my immediate instinct in an alarmingly high percentage of occurrences in my life is to complain. Sometimes I suppress it, most times I do not, at least internally. The one time in recent memory where I can honestly say that I think I suffered well and used pain and inconvenience to my advantage was when a kidney stone made its presence known to me about three minutes into a two-and-a-half-hour flight. Between all the sweating and vomiting that I had to suddenly fit into my schedule, I found that I had no problem offering Divine Mercy chaplets and the unpleasant pain for various and sundry causes and prayer intentions. If any of you felt particularly sanctified at that moment, know we know that my prayers might have worked. Click title for full column.

It is a maxim as old as the hills that “with great power comes great responsibility.” Or maybe it’s from a Spiderman movie. Who can say? Regardless, the fact remains that every gift and blessing in this life comes with the concomitant responsibility to use it in a worthy manner, or at least in accord with the intent in which the giver offered it. I have my grandfather’s shoeshine kit that is older than my parents, and every time I bust it out I think about the responsibility of having something that’s been in the family for such a long time, even if it’s as seemingly insignificant a shoeshine kit. Every gift carries with it a responsibility. Click title for full column.

As our students return to school, often with new devices, it is a good time to revisit the lessons stressed through Safe Haven Sunday. Whether it is a laptop, cell phone, gaming device, or something else, it is always helpful to be aware of how to keep our students safe. I don’t share this repetitively to spread fear, but rather to make sure we are aware of the dangers out there looking for our students. It is all about keeping them securely in the light and mercy of Jesus Christ. It is all about supporting parents in love to set up boundaries to protect children. Click title for full column.

One of the small pleasures of a life informed by the liturgical life of the Church is when a number of great saints’ feast days pile up, one after the other. There is the sustained joy of special seasons like Easter or Christmas, but the one-off celebrations of particular saints gives us great opportunities to marvel at and strive for different graces and virtues throughout the year. We are in one such stretch right now, with Pope St. Pius X, St. Bartholomew, the Queenship of the Blessed Mother, and St. Bernard of Clairvaux all cropping up in a five-day span. Click title for full column.

Happy Solemnity of the Assumption of our Blessed Mother, body and soul, into Heaven! Today’s first reading from the Book of Revelation contains a critical reminder and a caution while reading the Bible. While chapters verses, and section headings are super helpful, they are not original to the text. I could not imagine trying to track down specific passages from the Bible if we did not have chapters and verses. However, we must be cautious as they are not part of Divine Inspiration and can impact how we read the Sacred Scriptures. Revelation 11 and 12 are a perfect example of this. By separating these chapters, it is easy to fall into the trap that the author has moved onto a new topic. However, chapter 11 is a building crescendo into chapter 12. Here is the Scripture itself without verses and the chapter break: Click on title for full column.

Friends, I knew, even when I entered seminary, that if I ended up being a priest, I would find myself in a great many situations that overwhelmed me, situations in which I would need total reliance on God. But a theoretical understanding and lived experience are two completely different things. I have had the opportunity to learn deeper trust in God through studies, learning Spanish, working with the bereaved and the suffering, becoming a pastor, and the list goes on. But the looming challenges and opportunities of the Beacons of Light initiative in the Archdiocese seem, at the outset, to be perhaps the biggest test yet, not only in my priesthood, but for a great many of the faithful. With that in mind, I want to reiterate the process of what we will find out, when we will hear it, and what we can do to give input at the proper time. I preached on this last weekend, and I am planning on doing so this weekend as well, but an abundance of communication about this is necessary, especially when going over the nuts and bolts. Click title for full column.

Every summer, the Church, in her wisdom, gives us several weeks in a row of Our Lord talking about the Eucharist and its centrality in our lives. The Bread of Life discourse is an annual reminder of who we are as a people: we are nourished by the Lord, healed by this pledge of eternal life, and sent out to bring others to share in the joy we have received. A true disciple is a beggar who knows where to find bread and shares that with other beggars. We recognize our own need for Jesus and are generous in sharing Him with others. Click title for full column.

In no uncertain terms, Our Lord tells us that “to whom much is given, much will be expected.” I am aware, though certainly not to the degree that I should be, of the incredible blessings I have received in my life. I could never sufficiently thank God for my vocation, my family, my health, His continued care for me, the list goes on. Therefore, I should also expect Jesus to ask a lot of me, and I shouldn’t hesitate to do anything He might ask. Indeed, there are a great many things I am always willing to do: I try to work hard to discharge my office, I am committed to celibacy for the sake of the Kingdom, I’ll get out of bed at all hours of the night to go to bring the sacraments to my spiritual children, you name it. But if there’s one thing that always gives me pause, it is being asked to look like a fool for Christ. Click title for full column.

Hello friends, As many of you probably remember, our Lenten Mission this year was focused on the blessings, difficulties, and opportunities of being a parish region with two significant language groups. I found it to be very fruitful, and I am grateful to the many, many people who have inquired as to how they can best get involved and help unify our parish families. It has made me proud to see people be open-minded and willing to leave their comfort zones for the sake of bringing souls to Christ. With that in mind, Fr. Jeff and I have been working with a dedicated group of staff and volunteers on an initiative to strengthen our unity as a region, and we’re ready to share more information to get people involved. Click on title for full column.

What would our parish region look like if everyone who was moderately connected to these parishes understood and lived out the call to evangelize? I don’t know for certain, but I can guarantee that things would be different, and perhaps the Archdiocese wouldn’t be at the beginning of a massive undertaking to re-examine parish regions, resources, and the entire way we’ve been doing ministry for decades now. This is not meant to be an indictment of just the parishioners, just the staff, or just the clergy. But since we hear the Gospel this weekend give us a detailed account of Jesus calling His disciples to Himself and then sending them out into the world to preach the Good News, it’s definitely a good opportunity to ask why we are reticent to live as though we are sent. Click title for full column.

It’s an understatement to say that there are very few things that are universally agreed upon in the Church these days. Most everything quickly becomes grounds for a rancorous debate, except for the universal belief that priests, and to some extent, parish staffs, should be more like Jesus. However, even that is contentious because of our tendency to move right past who Jesus actually is and interpret Him as we would like Him to be. A zealous young priest I met when I was in seminary referred to this phenomenon as “cocktail party Jesus;” the presentation of Jesus as someone interesting, novel, but above all else, not offensive to guests. Click on title for full column.

There are two wonderful opportunities for the young people of WWPR that I will highlight today: Totus Tuus and Serviam. TOTUS TUUS—July 26-30! First, Totus Tuus is Latin for ‘Totally Yours’ and a phrase popularized at the moto of the pontificate of Pope St. John Paul II. I have been blessed to be involved with Totus Tuus at several parishes and we are very excited to be able to offer it here in the WWPR. One of its greatest strengths is that college students and seminarians spend their summers as missionaries going from parish to parish to witness to the Gospel to the young people. Totus Tuus will replace VBS, but I promise you that it is well worth the swap! It offers just as much fun but with stronger formation in prayer and teaching the truths of the faith. Also, rather than only being for younger students, Totus Tuus has something to offer students from 1st grade through seniors in high school. Grades 1-6 meet during the day while there is an evening program for junior high and high school students. Click on title for full column.

Control. When we look at Rembrandt’s famous and dramatic painting Christ in the Storm on the Lake of Galilee, we see two very different approaches to the situation. First, we have the Apostles panicking and trying to control the situation—steering the boat, waking our Lord, giving in to fear. Then, we have our Lord casually sleeping on the cushion. The Apostles desperately grasping for control in all the wrong places and the Son of God peacefully, calmly, and authoritatively actually in control. Click on title for full column.

Happy Sunday, friends. I have had a column idea kicking around in my head for some time now, and I’ve been keeping it in my back pocket for a week just like this one, when I am too busy to give the necessary time and attention to the word of God before it’s time to prep for preaching. So here, after an accumulating note on my phone from the last eighteen months, is: “Fr. McCullough’s Non-Comprehensive List of Things that Catholics Should Probably Know About, But Generally Do Not. Volume One.” An important word of caution: I am not treating any of these with the usual pastoral care and sensitivity for which I am (perhaps) known. At any rate, I am simply listing the facts as I see them, with the hopes that it helps someone get to Heaven. If you have any concerns, questions, or follow up, you know where to find me, and I hope you know that I say all this out of love. Click on title for full column.