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Dear\u00a0Parishioners,<\/p>\n
It’s\u00a0hard to believe\u00a0that\u00a0I’ve been away from the parish\u00a0for nearly three months now.\u00a0The reality is, once I had my CT scan on Easter Monday afternoon and later that evening received the news from my primary physician about the\u00a0egg-sized\u00a0abnormal mass in the\u00a0right frontal\u00a0lobe\u00a0of my brain, I’ve been carried along by medical processes, appointments, treatments, and the need to nap at least once a day and take things slow.\u00a0After my craniotomy in April,\u00a0I began trying to process everything that has unfolded, and learn about\u00a0the type of cancer I have,\u00a0I now have a better\u00a0understanding\u00a0of what the diagnosis of Grade 4 Glioblastoma Multiforme\u00a0will likely\u00a0mean for my\u00a0life, my\u00a0family, and\u00a0my\u00a0work at\u00a0St. Mary.\u00a0The truth is, glioblastoma is incurable and considered a terminal\u00a0illness, and any treatment measures are done with the intention of prolonging the quality of my remaining life in this world.<\/p>\n
Given this reality, I’d like to share two things with you. Firstly, in your charity, please pray for me as I seek to be present and responsive to the Father’s will for my life. I know His love, trust Him, and and I trust that He can be glorified in any suffering I may experience and that Jesus can relive in me His Paschal Mystery. Secondly, after much discussion and discernment, I\u00a0will be taking a leave of absence from my responsibilities at St. Mary of the Assumption. It has become apparent to me that I no longer have the mental faculties required, nor with my diagnosis, can I carry out with the consistency and stability\u00a0the people of the parish deserve, the responsibilities I had been entrusted with at Saint Mary.\u00a0 Fr. Eilerman has been making arrangements for the responsibilities I previously had for the upcoming spiritual year. I will remain at his service and will walk in support of those who he appoints to coordinate\u00a0religious education programs this coming year as much as I’m able.<\/p>\n
I humbly ask for your prayers in charity in these next months as I continue in my treatments. Please pray for my family, our parish, and for God’s\u00a0will\u00a0in all of this — that I’m present to what He has for me and\u00a0that I may\u00a0follow Him faithfully and that anyone who glimpses whatever may come\u00a0may somehow encounter the Lord – who has conquered our sin and our death by His Cross. I continue to welcome your prayer intentions if you send them to me. It is a joy to be able to intercede for persons, relationships, situations, etc. in our parish family. You may email them to me and Gina keeps my little prayer booklet updated and current.<\/p>\n
I’m grateful for the thirteen years I was able to serve at St. Mary of the\u00a0Assumption. It’s been an honor to try to support and pass on the\u00a0one, holy, catholic and apostolic faith at the parish in which I was raised in the same\u00a0faith by my parents. It’s been a joy to work with Father Franks and Father Eilerman our\u00a0recent pastors and to be trusted by all of you to walk alongside and guide persons and families in our parish to come to know, rise-up, and follow the Lord in His Church thru her sacraments and to be welcomed into intimate\u00a0moments in your spiritual lives where the Lord in good times and especially the difficult ones, always works make all things new in Him and fill us with the fullness of life.<\/p>\n