With deep gratitude
I write this on the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. A Church in Pittsburg, KS took that name to itself many years ago. And that parish was the spiritual home in which I grew up.
St. Mary’s, as it is known locally, was where I learned to serve the 6:30 Mass riding my bike from our south side home. St. Mary’s was where the school Mass each day was a Requiem High Mass, complete with catafalque. St. Mary’s was filled by a larger-than-life pastor with ties to our Diocese, Monsignor Alex Stremel.
St. Mary’s was the place then peopled by good and holy priests, and by the devoted Sisters of St. Joseph.
St. Mary’s was the place where my vocation to the priesthood first opened its eyes in Sr. Justin’s fourth grade classroom. St. Mary’s was the place where that vocation was confirmed years later in Sr. Justina’s history classroom during my sophomore year in high school.
Father Bob Kocour, Father Mike Blackledge, Sister Cleophas, Sister Paula, Bob Fleming, Jim Schirk, Chuck Clugston, Herb Krumsick, A.J. Wachter: St. Mary’s was the place that helped to make all of these, and me too.
Pilgrims to Lourdes bathe in the holy waters. This pilgrimage in my mind leads me to bathe in these inspiring waters of memory. I bathe with deep gratitude.
Bishop of Dodge City