Dear Parishioners, It has been a blessing and a joy to have Fr. Hubert in residence for these two and a half years. He and I have been good friends for many years, and I so appreciated his support with the parish. Fr. Hubert has been appointed to a teaching position at the Collegium Humanum University in Warsaw, Poland for the 2023-24 academic year. In this position, he will share his extensive knowledge and experience in psychology and psychotherapy. He will travel to Poland on August 1st and begin his tenure immediately. During this time, Fr. Hubert will still be a priest of our diocese and will have all faculties as a priest. We hold Fr. Hubert in prayer during these weeks and wish him God’s blessings in his new endeavors and look forward to his return in a year. As you know, I spent last Sunday, June 11th in the evening time until Thursday morning in Phoenix, Arizona for a Life Teen Conference. This conference was incredibly well-organized. The focus was on how to evangelize to young people from middle school through high school. We talked about music, inclusion, Mass participation, Special Needs and one or two other things. This is a nationwide group that helps priests and parish staff to develop the tools for better interaction and to meet young people where they are. It was very well attended. There were about fifty-five priests present, 495 Youth Ministers and DREs and all the topics included collaboration and best practices. The sessions began each morning at 7:30 am and ended around 9:00 pm. After the many and varied sessions, we had breakout questions and answers. I have certainly returned home with a clear view on how we can best re-energize our programs. Teen Life offers a jump start program that the staff are looking into. One aspect that we are particularly interested in is pursuing innovative ways that we can use modern technology to ‘fire up’ our youth. I will keep you posted in the coming months. While I was in Arizona, our staff had three engaging days with other parishes at St. Paul Inside the Walls in Madison attending the Parish Catalyst Dynamic Discipleship Program. This program helps parishes to see and seek new ways to minister and support our parish and community. It is an opportunity to be away from the office and to share with and learn from other parishes; to be more engaged disciples on the journey. Nina ran an amazing Bible Camp this last week. It was a pleasure to walk through the facilities and see, with the assistance of many volunteers and young people, that the camp was a tremendous success. I enjoyed seeing our young people growing in their awareness of scripture through stories and visualization. This was a week of much laughter and joy. Our children really had an enjoyable time and during these days, learned more about the story of our faith, the bible and how they too can be Jesus’ disciples. A big thanks to Nina and our parents who helped, and who honestly had as good a time as the children. Thanks for their enthusiasm, their joy, and the sharing of their time. Thanks to our young volunteers for taking care of the little ones and working with them with such dedication and joy. On Friday, June 16th I was at a wedding rehearsal in Ridgewood, so I was sorry to have missed the Special Needs Ministry 60’s Summer Dance. The dance I am told was a tremendous success and they danced the night away. Thanks to all our hard-working volunteers for bringing such joy.