Our parish celebrated the Twentieth Anniversary of Ordination and offered Recognition of Fourteen Years of Service of our Associate Pastor Fr. Ferdinand Ezenwachi with a Bilingual Mass and Reception on Sunday, June 26, 2022 at 12:15pm.
Letter from Fr. Gerry
“Faithful friends are a sturdy shelter; whoever finds one finds a treasure. Faithful friends are beyond price, no amount can balance their worth. Faithful friends are life-saving medicine; those who fear God will find them. Those who fear the Lord enjoy stable friendship, for as they are, so will their neighbors be.” (Sirach 6; 14—16)
Karl Rahner, SJ, Catholic theologian, suggests that “the priest is not an angel sent from heaven. He is a man, a member of the Church, a Christian. Remaining man and Christian, he begins to speak to you the word of God. This word is not his own. No he comes to you because God has told him to proclaim God’s word. Perhaps he has not entirely understood it himself. Perhaps he adulterates it. Perhaps he falters and stammers. How else could he speak God’s Word, ordinary man that he is? But must not some one of us say something about God, about eternal life, about the majesty of grace in our sanctified being; must not some one of us speak of sin, the judgement and mercy of God?“
Father Ferdinand, our parish community is grateful and happy to celebrate your twentieth anniversary of your ordination. You ministry and witness as a priest has been an example of the sort of discipleship of which we aspire. We are especially grateful that you have, thus far, spent the majority of you priesthood with us in Columbia. Your faithfulness included being responsive to the call of Archbishop Lori to serve elsewhere. We wish you well in your new ministry. We are confident that the good people at St. Margaret and St. Mary Magdalen in Bel Air will warmly welcome you and appreciate you as much as we have.
This weekend we celebrate the treasure beyond price that is your faithful friendship with many individuals and with our community. You, ordinary man that you are, have graced us by sharing the extraordinary word of God in both your words and actions. Thank you for sharing with us the love and mercy of the Lord. Faithful friend, know that you have our love and support and our friendship, forever, as you go forward. Vaya con Dios. Go with God.
Father Gerry Bowen
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