A New Year! A Centennial Year!

A New Year! A Centennial Year 
Happy new year! I am very excited for what 2008 will offer us here at St. Anthony's. A few weeks ago, I met with our Vicar of Clergy, Fr. Patrick Brennan, who, after my first term review, agreed that I should stay for a second term. Now all that will be needed is the confirmation from the Personnel Board and the Archbishop. I don't expect that there will be any changes from Fr. Brennan's opinion. One term is equivelant to six years. That is a great gift to me. I love St. Anthony's and the people here. I am looking forward to all the events of our centennial year. I pray for health and an increase in faith for us all. Thank you all for your love and support. I hope as I continue to learn how to be a good pastor that I will be able to bring Jesus to you in a more compelling way. You certainly inspire me to be the best priest I can be. I love what I do. I love being a priest. Thank you!

As 2007 came to an end, several families and individuals made significant donations that will make a real difference towards upgrading our kitchen, repairing large parts of our parking lot, and erasing our deficit created by the Oak Tree School's departure. Thank you so much! I cannot tell you how much stress has been lifted from my heart.

Holy Land Pilgrimage 
On February 10th, thirty-five very excited people from our parish and elsewhere will be joining me on a pilgrimage to Israel. We will spend ten days going to all the major holy sites where Jesus walked. This will be my second time going, a dream that I never thought would happen. Some people have expressed worry considering the climate of tension in the Middle East. However, the danger is not high, as we will be going to areas where security is well maintained. Tourism is the life-blood of the country, and so it is in their best interest to give pilgrims the most positive experience as possible.

In order to involve as many people as possible, I will be blogging our adventures as well as recording a series of episodes for my podcast. I hope to be able to create recordings that will be of help for those who may go to the Holy Land in the future. That may mean that another podcast may be created so that people can subscribe solely to that production and take it with them on their iPod or other mp3 player so that they can listen to the podcast based on where they are visiting. Thin of it as a virtual tour/spiritual guide. There are other tourist-like podcasts, but I hope to offer this as a free Catholic-based podcast that reflects on the Scriptures and history of the places in the Holy Land. Check out my blog come February 10th through 20th. Please keep me and the thirty-four other pilgrims that will be joining me. If you would like to know more, you can also go to our parish web site's Pilgrimage Page for more details about the pilgrimage and holy sites we'll be visiting.

 

Blessings,
Fr. William Holtzinger
Pastor