Everybody looks forward to summer vacations. I just had mine a few weeks back. I flew my parents back home to the Philippines. We were in the air across the Pacific for almost 14 hours. I don’t enjoy flying but there’s no other way to reach my country. I observe one thing every time I

When I first arrived in Italy, I assumed – like other hungry foreigners before me – that Italian restaurants are basically like American restaurants. You enter the place, sit down, ask for a menu, then proceed to order. And while the results were usually at least “molto buono” with th

“Where there is no vision, the people perish.” ~ Proverbs 29:18 I’m reminded of the scene from Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. Alice encounters the Cheshire Cat. Alice asks the Cat for directions: “Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?” The Cat replies: “T

Dear Parishioners, As the saying goes, “what goes around comes around.” My life journey all started at St. Joseph College Seminary off Grant Road and Foothill Expressway. It was 1980. I was only eighteen. Now some forty-three years later, I arrive as the second pastor of the parish of

Dear Parishioners, As my final days wind down as pastor of our wonderful parish of St. Nicholas & St. William, and St. Nicholas School, I want to take this opportunity to thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the kind, uplifting, and heartfelt words that I have received f

“Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.” (Matthew 18:6). I remember reading this quote from Jesus long before I ever had children and feelin

Bro. Keiran Fenn of the Marist Brothers used to say that the people of God should be fed from the two tables–the table of the Word and the table of the Eucharist. And he is right. Jesus feeds the people from the table of the Word through his preaching. He also feeds their souls with w

June 4 is Persecution Sunday Among the Body of Christ, there are those who, in this day and age, are persecuted for the good fruit they bear for Christ. We remember and stand with these believers who are persecuted yet remain rooted in their faith. Let us pray today for these believer

In my homily last Sunday, I mentioned that Ascension is both an end and a beginning. Ascension can be understood as an end because it marks the final moments of Jesus’ public ministry and the end of his physical bond with his disciples. Ascension is also a beginning because the physic

Dear Parishioners, Each year, our Bishop, in consultation with the members of the Personnel Board, considers the pastoral needs of the Parishes in our Diocese. Often a Pastor or Parochial Vicar is either ready to retire or is asked to move to another assignment creating a position in