A Message from Fr. Zehren

You’ll have to keep an eye on the place while Fr. Zipp and I are gone. Every two years the Archbishop requires all the priests from the Archdiocese to attend a Presbyteral Assembly. This year, as in recent past years, the assembly will be in Rochester, MN. We will be away from the parish from June 17-20.

I often get the question, “So what exactly goes on at these ‘priest conventions’?” Well, we usually take along our parish directories and we all show pictures and brag about our parishioners – how much you’ve grown and all the cute things you say. Really, it’s a great time for us priests to come together and to be strengthened as brothers. I look forward to it. We share war stories and lick our collective wounds (we have plenty of wounds to lick lately).

There will be conferences. Of course, there will be social time too. Nobody can make me laugh like some of my brother priests. God blesses us with some nice uplifting times of friendship.

So the entire Archdiocese is hanging a sign on the door – “The priests are out.” There will be no Masses scheduled for the few days we are gone. Naturally, we will be keeping you all in our prayers as we celebrate Mass with the bishops and all the other priests. Pray for us too. Through our hope and prayers together, may God do something new and beautiful for our Archdiocese.

Fr. Dennis Zehren
Pastor