Christ is Risen!

Saint Seraphim of Sarov, often called the Eastern “Francis ofAssisi,” used to greet everyone with these words. They were once the ordinary greeting Christians used during Eastertime, but for Saint Seraphim every day was Easter, and every person he met had already been claimed by the Resurrection—whether they realized it or not. As he saw it, it was his vocation to remind them.

As I look forward to joining you at Saint Catherine of Siena, I want this to be my primary focus and aim: to proclaim, to remind, and to provide opportunities for encounter with the risen Lord Jesus. There are many other things too, of course, but if we get that right, the rest will begin to fall into place.

By way of introduction, I was born and raised in Des Moines. My parents met at Drake, and my family is still very muchrooted here: my dad lives in Windsor Heights with my sister,Colleen, and my niece, Ellie, who is now a junior at Iowa State. I graduated from Dowling in 2001, entered the Dominicans in 2004, and was ordained to the priesthood in2011. During my years as a Dominican friar, much of my workwas in teaching—at the elementary, high school, anduniversity levels—as well as assisting in both Roman Catholicand Eastern Catholic parishes. I have also had extendedassignments abroad, especially in Europe, Latin America, and Africa.

For the last eight years I have served as pastor of Christ theKing on the south side of Des Moines, and for the last five years as Episcopal Vicar for Hispanic and Multicultural Ministry. Both of those roles will be changing as I move to Saint Catherine, largely because my diocesan duties will now be shifting toward evangelization and mission, which already connects closely with Saint Catherine’s primary work at Drake University. I’ll also be in the unique position of being able to walk with our student parishioners as a fellow-student, since I am presently writing my doctoral dissertation for the Maryvale Institute on our own Saint John Henry Newman and the dynamics of religious conversion.

Basically, I do not want to be the only one saying, “Christ isrisen!” I want all of us to be saying it too—maybe not literallyas the way we greet people, but in everything we do.

On the feast of Saint Catherine, I made a small pilgrimageand offered Mass for all of you. My firm hope and earnest prayer is that, through the prayers of Saint Catherine of Siena and Saint John Henry Newman, our parish may become a shining example of the power of Christ’s Resurrection in the here and now, drawing all people, especially the students we have been sent to serve, into a life-changing encounter with Christ and his Church.

Saint Catherine of Siena, pray for us! Saint John Henry Newman, pray for us!

Christ is risen! Truly he is risen!