Letters from Father

Battle of Life and Death - October 17, 2025

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Yesterday, October 16^th is a day of dichotomy between life and death, good and evil. October 16^th is a day of contradiction between two people in history.

On October 16^th, 1916, Margaret Sanger opened the first Planned Parenthood in Brooklyn, New York. Some have claimed that she was a champion of women and reproductive rights and her new ‘family planning clinic’ would help reduce poverty. But those who have read her writing would beg to differ.

Speaking about all non-white races and the intellectually disabled, Margaret Sanger wrote in the NY Times, “The gradual suppression, elimination and eventual extinction of defective stocks – those human weeds which threaten the blooming of the finest flowers of American civilization…We do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population.”

In an interview with Mike Wallace she said, “The greatest sin of all is bringing babies into the world.” These words have brought over 400,000 deaths in our country last year.

October 16^th is also feast day of St. Gerard Majella (+1755) who was a Redemptorist brother who is the patron of expecting mothers. One day Brother Gerard was leaving the home of his close friends when one of the daughters ran after him — he had dropped his handkerchief. “Keep it,” Gerard told her. “Someday you’ll find it useful.” Within a few years, Gerard had died and this same young woman had married and became pregnant. When it was time for the baby to be born, the labor went badly; the midwives were certain they would lose both the mother and the child. In her fear and agony, the woman remembered what Gerard had said; she asked for the handkerchief. Pressing it against her belly, she prayed to Brother Gerard to help her. Immediately the woman’s labor pains diminished and she delivered a strong, healthy child.

Brothers and sisters, when we lift our hands in prayer like Moses in our first reading this weekend, we will be victorious in all our spiritual battles, especially in the battle for life.

In His Mercy,

Fr. Eric Clark, Pastor

Please consider praying and signing up for 40 Days for Life by clicking the button below.

Faith the Size of a Mustard Seed - October 3, 2025

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

One of the most heartwarming films I have seen is the 2015 movie entitled Little Boy. It is about the adventure of a little boy and the love he has for his father who is drafted to serve in the US army during World War II. It is the faith of a mustard seed (Luke 17:6) of the son who prays for the safe return of his father. This movie is a highly recommended family movie.

This weekend we hear about the gift of faith in the Gospel (Luke 17:5-10). Sometimes our faith never gets beyond the mustard-seed stage because we have the wrong idea of what it really is. Faith involves believing in Christ and his goodness. But it's a kind of belief that also requires action.

The word "faith" is derived from the Latin word "fides". This is the same word at the root of the Latin motto used by the United States Marines: "Semper Fidelis" - always faithful. Faith always implies being faithful - it implies a commitment to another person, a trusting commitment. And that means sticking by that person's side. For us, that person is Christ. Faith in Christ means following Christ.

If we want to move mountains and to experience God's power doing wonders in our lives, we have to put what we believe into practice, more and more, day after day - "Semper Fidelis".

In His Mercy,

Fr. Eric Clark, Pastor

PS – to strengthen us in our faith, please sign up for parish small groups below:

Modern Day Martyrs - September 26, 2025

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

“The blood of Your blessed martyrs poured out to bestow strength on the feeble” states the prayer of the Preface of Holy Martyrs at Mass. It is the example of the martyrs that gives us strength to persevere in the faith. As the Church Father Tertullian once wrote, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.”

Today the Church remembers the martyrs of Saints Cosmos and Damien. They were twin brothers who served the sick of the Church and were persecuted in the 3^rd century under the anticatholic Roman emperor, Diocletian.

A martyr literally means one who gives witness to the faith. It is estimated that two–thirds of all the martyrs in Christian history died in the twentieth century. As in its first centuries, “the Church has once again become a Church of martyrs” as St. John Paul II wrote.

The Chinese Boxer Rebellion of 1900 tried to wipe out Christian influence on Chinese society. During the Rebellion, some members of the Rebel party surrounded a Christian mission school and barricaded all gates and doors except one. Across this threshold they placed a cross. Whoever trampled on that cross, implicitly denying their Christian faith, would go free; whoever stepped around it would be shot.

The first seven students chose to trample on the cross. They went free. Next came a teen-age girl. She stopped, knelt before the cross, rose, and stepped around it. A shot rang out. She was dead. But the other ninety-two students in the school, inspired by her example and her courage, likewise stepped around the cross and accepted death rather than trample upon the symbol of their faith.

Last month, we heard about two innocent martyrs in our land. Eight-year-old Fletcher Merkel and 10-year-old Harper Moyski were killed while worshiping God at Mass at Annunciation Catholic School in south Minneapolis. My heart broke for their families, friends, school and parish community. May the witness of the blood of these little lambs be untied to the blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ, so that the seed of faith may grow in our hearts and in our land.

In His Mercy,

Fr. Eric Clark, Pastor

PS – to strengthen us in our faith, please sign up for parish small groups below:

The Hill of Crosses - September 12, 2025

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

They killed him. They killed him because he asked questions and dialogued in the open forum with young people who may have had different views. They killed him because to them, he was too influential to the young minds in their ‘sophisticated’ society. They killed him because he would not give in or back down to the moral laxity of culture. They killed him because he would not bend his knees to their gods. They killed him because he was searching for the absolute, universal and objective realities. They killed him so they could pursue their own relativistic rhetoric for whatever they wanted. In the end, they killed him because he pursued the eternal truth.

This man they killed in Athens 400 years before Christ was Socrates. Socrates is known as the founder of modern western philosophy, which is the pursuit of wisdom. He debated in the public forum with the Sophists who believed “Man is the measure of all things.” For the Sophists, they could do whatever they felt, which was then and to this day, an enticing but empty neopagan philosophy. As many people say today - ‘you do you’.

Socrates used dialectical questioning and dialogue to lead people to search for wisdom and truth to focus on ethics, the good of life and the good of society. He said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.”

The life and death of Socrates sounds familiar to the recent events in our country. May God help us in our pursuit of truth so that the “truth will set us free” (John 8:32).

In His Mercy,

Fr. Eric Clark, Pastor

PS – Please join us for the Fall Festival this Sunday from 4-7PM.

Click here for details.

The Hill of Crosses - September 12, 2025

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Sometimes our expectations are off-kilter because we lack confidence in God's ability to bring good out of evil. But if he can bring the Resurrection out of the Crucifixion, victory out of the Cross, surely, he is worthy of our total confidence.

This Sunday we celebrate the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. It is the traditional day in which St. Helena discovered the true cross of Christ in the third century. The cross is the instrument of our salvation, the proof of God’s sacrificial love for us.

There is a powerful image of this on a hill in Lithuania, near the small industrial city of Siauliai. It is known as the Hill of Crosses, because it is adorned with literally hundreds of thousands of crosses. I had the privilege of visiting this place in 2006 when I was doing missionary work in Lithuania.

The city of Siauliai was founded in 1236, and soon thereafter it was taken over by the Teutonic Knights. That's when the tradition of putting crosses on the hill began - each cross was a prayer to God for freedom. In 1795 it was absorbed and occupied by Russia, and the number of crosses increased over the next hundred years. Captured by Germany at the start of World War II, the city was then taken again by Russia, and forcibly absorbed into the Soviet Union. During those difficult decades a steady flow of Catholic pilgrims made their way to the Hill of Crosses, to pray and to plant more crosses. Three times, during 1961, 1973 and 1975, the atheistic communist authorities bulldozed the hill. The thousands of crosses were burned or turned into scrap metal, and the area was covered with waste and sewage. But every time, pilgrims kept coming back and raising more crosses. In 1985, the Hill of Crosses was finally left in peace.

When we feel oppressed and hemmed in by life's trials, and our expectations of what God's grace can do in our lives are low, we need to be like the Lithuanian pilgrims, exercising our confidence in God by planting cross after cross on the inner hill of our hearts.

In His Mercy,

Fr. Eric Clark, Pastor

PS – Please join us for the Fall Festival on September 21^st Click here for details.

Commitment Weekend - August 22, 2025

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

As we prepare to celebrate the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary on August 22nd, we are reminded of her perfect "yes" to God's will. Mary's life was a continuous journey of faith and discipleship, a path she walked in union with her Son. This beautiful feast day offers us a perfect opportunity to reflect on our own journeys of faith, much like the journey of St. Peter.

Have you ever wondered when Peter truly became a Christian? Was it the moment Jesus called him, or when he declared Jesus was the Messiah, or perhaps after witnessing one of the many incredible miracles? The reality is, Peter's journey of faith was a continuous process, a path he walked alongside Jesus. And just as Jesus was there for Peter every step of the way, he is there for us too. He longs for us to abide in him and build his kingdom, just as he desired for Peter.

Interestingly, Peter's journey wouldn't have even begun without his brother Andrew and his friend John, who introduced him to Jesus. From Peter's life, we discover two profound truths: Jesus faithfully walks with us, and he uses others to guide people to him.

This is precisely why we've established a Clear Path of Discipleship, ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to follow Jesus as his disciple. Our annual Discipleship Renewal is a vital opportunity to embrace Jesus' call to follow him and make disciples, whether it's a new commitment or a deepening one.

Let us prayerfully examine our lives, identifying and removing anything that stands in the way of our walk with Christ. May we live lives overflowing with righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. Join me in committing to build his kingdom right here, right now.

In His Mercy,

Fr. Eric Clark,

Pastor

Digital Commitment Card

The Assumption - August 15, 2025

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Today is the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary. In 1950, Pope Pius XII proclaimed infallibly, “The Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stain of original sin, when the course of her earthly life was finished, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things, so that she might be the more fully conformed to her Son, the Lord of lords and conqueror of sin and death.”

In the darkness and storms of life, her example and prayers will never fail to show us the way to follow Christ. And so, from very early times, the Church began to call Mary the "Star of the Sea", "Stella Maris" in Latin.

Pope Benedict called this ancient tradition to mind in his second encyclical. "With a hymn composed in the eighth or ninth century, thus for over a thousand years, the Church has greeted Mary, the Mother of God, as "Star of the Sea": Ave maris stella. Human life is a journey. Towards what destination? How do we find the way? Life is like a voyage on the sea of history, often dark and stormy, a voyage in which we watch for the stars that indicate the route. The true stars of our life are the people who have lived good lives. They are lights of hope. Certainly, Jesus Christ is the true light, the sun that has risen above all the shadows of history. But to reach him we also need lights close by - people who shine with his light and so guide us along our way. Who more than Mary could be a star of hope for us?”

In His Mercy,

Fr. Eric Clark, Pastor

PS – please join us for Mass times today 6:30AM; 8:15AM and 5:30PM

Greed & Generosity - August 8, 2025

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

In a little village near Brussels, called Anderlech, St Guido was born about the middle of the tenth century. His parents were very poor, and Guido grew up in the midst of poverty, so that he used to be called "the poor boy of Anderlech."

His father, however, was rich in faith, and taught him to love Christ and trust in God no matter what. "My dear son," he used to say, "we are very poor, it is true. But we shall be rich in heaven for ever, if we live in the love of God and strive with God’s help to love our neighbors."

St. Guido kept these words in his heart and used them as a shield against temptation and discouragement. When he was tempted to fall into self-pity and complain about his difficult situation in life, he would console himself by saying: "Yes, I am poor, but why should I complain? Am I not the heir of a great and eternal Kingdom? God is my Father; he has promised to give me his own Kingdom, and that is enough.

In the Gospel last weekend, Jesus warns us to guard against greed. So, how do we? First, we must know that the material world is passing away. “All things are vanity” says Qoheleth (Ecc. 1:2).

Secondly, we are called to live the Beatitude of Poor in Spirit. Spiritual poverty is about recognizing our deep need for God. It’s about standing before the Lord empty-handed, acknowledging that all we have and all we are is a gift.

Finally, we are called to be generous with our finances and give God back at least 10% of our income known as biblical tithing. Money is a tool to be used wisely to pursue life’s true purpose: building the Kingdom of Christ. And so, when we use our resources to support the work of the Church, we are making sure that we don’t get seduced, that we keep pursuing our true purpose. There is no better investment for whatever wealth we may have than to give it to the building up of God’s Kingdom.

In His Mercy,

Fr. Eric Clark, Pastor

PS – Click here to support St. Peter Church

Let the Children Come to Me - August 1, 2025

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

The largest ‘monastery’ in Christianity was created in the last century. It was called Pfarrerblock (Priest block) located in southern Germany with nearly 2,600 priests at Dachau Nazi concentration camp.

One of the young priests, Fr. Gerhard Hirschfelder, died in Dachau this day, August 1^st in 1942 at the age of 35. What sent this new cleric to his death? He criticized Nazism in his sermons. He was concerned that the Hitler Youth took precedence over Mass on Sunday. In late July 1941 he wrote, "He who tears from the heart of young people their faith in Christ is a criminal" and he was sentenced to the concentration camp.

The evil one is sly. Nazism did not outright condemn religion but rather tried to replace it. Hitler’s henchmen knew that to influence young minds, they needed to keep them busy on Sundays and away from the worship of God at Mass.

I ask you today, what prevents our youth from attending Mass over the summer? Vacations? Sports? Entertainment? Or does school break equal church break?

The greatest joy of being a pastor for me is seeing the children at Mass. Thank you, parents, for bringing them to Jesus. Afterall, our Lord said, “Let the children come to me, and do not prevent them; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these” (Matthew 19:14).

In His Mercy,

Fr. Eric Clark, Pastor

PS – please sign your child up for faith formation this year by clicking here.

Pilgrimage- July 25, 2025

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

The 2010 movie The Way, starring real life father and son, Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez tells the story of a young man (Estevez) who dies on his pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. His dad (Sheen) collects his body ashes and finishes the pilgrimage for his son. The story is about the journey of life and who we meet along the way.

Today we celebrate the feast day of St. James. He was the first of the Apostles to die for the faith and his body was buried in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Every year nearly a half a million people journey four different pilgrimage routes to the tomb of St. James. The scallop shell symbol is used as a way marker on the Camino, and is commonly seen on pilgrims themselves, who are thereby identified as pilgrims. During the medieval period, the shell was more a proof of completion than a symbol worn during the pilgrimage.

The word pilgrimage comes from the Latin word peregre, which means to journey through the land. St. Paul identifying that Christians “are pilgrims and strangers on the earth” (Hebrews 11:13). Each and every one of us are on a journey towards our ultimate goal, heaven or hell. With God’s grace and the company of other disciples, may we reach our homeland of heaven and rejoice with St. James.

In His Mercy,

Fr. Eric Clark, Pastor

Relationships- July 18, 2025

July 18, 2025

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Growing up with livestock, my family had seldom opportunity to take a family vacation. One summer, we decided to take a trip to Colorado and we were not even out of York County when my older sister and I began to fight. It was the threat of our mom to turn the family truckster around that brought peace to the vehicle.

I learned at an early age that relationships are hard. Relationship has its origin in the Latin word, relatio, which means “to bring back.” We were made for relationship—first with God, and then with one another. This truth is woven into the fabric of creation itself. Relationships are sharing the journey of life towards our ultimate goal, heaven or hell. Relationships are a need. Yes, you can survive without them. But you cannot thrive and become ultimately happy and fulfilled. There is a restlessness, within each of us, that wants to be calmed, tamed. This restlessness is our heart’s yearning to know and be known, the process of mutual self-revelation in relationships.

In the Gospel this weekend we hear about two sisters, Martha and Mary, who have squabble in front of Jesus. Martha is anxious because she is doing all the work while her sister Mary just sits there listening to Jesus (Luke 10). Jesus wants to heal their relationship so out of love he fraternally corrects Martha.

Jesus also wants to heal our relationships. Let’s not forget that we are also in relationship with one another here—as a parish family. We are not isolated individuals sitting in pews; we are the Body of Christ. That means being present to one another, helping each other in our relationships.

I ask each person over the age of 18 (married, dating, divorced, widowed, single, engaged) to take three minutes to complete the anonymous and confidential relationship survey. This information will assist us at St. Peter Church in serving your relationship needs.

In His Mercy,

Fr. Eric Clark, Pastor

PS – please click here to take the relationship health survey.

Hospitality - July 13, 2025

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

It was the summer of 2012 and I was getting ready to enter into my third year of theology, which meant that in less than a year, I would make my commitment to God and His Church through the sacrament of Holy Orders. In order to prepare for the life-long commitment, I asked for permission to do a thirty-day retreat with the Benedictine monks of Assumption Abbey in Richardton, ND.

What drew me to ora et labora (work and pray), the Benedictine motto, to these monks on the Dakota plain was their hospitality. Hospitality is one of the cornerstones of Benedictine spirituality, and it is based on seeing Christ in the guest, just as he is seen in the monks.

Christ told his disciples that their service and disservice to others would also be directed at him, and this teaching is the foundation for the Benedictine attitude on hospitality: “Let all guests who arrive be received as Christ, because He will say: ‘I was a stranger and you took me in’ (Mt 25:35).

Today is the feast day of St. Benedictine and like him, we should exercise the virtue of hospitality to all who enter our homes. After all, those who we show hospitality towards could be angels sent from God (Hebrews 13:2 in reference to Genesis 18).

In His Mercy,

Fr. Eric Clark, Pastor

PS – this weekend we will have Holy Land items for sale in St. John Paul II Hall.

Marriage & Freedom - July 4, 2025

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

This week we celebrate our freedom to be called Americans! We live in one of the greatest nations on this beautiful earth. We are blessed with so much here, but above all, we are blessed with the freedom for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

On July 4th, 1776, our nation declared our freedom from the tyrannical rule of England. England, as we know through history, was forcing its laws, policies, and taxes upon the people of the American colonies. However, did you know, two hundred years prior to the American Revolution, the King of England was forcing unjust laws upon its own people in their own country.

We know, as history tells us, that King Henry VIII desired to break his marital bond and any citizen who did not recognize his new ‘marriage’ was considered a traitor. Heroic Catholic martyrs like St. Thomas More, lost their lives because they stood for the dignity and indissolubility of the great sacrament of marriage.

Beloved children of God, soldiers for Christ, patriotic Americans, the time has come for us to be prophets of true marital love. It is a daunting task, but may we find strength from the English Martyrs.

You and I must become authentic witnesses to marriage by the fidelity to the sacrament of marriage which reflects the greatest love this world has ever known, the love of Jesus Christ for His bride the Church.

Once our nation turns back to God we will truly find life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Only when we convert our hearts will we experience true freedom, which is the independence from the yoke of evil. “For freedoms sake, Christ has truly set us free” (Gal. 5)!

In His Mercy,

Fr. Eric Clark, Pastor

PS – Please support the St. Peter’s Knights of Columbus Fireworks Tent located at 1339 West O Street

Who are your three? - June 27, 2025

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

“Who are your three?” This was a question asked to me in prayer after I felt overwhelmed of trying to meet with everyone that wants my time. This question has helped me recognize my limitations and a pastoral plan modeled after the Master.

When we look at the ministry of Jesus and how He laid down His life for others, He was quite systematic. He preached to the multitudes (Luke 6). From that group, He had seventy disciples that He sent out to proclaim the Good News (Luke 10). Jesus also did not want to leave us abandoned, so He called the twelve apostles (Matthew 10). And from that close-knit group Peter, James and John to invest most of His time into. As His inner circle, they were entrusted with witnessing His most profound miracles (Luke 8:51) and moments of glory (Matthew 17:1) and sorrow (Matthew 26:37).

In our parish at St. Peter Church, the ‘multitudes’ that Jesus wants to reach are each and every household in our parish boundaries. The ‘seventy disciples’ represents our faithful ministry leaders who work to bring the message of Jesus to every person at St. Peter Church. The ‘apostles’ are my wonderful staff who are coworkers in the vineyard of the Lord with me.

In order to fulfill the ministry of Christ, priest, prophet and king, my three staff members that I will be spending more time and energy with this year are Fr. Tines (priest), Blake Vajgrt (prophet), and Brenda Shields (king). The reason for this is the apostolic nature of the Church. Each of us are limited and cannot give completely to each person but we can transmit the faith and build the Church by investing in just a few key people in our lives.

As St. Paul writes, “What you heard from me through many witnesses entrust to faithful people who will have the ability to teach others as well” (2 Tim. 2:2). As we celebrate the apostolic foundations of the Church this weekend during the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, I ask you, “Who are your three?”

In His Mercy,

Fr. Eric Clark,

Pastor

PS – Please prayerfully consider signing up for Eucharist adoration using the link below. We have open hours that need filled:

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Corpus Christi- June 20, 2025

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Sometimes in life, we have difficult conversations. A few years ago I had one of these conversations. A former student at Pius said, “I am leaving the Catholic Church.” These were the most difficult words I have ever heard. I told this student, “I can give you a thousand reasons to leave the Church: scandal, lack of fellowship, pews, architecture, etc... but I give you one reason why you should stay, Jesus Christ who is with us in the Eucharist.”

This weekend we celebrate Corpus Christi (Body of Christ) Sunday. Having recognized the authenticity of the Eucharistic Miracle of Orvieto in 1264, the Pope Urban IV established the feast of Corpus Christi.

The Eucharist is important to us for two main reasons: salvation and intimacy with God. At the Passover, the Jewish people had to slaughter a lamb and then eat it in order to be saved from death. All Christians acknowledge that Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away our sins but not all Christians are eating the body of Christ to be saved (see John 6).

The second reason why you and I partake in the Eucharist is because we long for intimacy with God. Intimacy occurs when a bride and groom who are vowed together share the one-flesh union. The Church is the bride of Christ and He gives us His flesh so we can experience spousal unity with Him.

Like my former student, you may have a thousand reasons to leave the Church, but today I offer you only one reason to stay, the body, blood, soul and divinity of our Lord, Jesus Christ

In His Mercy,

Fr. Eric Clark, Pastor

PS – Please prayerfully consider signing up for Eucharist adoration using the button below.

Farewell Letter- June 13, 2025

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

On this Trinity Sunday and Father’s Day weekend, it is with a heavy (just tears not rain) but grateful heart that I write this letter to you. In Death Comes For the Archbishop, Willa Cather states it best: “Where there is great love there are always miracles.”

In five years as a priest, the greatest blessing is the gift of fatherhood. I am beyond thankful for my father and all fathers. Not only does a father beget the most precious gift of life, but equally, a father is called to be the head of his family, a model of prayer, sacrifice, love, mercy, and wisdom.

Speaking on St. Joseph, Pope Paul VI states that Joseph expressed his fatherhood “by making his life a sacrificial service to the mystery of the Incarnation and its redemptive purpose… turning his vocation to domestic love into a superhuman oblation of himself…”

Truly, a father is only able to love in view of God, who is Love.

In all sincerity, I pray that I have been able to be such a loving and spiritual father to all of you via Word and Sacrament. As Jesus prayed to the Father via the Spirit, you all have been a gift to me and are a gift of the Father. What has been three years serving as your Assistant Pastor has felt like weeks. Yet, as our time together comes to a close, I am excited for the opportunity to become a Pastor in Roseland (Sacred Heart) and Juniata (Assumption). I would not be in this position without you, your continual prayers, and the intentional discipleship we have entered into during this time.

I am so thankful and cherish all the opportunities we’ve had to grow closer together as One Body to our Eucharistic Lord as disciples, to know God more intimately as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Thank you for the kindness and love you have shown me these years. After two assignments in consecutive years, St. Peter has truly been a Rock for me and nothing short of a blessing. This Jubilee Year, know that I am filled with abundant hope, thanksgiving, and love for each and every one of you always.

Jesus, meek and humble of heart. Make our hearts like unto Thine.

In His Love,

Fr. Wirth

New Assistant Pastor- May 23, 2025

Deacon David Tines (pronounced TEA-niss) is from St. Joseph Parish in Lincoln. He was ordained a deacon in May 2024 and served at North American Martyrs in Lincoln last summer. He just finished formation at Mount St. Mary Seminary in Emmitsburg, Md.

Ordinations are today at the Cathedral of the Risen Christ in Lincoln.

“To whom shall we go, Lord? You have the words of everlasting life.” John 6:68

I think Peter said it best. Jesus had just finished his Bread of Life discourse, proclaiming a difficult and confusing teaching to his disciples, and many of his disciples had left. He then turns to the 12 and asks, “Will you also go away?” And I love how Peter responds. He doesn’t seem to indicate that he understands the difficult teaching, and he certainly doesn’t know where following Christ will lead. But, if he’s honest, he knows he only has two options: follow Christ, or walk away. And he goes for it, he chooses Christ. This is one of the best things about Peter: he leaps without looking, he trusts before fully understanding.

I was born, the oldest of three, and raised in Lincoln. I was home-schooled for the first few years of my education, attended St. Joseph School from third through eighth grade, and Pius X High School. Throughout this time, I had a hit-and-miss relationship with the faith. My family always went to Mass and prayed before meals, but I struggled with prayer and didn’t have a sense that God was active in my life.

Yet despite this, by God’s grace, I kept trying. Why? I think that a little like Peter, I recognized the all-or-nothing-ness of the faith. By some particular grace, I had a sense that either God exists or nothing ultimately matters, that if there isn’t a benevolent creator that made the world with a purpose that lasts beyond death, then we really are just a bunch of atoms bouncing off one another, spinning around in a cold dead universe. So, I kept coming back, drawn by an instinct that there must be some eternal meaning. I participated in a Godteens group throughout high school and went to a holy hour with a few friends at Blessed Sacrament Parish. I just kept showing up, though prayer was still frustrating, confusing, and seemingly silent.

After graduating from Pius, I went to the Jeffrey S. Raikes School of Computer Science and Management at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, majoring in computer engineering with a minor in business. There at UNL, on my own for the first time, I found myself with a choice to make: take the faith as my own or stop practicing; go to Mass or don’t. But the same grace that kept me coming back in high school remained. I knew that walking away from the Church would be walking away from the very possibility of purpose and meaning. So, while I didn’t understand, I kept going. I went to Mass and got involved in a FOCUS bible study.

It was during this time that I took my leap toward putting God at the center of my life. One day, I found myself with a lack of peace that I couldn’t shake: I had a sense that God was guiding me to make a significant change in my life, but I didn’t understand why. Honestly, I was angry. I realized that if I made this big decision based on following God and not on my own reasoning, that would mean honestly admitting something to myself: it would mean admitting that God is actually real, and God is actually God. I would be admitting that I’m not the master of my own destiny, a relationship with God is the only thing that ultimately matters, and the ideal of academic and financial success I had been pursuing, compared to God, was straw.

By God’s grace, I made that change, and by His grace he helped me make more changes, one by one. When I had a conversation with a high school friend a year later, I realized that God must have made me for some purpose, and when I thought about what that purpose might be, I had a sense that I was supposed to be a priest.

Though I initially had absolutely no desire to go to seminary, the same choice was set before me: follow God or run from God. So, I went to seminary and each year, one year at a time, I stayed. Gradually, through formation and prayer, God reduced my resistance and uncovered my deep desire for the priesthood. And through it all, whenever the temptation to give up would rear its ugly head, the same question returned to me: “To whom shall we go, Lord? You have the words of everlasting life.”

Which brings me to today. I am preparing to be ordained a priest of Jesus Christ, the eternal Word, the way, the truth, and the life. I have received so much love and support over the years, being received into the homes of my professors and families from parish assignments for dinners, cooking with them, and just sharing time together. I have received an excellent education at St. Gregory the Great and Mount St. Mary seminaries, inspiring a love of study and giving me a bounty of knowledge to draw on in the coming years of teaching. I have received innumerable prayers from across the diocese, especially my home parish, St. Joseph. But most of all, God has been so kind to me, drawing me to himself, one day at a time, and I am excited to begin service to him, through service to you, his people.

In His Mercy,

Deacon David Tines, (soon to be) Assistant Pastor

Habemus Papam! (We have a Pope!)

Here are the opening remarks of Pope Leo XIV looking out from St. Peter Basilica:

“Peace be with you! Dearest brothers and sisters, this was the first greeting of the risen Christ, the good shepherd who gave His life for the flock of God. I, too, would like this greeting of peace to enter your hearts, to reach your families and all people, wherever they are; and all the peoples, and all the earth: Peace be with you.

This is the peace of the Risen Christ, a disarming and humble and preserving peace. It comes from God. God, who loves all of us, without any limits or conditions. Let us keep in our ears the weak but always brave voice of Pope Francis, who blessed Rome - the Pope who blessed Rome and the world that day on the morning of Easter.

Allow me to continue that same blessing. God loves us, all of us, evil will not prevail. We are all in the hands of God. Without fear, united, hand in hand with God and among ourselves, we will go forward. We are disciples of Christ, Christ goes before us, and the world needs His light. Humanity needs Him like a bridge to reach God and His love. You help us to build bridges with dialogue and encounter so we can all be one people always in peace.

Thank you Pope Francis!

Thank you to my Cardinal brothers who chose me to be the Successor of Peter and to walk together with you as a united Church searching all together for peace and justice, working together as women and men, faithful to Jesus Christ without fear, proclaiming Christ, to be missionaries, faithful to the gospel.

I am a son of Saint Augustine, an Augustinian. He said, “With you I am a Christian, for you a bishop." So may we all walk together towards that homeland that God has prepared for us.

To the Church of Rome, a special greeting: We have to look together how to be a missionary Church, building bridges, dialogue, always open to receiving with open arms for everyone, like this square, open to all, to all who need our charity, our presence, dialogue, love.

Hello to all and especially to those of my diocese of Chiclayo in Peru, a loyal, faithful people accompanying the bishop and helping the bishop.

To all you brothers and sisters of Rome, Italy, of all the world, we want to be a synodal church, walking and always seeking peace, charity, closeness, especially to those who are suffering.

Today is the day of Our Lady of Pompei.

Our blessed mother Mary always wants to walk with us, be close to us, she always wants to help us with her intercession and her love. So let us pray together for this mission, and for all of the Church, and for peace in the world.

We ask for this special grace from Mary, our Mother.”

In His Mercy,

Fr. Eric Clark, Pastor

Luau- May 2, 2025

Aloha!

What does a Christian church look like? Many people and churches have tried to define or redefine this over the years.

The simplest way to find what an authentic Christian church is to look at what the early Church looked like. If you go back to the beginning of Christianity in the book of the Acts of the Apostles, you will find that they had four defining characteristics – breaking of bread (Mass), teaching of the Apostles, prayer and fellowship (Acts 2:42).

I consider myself blessed to be the pastor of St. Peter since our parish community lives out these four characteristics well. We have many parishioners who gather together for Mass each day. There are people who are engaged at learning the faith through various opportunities. Many others commit to praying as a family or making a Eucharistic holy hour weekly. And we have fun and fellowship while growing closer to the Lord.

This weekend, we have a great opportunity to grow in fellowship. Tonight (May 2^nd), our annual parish fellowship event, Lei’d Back Luau will take place. Join parishioners and friends for fellowship, live entertainment, delicious food, signature cocktails, exclusive live and silent auctions, games and more! If you have not ordered your tickets, you can get them at the door tonight.

I look forward to having fellowship with you tonight at this fun event and at Mass this weekend!

Ke Akua pu, (God bless you)

Fr. Eric Clark, Pastor

PS – please click here to see the Lei’d Back Luau events tonight.

Trust- April 25, 2025

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

There was a great circus performer by the name of Blondin who stretched a long steel cable across Niagara Falls. During high winds and without a safety net, he walked, ran, and even danced across the tightrope to the amazement and delight of the large crowd of people who watched. He even took a wheelbarrow full of bricks and pushed it effortlessly across the cable, from one side of the falls to the other.

Blondin then turned to the crowd and asked, "Now, how many of you believe that I could push a man across the wire in the wheelbarrow?" The vote was unanimous. Everyone cheered and held their hands high. They all believed he could do it!

"Then," asked Blondin, "would one of you please volunteer to be that man?" As quickly as the hands went up, they went back down. Not a single person would volunteer to ride in the wheelbarrow and to trust his life to Blondin.

We may have a belief in Jesus Christ but how much have we put that trust into practice? Jesus asks us to trust our lives to Him and get into the ‘wheelbarrow’ of His heart so we can be taken across the turbulent waters of this world towards paradise in heaven.

Think about your relationships, they must be built on trust. Trust is the bridge that we must all cross from time into eternity; from material to spiritual. We are called to trust Jesus because He has first trusted us to carry out His mission.

One of the ways to trust Jesus is to foster a devotion to His Divine Mercy. He told St. Faustina, “Your duty will be to trust completely in My goodness, and My duty will be to give you all you need. I am making Myself dependent upon your trust: If your trust is great, then My generosity will be without limit.”

Jesus, I trust in you!

In His Mercy,

Fr. Eric Clark, Pastor

PS – please join us Divine Mercy retreat & confessions Sunday at 2:30PM

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