Sorry for the hiatus

Well folks, sorry for the month long hiatus.  My commitment to keep the blog updated weekly totally flew out the window as I began to settle into the parish this page got put on the back burner.  It also did not help that Blogger is blocked by the diocesan web server, which is the only internet service available at the parish at the moment.  I am currently at Notre Dame, where all the seminarians spent a week together at camp and are now preparing for the start of classes as I have a little free time as I wait here at ND until next week so I can witness the Profession of Perpetual Vows of Paul Ybarra, C.S.C., my predecessor seminarian at St. John Vianney.  More to come on those events as they happen, but now without further ado, a recap of the past month.

I left New York on July 14 for Goodyear, Arizona and my home and apostolate for the upcoming year.  I was met at the airport by. Fr. John Herman, C.S.C., my pastor and supervisor for the year, who took me to my new home.  For those who don't know the Phoenix geographic layout.  Goodyear is a township/outer suburb to the west of Phoenix.  Chandler, Tempe, Mesa are on the eastern side of Phoenix and Avondale and Goodyear are on the western side.  The parish is currently in the middle of expanding and renovating the rectory (the house where the priests live) so I moved into a house that is usually used to hold retreats and meetings on a temporary.  Hopefully the rectory should completed by mid September.  Here are a couple of pictures of the rectory during the renovation process:

 The original part of the rectory, now gutted.

 

The addition to the rectory, which is under construction, from the original rectory.

 The addition from the back looking at the original rectory. 

Two weeks later, framing is up in the addition.

What will be the chapel, framed and ready to go.

My main goal for my first month at the parish was just to get to know the parish, to get to know the parishioners and the many different groups and ministries at the parish.  With a parish that is 4,500 families large, it's not the easiest task, but one that is extremely worthwhile.  I also started getting my feet wet in the various groups, ministries, and responsibilities I will be a part of or responsible for over the coming year.  This included going to a fair bit of meetings as well as starting to preach, presiding at a wake and going along with the pastor to another, and one burial.  This small taste of parish life so far has made me very excited for the many opportunities that will present themselves in the upcoming year.  The last notable event of my first few weeks at the parish was the arrival of our new associate pastor, Fr. John Korcsmar, CSC, who arrived about two weeks after I did.  Needless to say Fr. John Herman and I were very excited to have Fr. John K, with us not only to help us with the work of the parish, but also to complete our local CSC community.  On August 10 I left for Notre Dame to join the rest of the seminarians at camp, but I will cover that in the next post, which will be soon.