“Peace I leave with you.”
In the farewell discourse of Jesus in John’s gospel, Jesus says to his disciples: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you” (John 14:27). I have been given a new assignment by Bishop John T. Folda, bishop of the Diocese of Fargo. I will be leaving St. Catherine’s Catholic Church and Valley City and beginning my new assignment on June 29, 2022, at St. Rose of Lima Church in Hillsboro and St. William’s Church in Argusville. As I will be making my farewell, I want to express my thanks to God and to you and to give the peace of Christ to you.
I am thankful to God for being the pastor of St. Catherine’s Church for these past twelve years. I have been blessed by God to serve the people of my parish. They have enriched me with a living faith in Jesus Christ our Lord that they received from the generations before them who go back to 1882, when St. Catherine’s Church was founded. I have experienced the presence of Christ and the working of the Holy Spirit in the members of St. Catherine’s Church as we have been united to Christ in our worship, especially the Mass, our teaching, and our pastoral care and all of the prayers and works that are part of pastoral care. I have been blessed to work with adults in the administration of the parish, educational opportunities, events of spiritual renewal, and parish meals. I have been blessed to work with young people who are altar servers, participants in youth conferences, and members of the VCSU Newman Club. I have been blessed to experience the mercy of God at work in ministering to members who are ill and dying. I have been blessed to see the ways in which we love one another and strengthen the faith of one another in St. Catherine’s Church.
I am thankful to God for being the pastor of a church with a Catholic school. St. Catherine School began in 1917. I am blessed to be the pastor of St. Catherine School (grades kindergarten to sixth) and to offer spiritual leadership and help to the students, teachers, and staff. I am happy to see that, in addition to being well educated in all of the fields of learning, the children live, practice, learn, and grow in their faith in God. I am happy that children of parents of Churches, which are not Catholic, are also being educated at St. Catherine School. I am happy to pray for the children and to receive their prayers for me, to celebrate Mass with them, and to teach them. When I ask them questions, I am pleased with their answers. They ask me interesting and tough questions, and I learn from them. I am thankful to God for all of the support of St. Catherine School from members of our parish, alumni, and people and businesses of Valley City.
I am thankful to God for the Barnes County Ministerial Association. Pastors of most of the churches in Valley City and the surrounding area of Barnes County participate in the Ministerial Association. We, the pastors, meet monthly throughout the school year. We share in common our faith in God and Jesus, His Son, the Word of God in the Bible, and services of prayer and charity that we agree on. The Ministerial Association is the most active ecumenical group of pastors of various Christian churches that I have been part of. We celebrate community services of Thanksgiving, remembrance of deceased loved ones, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, Good Friday, and other services. We take turns to proclaim the Word of God with the Thought for the Day on KOVC Radio and the Faith Matters article in the Times Record.
I make my farewell with much gratefulness to God and the members of St. Catherine’s Church and the people of this community of Valley City. Together with Jesus, I say: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.” May you know the peace of Christ that lasts forever.