Pastor’s Desk

Dear Fellow Parishioners,

I was preparing my Pastor’s Desk to talk about the religious significance of Labor Day, and maybe a couple of other things. Meanwhile, the tragedy at Annunciation Catholic School and Parish in Minneapolis intervened, to the dismay and horror of an entire nation. The state of Minnesota, and even the White House, have lowered flags to half-mast to indicate solidarity with that grief-stricken parish and, most importantly, with the children and families most affected. As of this writing, one adult and two children are dead. Several others have been wounded and are (pray God) recovering in local hospitals. Please join me, our parish, and Pope Leo XIV in praying for them, and their families.

As for the assailant, more will be uncovered. At the very least, he had – as the Amish would say – “troubles of the heart.” As for those seeking to understand a motive or cause for this act of monumental wickedness, there is something essentially incomprehensible and banal about evil. However it may be explained, it cannot not fully understood in terms of psychology alone. It is conscience that is the cornerstone of the moral psyche, and the language of conscience has been almost entirely absent in the past two generations (if not more) of our therapeutic age.

As a pastor, this reduces me to my most helpless. I cannot offer words that will heal this wound, because those words do not exist. I cannot offer words to allay the fears of our own elementary school parents, whether at SV or elsewhere, because they do not exist.

In another parish, many years ago, I received a credible death threat from a deranged former spouse of someone whose wedding I was officiating. The police parked a cruiser outside of the church, and the Mass occurred without incident. Unlike that church, which had 13 exterior doors, our church is unusually well defended by its architecture. There is one man, Peter, who occasionally interrupts a Mass to “preach” loudly for a minute or two. He has not returned for some time. In the meantime, I have thoroughly investigated him, and believe he is an annoyance rather than an actual threat. (He interrupted a Hispanic wedding, and, with the help of several men, he made the quickest exit down the back stairs of the church that I have ever seen…)

We have never lived in a time when threats to our survival, even that of children, have not existed, whether from deadly childhood diseases, foreign adversaries, or human wickedness. Belief in, and prayer to, our Guardian Angels, was powerfully impressed upon me as a young priest by an elderly priest. They are not magical imaginary companions, but spiritual powers with independent wills dedicated to our earthly well-being and eternal salvation. As we pray for the children and families of Annunciation School, we would do well to pray for the children of our own parish, reconnect at whatever age with our own Guardian Angels, and instruct our children to do so as well.

Blessings, Fr Bill Donahue