Pastor’s Desk ~ June 14, 2026

Dear Fellow Parishioners,

First, I would like to thank anyone who participated in any way in the parish celebration of the parish priests’ birthdays and ordination anniversaries. Our birthdays happen when and where they happen. Though I was raised in this parish, I happen to have been born in Illinois. (Because of my grandfather’s business, the family moved between Illinois and the Bay Area.) Years ago, when I mentioned this fact to a parishioner, she asked me – somewhat incredulously – “Why were you born in Illinois?” I told her, “Because I wanted to be near my mother.”

The celebration itself was a thrill – largely because of the spirit of the participants, a wide cross-section of parish families. The food was fantastic, authentic and plentiful. Some time ago, I mentioned in passing to a man in the parish (who works in meat processing) that I was partial to lamb. He remembered and passed on the word. One of the huge kettles was full with “birria de borrego,” that is, pulled lamb stew. It knocked it through the clouds. You can never predict what they will come up with. So many of the Hispanic community work in food service (most famously, from Oaxaca). If you peeked into restaurant kitchens all over the county, you’d see them.

Msgr. Dan and I have the same anniversary of ordination – June 7th – though 16 years apart. If I remember correctly, I believe he was at my ordination as Master of Ceremonies. I was the last priest ordained in Santa Rosa by Bishop Mark Hurley, before he did a couple more ordinations in Ireland, and retired. Between April 1986 and the summer of 1987, there were 14 priests ordained. Many of them sadly passed away. A very few others left. One joined another diocese. Fr. Fergal McGuinness (of St. Apollinaris, Napa) and I are the only ones of the 14 still in service to the Diocese of Santa Rosa.

Of my seminary ordination class of 1986, we started as 27. Four years later, 23 were ordained. While a couple have left, and a few have died, the vast majority of us are still in service. That is a record of graced dedication I would put up against any person or group of people.

If I’ve learned anything over these past 40 years, it’s that the Catholic priesthood should never be counted out. Together, we have tremendous residual strength in a Church that, for two millennia, has survived the rise and fall of everybody and everything. While there is no perfection this side of heaven, the U.S. Church today is as squeaky clean as human efforts can devise, and anyone with any familiarity with today’s Church knows that.

Being appointed pastor of this parish, after so many years of association with it and her schools, has been the honor of a lifetime. I am grateful for your prayers for me, as I offer mine for you. To many more years!

Blessings, Fr. Bill Donahue