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From the Pastor: Do Our Stats Tell The Truth?
Several weeks ago I had a few moments of “free” time so I finally pulled out the most recent diocesan statistics on Mass counts and posted them in the church social hall. In case you have not yet seen them, below are a few numbers of interest. Before I get to them, though, let me first explain, for the sake of anyone new to the diocese, where we get these stats from. The Bishop asks each parish and mission to count the number of people attending Sunday Masses (this includes the Saturday evening Vigil Masses) every weekend in both February and October, averages the totals, and reports the numbers in a spreadsheet. This gives the diocese an overview of how the populations change in various parts of the diocese as well as in individual parishes. Such information is useful in many different ways, such as deciding when and where new parishes might have to be built, where others may have to be closed (shudder at the thought), or even which pastors seem to grow or wilt parishes at which they are assigned. There are probably dozens of other ways these numbers are used as well. I hope they are used to debunk the foolish notion that “nobody wants the Tridentine Mass”! I know that I have successfully used them in such a way when fellow priests complain that they have nothing but blue haired-ladies at their (Novus Ordo) parishes! Of course, I use the word “successfully” quite loosely, for, although I can present the truth to them, that doesn’t mean they have any belief that my parish is anything but an anomaly. After all, the stats showing that all Traditional Latin Masses have grown over the last 17 years, even during covid, is still seen as nothing but “disinformation” by a sizable portion of the clergy. They just can’t wait for the “bubble” to burst, for the “novelty” of Traditional prayer to wear off, and for people to once again realize that folk and rock music (along with feel-good sermons) is the cornerstone of a good, solid, Catholic “faith experience.” Just look at the kickoff ceremonies for the last round of the USCCB’s Eucharistic Revival, the Eucharistic Processions, that just tanked in Minnesota even with two big-name “celebrities” heading the marquee, namely, Bishop Robert Barron and Father Mike Schmitz. Thousands showed up, but they had expected thousands more. Did, perhaps, the thought of enduring the tortuous “praise and worship” guitar music ceremony that went along with the talks keep the other people away? That couldn’t possibly be the case, since that type of “music” and “entertainment” is what “everyone” keeps insisting is what attracts people to the Catholic Church! I am willing to bet that had they promoted the Eucharistic talks by this bishop/priest duo, along with a solemn Latin-schola-led Exposition/Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament before the Eucharistic Procession, the crowds would have exceeded expectations. It’s just a guess, mind you, but we will never find out, for “everybody” is certain that “nobody” wants solemnity, dignity, and reverence in front of Our Lord. Yet the reality is dawning even if they refuse to see it, for those promoting this big Revival’s closing Mass, which will certainly not be Traditional, have already lowered the expected number of attendees by 30,000! And that is with every bishop in the country giving away hundreds or even thousands of tickets! I have no doubt that if they announced today that the closing Mass was going to be a Traditional Latin Mass the numbers would skyrocket overnight. See the annual Chartres Eucharistic pilgrimage for an example of what could be expected. Of course, “those crazy people” making that journey actually believe what the Church teaches about the Eucharist. Sheez! But back to the statistics of the parish and the diocese. In February of 2024 Epiphany averaged 912 people attending Mass. That is a substantial increase from the 87 people who were counted in February 2015, six months before the TLM arrived here. It is also a slight increase from last year’s February count of 875. It is a very nice change from the 494 people we had during February of 2020, just before the terrible covid lockouts. As for that last number, this year shows that we are one of only 12 parishes that have finally reached once again the number of parishioners that they had before we told the whole world that dying without the sacraments was perfectly acceptable. Think about that. 68 out of 80 parishes have not yet managed to return to pre-covid numbers. The message was powerful: "You don’t need the Church." Will we learn from this fiasco (and we are counting souls perhaps lost for eternity, here, remember that always) when the next so-called pandemic is unleashed on the world? There was something different at Epiphany during that time, though, as we never lost parishioners but rather kept gaining. I wonder if any statisticians out there can figure out what the reason might be? Brainwashing by the cult-leader pastor? Forced attendance? Hmmm... This chart also shows that there are currently 37 parishes or missions with a smaller congregation than we have. In February 2015, again, six months before the TLM arrived, Epiphany was the smallest parish, smaller than even the missions. Our future looks pretty good, too, as you will also see from several charts posted next to the Mass Count chart. For the future of a parish to be bright, there must be a good increase in youth. These charted stats show that Epiphany is “outperforming” the diocesan average, per one hundred parishioners, in both baptisms and First Holy Communions. But “nobody” wants the TLM! With prayers for your holiness, Rev. Fr. Edwin Palka From the Pastor: Father Scruffy
Last week some of you were wondering why I looked a bit scruffy. It’s the second time since late March that I didn’t shave for a week and it isn’t usual for a priest (or at least this priest) to go around with a few days' stubble on his face even if it is sort of fashionable in some professions to do so. When I stopped shaving during Holy Week late in March it was because I had something growing quite quickly on my upper lip and the doctor sliced it off and sent it for a biopsy. I couldn’t shave until the wound healed enough that the razor wouldn’t damage the new skin that had to form. A week or two after Easter all was well. The biopsy, though, came back positive for cancer (basal cell carcinoma) so I was put on the schedule for a visit to a dermatologist to make sure there were no cancer cells left behind. It took a while to get an appointment but last week I went in for an exam and ended up getting Mohs surgery, something I had never heard of before. This is how it is described on the American Academy of Dermatology website: If you have Mohs surgery, you’ll see a doctor who is a trained Mohs surgeon. Most Mohs surgeons are dermatologists who have completed extensive training in Mohs surgery. During Mohs surgery, most patients remain awake and alert. This means Mohs can safely be performed in a medical office or surgical suite. Only if extensive surgery is necessary would you be admitted to a hospital. On the day of the surgery, your surgeon will first examine the area to be treated. You’ll then be prepped for surgery. This includes giving you an injection of anesthetic. This injection only numbs the area that will be operated on, so you’ll be awake during the surgery. Once the anesthetic takes effect, the surgery can begin. The surgeon starts by first cutting out the visible skin cancer. Next, the surgeon removes a thin layer of surrounding skin. You’re then bandaged so that you can wait comfortably. While you wait, the Mohs surgeon looks at the removed skin under a microscope. The surgeon is looking for cancer cells. If cancer cells are found, you’ll need another layer of skin removed. This process of removing a thin layer of skin and looking at it under a microscope continues until the surgeon no longer sees cancer cells. Once cancer cells are no longer seen, your surgeon will decide whether to treat your wound. Some wounds heal nicely without stitches. Others need stitches. To minimize the scar and help the area heal, some patients require a skin graft or other type of surgery. Fortunately, the dermatologist only had to cut one big glob of lip meat from my face and, after a microscopic examination, declared that the cancer had been completely removed. The growth had been very close to my nostril but the doctor was able to cut it out and stitch me up without cutting into my nose, something that had been mentioned as a possibility. Then he sent me home with wound care instructions that included not shaving near the stitches. So I could have shaved everything except for about a third of a mustache, but that would have been a bit silly-looking. I chose the unkempt look instead. Along with the Mohs procedure, the doctor also took another chunk of flesh from over my left eyebrow. He said pretty confidently, “That’s cancer, too.” But it had to go out for a biopsy to be sure. The biopsy results have now come back. Positive. So I have yet another appointment set to get that spot cut further, as well. It may be another Mohs procedure or something else. I won’t know until the doctor examines it more closely. The stitches from the Mohs procedure came out this week. When I got to the clinic where they were going to remove the stitches, the poor medical aid was all flustered that he was working on a priest. I guess I am pretty intimidating to some people! He had a hard time determining whether the thing he was trying to remove was one of the stitches or one of my whiskers and he finally asked one of the dermatologists to come and assist. (My doctor was at a different clinic that day.) She removed the last three stitches and sent me on my way. Of course, I got more instructions as to how to treat the wound as it heals, including “don’t shave for a while, maybe two weeks or so.” So I will still be unshaven when you see me next. It’s been a couple of decades since I last had a beard and mustache but for some strange reason I don’t remember it being so gray back then. A problem with not shaving is that, just as the whiskers disguised the stitches, so they keep the doctor’s handiwork hidden. If I don’t shave, I won’t be able to see if he did a good job fixing his incision. If I do shave and the scar is nasty-looking, then I’ll have to start all over with the scruffiness if I want to cover it up with facial hair again. Decisions, decisions. At least I have a couple of weeks to think this through. In the meantime, you’ll have to get used to Fr. Scruffy! With prayers for your holiness, Rev. Fr. Edwin Palka From the Pastor: American Heritage Girls: Leaders Wanted!
When I was young my mother and older sister were involved in Girl Scouts. That was back in the days when my age was in the single digits and the idea of being in a house filled with Girl Scouts was about the worst thing that I could imagine. So whenever the Scout meetings were held at our house I managed to escape and go somewhere—anywhere—just to avoid catching cooties. I remember fondly escaping with my dad, who wanted about as much to do with the Girl Scouts as I did, and going to get a milkshake or rootbeer float at Lum’s and passing time until it was safe to return home. Oh, those were the good ol’ days! As far as I remember, the Girl Scouts were not yet the off-the-rails crazy group supporting every type of sexual immorality imaginable as they do today. How the mighty have fallen. Once the Girl Scouts leadership decided to pervert their once moral program to such a degree that it was impossible for any God-fearing mother to enroll her girls in it, a non-Catholic Christian group was born: the American Heritage Girls. Mothers still longing for the fantastic experiences they once had in scouting to be available to their own girls without having an immoral agenda pushed on them flocked to the new organization. Soon enough, inquiries from Catholic mothers became so numerous that a Catholic branch of the AHG was born. We are blessed to have one such group here at Epiphany. Liesa Gonzalez was the mother who spearheaded the founding of our AHG Troop and has worked tirelessly (note: that does not mean that she doesn’t get tired!), with the invaluable assistance of other female adult leaders, to give the girls a very good Catholic Scouting formation. In the earlier years of Epiphany, we were a small enough parish that when a family first joined us, Liesa was able to quickly meet the mother of any little girls and invite them to join. The personal invitation, as you all know so well, is the best way of getting not only new girls to join but also their mothers to volunteer as adult leaders. But now we have gotten large enough that it is hard to tell who is new, let alone find a time and place to get to know them. So I am putting this impersonal invitation out, not because it works as well as a personal invitation, but rather because I HOPE it works at least well enough to spark some interest in joining AHG. Women: do you have any previous Scouting experience, whether as a girl scout, a troop leader, or in AHG? Would you be willing to assist even if (maybe even especially if) your girls are “all growed up” and too old to be scouts themselves? It seems that the mothers of the girls already involved in AHG are busy making new future-AHG girls and find it difficult to be too active when nursing a newborn and caring for a dozen (it seems) others! In case you are not sure what the difference is between Girl Scouts and AHG, let me give you a taste. Here’s an article’s headline found on girlscouts.org “Joy’s Gold Award Project: Supporting Transgender Youth.” On the other hand, here are some quotes from the AHG Statement of Faith and membership policy: AHG Statement of Faith. American Heritage Girls is a Christ-centered leadership and character development ministry. Within the local AHG Troop, the primary statement/profession of Christian beliefs, faith, and/or doctrine is that belonging to the Church/Organization [this means that our troop adheres fully to the Catholic Faith]. As with any of its ministries, the Church/Organization will endeavor to ensure the Troop appropriately reflects these beliefs. Furthermore, all Charter Organizations and Adult Members must concurrently adhere to the Christian principles stated in AHG's Statement of Faith: We believe that there is one Triune God – Father; Jesus Christ, His one and only Son; and the Holy Spirit – Creator of the universe and eternally existent. We believe the Holy Scriptures (Old and New Testaments) to be the inspired and authoritative Word of God. We believe each person is created in His image for the purpose of communing with and worshipping God. We believe in the ministry of the Holy Spirit, Who enables us to live Godly lives. We believe that each individual is called to love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength; and to love our neighbors as ourselves. We believe God calls us to lives of purity, service, stewardship, and integrity. AHG Membership Policy. Girls: Biological girls identifying with their biological sex at birth, 5–18 years of age, of any color, race, national origin, and socioeconomic status who agree to live according to the standards of the AHG Oath and the AHG Creed and whose legal guardian submits a membership application and payment of fees. Adults*: Biological women and men identifying with their biological sex at birth, 21 years or older, of any color, race, national origin and socioeconomic status who agree to live according to AHG’s Statement of Faith, Oath and Creed and receives the approval of a Charter Organization’s appointed Charter Representative after the submission of a membership application, successful background check, payment of fees and completion of AHG’s KEYS to Child Safety Training. Young Adult Members*: Biological women identifying with their biological sex at birth, 18–21 years of age, who aged out of the AHG program and follow the same membership process as an Adult Member. If you wish to enroll your girls or become an adult leader, please contact Liesa. And forgive the impersonal invitation! [email protected] With prayers for your holiness, Rev. Fr. Edwin Palka From the Pastor: First Holy Communion!
This weekend we have 30 children receiving their First Holy Communion. Before they were admitted to the altar rail, they had to study quite a lot. They needed to memorize (I know, that is a four-letter word today in most religious education programs!) the basic Catholic prayers and be able to explain Who they receive in Holy Communion and how they know it to be truly the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus Christ rather than just a symbol of Him. There is just one part of the test that I forgot to quiz them on. They were supposed to recite the 11 Canons of the Council of Trent regarding the Eucharist. I have to assume that they would have been able to do so since they aced the rest of the test. When is the last time you looked over these important teachings on what CANNOT be believed, stated, or denied without being in grave error? CANONS CANON I.-If any one denieth, that, in the sacrament of the most holy Eucharist, are contained truly, really, and substantially, the body and blood together with the soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, and consequently the whole Christ; but saith that He is only therein as in a sign, or in figure, or virtue; let him be anathema. CANON II.-If any one saith, that, in the sacred and holy sacrament of the Eucharist, the substance of the bread and wine remains conjointly with the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, and denieth that wonderful and singular conversion of the whole substance of the bread into the Body, and of the whole substance of the wine into the Blood-the species Only of the bread and wine remaining-which conversion indeed the Catholic Church most aptly calls Transubstantiation; let him be anathema. CANON III.-If any one denieth, that, in the venerable sacrament of the Eucharist, the whole Christ is contained under each species, and under every part of each species, when separated; let him be anathema. CANON IV.-If any one saith, that, after the consecration is completed, the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ are not in the admirable sacrament of the Eucharist, but (are there) only during the use, whilst it is being taken, and not either before or after; and that, in the hosts, or consecrated particles, which are reserved or which remain after communion, the true Body of the Lord remaineth not; let him be anathema. CANON V.-If any one saith, either that the principal fruit of the most holy Eucharist is the remission of sins, or, that other effects do not result therefrom; let him be anathema. CANON VI.-If any one saith, that, in the holy sacrament of the Eucharist, Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, is not to be adored with the worship, even external of latria; and is, consequently, neither to be venerated with a special festive solemnity, nor to be solemnly borne about in processions, according to the laudable and universal rite and custom of holy church; or, is not to be proposed publicly to the people to be adored, and that the adorers thereof are idolators; let him be anathema. CANON VII.-If any one saith, that it is not lawful for the sacred Eucharist to be reserved in the sacrarium [tabernacle], but that, immediately after consecration, it must necessarily be distributed amongst those present; or, that it is not lawful that it be carried with honour to the sick; let him be anathema. CANON VIII.-lf any one saith, that Christ, given in the Eucharist, is eaten spiritually only, and not also sacramentally and really; let him be anathema. CANON IX.-If any one denieth, that all and each of Christ's faithful of both sexes are bound, when they have attained to years of discretion, to communicate every year, at least at Easter, in accordance with the precept of holy Mother Church; let him be anathema. CANON X.-If any one saith, that it is not lawful for the celebrating priest to communicate himself; let him be anathema. CANON XI.-lf any one saith, that faith alone is a sufficient preparation for receiving the sacrament of the most holy Eucharist; let him be anathema. And for fear lest so great a sacrament may be received unworthily, and so unto death and condemnation, this holy Synod ordains and declares, that sacramental confession, when a confessor may be had, is of necessity to be made beforehand, by those whose conscience is burthened with mortal sin, how contrite even soever they may think themselves. But if any one shall presume to teach, preach, or obstinately to assert, or even in public disputation to defend the contrary, he shall be thereupon excommunicated. In reality, the children did indeed have to know most of these canons even though they were not learned or recited so formally. It is sad that most adults, both Catholic and Protestant, do not believe what our youngsters already know to be True. With prayers for your holiness, Rev. Fr. Edwin Palka |
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