As all of you are aware, On July 1^st, Bishop Cantú assigned me Pastor of Holy Spirit concurrent with Director of Vocations and Seminarians. I told the Bishop that I would be very glad to take on the two ministries.  I also told him that I will re-evaluate the two positions in six months.

However, after talking with the staff and some of you, I decided to ask Bishop Cantú to be relieved from my ministry as Director of Vocations and Seminarians so that I can devote more time in ministering to the needs of this parish.

Although we are limited in what we can do because of the pandemic, I believe being here full time will give me the opportunity to get to know the parish better and evaluate its needs.  And since Penny Warne, our Pastoral Associate, is moving to Florida, I will be taking over most of her ministerial responsibilities.

Bishop Cantú understood my predicament and so he accepted my request and has assigned Fr. Andrew C. Nguyen, the pastor of St. Thomas of Canterbury as the new director of vocations and seminarians effective September 15, 2020.

I am grateful to our Bishop for the trust he has given me in being a vocation director for the past two years.  I am also thankful to our seminarians for allowing me to be travel with them along the way to the fulfillment of their priestly journey.  I will sorely miss working with them, but I am very sure that they will continue to be under the very capable guidance of Fr. Nguyen.

As I transition to a full-time ministry at our parish, let us continue to promote A Culture of Vocations.  If you’d remember in May of 2019, when he celebrated his 25^thAnniversary as priest, Bishop Cantú invited us to pray and to talk to our families about the importance of vocations – priesthood, religious life, married life, or single blessedness.  He reminded all of us that every vocation is a gift from our loving God.  He also gave each parish a crucifix that is to be used for our prayers and reflections.   The hope is that this crucifix will “travel” to every household to create a better awareness of the importance of vocations. If you’d like to sign up to have the crucifix at your home, simply contact me or Fr. Edgar.

Let us not forget that prayer is the most powerful way to support and promote vocations.

God bless,
Fr. Ritche