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June 26, 2021 - Pastor Message

03/28/2024

“There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens” (Ecclesiastes 3:1).

Another summer in the age of Covid19 has arrived, and, once again, we will not have a summer festival here at St. Boniface. While the number of Covid cases and deaths has significantly declined, and the governor has lifted many of the restrictions, this new stage in our war with the virus came too late for us to plan and execute a full chicken dinner and festival by June. So, once again, the salt-of-the-earth country folk who make up our parish have shown their customary flexibility and adaptability by planning another summer raffle in the festival’s place, adapting to the more relaxed restrictions by holding the raffle both virtually, live streaming it online, and by opening the doors of the Coleman Center for those who are interested in attending in person.

Flexibility. That is just another word for the virtue of prudence, one of the cardinal virtues on which all other virtues depend. Prudence simply means exercising good judgment, being able to read the landscape and the circumstances of any situation and make decisions that get us closer to the goal. Having just watched the US Open, I have golf on my mind, so allow me to use an example. A prudent golfer, like John Rahm, correctly reads the many factors that affect each shot the lie, the wind, the firmness and run of the surface for which he or she is shooting, the distance he or she is capable of shooting with each club, and so on and then applies that judgment to his or her game, hitting exactly the right shots at exactly the right time. Imprudent golfers do not. Some of the best golfers in the world, like Bryson DeChambeau and Dustin Johnson, hit some very imprudent shots last weekend. John Rahm did not, and that is why he is the new US Open champion.

There is a time for everything under the heavens, and there are times not to do those things. The time for a full festival has not yet come, and I believe that is a prudent decision. So there will be no delicious chicken dinner at the summer raffle, but light refreshments will be served, including samples of our parish brew club’s latest home brews for those 21 and over, who wish to attend the raffle in person. I want to thank all who have worked so hard to make our summer raffle possible, whether planning and promoting, volunteering the day of, donating items, purchasing and selling tickets, praying for our success, or the countless other activities that make the raffle possible. I also want to urge everyone to mark your calendar for November when, circumstances permitting and prudence allowing, we plan to host a FULL FALL FESTIVAL(!), with our world-famous pork and sauerkraut dinner, country cupboard, bake sale, and everything else that makes our festivals special. We may even throw in a few other surprises just to welcome everyone back; we’ll see. In the meantime, enjoy the summer raffle and keep cultivating the virtue of prudence, in your life and in the life of our parish.

Fr. Marc Stockton

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