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| Odilon Redon's Christ |
You don’t miss a trick. So I know you have noticed new faces around the parish, especially in the sanctuary at Mass on Sunday. Of course, that’s where you are looking for somebody else entirely – Our Eucharistic Lord – and so it would not be inappropriate if your attention did not linger on them. But let me take a moment to let you know to whom those faces belong.
First, and most likely for you to have encountered already because he has been here since the end of August, is our new student priest in residence, Father Alek Schrenk. He is a priest of the Diocese of Pittsburgh, ordained in 2017, and here in Washington to get a degree in Canon Law from the Catholic University of America. We may be something of a “destination” residence for Canon Law students after Frs. Santandreu and Novajosky did so well on the degrees they completed this summer. Fr. Schrenk, like all of us, will benefit from the continued presence here of Fr. Novajosky, who is continuing study to begin the doctorate. Doubtless he has insights to share. And no, it was not one of the criteria I had for choosing our next resident priest, but if you have seen Fr. Schrenk, I am sure you have noticed that now you can tell him apart from Fr. Novajosky!
More recently begun to be among us is David Tines, a seminarian for the Diocese of Lincoln (that’s in Nebraska) in his third year of theological studies at Mount Saint Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg. By the way, that’s pronounced “tea-ness,” not like the business end of a fork. His wardrobe makes him look like clergy, but he isn’t quite yet there, though we have every confidence he will be soon. He will be working principally with Jasmine Kuzner, assisting with our religious education community. I say “community” because we want to make available his ability to teach the Faith not only to the kids K-8, but to the parents and families, too. He is a resource for everybody who has questions, because he has been studying for six years already and his head is full of learning that he is only too eager to turn around and present for your benefit.
You’ll see David at Masses and around the campus often on Sunday. Take the time to talk to him, because in addition to having knowledge to share, he is also eager to meet you. In “seminarian-speak”, you are what is known as “regular people” or even “real people.” Mainly, you are not another seminarian, which is a big win for him after six years in a box full of seminarians. He wants to know you, too.
In that regard, David is like a lot of other people around here. Every week, but especially at the end of a summer of transitions and at the beginning of a semester and schoolyear, there are lots of new faces around that are not in the sanctuary. You’ve probably heard me call out to them, “Do I know you yet?” – I admit I do that to some people more than once. But the newcomers among us want not only to meet me, but to get to know you. You are worth knowing!
So over the coming weeks, if you see a face you to which cannot put a name, or a face you’ve seen many times but never had the chance to talk to, or even one of our new faces in the sanctuary whose name you have read but who hasn’t yet met you, please, stop. Say hello! Reveal something about yourself, and learn something about the other. Noticing a new face is only the beginning; showing yours is the next and necessary part of the work of building communion. There is no “trick.”
Monsignor Smith
