We extend a special welcome to those who are single, married, divorced, rich, poor, y no habla Ingles. We extend a special welcome to those who are crying newborns, skinny as a rail, or those who could afford to lose a few pounds. We welcome you if you can sing like Andrea Bocelli or like grand knight who can't carry a note in a bucket. You're welcome here if you're "just browsing," just woke up, or just got out of jail. We don't care if you are more Catholic than the Pope, or haven't been in church since little Joey’s Baptism. We extend a special welcome to those who are over 60 but not grown up yet, and to teenagers who are growing up too fast. We welcome soccer moms, NASCAR dads, starving artists, tree-huggers, latte-sippers, vegetarians, junk-food eaters. We welcome those who are in recovery or are still addicted. We welcome you if you're having problems, or you're down in the dumps, or you don't like "organized religion," we've been there too. If you blew all your offering money at the casino, you're welcome here. We offer a special welcome to those who think the earth is flat, work too hard, don’t work, can't spell, or came because grandma is in town and wanted to go to church. We welcome those who are inked, pierced or both.

We offer a special welcome to those who could use a prayer right now, had religion shoved down your throat as a kid, or got lost in traffic and wound up here by mistake. We welcome the flexible, inflexible, tolerant, and intolerant, those who laughed and those who gasped at this welcome.

We welcome tourists, seekers, doubters, bleeding hearts…

and most especially, we welcome YOU!

Fr. David Rosenberg

“Ora et Labora”

(Thank you, Fr Charlie for the inspiration for this message!)