Tomorrow will be the first day of the new school year! The church campus will once again teem with life as the parents begin dropping off their children for the school day and the laughter and voices of the children fill the halls and the fields with joy! Each year St. James comes back to life as a new school year begins.

Beginning this week our Mass and Confession schedule will be as follows:

• Daily Mass
  • Monday – Friday: 7:00 AM and 8:30 AM
  • Wednesday: 5:30 PM
  • Saturday: 9:00 AM
• Sunday Mass
  • 5:00 PM (Saturday Vigil) (overflow live stream available in the gym)
  • 7:30 AM
  • 9:00 AM (overflow live stream available in the gym)
  • 11:30 AM (overflow live stream available in the gym)
• Confessions
  • Monday – Friday: 7:45 – 8:15 AM
  • Tuesday: 5:00 PM
  • Saturday: 3:45 – 4:45 PM
• Holy Hours
  • Sunday: 4:00 PM ending with Vespers (Evening Prayer)
  • Tuesday: 5:00 PM (Pro-Life Holy Hour)

Beginning the first week of August, we will be offering mass at 5:30 PM on Wednesdays. It is my hope that people coming home from work on Wednesdays can stop by for mass on the way. It is daily mass so it will be 30 minutes or less. This mass will be in addition to the 7:00 AM and the 8:30 AM mass schedule. To accommodate this, the Pro-Life Holy Hour and confessions will be moved to Tuesdays at 5:00 PM.

Looking around Savannah at the times daily mass is offered at all the parishes, we noticed that there is no weekday evening mass offered. Morning masses and noon masses are offered, but not one parish offers a daily mass in the late afternoon or evening.

Wednesday, July 8^th, it was announced that our Holy Father, Pope Francis, appointed Fr. Stephen Parkes, a priest of the Diocese of Orlando, as the new and 15^th Bishop of the Diocese of Savannah! I am thrilled at this news!

Happy July 4th weekend! On Saturday, we celebrated Independence Day! The founders of these United States of America looked tyranny in the face and threw it off. These flawed men saw a country that could be unified under one vision – freedom based in Divine and Natural Law and in just man-made laws.

June 29^th is the feast of Saints Peter and Paul – the two apostles and leaders of the early Church. Their witness of preaching and teaching culminated in the shedding of their blood – Peter by being crucified upside down and Paul by being beheaded.

Please pray for three of our sisters, Sr. Lisa, Sr. Catherine, and Sr. Carolyn, this week as they go on retreat!

Retreats are a time of rest and relaxation, rejuvenation and resolution. Time away from the normal pace of life for the sole purpose of being with, listening to, and speaking with Almighty God is a treasure!

At all the masses this weekend, our 2^nd graders experienced for the first time the wonderful grace and blessing of receiving the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ! Such joy and life fills us when we receive and now around 50 of our young people will be joining us around the Altar of the Lamb of God!

The Welcoming and Celebrating continue! At the 11:30 AM mass two people will receive Baptism, Confirmation, and First Communion. Four people will make a profession of faith and receive Confirmation and First Communion. One person will receive Confirmation. These 7 people join two others who made their professions of faith and received Confirmation and First Communion and another person who received Confirmation last week! What a blessing to welcome you all into the fullness of the Christian Faith!

Welcome back, brothers and sisters in Christ! Inexpressible joy fills my heart to overflowing that on this Pentecost Sunday we have the opportunity to gather around the altar of Almighty God in person as a family of faith for the first time since March 25^th – 9 Sundays! Today we celebrate the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and Mary 50 days after Easter.

We are reopening the Church for prayer and mass on May 25^th! The schedule at St. James will return that day. We will have confessions at 7:45 AM and mass open to all the Catholic faithful will begin at 8:30 AM. Daily mass will continue as normal. Pentecost Sunday, May 31^st will be our first Sunday back with a full schedule of masses.

Bittersweet are these days before us filled with Congratulations and news of Farewell.

Congratulations Class of COVID-19!

Schools are all ending in fascinating fashion these next couple weeks! All of the graduation ceremonies which were tradition in the past have to be done a little differently. It has been interesting to see the different ways that the schools are honoring their graduates not just here in Chatham County, but across the nation! The Faculty and Staff have really put together wonderful events for everyone given the pandemic limitations.

Today marks the 8^th Sunday in a row not having public masses or gatherings at the Church. The School has been closed for that time and so has the Early Learning Center. We have all adjusted to how we can provide ministry to each other and we have been creative to reach out and provide some type of community for you.

On Saturday, May 2^nd, our 2^nd graders were scheduled to make their First Communion. This has been postponed to the Solemnity of Corpus Christi which is celebrated on the weekend of June 13-14. Please keep them all in your prayers. 

As the clergy of St. James were speaking (we have weekly meetings), we realized that in the liturgical rhythm of the parish, the only Devotion to our Blessed Mother Mary is the rosary before the 9:00 AM mass on Saturday. We pray the rosary for life on Wednesdays and we pray a rosary at our 3:00 PM Holy Hour, but we need another specific devotion to our Lady.

What a glorious Easter Sunday and Easter Week! We are beginning this Easter Season which will last another 7 weeks until Pentecost on May 31^st! God willing, on that day at the 11:30 mass, we will have baptisms, Confirmations, and receive people into full communion with the Catholic Church! This is our Easter Hope! Please keep all of those people in your prayers!

Celebrating Easter in an empty church is something I never want to do again! Yet, just because the church was empty, doesn’t mean we can’t celebrate our redemption and the hope that Easter brings to us!

Today, we enter into a Holy Week like none of us have ever experienced. How difficult it is that we cannot gather together and celebrate these holiest of days which brought life, hope, and joy to each of us and the whole human race.

I was planning on taking a retreat the week of March 2-6. Well, two hours after I arrived at the Abbey where I was going to spend some nice quiet time with Jesus and take some wonderful rejuvenating naps, I was on the road back to Savannah!

Another Lent is here! What a beautiful season! We enter into this season with a focus on our spiritual lives and how we can deepen our relationship and love for Jesus. It is a time to evaluate how strong is our friendship with Him and how can it be strengthened.

My trip to Rome for the Ad Limina Apostolorum with Bishop Hartmayer and Bishop Boland was amazing and a trip that I will not forget! It was so stunning that I developed a cold and came down with Bronchitis which I got over at the beginning of the week!

The last two months on the 1^st and 3^rd Sundays, we have sung the Our Father (Pater Noster) in Latin. We began the First Sunday of Advent. After hearing from many parishioners, I have decided that we will no longer be singing this as part Latin in the mass Sundays.

This past week, if you missed it, two programs began again and picked up right where they left off! Walking with Purpose, our woman’s bible study, began again on Monday and That Man Is You, our men’s program, started back on Wednesday morning. Both of these programs have borne great fruit in the lives of the men and women attending them!

Sunday, January 26^th, marks the beginning of Catholic Schools Week! Each year, we celebrate the gift of Catholic Education, namely our Catholic Schools! Our parish celebrates the incredible gift our own St. James School has been, is, and will be to our parish and our community!

This weekend, January 18-19, 2020, we kickoff the Annual Catholic Appeal (ACA). The Diocese decided to change the name from the Bishop’s Annual Appeal to the Annual Catholic Appeal. This is a more accurate name because it is an appeal not for the Bishop of the Diocese of Savannah, but to support the growth of the Catholic faith and the practice of the faith by the people of the Diocese of Savannah.

Wednesday, January 8^th, the 2^nd graders experienced for the first time the Sacrament of Reconciliation! It was a beautiful evening! These young people received the gift of the Lord’s forgiveness and mercy through this Sacrament of Healing for the first time! This Sacrament is magnificent and is a treasure.

The Sunday after Christmas is named Holy Family Sunday. We celebrate the beauty of the relationship between Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. Often, you see JMJ at the top of a letter or card or document written by one of the Catholic faithful.

Here we are. The Last Sunday of Advent has arrived! It has been so quick this year! By now, I hope that all of you have your shopping done and there will be no more bustling around and running from this place to that place, from this party to that party. Rather, I hope and pray that these next two days can be spent with and in a good amount of quiet for you and your families.

We had an amazing week last week at St. James! Matt Fradd came to Savannah to be our speaker for our Advent Parish Mission. The mission was not only inspiring and called us all on to a greater and deeper holiness, but it was also very practical.

Brothers and Sisters in Christ, this fall, we participated in the Forming Disciples, Leading All to Christ program to increase our offertory for the purposes of increased evangelization opportunities and strengthening our ministries. This program gave everyone a chance to reevaluate what they were giving in the weekly offertory so that St. James could continue the good work being done and increase evangelization and outreach efforts. I would like to give a little report on the results in this Pastor’s Corner.

Today marks the 1^st Sunday of the New Liturgical Year for us! We begin every New Liturgical Year with these 4 weeks of Advent anxiously awaiting to celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ on December 25^th at Christmas! Here are a few ways we are marking this New Liturgical Year.

Congratulations, Dr. Les Haddad and Mrs. Cindi Vogel!

Today, Bishop Hartmayer will bestow the Bishop Gartland Award upon them at the 11:30 AM mass at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist. They are both a blessing to our parish. As they continue to serve, may we see in them an example of how to use our gifts and talents at the service of our fellow parishioners, our parish community, and our Church.

This year, I have nominated Dr. Les Haddad and Mrs. Cindi Vogel to receive the Bishop Gartland Award for their service to our parish community! Dr. Haddad has been leading the Sunday morning Bible Study for 15 years (give or take a few) on a consistent basis. His expertise and insights have helped many grow in the faith. Mrs. Vogel has been an usher at the 7:30 AM mass for 15 years (give or take a few). She always greets people with a smile and with great joy! She brightens up the early Sunday morning mass crowd.

The Eucharist is the Source and Summit of the Christian Life. There is no greater public display of union with Jesus Christ, union with the Church (her authority and her teaching), and union with our brothers and sisters in faith.

State Championship for the BC Raider Team! Congratulations to the BC Raider team who won the State Championship last weekend in Griffin, GA! A few young men from St. James are on the team and they represent us and their families very well. Good work men and congratulations from your St. James family!

Brothers and Sisters in Christ, thank you to all who have participated in our “Forming Disciples, Leading All to Christ” program by returning a Commitment Card! Only 20% of our parishioners have returned a Commitment Card. I am not sure why the percentage is so low. It should be 100%! Everyone, even if they cannot increase their gift, can fill one out and return it. They can check the box that they are praying for the success of this program.

Brothers and Sisters in Christ, I am overwhelmed by the response of so many of you who have participated in our “Forming Disciples, Leading All to Christ” program! I count as those who have participated NOT only those who increased their offertory, but those who have turned in a Commitment Card. Anyone who turns in a card receives a Thank you.

October is a great month of celebrating the Saints! No, I am not talking about my New Orleans Saints going on a winning streak and running roughshod over their NFL opponents. Though I do hope that happens, I am writing about all the many Saints we celebrate this month. Here is the list: St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus (the Little Flower) (October 1^st), our Holy Guardian Angels (have you ever celebrated your guardian angel? October 2^nd), St. Francis of Assisi (October 4^th), Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos (ministered here in the USA October 5^th), Our Lady of the Rosary (October 7^th), St. Denis and his companions (October 9^th), St. John XXIII (October 12^th), St. Theresa of Avila (October 12^th), St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (October 16^th), St. Ignatius of Antioch (October 17^th), St. Luke (October 18^th), Sts. John de Brébeuf, Isaac Jogues, and companions (the North American Martyrs were martyred here in our country and in Canada October 19^th), St. John Paul II (the Great! October 22^nd), St. John of Capistrano (October 23^rd), and Sts. Simon and Jude (Apostles October 28^th). How will you celebrate these brothers and sisters of ours who practiced heroic virtue?

Thank you for your overwhelmingly positive response to our “Forming Disciples, Leading All to Christ” Program. This Sunday is Commitment Sunday in the program. If you have filled out your commitment card, please put it in the basket as it is passed around. At each mass there will be a chance to complete a card and pass it in.

Our Mission as a parish is to get people to heaven, to form disciples and lead all to Christ. We do this by loving God and our neighbor. All our ministries are ordered in this love, to accomplish this goal.

Families celebrate each other! Our family in faith is no different! Two of our parishioners have accomplished some amazing physical feats in the past few weeks.

My brothers and sisters in Christ,

At this time each year, the financial position of the parish is distributed in the bulletin to all the parishioners for the sake of transparency and disclosure and to show good stewardship on the part of the Pastor, the Staff, and the Finance Council. This past year we ended in very good shape. Thank you for your continued generosity!

Last Sunday at the Chapel of Our Lady of Good Hope on the Isle of Hope (we celebrate mass there every 1^st Sunday of the month at 8:00 AM) at the end of mass, I was walking back through the front door and something caught my eye. A split and crushed goldfish was on the floor (not a real fish, the Pepperidge Farm Goldfish snack we all know and love!). My heart filled with joy! My soul soared! I was so happy!

Last Sunday we said goodbye to Fr. Jason Adams and Fr. John Paul Heiser, OSB! Today, we say Welcome to Father Peter Lanshima and Fr. Patrick May! We are blessed at St. James the Less to receive these two new priests! Each of them will bring their own personal gifts and talents and we look forward to seeing how Almighty God uses them to bring His Word to us and how He uses us to help form them as new priests!

Last Sunday afternoon, the church was filled with beautiful music flowing from the organ, the piano, and voice. Those of us present got a taste of the Divine while being blessed with such beauty! Lewis King, Charles Ancheta, and Catherine Lynch set our souls soaring to the heavens! Thank you!

Today, we are excited about the concert at 4:00 PM! Our summer seminarian, Lewis King, will be teaming up with our Music Director, Charles Ancheta, to produce a beautiful lineup of music, which will glorify Almighty God! Good music produced by skillful musicians and singers raises the heart and soul to heaven and brings us into contact with God who is all-beautiful. Please come! No tickets are needed and we will have a light reception afterwards.

Tuesday, July 16^th, the Church celebrates Our Lady of Mount Carmel. This is the biggest feast of the year for our Carmelite Sisters at Our Lady of Confidence Monastery on Coffee Bluff. Each year they have a Triduum of masses on the evenings of July 14, 15, and 16. Everyone is invited to attend! Since I have been here in Savannah, I have tried to make these masses and celebrate this great feast with them.

Last week all the announcements were made for the new assignments that impact life at St. James the Less. Fr. Jason Adams will be leaving after 5 years and going to St. John the Evangelist parish in Valdosta. Fr. John Paul Heiser, OSB, will be teaching full time at BC. We will be receiving two newly ordained priests, Fr. Patrick May and Fr. Peter Lanshima.

Last week was Trinity Sunday and Father’s Day. This Sunday is Corpus Christi! We celebrate that most precious gift from Our Lord Jesus – His Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity. He gives Himself to us in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass as food for our journey of faith. He gives Himself to us in the Blessed Sacrament to be adored and worshiped.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we celebrate today the Most Holy Trinity! God has revealed himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - One being, one substance, and three persons. This is the central mystery of faith. We profess it each time we recite the Creed, each time we make the sign of the Cross. These three persons work in us and in the world together and cannot be separated in their action. Though distinctions can be made, they cannot be separated.