A month ago Fr. Mark became aware of a new rumor/gossip going around the parish. A month ago the rumor was Fr. Mark was leaving in July. Last week it was Fr. Mark is leaving in September. Today, it is Fr. Mark is quitting.

All of these rumors/gossip are untrue.

It is for this reason Fr. Mark ran a quote from Pope Francis in my column in Sunday’s bulletin. [see below]

Please, let us focus on the truth of the Gospel and not believe gossip as true unless you hear it from the primary source, Fr. Mark in this case.

Thank you.
Please consider the following comments from Pope Francis made at a General Audience on 27 August 2014: “…And let us consider not only the schisms, let us consider the very common lapses in our communities, ‘parochial’ sins, those sins in the parishes. Sometimes, in fact, our parishes, called to be places of sharing and communion, are sadly marred by envy, jealousy, antipathy.... And gossip which everyone passes on. There is so much gossip in parishes! It is not good. For example, when one is elected president of that association, they gossip about him. And when another is elected president of Catechesis, the others gossip about her. But this is not the Church. This is not what one should do, we must not do it! We must ask the Lord for the grace not to do it. This happens when we aim for first place; when we place ourselves at the centre, with our personal ambitions and our ways of seeing things, and we judge others; when we look at our brothers faults instead of their talents; when we give more weight to what divides us instead of to what we have in common....
“In the face of all of this, we must make a serious examination of conscience. In a Christian community, division is one of the gravest sins, because it makes it a sign not of God’s work, but of the devil’s work, who is by definition the one who separates, who destroys relationships, who insinuates prejudice.... Division in a Christian community, whether in a school, a parish, or an association, it is a very grave sin, because it is the work of the Devil. God, instead wants us to develop the capacity to welcome, to forgive and to love each other, to be ever more like Him, who is communion and love. The Church’s holiness consists in this: in recognizing herself in God’s image, showered with his mercy and his grace.”