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We take this opportunity to once again thank God for his enduring mercies and goodness to us as a parish community, and as individuals. I am grateful to you for yielding yourselves to the Holy Spirit and allowing him use you to expand the Kingdom through your service to God in our parish... Our parish month of stewardship is in its fourth and last week.... [Click to read more]

We are happy to announce that, thanks to our partnership with Notre Dame Federal Credit Union, all parishioners, staff, and families are also eligible for membership. [Click to read more]

Thank you for your generosity of heart and openness of spirit as we are now two weeks into our parish stewardship month. Last Sunday I called each one of us to examine our attitude to giving to our parish as giving to the Lord. I also asked you to pray about it and make your donations to the parish. This was not intended to be a one-time act, but a mindset shift - a change in our attitude to money that would then translate to our continued support for the parish and her mission... [Click to read more]

I write you this short note as I prepare to celebrate the funeral Mass for my beloved grandmother, Theresa, in her native home of Ekekhen in lgueben (ask me how to pronounce these when I return) Local Government Area of Nigeria. I thank you for all the prayers for me and my family during these days...While I have been busy with preparation for the funeral, I am also praying for you and thinking about you. October 1 is the feast of our patron, St. Thérèse. We ask her heavenly intercession for our parish, that we may own our littleness, and walk in our Belovedness as sons and daughters of God. [Click to read more]

“Who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand” (1 Chronicles 29:14).    Toddlers learn to delineate their territories very quickly. They declare emphatically, “Mine!” Somehow this is one of the first words they learn. But this is more than just a word, it is an attitude, the attitude that what another has belongs to them. We learn at a very early age to grasp for things and to claim them as our own. This lesson then continues through life as we chase stuff. Sometimes it seems as though our whole existence is about the pursuit of more...

In Deuteronomy chapter 16, God admonished the people of Israel concerning freewill offering. This was to be freely determined, but proportionate to the blessing they had received from God. They were to bring their offerings into the place of worship with rejoicing. In verse 16 God says, “No one should appear before the Lord empty-handed.” God did not want anyone to be left out in this act of giving on the pretext that they possessed nothing to give. Everyone was to bring in their offerings that were commensurate with what they had first received.

Last week I posed a question for our collective reflection: “Is St. Therese, Little Flower my parish or a parish I go to?” I am aware that the majority of those who read my letters are registered parishioners at our parish, but there are some who are not registered yet or still on the fence about committing to our parish. We also have people from other parishes who participate at our parish events and mostly worship with us but are still discerning whether to become members at Little Flower. We would love to have you all register. But whatever your status, I think we can all pray about this question and ask what the Lord is calling us to, or asking of us, in relation to the parish. [Click to read more]

When you hear the word “stewardship” what readily comes to your mind? Let me guess: money? You are correct. Like many of you, I strongly believe the church has not done a great job in explaining the biblical concept of stewardship. And because people often learn by association, and we only talk about stewardship when there is a capital campaign, people tend to understand stewardship as only having to do with money. Whereas stewardship includes money, it is more than that. It is where the concepts of faith, work and economics intersect. There is therefore the need for a proper understanding of stewardship as a biblical concept - one that God commands, one that God expects from all of us, and one that God rewards.

On August 15, the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, I marked the 14th anniversary of my ordination to the sacred priesthood. I cannot sufficiently express in words my gratitude to God for calling me to share in the priesthood, which is rightfully Christ’s, despite my obvious unworthiness. I am also grateful for the many good people the Lord has put in my life, who have truly been a blessing to me and help me be a better human and a good priest. The occasion offered me the opportunity to once again reflect on how I am stewarding the ministry that has been entrusted to me. I took time to repent for past sins and wrongs and to rededicate myself to the service of God and of his people. [Click to continue reading]