On January 13 and 14 (two weekends ago), I went out to Holy Family Parish in Appalachia.  It was part of our twinning commitment.  Fr. Jugene, the pastor there, returned to the Philippines for some time off and to go on retreat.  The churches and congregations in Appalachia are very spread out—from Pocahontas to Grundy is about an hour and forty-five minutes!  It is very hard to get someone to say Mass that far out, and so I went out to say the full schedule of Masses over the weekend.  This allowed more people to get to church, especially since the weather was snow showers all weekend.
 
As it happened, there was also a death of a longtime parishioner in Pocahontas, and the funeral Mass was in the morning of January 13.  It was one of those “God Coincidences” that lifted worries from the family in this difficult time.  The people out there were very aware and thankful that we offered our support in this way.  I want you to know that your kindness in sharing me was very much appreciated.  It is always much easier for us to get a priest to fill in here in Richmond!
 
The weekend of February 17 and 18, I will be in Haiti visiting St. John the Baptist Parish and Fr. Elizier.  As with Appalachia, I go there to strengthen the relationship between our two communities.  The people there are extremely welcoming and always glad to see us.  These two “legs” of our twinning ministry (the third is St. Elizabeth parish here in Richmond) help these communities, but most importantly, they stress the relationship aspect of ministry—being the presence of Christ to each other.