Dear fellow parishioners of St. Francis Xavier:

A couple of weeks ago I celebrated the first anniversary of my arrival here at our parish. It has been a year of adjustment, change and challenge. As you know by now, St. Francis Xavier is different from any of the other four parishes of which I was pastor.

I am grateful for many things, first among them your warm welcome (and not simply because I arrived in July!) and cooperation. This is the longest time I have lived out of state in my time as a priest and in the process I have come to like the desert, the slower pace and the fact that, even before Covid, I hardly use my car. Nice to live so close to work! (PS: I am not missing San Jose.)

I am grateful for my Jesuit community. I could not imagine a nicer group of people to be marooned with during a pandemic!