Fr. Todd Bulletin Article 7/19/26

Dear Sacred Heart and St. Mary on the Lake,

                 A big thank you to Katie Mocny and all the volunteers who helped to put on Totus Tuus this year!  It is a blessing for all of our kids.  Thank you to our missionaries who were willing to spend a summer serving in parishes throughout our Diocese.

                 It has been a blessing having Fr. Kusi move into the rectory at St. Mary on the Lake and it will be a great blessing to have his help when I take some time for vacation the end of July/first part of August.  With Fr. Paul being gone to cover St. Anthony’s, Fr. Kusi is able to celebrate Masses while I am gone. 

 As I have mentioned at Masses where we introduced Fr. Kusi, for the time being he is not going to be distributing Communion.  I ask that our Extraordinary Ministers of Communion please help at Masses that he is celebrating. This is due to nerves to his hands being weakened after a heart attack a couple of years ago that have robbed him of his grip strength.  He particularly doesn’t want to drop the Eucharist while attempting to give Communion.  He is in physical therapy to regain strength and mobility.  Fr. Kusi loves being a priest and is looking forward to being able to distribute Communion again.  (He also loves playing golf and is looking forward to being able to hang on to a golf club again).

The USCCB has established July 19-25, 2026 as Natural Family Planning (NFP) Awareness Week.  I think many people know the Church doesn’t support contraception but does support Natural Family planning.  But they often have no idea why that is, and the loudest voice offering perspective on this question is usually the voice of the world.  There are important truths well worth wrestling with and understanding differences between Contraception and NFP.

  In light of this week I wanted to mention a couple of resources you might find helpful.

Patrick Coffin’s The Contraception Deception: Catholic Teaching on Birth Control.  In The Contraception Deception, you'll learn where exactly the Bible teaches against birth control, the differences between contraception and natural family planning (hint: they're more profound than you think), why other reproductive technologies fall short of God's vision for marriage and family, and—most importantly—how to rely on the ever-present grace of God rather than your own strength in faithfully following this challenging, life-giving aspect of Christian discipleship. 

  The world often wonders why God, and Church, cares so much about all this.  It is because He cares about us and His teachings, including guidelines around sex and marriage, are rooted in a positive understanding of the human person.  A great book in this regard that does a nice job giving the “why’s” behind various teachings is a book by Christopher West: Good News about Sex & Marriage (Updated, Expanded & Revised Edition): Answers to your honest questions about Catholic Teaching. 

 The USCCB also has a number of good resources on their website: https://www.usccb.org/topics/natural-family-planning/what-natural-family-planning

God Bless,

Fr. Todd