August 30th, 2025

My sisters and brothers in Jesus Christ,
We celebrate Labor Day this weekend.  We remember that while many of us have the day off to enjoy with friends and family, there are many who still labor under heavy burdens.  There are people unjustly held as slaves who labor for others.  There are people who labor in occupations and in work that dehumanizes them and fails to recognize human dignity.  We pray and must work to end exploitation, child labor, and work that destroys than builds up.
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The last couple of weeks required a lot of labor.  Bishop Rob Lyons has been hard at work on a Catechism for the Ordinariate, re-writing Eucharistic liturgies, and working on a Daily Office.  I have been trying to make contributions when and where possible.  I know the hope is to have texts available for publication near the end of this year.  I am very excited about this process.

Once these texts are published, I will begin working towards establishing this as an extended parish ministry with recordings of the liturgy and participating in daily prayer rotations for the Daily Office.  I am waiting on the final version of the texts as it does not make sense to begin this ministry and revise it so soon after beginning.  Please pray as we work towards making this next step a reality.

Another labor has been the creation of videos for our faith formation channel.  I uploaded a couple of videos on topics of Sacraments of Vocations as well as the issue of being Sacramentalized but not Evangelized.  I will link these videos below.  Moreover, the YouTube short videos are gaining traction.  There are a couple of ideas I am thinking through to expand the shorts later next year.

Next Lent, I am working on a series of videos to focus on the liturgical season – both longer videos as well as YouTube Shorts.  I recorded videos regarding Holy Week, Repentance and Conversion, Models of the Atonement, Sacraments as making the Paschal Mystery effective as longer videos.  I still have a few longer videos I want to record on topics such as the Passion narratives and the Descent into Hell.  I have also been working on YouTube Shorts on Ash Wednesday, a brief history of Lent, and Lenten conversion.  I hope to record several more on topics such as the Stations of the Cross and discipleship.  I am very excited to be working through this Lenten project.  I pray that it may be a fruitful season to listen to the call of Jesus.

There is much work that we have done to make Jesus Christ visible and alive to the world but much more is needed.  I pray that our work is fruitful and faithful to the mission of Jesus Christ.  Pray for us who are at work and laboring in the Lord’s vineyard.  We lift you up in our prayers.  May you find that the yoke and burden of Jesus is light so that we can rejoice together in the house of the Lord.
Peace,
Rev. Ben