Sorry I haven’t posted in a couple of days, but we have been preparing for our annual retreat for our current deacon candidate class, coming up next weekend, during which they will be installed in the ministry of Lector by the bishop.  I’ve also headed to the neighboring Diocese of Fresno to facilitate their annual Clergy Convocation.  Today I met with Bishop Armando Ochoa and the presbyterate of the Diocese.  Since the diaconate is still relatively new in the Diocese, we spent the day talking about the diaconate in general and responding to questions and concerns that the priests had.  But this is all preliminary to the matters we’ll work on tomorrow: pastoral planning in the Diocese.  Tomorrow the deacons join us and we’re going to talk about the annual pastoral planning process we’re developing in the Diocese of Monterey and see how a similar process might help in Fresno.

So, as the clergy of the Diocese prayerfully discern their next steps in strategic pastoral planning, please keep all of us in your prayers!  Please pray for our deacon candidates and their families in Monterey, and for our neighbors in Fresno!