Dear Parishioners,This weekend we officially welcome our new parochial vicar, Rev. Fr. José Manuel Campos Garcia (or Fr. Manuel or short), who was recently ordained with nine other men by Archbishop Vlazny. I encourage you to invite him to your homes and share your lives with him. In his time with us, he will be learning about the day-to-day workings of parish life. He will become more comfortable in his celebration of the Sacraments. He will learn from your generous love about how great the life of a priest truly is. And for this I want to thank you all ahead of time for such love. It is important to support our priests, especially those who are newly ordained.
As per all our previous parochial vicars, Fr. Manuel will take the latter part of Thursday and all of Friday as his personal time off. During the week, Fr. José and I will trade off being on call for emergencies as they arise. He will be staying in the same apartment as Fr. Dominic, but hopefully will be transferred to a difference residence once we are able to secure the needed loan and purchase a place that we do not have to rent.
Fr. Manuel hails from the state of Michoacan in Mexico which means that he is fluent in Spanish. I can testify, and you will soon learn for yourself, that he is also very fluent and clear in English. Being Mexican, I am sure that many of our Hispanic parishioners will be encourage by his example of faith and ability to minister to them in their native language. However, he is not coming just for our Hispanic community, but for all our community. I believe you will find him to be kind and welcoming to everyone. He is a very kind-hearted man.
It will take some time for him to get adjusted to the Grants Pass area, but your openness to helping him in this transition will be very important. Thank you for your love and let us welcome aboard, Fr. Manuel with our typical St. Anne’s enthusiasm.
Blessings,
Fr. William Holtzinger
Pastor