St. Pius Catholic Church

Hello Everyone,

May the peace of Christ be with you.  It’s been a wild two weeks since I last posted on my blog here at Saint Pius X.  Here is a brief update.  On Wednesday April 28th, I left Saint Pius X to begin a short vacation.  First, I flew from the Quad Cities to Cleveland, Ohio were I spent 3 nights and 4 days with some friends of mine that I had not seen in three years.  The weather while in Cleveland was perfect, it was in the 70's and 80's the entire time I was out there and sunny everyday until the day I left, Saturday May, 1st.  That day Cleveland was slated to have severe thunderstorms.  Well by the grace of God, I was able to get out before the bad weather hit.  From Cleveland I flew to Washington D.C., rented a car, and drove up to Emmitsburg, Maryland (where I went to seminary at Mount Saint Mary’s Seminary) and to Fairfield, Pennsylvania where I served as a deacon before being ordained a priest.  While there I took out the Peoria seminarians at the Mount for a nice meal at Macaroni Grill in Frederick, Maryland; caught up with many of my old seminary professors, was able to celebrate mass at the old parish in Fairfield, blessed three houses, went to the Air and Space Smithsonian Museum, saw the Capital and Washington Monument, and had a good time with old friends in the area.  I was there until Friday May 7th.

It was also on Friday May 7th that I received a bomb shell before I came back here.  Early that morning, at 4am local time here, my grandmother who had been sick for 6 months had passed away in Chicago.  My brother woke me up that morning with the bad news, which was not how I wanted to finish my vacation.  By the grace of God, I was coming home that day anyway, so it worked out, however, my trip back to the Quad Cities took way too long with all the weather delays that day in Chicago and the Quad Cities.  I made it back to the rectory around 8:30pm that night, got on the phone immediately to cancel all my appointments for the week, paid my bills, and prepared my pay check so that I could drop it off the next day at the bank.  I went to bed, woke up early Saturday, said the 7am and 8am masses, went to the bank, got gas, and headed immediately to Chicago to be with my family.  I was only in the Quad Cities for 13 hours before I was gone again to Chicago to be with my family.  The visitation was last Sunday and the funeral mass was last Monday at Saint Bernadine Parish in Forest Park.  It was a pleasant surprise to see Fr. Schaab at the visitation and Barb Roedel, our pastoral associate, at the funeral mass.  I would like to also thank everyone for their support, prayers, and cards.  My family and I greatly appreciate everything from everyone.  My grandmother’s name is Antonia Markosek, may she rest in peace.

Now you would think that the madness would end there, but on Saturday the saga took yet another twist as well.  I was shopping at Hy-Vee here in Rock Island, for some bottled water, juice, and a few small items, when a woman I know from the area approached me and said to me, “Father I hear you are dying...”  She had a serious look on her face and everything.  I am happy to report that this is not true and that I am deathly ill as this woman had heard from someone.  I have a feeling messages got mixed up and that is where the confusion came in, but if you did hear this rumor, please ignore it, I am not dying, at least not anytime soon that I am aware of.  It was the last thing I was expecting to hear while at Hy-Vee this past Saturday, but it makes for a good story and something to laugh about. 

I would like to continue to invite everyone to continue praying about joining the pilgrimage that I will be spiritual director for coming up in October.  Your not going to want to miss this trip, we again are going to: Portugal, Spain, and France, with stops in: Fatima, Lisbon, Santarem, Salamanca, Avila, Burgos, Loyola & Lourdes from October 9-19, 2010.  Then there is also a post-trip excursion, for four more days in France, available for an extra fee to: Nevers (This is where St. Bernadette's incorrupt body is), Lisieux (To see the Carmelite Monastery where Saint Therese of Lisieux was a nun), Rouen, and Paris.  All the details and information, as well as, registration are available at: www.pilgrimages.com/frzorjan

For those who listen to the Christian Music Station K-Love here in the Quad Cities.  There are a couple of great Christian concerts coming up at the Adler Theater.  First on Friday night July 16th,  at 7:30pm Casting Crowns is coming to town with an opening act yet to be named.  My brother and I plan on attending the concert that night.  Also coming to town, in October on Sunday October 24th, to Adler is Steven Curtis Chapman.  I have seen both acts before live in concert and both put on a great show.  Tickets can be purchased through Ticketmaster. 

Otherwise than that there is not much else to report at this time.  Due to the fact, that I am trying to play catch-up this week after being gone for 2 weeks, I am not going to post a little lesson section this week.  However, this summer I plan on doing extended lessons on various controversial issues and topics that I think will intrigue and teach viewers of this blog quite a lot about Catholic teaching.

Till next time.

In Christ,

Father Peter Zorjan
Assistant Pastor at Saint Pius X