Dominican Laity in Tallahassee

13 SEPTEMBER 2014. Today the Lay Dominicans del Espiritu Santo celebrate six new temporarily professed members of the Order. All this, from a gathering of two or three more than seven years ago. Praise God!

Laying on of Hands

Archbishop Wenski lays hands on Bishop Gregory Parkes during his ordination of 5 June 2012. Bishop Noonan, Bishop of Orlando, is seen in the background.

IMAGE: Catholic News Agency.

Habemus Episcopum!

5 JUNE 2012. Today, the Memorial of Saint Boniface, in the presence of Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganό, Apostolic nuncio to the United States, Gregory Lawrence Parkes was ordained to the Order of Bishop and installed as the Fifth Bishop of the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee. Praise be to God for His goodness and to the Holy Father for the favor of his consideration of our mission church. Archbishop Wenski, Archbishop of Miami, was the principal consecrator with co-consecrators Bishop Felipe Estévez, Bishop of St. Augustine, and Bishop John Noonan, Bishop of Orlando.

Bishop Parkes has taken as his episcopal motto: "Nomini Tuo Da Glorium." ("To Your Name, Give the Glory"). And, certainly we shall under Bishop Parkes' pastoral guidance and care.

Truly our diocese is blessed to again have a shepherd of this pilgrim flock, and we pray that Bishop Parkes will be, as Bishop Ricard was before him, a good and caring and faithful pastor of our North Florida Catholic community.

A complete copy of the celebration guide (the libretto) can be found here. Bishop Parkes' Libretto.

A complete replay of the Ordination and Installation Liturgy can be heard tonight on Divine Word Radio at 9:00 p.m. Divine Word Radio can be heard online here.

NOVUS:

More than 2,000 of the faithful, including 22 bishops, 120 priests, and 54 deacons were on hand today to worship our Lord in the Holy Eucharist and celebrate the ordination and installation of Bishop Gregory Parkes. An FSU alum and self-proclaimed "die hard Nole," Parkes' ordination today required tents and a closed circuit television broadcast to accommodate the faithful at St. Paul Catholic Church in Pensacola. Certainly one of those on hand was Father Stephen Parkes, the older brother of the bishop and a priest in the Diocese of Orlando.

NOVUS SECUNDUS:

In a liturgy that touched several times on the legacy of Saint Boniface, whose memorial the universal Church celebrated today, two themes were woven into the words addressed by the Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Viganό, and Archbishop Wenski. The first was a lighthearted needling of Bishop Parkes for his imposing 6' 8" frame. As Archbishop Wenski put it, "As Bishop Parkes assumes his role I can assure you, with God's grace and your support and prayers, he will not be in over his head."

The second theme, though more serious, addressed the sanctity and nature of the call to the fullness of the priesthood as a bishop. Again, Archbishop Wenski stated: "A call to the order of the episcopate is a complete abandonment to the mystery of the Cross; the mystery of Love." The second reading of mass, from the Second Epistle of Saint Paul to Timothy, provided the sounding for Archbishop Wenski's words to echo: "I am not ashamed, for I know Him in whom I have
believed . . . ." (2 Timothy 1:12)

NOVUS TERTIUS:

From Bishop Parkes' statement at the end of his ordination and installation liturgy.

And so, the work continues now. This year provides us with a wonderful opportunity to continue to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ.

. . . .

It is my hope and my prayer that this will indeed be a year of faith here in the Diocese of Pensacola and throughout the Universal Church. And, in this local diocese, which has such missionary roots and still continues to be a missionary diocese today, that each of us will accept the challenge of spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ--the eternal truths of our faith--in new ways: the new evangelization. As our Holy Father says, and I think most effectively: by witnessing to our faith and teaching our faith through the witness of our lives.

It is my hope and my prayer, as your shepherd here, that I will help to lead you and to guide you in that effort.

. . . .

Again, it is my hope and my prayer that all that we do here in the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee, that all that we do as a church, may always be for the glory of His name. 

May God bless you.

Ordination Week

4 JUNE 2012. For a host of visitors and for the locals in this mission diocese, today kicks off Ordination week in the Panhandle and Big Bend of Florida. Of course, the highlight of the week will be the ordination of FSU alum Bishop Gregory L. Parkes as the fifth Bishop of Pensacola-Tallahassee. As many in this area of the Catholic world have not personally seen the ordination of a bishop (all of the diocese's previous bishops had already been ordained to the Order of Bishop prior to arriving in our Gulf-side see), there is a good deal of excitement in the Catholic community, and tomorrow's ordination promises to bring a tremendous crowd that will stretch both the host Church and overflow areas' capacity.

Here is a rundown of the liturgical celebrations for Bishop Parkes' ordination:

Tonight: 4 June 2012, 7:00 p.m. (CDT)
Vespers, Cathedral of the Sacred Heart
Pensacola

Tomorrow: 5 June 2012, 2:00 p.m. (CDT)
Memorial of Saint Boniface
Ordination and Installation Liturgy, St. Paul Catholic Church
Pensacola

Saturday: 9 June 2012, 5:00 p.m. (CDT)
Mass of Thanksgiving, St. Dominic Catholic Church
Panama City

Sunday: 10 June 2012, 11:45 a.m. (EDT)
Mass of Thanksgiving, Co-Cathedral of St. Thomas More
Tallahassee

Sunday: 24 June 2012, 11:30 a.m. (CDT)
Mass of Thanksgiving, St. Mary Catholic Church
Fort Walton Beach

Thank you Father Perez

Great thanks must be extended to the pastor of St. Stephen parish in Pensacola, Father Hector Perez, for the gift of his celebration of the Gregorian Rite--the extraordinary form of the Liturgy of the Church yesterday in Quincy.

Thank you Father Perez for your travel, your ministry, and the blessing of your presence with us in the Tallahassee area.

Deus Gratia! Summorum Pontificum in the Tallahassee Area

30 APRIL 2012. On this day, the feast day of Saint Pope Pius V, the Summorum Pontificum returned to the eastern half of the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee, after a years long hiatus. Thank you to Archbishop Thomas Wenski for insisting on the reinstitution of the extraordinary form of the Holy Liturgy of the Church, in this mission corner of the Catholic world.

At 7:00 p.m. this evening, Father Hector R. G. Perez Y Robles, STD celebrated a low mass at St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church in Quincy, Florida, returning the oral expression of the the Holy Church's mother tongue to this area for the first time in several years. 

Father Nicholas Schumm, administrator of St Thomas the Apostle, and one of the several wonderful young priests that we have been blessed with in this diocese, was a welcoming and gracious host for the mass, which will be held at least once monthly at the Church. 

Mark your calendars now, the next extraordinary form mass will be 18 June at 7:00 p.m.

For the Priests of the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee

Co-Cathedral of Saint Thomas More

Tallahassee, Florida

19 APRIL 2010. This week is a week of retreat and reflection for the priests of our diocese.They are meeting with our bishop, John Ricard, S.S.J., who is fighting the good fight to recover from ill health. Mass today in Tallahassee was only offered at my home parish of Good Shepherd by a retired priest who lives nearby.

So, a word of thanks for all our wonderful priests of the diocese, and a word of thanks and encouragement to Bishop Ricard for his tremendous pastoral leadership. In many ways I have personally seen his leadership of the diocese bring a blessing of increased faith and an increase in the sacraments.

Prayer

Loving God, 
You have blessed the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee
with many faithful and wonderful workers for the vineyard, 
and the life of the Church here has blossomed
under their care, and for Your Glory.
Grant, we beseech Thee, to look over and guard our priests.
Keep them strong in their ministry;
preserve them from doubt and sin;
and provide for them every grace in abundance to serve You 
and Your people, the Body of Christ.

Amen.