June 30, 2024

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

These past nine and half months at St. Edward/San Felipe de Jesus have been a great blessing to me. I am grateful for the warmth with which you welcomed me and especially your openness as you shared with me the challenges of the past, your hurt, anger and frustration as well as the blessings you have received. This openness helped me to quickly think and pray about a path to reinvigorate our parish community and make some changes that have borne fruit.

I am also grateful for the trust you placed in me as I began making changes to help our community to more prayerfully and reverently pray while at the same time reinforcing the dignity of all the ministers at Mass.

Your willingness to pray last November about how much you were giving to our parish resulted in amazing generosity. This generosity allowed us to end the fiscal year in the black, but more importantly, to things such as invest more money in our youth ministry, the music at our Masses and address some delayed maintenance issues.

I am edified by the zeal you have shown in sharing your faith and inviting people to our parish. Each Sunday I have met people that have come for the first time to our parish because of the good things you are telling friends and neighbors about what is happening here. Please continue to spread the good news.

Many have asked what I will do after July. I have started to reach out to friends to reconnect with them and I am also planning to go with a priest friend for some vacation in Canada later this summer. Additionally, I have been asked to plan and coordinate the retreat for the US Bishops which will be next June in San Diego.

Please know of my gratitude for your friendship, openness, trust and faith. I hope to see you around the diocese as well as at St. Edward/San Felipe. With my prayers and gratitude,

In Christ,

Bishop Tim Freyer

June 23, 2024

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Deacon Mike and Rosy Stock have been a great blessing to our parish over these many years, first as parishioners and then as a deacon couple. Apart from the many baptisms celebrated and homilies preached by Deacon Mike, they have served in a variety of ministries, have helped coordinate the activities of our outreach ministry and were instrumental in the building of our new pastoral center. Most recently, they stepped to lead The Chosen Bible Study, bringing their great wisdom and deep faith to the sessions each week. I am grateful for all that Rosy and Mike have done for the parish as well as for their friendship. Deacon Mike has been serving as a deacon in our parish since he was ordained in 2015 and now the diocese is moving Deacon Mike and Rosy to another assignment, effective July 1st. Please join me in giving thanks to God for their ministry here at St. Edward’s and praying for them as they begin the next chapter of their ministry. You will have an opportunity to express your gratitude to Deacon Mike and Rosy next weekend after the 11:00 a.m. Mass.

As we have been hearing from the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel at Mass, I would recommend an engaging novel by Michael O’Brien about Ezekiel, “By the Rivers of Babylon” published by Ignatius Press (also available on Amazon, Kindle, etc.). Although it is a novel, O’Brien is as accurate as possible given that Ezekeil lived some 2,500 years ago. I encourage you to add this to your summer reading list.

In Christ,

Bishop Tim Freyer

June 16, 2024

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I received a distressing phone call on June 1st around 10:00 p.m. from Fr. Thomas Naval, pastor of Santiago de Compostela Parish in Lake Forest. Fr. Thomas told me that they had their parish appreciation dinner and that Fr. Marco Hernandez had been enjoying the celebration but then said he wasn’t feeling too well and left. Soon after that Fr. Marco collapsed and we learned that the paramedics were treating him. Subsequently, he was admitted to Saddleback Memorial’s ICU and received the sacrament of the sick. Over the course of the next week, many of us, including all the priests continued to pray for Fr. Marco while his family arrived to be with him. Fr. Marco never regained consciousness and then last Monday we heard he developed sepsis. At that point Bishop Vann went to the hospital to anoint Fr. Marco again and to give him the Apostolic Pardon and prayed with Fr. Marco’s family. A little after 8:00 p.m. Fr. Marco went to the Lord.

Fr. Marco was ordained to the priesthood in 2000 originally for the Franciscans in Guadalajara, Mexico and eventually became a priest our Diocese. He served at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church, Santa Ana (2015-2018), here at St. Edward’s (2018-2023) and at Santiago de Compostela Church (2023-2024). I found Fr. Marco to be filled with joy, faith, hope and zeal. He was an excellent priest and many of you have shared with me how he touched your life and brought you closer to the Lord. At this writing, we will have a memorial Mass here in our Diocese and Fr. Marco will then be buried in his native Mexico. Please pray for the repose of his soul as well as for the consolation of his family. May he rest in peace.

In Christ,

Bishop Tim Freyer