Preview of your new (slow) ride to school this year!

                        Here is a preview of the new commute to St. Paul's during construction!

Baptism!

I had the honor of baptizing little Emma Lee Denton this weekend.
As you can tell from this picture, both of her parents are Marines!
May God bless Emma and her parents Mike and Kristen.

Little Emma Lee

A few words about the beauty of baptism

A blessing with water

A happy little girl! 

Thank you Kristen and Mike for allowing me
to be part of this special sacrament. 

Construction Update at St. Paul's

Lot's of fun construction is going on at St. Paul's.
Here are the latest photos:

The gigantic corkscrew machine digs a big hole

The 'spider machine' reaches into the kindergarten courtyard

This one looks like a strongman game tower (?)
I'm not sure what it's doing.....


                                   

Building our bright new future is underway!  

I like a pope who likes iPods and beer...

I love this recent quote from our new Pope Francis:

"We need saints without cassocks, without veils - we need saints with jeans and tennis shoes. We need saints that go to the movies that listen to music, that hang out with their friends. We need saints that place God in first place ahead of succeeding in any career. We need saints that look for time to pray every day and who know how to be in love with purity, chastity and all good things. We need saints - saints for the 21st century with a spirituality appropriate to our new time. We need saints that have a commitment to helping the poor and to make the needed social change.

We need saints to live in the world, to sanctify the world and to not be afraid of living in the world by their presence in it. We need saints that drink Coca-Cola, that eat hot dogs, that surf the internet and that listen to their iPods. We need saints that love the Eucharist, that are not afraid or embarrassed to eat a pizza or drink a beer with their friends. We need saints who love the movies, dance, sports, theater. We need saints that are open sociable normal happy companions. we need saints who are in this world and who know how to enjoy the best in this world without being callous or mundane. We need saints."

Newest Festival Ride Delivered

Here it comes....

...and there it goes! 

Looks like they are busy creating our new mud wrestling pit.

Surreal...

The old convent is gone.

The new school now begins....

Thanks to Michael Hong for capturing this historic moment in time.

People: John O'Keefe

Patti and John O'Keefe

Please keep our buddy John O'Keefe in your prayers today. John was diagnosed with a skin cancer and is having a procedure and some further testing up at UCLA today.

John is a renaissance  man who has had an incredible impact on St. Paul's including being one of the founders of the St. Paul's School Foundation and the St. James Inn. John has served on virtually every committee that exists and is one heck of a special guy. His daughters all went to St. Paul's school and John and his beautiful wife Patti are regulars at the 9:30 Sunday mass. John also attends the daily mass after which you can catch him at Peet's Coffee in Westwood Village which he like to refer to his 'second office'.

John, if you read this (which we know you won't since you never open your computer) we love you pal and we've got you covered with prayers from every angle! We'll miss you at the O'Groats Business Breakfast this morning, but we'll have an extra pancake in your honor!
Grace + Peace to you buddy! 

Wow! More New Video!

The metal monster eats away at the convent!

Thanks to Michael Hong for the amazing video.

Moving right along!

There goes the last of the convent! 

Are you one of the 72?

Great Gospel today about 72 who went out to spread peace.
Yes, we are all one of the 72. You and me included.

We are the 72 people who are encouraged to bring peace to all around us.
To those who feel beat down.
To those who feel burned out.
To those who feel lost.

We are sent to bring them a smile, a hug, a little hope.
We are part of the 72.
Go spread the peace...

Great Work at Sycamore and Romaine!

The 'St. Paul's Seven' was out doing great ministry work tonight at the intersection of Sycamore and Romaine in West Hollywood serving the homeless.

Many thanks to:

Matt & Theresa Kiene (current St. Paul's school parents)

Matt & Mary McCoy (former St. Paul's school parents) 

Mary Ann & Juliet Bertolucci (SPA administrator / graduate of St. Paul's) 

and Rick Bisetti (former St. Paul's parent and extraordinary church usher!) 

Juliet & Mary Ann Bertolucci

Food Line at Work! 

Matt McCoy, Theresa Kiene and Rick Bisetti

Matt Kiene (the cup cake guy!) 

The intersection of Sycamore and Romaine

St. Paul's Sycamore and Romaine outreach is the first Wednesday of each month.

If you want to join us, sign up at SycamoreandRomaine.com

You will love it and we would love to have you! 

What the YELP is going on at St. Paul's?

I recently did a YELP search for a Catholic Church in our 90024 parish zip code.
That's a way a lot of people could find our amazing church.

Obviously I figured that St. Paul's would come up first, right?
Wrong...
In fact, St. Paul's didn't even come up on page one. What the YELP is that all about!
It seems like we don't have any reviews about our parish so we don't come up.

St. Paul's was unfortunately way down the list at No. 19 behind some of these folks:

1. St Timothy's church in the 90064.
3. The "Core" Christian Church in the 90232.
4. St. Monica's
7. St. Thomas Episcopal
12 Agape International
.....
19. St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church

To check it out just go to YELP and search for 'Catholic Church' and '90024'
Let's let the world know who we are!

Farewell to Mr. R's Room!

Here is the latest construction photo.
They tore down almost half of the convent today!

The convent is coming down!