brother/deacon/father

during the consecration

Dear Family and Friends,

Friday was my first mass at the Catholic school I help out at, Royalmont Academy. Until now, the kids there have known me only as “Brother” or “Deacon” Kevin, so it was fun returning under a different alibi! Almost everyone did a double take – “Hello Deacon… I mean Father, Kevin”! To be honest, I still find myself calling myself Deacon Kevin.

with the servers after mass

I had the privilege of making one of the greatest end-of-mass announcements of all time: “There will be ice cream for everyone in the cafeteria!”

Truly a wonderful day. It sure is great being a priest! (and the ice cream helps!)

God bless,

Father Kevin

www.cblstones.com

a healthy reminder

plowing!

Dear Family and Friends,

I’m on my way back to Cincinnati from Sacred Heart Apostolic School in Rolling Prairie, Indiana. It was wonderful spending the last week there in my old stomping grounds. On Sunday, the feast of the 3 Kings, we were inundated with snow, so I had a chance to help with the plowing. Great fun!

 

baby priest sign

Then today, I thought I’d try to make it back to Cincinnati. The roads were pretty bad, and there were several jams waiting for vehicles to be cleared. I got a little impatient at one, but then was helped by the friendly-reminder-scripture-verse on the back of the truck I sat behind for half an hour: “But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus – the work of telling others the news about the wonderful grace of God.” (Acts 20:24) That’s my life in a nutshell! It inspired me to go and talk to the people waiting in the other cars – turns out that truck in front of me was full of stuntmen and their portable stunt ramp!

 

a healthy reminder

The Holy Spirit worked things out so I stopped in Indianapolis for the night, and a kind friend is putting me up. Hopefully the roads will be better tomorrow so I’ll make it for the big first mass Friday at the school!

God bless you,

Father Kevin

www.cblstones.com

at the Apostolic School

snowy and cold day at Sacred Heart Apostolic School today

Dear Family and Friends,

The last few days I’ve been here at Sacred Heart Apostolic School in Rolling Prairie, Indiana. I gave my priestly memoirs (vocation story) to the boys on the 31^st, and right now I’m helping out at the annual Christmas Games, when boys from around the Midwest come here to play and compete against each other along with the students here at the school.

telling the boys the story of my calling

Tomorrow I’m celebrating one of my first masses. It’s a big feastday – the anniversary of the foundation of my congregation – so it should be a beautiful mass.

posada procession

This evening we had a “posada”, a special meal that starts with a candlelight procession through the house. The idea is to accompany Mary and Joseph as they searched for a place for the first Christmas. The procession gets rejected at several stops, but is finally welcomed into the dining room where we have a huge meal. They put on the posada in honor of all of the new priests (though I was the only one present!). It was a lot of fun, and I even got to run the Bingo game!

I would like to reimburse the school for the costs of the posada, so if anyone would like to help, I think it probably cost them $400 or so for the food (cheeseburgers and French fries and ice cream) for the 60 of us. If you’d like to help, you could make a donation online through paypal, or send one, my address is 7196 Willowood Drive, Cincinnati, OH 45241.

It sure is tiring keeping up with 60 boys, but I love it! We played capture the flag today, and though we almost all froze solid, there’s nothing like it.

May God bless you all,

Father Kevin

www.cblstones.com

baby priest

laying on of hands

Dear Family and Friends,

 

It’s been about two weeks since ordination. Here is a 3 minute video with highlights from the ceremony.

 

 

I want to thank you for your prayers. I really mean that! During the retreat before ordination and during the ordination itself, I felt a tremendous peace, a peace that I knew couldn’t come from my own efforts or merits. So many people had told me that they would be praying for me, and I know that’s where the peace really came from.

 

I’m still just a baby priest now, but I must say it’s totally incredible holding Jesus in your hands and forgiving sins in his name. I wake up every morning, still sometimes on the wrong side of the bed, but then I think, “Hey, I’m a priest! What a gift!”

 

Right now I’m in Rolling Prairie, Indiana, at Sacred Heart Apostolic School, a school for boys open to the priesthood. I’ve always loved it here, and it’s great to be back as a priest!

 

Have a happy new year, and may God bless you!

Father Kevin

www.cblstones.com

a priest for ever

with Mom and Dad after the ordination

Dear Family and Friends,

I just made it back to the US and will be spending Christmas in Wisconsin.

Words are just words, and the gift God has given me this Christmas is beyond them. I can only thank Him, thank my family, and thank all of you for your prayers and support.

Know that you will be in my prayers in a special way during midnight mass this evening, and have a very Merry and Blessed Christmas!

God bless you,

Father Kevin

www.cblstones.com

this is it

Dear Family and Friends,

Tonight we go on retreat. Please blanket all of us 31 deacons with your prayers, especially on the 14^th! I will be praying for you.

God bless you,

Deacon Kevin

back in Rome and all is well

Dear Family and Friends,

Happy Thanksgiving!

It’s great to be back in Rome and in the old stomping grounds. Almost all of my fellow deacons have arrived.

Today the brothers here made pumpkin pie from scratch for all of us – yum! As well – surprise, surprise – we had turkey!

after the football tournament

In the afternoon there was a football tournament. My team was made up of two Mexicans, three Americans, one guy from Vietnam, and one New Zealander. After some pretty tough games, we went undefeated and took away the trophy.

view of some cobblestones and the Pantheon from a religious goods store

I’ve been spending these days zipping around Rome, meeting up with old friends, reserving Churches for masses, looking for a chalice and vestments, and trying out new gelato shops. And praying!

sunset in Saint Peter's Square

Tomorrow begins our “How to be a priest” course. I guess we’ve been learning about that for a long time, but this course is kind of like a very practical review of everything.

Saint Peter's Square today

Then a week from today our 8-day-long silent retreat before ordination starts. Can’t wait!

You are all in my prayers, please keep me in yours.

God bless,
Deacon Kevin

www.cblstones.com