Centennial Celebration & NCF Thank You

My Dear Brothers and Sisters,

What a great Centennial Celebration we enjoyed together! It was my great honor and joy as pastor of this great, historic parish to help commemorate this grand jubilee on the 100th anniversary of Nativity of Our Lord at Mass with Archbishop Hebda and at the party afterwards under the big tent in the parking lot.

Please join me in thanking Christina and Patrick Crow for their great leadership as chairs of the Centennial steering committee, and all of the rest of the volunteers and staff members who helped make last weekend’s celebration worthy of the occasion!

I would also at this time like to thank Megan and Joe Jacobson and Rebecca and Patrick Martin, our 2022 Nativity County Fair Steering Chairs, as well as the entire NCF steering committee.  I think it is safe to say that the Fair is officially back in all its glory — perhaps as good as ever — and that’s no small thing.  Thank you for all your hard work, collaboration, and dedication to our school, parish, and community!

Fr. Terence Moore, founding pastor of Nativity of Our Lord, received a truly remarkable call — from God himself and through his servant, Archbishop Dowling — to start a parish from the ground up.  He accepted the call while still suffering the effects of a near-fatal illness, denying himself for the sake of the people of God here in what we now know as the beautiful, urban Macalaster-Groveland neighborhood of St. Paul, Minnesota.  May his example help inspire us to carry on the great legacy of this great parish, and eagerly and swiftly answer Our Lord’s call in our own lives, no matter the earthly cost.

Our patronal feast day celebrates the unimaginable: the fact that the God of the universe became one of us — born of a woman, in history, in Bethlehem of Judea — so as to die for us, to save us from our sins, and raise us up to our original dignity as sons of the most high.  This year, we celebrate the 100th anniversary of Jesus Christ being made present in this place, in history, in St. Paul, Minnesota, U.S.A.

Nativity of Our Lord is indeed a vibrant Catholic community thanks to those who have gone before us and have now taken up the baton 100 years later.  And we strongly resolve, by God, to faithfully carry out our mission as disciples of Our Lord for another 100 years —and beyond.

May it be done in Christ, through his Blessed Mother Mary.  Amen!

Fr. Patrick Hipwell
Pastor of Nativity of Our Lord

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Originally published in the Sunday, October 9 parish bulletin