New Pastor In Charge At St. Anselm Parish

St. Anselm Parish in Creve Coeur has a new pastor, just in time for the holidays. Father Michael Brunner, formerly the Headmaster at St. Louis Priory School, also located on the Abbey campus, was officially installed in a weekend mass featuring Archbishop Robert Carlson.

Here is an excerpt from Father Brunner's message to his congregation in the church's weekend bulletin.

The end is near, and so is the beginning. Or, to quote Mother superior in The Sound of Music, “Whenever the Lord closes a door, He opens a window.” The end I’m speaking of is of the Church year. And the beginning is of the new Church year. I think we fail to really get involved in these mileposts because they come so close to the secular celebration of commercial Christmas and the civil new year, the whole of which used to be named A.D., the year of the Lord, counting from the  supposed year of Jesus birth. Now, of course, thanks  to American academia, it is widely called the Common Era, because it supposedly is used by everybody now, Christian or not.  People can call it whatever they want, but using the duck test, it is still the year of our Lord. Why else count from the year of His birth? I think we are all grateful this year is winding down.  It has been emotionally exhausting with all the Sturm and Drang of the elections, and the real storm Sandy.  A door has definitely closed. Now we must look for the open window. The election results may point out where the window is, although we may not like the location at first. Nationwide, 51% of Catholics voted for President Obama, even though the institutional Church put on a full court press against him. This is an indication that such a tactic,  having failed twice, is not likely to succeed in the future. I don’t know where the window is, but the Church, its members – you and I – are meant to be leaven in the  dough of the world. We are meant to raise it…raise its consciousness, raise its level of virtue, raise its faith, hope and love.

Fun Fact: Cardinals great and Baseball Hall Of Famer Red Schoendienst is a member of the St. Anselm congregation.