Dear Parishioners, As I write this, we are in the midst of election day. Whomever wins the presidency will have a lot of healing to do. Our nation is deeply divided and we need to come together and unite our country. Hatred and violence have no place in our communities. Systemic racism has been a problem in this country since its founding. Some commentators have said that the nation has never been so divided. How quickly we forget the bloody Civil War and how that pitted families against one another. I lived through the turbulent 1960's and '70's when the Viet Nam war was raging. It was an awful divisive time for our nation- protesting, flag burning, violence, etc. When Richard Nixon was elected, he promised to "bring us together." Unfortunately, he did not do that, and ultimately resigned from office. Now we face another challenging time when our leaders will have to try to bring us together. As Christians, we continue to pray for peace; we continue to be peace-makers and we continue to love this great country of ours. God bless you!