Click HERE to view the latest edition of The Crossroads Messenger.

To kick off this year’s Catholic Services Appeal, Archbishop Shelton has shared a video with his personal message.

If you are unable to play the video, a link is provided HERE.

To donate to CSA, use the envelopes provided in the church pews and gathering space or follow the link below to donate on-line.

Don’t miss out on your chance to enter the Knights of Columbus Catholic Citizenship Contest! This year’s topic is “Out of the 267 popes that have lead the Catholic Church, who are your three favorites and why?“ The contest is open to grades 8-12; essays should be 500-750 words. A $50 Gift Card will be awarded to the 1st place winner in each grade level. Download the entry form below or pick up one in the gathering space of church. Essays must be received by 10/29/2025. Contact James Underwood for additional information, (502) 494-5988.

Parents! Encourage youth to become citizens grounded in their faith through creative writing!

St. Francis Xavier is now using a new system, called My Own Church, for registering and updating your family information! Visit louisville.parishsoftfamilysuite.com through the link below to create your account.

Once approved, you will receive an email indicating that your account is open and ready for you to review. You will have the ability to update all your family information, including names,
addresses, phone numbers, emails, and even a family photo. You can also choose to keep some information private and available only to church administrators.

St. Aloysius & Bendict are looking for a Stewardship/Business Manager.

Please join us for a 6-week bible study on finding Faith, Hope and Love in the Bible. Group will meet on Mondays @ 9:00 am in the Xavier Center double meeting room beginning September 22, 2025. Books may be purchased at www.litpress.org   A limited number of books will be available for $11 from the parish office. Please contact Sharon Mann to RSVP (sharonfaithhopelove@gmail.com).

Our St. Francis Xavier Church is in need of additional Eucharistic Ministers. If you have heard the calling to serve your church community in this capacity, please plan to attend one of the upcoming training opportunities presented by the Archdiocese of Louisville.

• Monday, September 15, St. Paul, 6:00-8:00 p.m.
•  Monday, October 13, St. Michael, Fairfield, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
•  Tuesday, October 21, St. Leonard, 12:30-2:30 p.m.
•  Wednesday, November 5, 2025, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, 6:00-8:00 p.m.
•  Wednesday, November 19, 2025, All Saints, Taylorsville 6:30-8:30 p.m.

You can register for a session on-line with the Archdiocese through the link below.

In observance of Labor Day, the SFX Parish Office will be closed on Monday, September 1st. There is no Walking/Fellowship in the Xavier Center.

Looking for the book? Check these links/locations:

Help Needed!  We are in immediate need of a teacher’s assistant for our 7^th grade CFF class.  No lesson planning required – just come to help supervise and positively interact with an amazing group of middle school kids!   Please contact Lauren Battcher at Lauren.Battcher@sfxmw.com if you are able to fill this need!

Click on any of the following links to download the latest information about each ministry.

Since I was a kid (like Pope Leo; circa 1955), I was taught to express gratitude in the moment.  Delaying is not in my vocabulary, so I wish to take this opportunity to thank each one of you for all the words of encouragement, well wishes and generous gifts as I retire from my responsibilities as a priest-pastor.  It seems that I have been saying ‘adios’ for months but now are the moments that I must make transition in my ministry as priest.  Like most people, I have never retired before so I know that it will be a learning experience with new opportunities to ‘give back’ yet rest and enjoy whatever comes my way.  I hope to take some “picker” trips and eventually finish unboxing all my hobbies of vinyl, books and ephemeral.   

Please pray for me as I will you daily.  Father Jeff is a very blest priest to be pastor of such a wonderful community as SFX!

Much peace and joy!

The Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul

June 28-29, 2025

Gospel:  Matthew 16:13-19

Today we celebrate a wonderful feast, one that does not fall on Sunday that often.  Peter and Paul, two men whose names are forever linked; one reason being that tradition holds that they were both martyred in Rome – making that city the Center of Christendom.  Peter and Paul; two men who could not be more different, and yet, the Church celebrates both of their lives this day.  They seemed to have so little in common.  Paul, the educated one, the one who was so sure of himself and his theological positions, the scholar of the law.  Peter, the “every” man, the fisherman, stubborn, bumbling at times, unsure of Jesus’ mission, a regular guy who just couldn’t quite get it.  And yet, these are the two men who were given such a central role in the life of the Church.  In fact, without them, it is doubtful there would have even been a Church.  And these are two people that Jesus chose in a very particular way.

Flannery O’Connor was a Catholic woman from the South who died in the early 1960’s at the tender age of 39.  What is neat about her short-story writings, are the surprises.  In them, it is almost always the least likely character who becomes the channel of God’s grace — it is the mean guy, or the woman with one leg, or the mentally challenged kid, or the bigot, or whomever the reader least expects.  The one who seems the most righteous or perfect or whole or good is rarely, if ever, an instrument of God’s grace in her stories.

And if we look to the two men whose lives we celebrate this day, I’d have to say that Flannery O’Connor was onto something.  For here are two men who did what is almost unthinkable, two men who appeared to turn their backs on God’s goodness.  First, Paul, the great persecutor of the early Church, who witnessed the stoning of Stephen, the deacon martyr.  Then we have Peter, the one who denied Jesus three times – even after having just claimed that he never would…

Yet, their betrayals were not the end.  Rather, they were deep beginnings to a deeper and more changing relationship with Jesus.  Their lives show clearly how they went from misunderstanding God’s plan to becoming a faithful follower of it. 

My friends, ultimately this day is not so much a celebration of two men as it is a celebration of CHURCH —We celebrate the power of God to continually sustain the Church through periods of confusion, doubt or darkness… familiar?  In fact, it is precisely these moments of difficulty that provide us with, what my AA sponsor would say, “opportunities to grow” in our understanding of [A] Christ’s cross and [B] His resurrection.  What great hope they can be, for so many of us wonder, “What could God do with me?  God would never choose me.  I am too weak, too doubtful, too sinful”.  And yet, one of the things the cross teaches us is that it is precisely our weaknesses that God will use to change us and the world.  Our individual brokenness may be the starting point, but the finished product is the healing of the world around us. 

I think the key for Peter and Paul was their ability to let go of their pasts: Paul’s persecution of the early Christians and Peter’s denials of Jesus.  Either of those things could have consumed them, could have weighed heavily on their minds and hearts, could have paralyzed them and prevented them from being open to God’s grace. But it didn’t. It did not because these two men eventually embraced and lived out the Pascal Mystery in the own lives.   They were able to let go, move forward, and realize that God did not care who they were yesterday, but only cared about who they wanted to be from that moment on… just like you, you… and you!

And this should give us great hope!  How many of us think we are worthy to carry out Christ’s mission?  How many of us think we have what it takes?  Who is confident she or he can do the job, go the distance, endure the hardships… finish the race?  Maybe none of us do.Yet, this feast assures us of just the opposite.

If you are struggling with your faith…

If you are facing real darkness in your life…

If you are having a tough time following the Lord…

If nothing seems to make sense to you anymore…

If you simply think you are not worthy or good enough… Then this day is for you! 

Thanks to Peter and Paul for showing us the changing love of God.  Thanks to Peter and Paul for showing us what “laying down one’s life” really means.  Thanks to Peter and Paul for showing us how God can choose the most unlikely to accomplish the most important of things.  We ask for Peter and Paul to pray for us, that each of us will have the courage to be faithful stewards of the Lord.   May we always recognize just how much the Church needs each of us, how much God needs each of us.  

May we always have the wisdom to let go of our pasts and let God change us into the people He needs us to be… just for today.  Amen.

Starting the weekend of June 28th & 29th, we will begin following the Norms of Posture during the Communion Rite as described in the following letter from Archbishop Shelton.

All SFX parishioners enjoy a free subscription to FORMED. Click HERE to check out the pick of the week.