A message from our parochial administrator, Fr. Paulson Mundanmani:

Dear Friends,

I would ask you to continue to keep Robin Morley, our Office Manager in your prayer as she is at home, recovering from a surgery. She was diagnosed with breast cancer, and if there is any good news in all of this, the doctors have told her that it has not spread to the lymph nodes. Mike Maki, our custodian is scheduled for a knee surgery on October 4th. Kindly keep them and all our infirmed in your prayers. This Sunday, I will be holding a Town Hall meeting for St. Stephen parishioners to update them on the parish. Both CTK and St. Stephen were financially audited this summer as per diocesan norms, and our finance teams will be sharing the results with respective parishes. We have come a long way in establishing good management and financial best practices in both parishes. I am so grateful to the Finance Committee that serves both of our parishes. Thank you to the many office volunteers that assist our parish.

Cardinal Tobin, Archbishop of Newark marched with over 400 Catholics - priests, nuns, activists, students and laypeople — on Sept 4 in Newark, New Jersey, protesting the "inhumane treatment" and detention of children and families at immigration centers across the country. The crowd chanted as they stood in front of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement building, "Stop the inhumanity." Archbishop addressed the assembly: "Today, I stand in solidarity with my brothers and sisters in Christ to decry the treatment of children who bear the trauma wrought by immigration enforcement raids, separation from their families and indeterminate detention. "He further stated, "These draconian measures are not a solution to our broken immigration system. They are violations of human dignity and are contrary to all religious teachings and the sacred call to care for our most vulnerable populations."

I do want to give a shout out to one of our parishioners Joan Savarese who has been leading a rally against separation of migrant children from their families on Ygnacio Valley Road, in Walnut Creek, since the summer of 2018. She had informed me that she felt compelled by God to do something as she prayed and listened to God’s word and the homilies and write ups on Facebook—on these and other issues. Joan has also written a book titled, “Out-Dancing the Devil, a journey of faith, laughter and healing.” Our Faith in Action – Social Justice committee has been researching homelessness among college students. After a long day of classes at Diablo Valley College students just want to go home and relax. While a majority of students are able to drive home and unwind, unfortunately, 14 percent of the national student body in community colleges do not have a permanent living space to call their own. This is absolutely true about Pleasant Hill. Our parish Social Justice Ministry will soon let us know how we can help these students with food and hygiene products as a start. Thank you for your generous support.

In conclusion, conversation about immigration among Christians has mostly resembled what we see in the secular arena, with people talking mainly to those with whom they agree and vilifying at those with whom they disagree. I think the conversation should begin with a question: “What God might have to say about the matter?” Inflicting pain and hardship on families with children who are gravely ill is absolutely unchristian and inhumane. The current broken immigration system in our nation seems resistant to reform, not because of a lack of will by the people of our nation, but because of stalemated political battles by men and women in our nation’s leadership. God bless our nation and our world.  

Fr. Paulson