Contacting Fr. Tharp for an Emergency

Please remember that the best number to call when you need Fr. Tharp for an emergency is (513) 858-4210 and choose option # 2.  If you leave a message on this emergency voicemail, the telephone computerized system pages me within five minutes, night or day.  This is the quickest and most certain way to contact me. 

If you wish to call my pager directly, please remember that it is both a digital pager as well as a voice pager.  If you leave a voice message on the pager (and I do NOT recommend this) IT MAY TAKE AS LONG AS THIRTY MINUTES for the pager voice message to get to me.  If you are leaving a numeric message, please remember that if you miss one number of your telephone number as you are entering it numerically, I will have an incomplete number and will have no idea who to call. 

Therefore, the best advice in an emergency is to call 858-4210 and take option two.  If I am not celebrating Mass or in the shower, I will get back to you within about five minutes.  Remember after you call me to stay off the line for about five minutes so that I can call you back.  I sometimes receive a message to come immediately to administer the Anointing of the Sick, but when I try to call back for directions or house number, the line is busy. 

RCIA

The Schedule for RCIA and RCIC for 2017/2018 is available at the church doors.  The classes begin on Wednesday, September 13 at 7:00 p.m. at Sacred Heart Basement Room RH 2 & 3.  At the first class, those interested in participating will be asked to fill out a registration form which will help me define the canonical route that would be necessary should the applicant choose to become Catholic. 

If you have any questions, please call me (Fr. Tharp) at (513) 858-4260 or email questions to me at frtharp@sacredheart-fairfield.org. 

Fr. Tharp away on Tuesday Afternoons

For the past eight years, I have been given the opportunity to teach a class at the Seminary on Pastoral Administration.  I teach a three hour class once each Tuesday until Christmas.  Therefore, from now until Christmas, I will be unavailable by telephone and out of my office on Tuesday afternoons. 

 Reflection on Scripture

 In today’s first reading, Jeremiah says to God, “You duped me.”  (He uses a very bad word to express this.)  Jeremiah did not want to be a prophet.  He made compelling excuses to God as to why he did not want this role. 

In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus is telling his disciples what to expect when the passion time comes.  Peter interjects unrealistic optimism into a dangerous situation. 

Jeremiah assumes inappropriately that if God forces him to be a prophet, he will make it “easy.”  Peter assumes that since Jesus is the Son of God, fulfilling his role on earth will be “easy.”   But Jesus assures us that, if it is worth doing, it will not be “easy!”   In fact, Jesus says that we will have to take up our cross and follow him.  Carrying a cross and dying on a cross is never easy, but if you are doing it for Jesus, it pays benefits that are out of this world.

Readings for the Twenty Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Ez 33:7-9

Rom 13:8-10

Mt 18:15-20

Theme:  How to resolve conflict with a fellow believer.