Rebuilding a Catholic Parish with Brick, Mortar, and Living Stones

There is nothing in the training of a Roman Catholic priest to prepare you for the adventure of being a pastor. The pastor is chief executive officer, chief financial officer, chief security officer, personnel director, human resources officer, counselor, and chief bottle washer and janitor. A pastor's job encompasses such sublime things as celebrating Mass and performing weddings and funerals to such mundane things as unplugging stuffed toilets and rescuing people stuck between floors on the elevatorà

While pastor of St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Derry, New Hampshire, Father Joseph Lorenzo penned a weekly column for the church bulletin called "The View From My Window." These funny, touching, and inspiring essays were a cornerstone to his ministry, meant to guide his flock of nearly 10,000 toward a deeper understanding of the role of the Church and as a rededication to building up the Kingdom of God on Earth. Through heartwarming and often humorous homilies and recollections, Father Joe regales us with tales of growing up in an Italian Family, his experience of life in a Franciscan friary, his travels to the Holy Land, and his desire to rebuild a Catholic parish much in need of spiritual and physical repair. Father Joe manages to cast aside the barriers that often separate a congregation from its spiritual leaders, and reveals himself as a fellow Christian soul on the path to salvation.

Father Joseph “Joe” Lorenzo, a Franciscan priest, is a native of Brooklyn, New York. He has served as pastor in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Derry, New Hampshire. He is currently pastor of the Shrine Church of Saint Anthony of Padua in the SoHo section of Manhattan, New York City.