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November is fast approaching! We had a wonderful October filled with wonderful spiritual events and community building activities. We look forward to seeing you this week at PWC.
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This Sunday,
November 2: All Souls Day
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Please come early to church this Sunday and write the names of beloved family and friends who have died.
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PWC Men’s Fellowship
This Saturday, November 1,
9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.
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We will continue our semester theme: “Finishing Well” All men are welcome to attend!!!
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Women of the PWC community and your friends
-- this is for you!
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Women of Faith Bible Fellowship
This Saturday, November 1
from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
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Become part of this dynamic women’s ministry by growing in your faith and love of Jesus through scripture.
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Children’s Worship Service
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This Sunday, November 2
at 10:00 a.m. in Building 4:12.
Come and meet some new friends!
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Children, grandchildren, and families are welcome!
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Operation
Christmas
Child
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Samaritan’s Purse sends gift-filled Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes to children in need around the world together with the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
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You can pick up a box or boxes after the service.
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Deadline date: Monday, November 17
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PWC has been so generous in our past annual drives. Thank you for helping again this year!!!
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Benefit Art Show
Second Annual Display Featuring the Artwork of Rev. Michael Lessard
Join us for an inspiring afternoon celebrating the artistic works of Rev. Michael Lessard hosted
by Pastoral Care Associates.
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Saturday, November 1, 2025,
1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
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12000 North 90th Street, Scottsdale, AZ 85260 Experience a meaningful display of creativity, community, and compassion.
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November 9, 16, & 23:
8:45 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.
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Another...
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Thanksgiving Worship Service
Wednesday,
November 26
at 6:30 p.m.
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Pastoral Counseling is available at PWC
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Fr. Mike Lessard is available for pastoral counseling on Wednesdays at PWC. Please call the church office to make an appointment at 480-649-0300.
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Our Weekly Online Reflections are back!
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Check out a new reflection for Monday, October 27 from Jody Serey. Here is the link:
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The church office will be closed on Tuesday, November 11 in honor of Veteran’s Day.
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Blood Pressure Checks take place at PWC on the first and third Sundays of the month from 11:00 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. Our medical team is providing the blood pressure checks.
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At PWC
your tithing & generosity allow us to minister to so many who come through our doors with their spiritual, emotional, and physical needs.
Thank you for your tithing and
commitment to PWC!
From pastoral counseling to grief support, to bible study and adult education, to providing food through Matthew’s Crossing for families who are economically struggling, to Marriage Enrichment and our funeral ministry -- your consistent giving makes a difference, a big change in people’s lives!
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Here are the different ways you can tithe to PWC:
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• Mail in your gift to: Praise and Worship Center, 2551 N. Arizona Avenue, Chandler, AZ 85225.
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• Sign up for monthly giving with a credit card or voided check. Just call the office at 480-649-0300 or stop by the office.
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Do you want to be inspired again by Fr. Dale or Pastor Mark? You can listen to Fr. Dale or Pastor Mark’s sermons on our podcast page. Here is the link:
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Are you homebound? If so, Deacon John Null can bring you communion. The only exception is if you have or are recovering from COVID. The best way to get in touch with Deacon John is by contacting the church office, at 480-649-0300, and leaving a message.
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A Reflection
by Ronald Rolheiser
An Addiction to Comfort
Fifty years ago, Kay Cronin, wrote a book entitled, Cross in the Wilderness, chronicling how, in 1847, a small band of Oblate missionaries came from France to the American Pacific Northwest and, after some bitter setbacks in Washington State and Oregon, moved up the coast into Canada and helped found the Roman Catholic church in Vancouver and in significant parts of British Columbia’s mainland.
She describes these men, no doubt with some over-idealization and hagiography, as tough, totally dedicated, and completely without concern for their own comfort and health. They left their beloved France while still young, knew they would probably never see their loved ones again, and accepted to live lives that were constantly in danger both from the harsh elements of their frontier environment and from the threat of death from various Native tribes and various government forces and mercenary soldiers who distrusted them, for opposite reasons. They were threatened many times, chased out of various missions, some were kidnapped for periods of time, and a number of their houses and missions were burnt down. They lived perennially on the edge of danger, never secure, never free from threat.
Moreover, they had next to nothing in terms of creature comforts. They lived in log and mud hovels, ate bad food, and sometimes no food. They had virtually no access to doctors, little access to what might make for good hygiene, and often, while travelling, had to sleep outside without proper shelter from rain and cold, causing many of them to develop rheumatism and other such illnesses at an early age. Moreover, they were never able to sink roots, to get comfortable at any place, to make the kinds of friends and contacts that could be a comfort and support to them. They had faith, God, and each other, and little else.
But they were able to take all of this in stride, without undue self-pity or complaint. They wrote very positive and idealistic letters to their motherhouse in France and to their families and kept journals within which they expressed mostly joy about their modest successes in the ministry, seldom uttering a complaint about the bad housing, bad food, and instability in their lives.
As an Oblate missionary myself, as a member of the same religious family, I read all of this, of course, with pride. I am proud of what these men did, and rightly so. They were selfless to the point of death.
But that being said, reading their story is also very humbling. Looking at their radical sacrifice of all comfort, for me, is a mirror that I peer into with considerable trepidation and shame. I look at my own life and see far too much in the way of an addiction to comfort and safety. I don’t want what they had: I want healthy food, clean water, proper hygiene, regular rest, access to good doctors, access to news, information, access to travel, regular contact with family and friends, opportunities for retreats and vacations, access to ongoing education, and, not least, I want safety. I want to be a good missionary, but I want to be comfortable and safe.
I take some consolation in the fact that times today are much different than they were when these French missionaries landed in the Pacific Northwest. I couldn’t do the work I do, at least not for a very long, without proper housing, proper food, proper hygiene, access to education and information, regular rest, and healthy recreational outlets. My life and my ministry are a marathon, not a sprint, and proper self-care is a virtue not a vice.
Still, it’s easy to rationalize and become addicted to comfort and safety. St. Paul, reflecting upon his own missionary life, once wrote that he was comfortable with whatever was dealt to him – much or little. I like to believe that too for my own life, but, and this is true for most of us, the more we live with much, the more we tend to protect ourselves inside that plenty.
Thomas Merton once said that what he feared in his own life was not so much a massive betrayal of his vocation, but a series of “mini-treasons” that lead to a different kind of death. And that’s the peril that I fear too, for myself and for our culture.
As children of our culture, I believe, we easily become addicted to comfort and safety. Once we have grown used to safety, good food, clean water, proper hygiene, access to good doctors and proper medicine, access to constant entertainment, access to instant information, regular connection with our loved ones, boundless educational and recreational opportunities, and wonderful creature comforts of all sorts, the danger looms large that we will not easily, or at all, be able to let go of any of these. Consequently, we will end up as good people, no big betrayals, but no big self-sacrifice either; not only unable to give up our lives for our friends but unable to give up even our comfort.
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Please remember those who are sick and suffering in our community. May the healing presence of Jesus touch their mind, body, and soul. We also pray for their loved ones.
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Love,
Fr. Dale & Pastor Mark
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Keep up with all your PWC friends on Facebook
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Please do not reply to this email;
the sending address is not monitored.
Please reply to: [email protected]
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Chris Pfund PhD, MBA, BSN, RN
President Homestead Health
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phone: (602) 755-4508
fax: (602) 691-0283
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Homestead Health is a 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to helping adults live safely and independently at home. We offer a range of in-home and virtual medical services, including concierge medicine, palliative care, transitional care, and geriatric care management. We believe everyone deserves access to compassionate and affordable healthcare.
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