During the past month we have had occasion to share in the news of the abdication of Pope Benedict XVI from his office as Pope and we witnessed the election of the new Pope Francis. The new Pope is a member of the Jesuit order and until his election as pope he was the archbishop of Buenos Aires, which is the capitol of Argentina. From the first indications, it looks like a change in the atmosphere of the Vatican because of Pope Francis’ closeness to the people, a quality that is so needed in today’s church community. Let us hope that this atmosphere of friendlier relationships will be felt throughout the whole church. Let us pray for our Holy Father. Let us ask that he would be of strong health, that God will give him increased energy in his difficult office.

In this issue of Vestnik I would like to thank all of you who shared in the 50th anniversary of my ordination to the priesthood which happened March 9, 1963 in Rome in the Lateran Basilica. I would like to thank all of you for your help and support of the Missions without which we could not exist.

We celebrated this milestone in all three places and it was interesting to see the variety and the number of people who came to celebrate with me. In San Diego the celebration was connected with a carnival held outside of the church. In spite of my intention to participate, I was unable to go to the park with the rest of you because of lack of time, but some of the dances were performed in the parish hall. They were great. Thank you, and continue to be joyful.

The next day on Sunday we celebrated in the Polish Center in Yorba Linda, beginning with the Mass. To my surprise the new bishop of Orange, Msgr. Kevin Vann, came to be with us. After the Mass we had a steak dinner prepared by our experienced Mr Kuba Oberrreiter for the more than one hundred guests present. After a short program of singing we went home in a very good mood. The following Sunday we celebrated in San Francisco. Already before Mass two beautiful chocolate cakes were presented along with many other goodies. This time our Mass was enhanced by several altar servers dressed in red cassocks. The young ones also participated in the liturgy by singing.

I want to thank each of you who took part in these events and wish you a very good Easter.