Adieu to The Lou

Greetings, OYM friends! I have big news — my wife, daughter and I are leaving St. Louis. So, I thought writing a farewell to all my OYM friends was in order.

Our new destination is Cumming, GA, which is about 45 minutes northeast of Atlanta. It's warmer, the people are very friendly, and yes, we are moving into Braves territory — but Heather will always be a Cardinals fan.

When I left the OYM back in June 2006, I took a job with Catholic Youth World Network as their web developer. CYWN (I just love acronyms) is an organization affiliated with Regnum Christi, a lay apostolic movement at the service of the Church. They support a number of excellent programs for all ages, and I'm right there in the thick of it, supporting many of the websites. In fact, one that I'm pretty excited about right now is ePriest.com, because it was my first project "from-scratch", launched Jan 1.

Moving to Atlanta is a big step for our family. It seems like we were just married, and that Lucia only joined our family yesterday, though she's six months old now. We're leaving family, friends, and all the great things St. Louis has to offer. In fact, we're even buying our first home there. Why would we do all this?

Faith. I believe with all my heart that God is asking this of us. With faith, it's easy to respond to God, who has been so generous, and has never let us down before. We're not afraid, because fear comes from losing faith, and if we can't trust God, who can we trust?

One other big news item is that I am recording a professional album of Catholic songs that I've written, and it's scheduled to be released at the upcoming Youth and Family Encounter in Atlanta. You can keep up–to–date with its progress on our website.

So, off we go to a new adventure. Even though we're leaving, we are still with you, in spirit, in the Eucharist, and in the mission to evangelize and re-Christianize the world. Friends of OYM, keep the faith! God has a special plan for the OYM, for the mission of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, and for you.