As I look back over my life, I can see that God has always been there for me. In the tough years of my childhood, living with two alcoholic parents, I was blessed with a Catholic education and wonderful teachers that taught me the basics and helped me to know that I had a Blessed Mother in heaven who was with me and who loved me.
As a young adult, who was away from the church but never far from my Blessed Mother, he guided me to the kind, honest, generous young man who became my husband. Even though he was Lutheran at the time, Skip brought me back to the Catholic Church.
As a young, married couple with two small children, we made the decision to enroll them at St. David School. The first time we met Sister Janice, the school principle, in her office, she treated our daughter Laura with such love, and we knew that we wanted our children to be educated in this holy place. This was about the same time that Msgr. Bolger became our pastor, and we became part of his family. It was Msgr. Bolger's kindness and humbleness that lead to Skip's conversion to Catholicism in 2000.
I have been part of the St. David parish for over 35 years and God has blessed me through all these years, through good times and through difficult times. Time and time again, he has revealed himself in my life:
- through a summer of abundant rainbows when my daughter Laura was sick,
- through church bells ringing at the Cathedral in Washington, DC when Skip was at the March for Life and received a phone call telling him he got the job when he was unemployed
- through my head and ears buzzing in our chapel as I prayed for help with a decision that needed to be made
- through the rain falling at my son Philip's outdoor college graduation ceremony chasing a Pro-Abortion speaker off the stage
God led Skip and me to our home in Willow Grove so that we could become part of St. David parish, to learn and grow in our faith and to lead others to Him. I have hope for the future because of the abundance of God’s presence in the past. I have hope for the future because God has led you to St. David’s parish to be our pastor. We have had many, many years of fantastic pastors that have laid a great foundation for all us to grow on. I do think, however, that we were becoming complacent and stuck in a rut. At your first Mass here, when you told us that you prayed in our chapel for God’s guidance in your decision, I knew that you were what our parish needed – a fresh, energetic, young holy man that would guide us to the future. I know God has great plans for you and for our parish and I am excited to be part of that future.
To Jesus through Mary,
Monica Marlin