From the Desk of Fr. Thomas - April 2025 Newsletter

Dear Friends of Our Lady of Pompeii,

Paschal greetings. What an honor to be chosen to serve as chaplain for a pilgrimage to Rome, Subiaco, and the Amalfi Coast. In a way that only the Lord God works, He sends me during the week of the funeral for the Holy Father as the Eternal City hosts countless prelates, heads of states, and so many faithful. I ask that you continue to pray for the repose of his soul and the future of Holy Mother Church.

Fr. Matthew Mauriello and I stand before the original miraculous painting which adorns the high altar in Pompeii.

Yesterday, in Pompeii, I was able to meet with Fr. Matthew Mauriello, the coordinator of the US Marian Mission of Our Lady of Pompeii, and the priest responsible for first commissioning the replica of the Holy Image of Our Lady of Pompeii, which is in our care. Later this week, I will be in Assisi. Friday, we will venerate the miraculous image of Our Lady of Good Counsel, and then we return Stateside in time for May 8th, the great joint-Feast of both St. Michael the Archangel and Our Lady of Pompeii. On this day in Jacksonville, FL, we will ceremoniously break ground, the first official act in our yearlong revitalization. We would love for you to join us at 5:30 for the recitation of Bl. Bartolo Longo’s Suplica. The entire prayer is marvelously crafted, and felicitously fitting to our circumstance…

 

…We, thy happy children chosen by thy goodness in this century to build thee a temple at Pompeii, kneeling at thy feet on this solemn day to commemorate thy latest triumphs on the spot where idols and demons were formerly worshipped, we pour out with tears the feelings of our hearts.

 

After the ceremony, you are also cordially invited to the afterparty at Strings Restaurant for a delicious end to the evening. We only ask that you RSVP here on our website by the end of Friday, May 2nd so we can give the restaurant a final headcount. Kids are encouraged to come, especially the soldiers of the Children’s Crusade, who need to be refreshed after winning battle after battle. Last I checked, over 8,000 Rosaries have been prayed; the fuel of Pompeii Rising.

 

Much progress has also transpired in April. We've completed a soft dig to find how to properly manage our utilities. First rounds of comments are back from the City, and our architect and civil engineer are hard at work settling the details for construction to begin this summer. The general contractor generated the constructability report, allowing the various tasks to be shared with local subcontractors who will bid on the project. All the pre-construction scheduling work is well on its way, and we count on your daily Memorares to keep Pompeii Rising.

 

Lastly, I’d like to thank all of you who shared our flagship video. As May is the month of the Blessed Virgin, I am designating it Project Awareness Month. I challenge each of you to do something you normally wouldn’t do to spread the word of Our Lady of Pompeii. For all of May, I will change my email signature block to include the branded logo of Pompeii Rising Restoration Project. Feel free to join me by saving the image in my signature and adding it to your own! Something as simple as this could put Mary on the radar of a future benefactor or even a lost soul!

 

In the Risen Lord,

Fr. David Thomas

Project Head

Pompeii Rising Restoration Project

prayerintentions@pompeiirising.org

A group picture some of those who made their pilgrimage to the holy sites of Italy.

April’s Mailbag comes from a parishioner of the chapel in Jacksonville and Director of Communications of the Pompeii Rising Restoration Project, Alex Walker.

 

Dear Father,

Thank you for blessing our new house in Springfield. Or should I say, our new-to-us house as it was built in 1914, a decade before Old Holy Rosary one block away. After your priestly blessing, it now feels like home.

I’d like to share with your readers a little about the neighborhood of Historic Springfield. Mind you, I am a Jax native, so I grew up with the mindset that Springfield was, for lack of a better term, the ghetto. As a father with 5 young children with one on the way, safety is my primary concern when choosing a place to raise my family. When I started to tour neighborhoods, I was absolutely delighted to see Springfield is surprisingly quiet, neighborly, walkable, conveniently central, and the respectable architecture is quintessentially Americana. Don’t get me wrong, there are a few rough areas, but I think that will take care of itself in due time. The investment being placed in Downtown and Springfield shows Jacksonville is serious.  City Counsel just approved funding for a $2B improvement at the gateway of Springfield at Main Street. Without even needing to drive into downtown, we have amazing restaurants, ice cream parlors, a pizzeria, and even a couple of breweries. What Springfield is missing is the True Presence, but once the doors of Our Lady of Pompeii Catholic Church open, the Blessed Sacrament will be my new Neighbor. 

That is what I look forward to most: my proximity to our church. My new responsibilities in my state in life have called me away from assisting at Mass as much as I want to. The hours in the car away from my family really add up over the years, and I begged Our Lord and Lady to help me find a way where I might be able to go to Mass more and be home more. Since I cannot bi-locate and no one gets more than 24 hours in a day, the decision became clear for me. If I want both, I’ve got to make something happen.  

I recently made the Total Consecration to Jesus Christ through Mary, so the next step was to place my desire in the hands of the Blessed Virgin and she took care of the rest. Every time a door was closed in my face, Our Lady interceded and opened a window. Now, Mary owns a house in Springfield, and I am its custodian. I don’t take for granted the graces given to my family, and I am happy to be at the service of Our Lady of Pompeii, now and for years to come.

I blessed the Walker’s new home during my last trip to Jacksonville.

Alex sent me this. You can see the church spire from the Walker’s backyard. I guess we know who is hosting the next party!