Hi folks!   It's me, the new Pastor, with the easy name that's so hard to say. It's pronounced: Swan- -er. Like a fellow who raises birds swans. I'm a person who has spent most of his life in schools, one way or another. I've been and still am a student.   I've been a teacher (Latin, Sociology, History, Economics . . .and, of course. Religion). I've been an Assistant Principal, Principal, School Board Member and was an original member of the Peoria Diocesan Board of Education. I've edited School newspapers and Fund-Raiser Newsletters.  Along the way, I've even written professionally.   Asking me to get up and "say a few words" is just about as dan-gerous as leaving me in a room with a blank sheet of paper. I like to share things with people, young and old, in stories and sermons (oops - - I mean HOMILIES) AND in Parish Bulletins like this one.  The things I write about aren't very deep. A lot of them are trivial.   And a lot of them are commentaries about the things I see and hear happening around me . . . Or things that I've heard and seen in my years that have left an impression on me and have helped make me the person and priest I am today.  My hope is, of course, that somewhere along the way, what I write will make you think and remember and grow in your faith as I have done. God is all around us, in thousands of events and memories that occur right before our eyes. Maybe even like my "happening" to be named your new pastor.   Which brings me to another of my favorite sayings, which, by the time God calls me from you, you'll remember: "NOTHING EVER HAPPENS BY CHANCE". You'll see! God Bless!-Father Swaner