On the Feast of St. Michael the Archangel, September 29, 2019, hundreds of faithful gathered to celebrate the farewell and "the changing of the guard" of our beloved rector, Canon Michael Wiener. Canon Wiener was the celebrant for the Solemn High Mass with Canon Benjamin Coggeshall as deacon and Abbé Alex Barga as Subdeacon. Canon Matthew Talarico, the Provincial Superior of the United States, gave a sermon highlighting Canon Wiener's time of 11 years here in St. Louis. He also warmly welcomed Canon Coggeshall as our new rector. After Mass, many gathered in the basement hall for a reception where Canon Wiener was presented with a parting gift of a painting of the interior of St. Francis de Sales church. Canon Wiener will be missed, but we are forever grateful for all of his endeavors here at the oratory: a growing faithful presence, an ongoing restored and better maintained church and campus, and so many gifts and occasions he helped provide for us that are too numerable to count including baptisms, weddings, funerals, confessions, visits to and anointing of the sick, 2 ordination ceremonies, 1st Masses, Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, spiritual direction, Catechism classes, fostering the growth of the Society of the Sacred Heart, friendly gatherings and above all the most powerful prayer of the Holy sacrifice of the Mass. Best wishes to Canon Wiener as he moves on to his next apostolate in Oakland, California. Canon Coggeshall will carry on all of the work at the oratory with untiring effort and we are all blessed to have such good and holy priests to serve us and guide us for many years to come.
