About the Pastor

Hello, I’m Father Anthony Armstrong, a Carmelite priest at Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Osprey, Florida. It is my joy and privilege to serve this vibrant community, helping others deepen their faith and grow in their relationship with God. With a heart for prayer, service, and contemplation, I strive to live out the values of the Carmelite tradition in all that I do. My mission is to guide others with compassion, offering spiritual support and inspiring all to live with humility, peace, and love. Thank you for visiting, and I look forward to walking this journey of faith with you.

The Gospel story of the man born blind has long held a special place in the Church’s preparation for Easter, especially for those journeying toward baptism at the Easter Vigil. In John’s Gospel, physical sight becomes a powerful symbol for faith—an invitation to move from darkness into the light of Christ. As the blind man slowly comes to recognize who Jesus truly is, the religious leaders move in the opposite direction: though convinced of their own clarity, they grow increasingly blind to the presence of God in front of them.

Jesus’ method of healing—using clay, spittle, and washing—may seem unusual, especially since elsewhere He heals simply by word or touch. But here the ritual actions mirror a deeper truth: Jesus desires to heal the whole person, body and soul. The man not only gains physical sight but also interior sight, a heart capable of recognizing the One who has come to save him. By the end of the story, he falls before Jesus in worship.

This Gospel challenges us to examine our own spiritual eyesight. The Pharisees look at the healed man and see only a sinner—someone to be judged, dismissed, and expelled. Jesus, by contrast, sees a beloved child of God,

worthy of mercy and restoration. The man sees in Jesus not a lawbreaker but the Messiah who brings freedom. Their different responses raise a question for each of us: What do we see when we look at the people around us? Do we look with suspicion, or with Christ’s compassion?

Many people today struggle with inner blindness—feelings of unworthiness, shame, or a belief that they are unlovable. Part of our Christian mission is to help one another to affirm the dignity God has given to every person. As Jesus restored sight to the blind man, He longs to open our eyes as well.

The man born blind does not reach full faith all at once. His understanding grows step by step: first seeing Jesus as a man, then a prophet, and finally the Son of Man—the One who reveals God’s presence in human history. Our Lenten journey mirrors this gradual unfolding. Alongside those preparing for baptism, we learn again to “live as children of light,” seeing Jesus as the One who gives meaning, direction, and hope to our lives. May our prayer be simple: “Lord, open my eyes, that I may see.”

~ Father Anthony

It’s that time of year again! And so, with this Pastor’s Corner, I want to let you know that, thanks to your great generosity to the parish, our Catholic Faith Appeal (CFA) goal for 2026 has gone from $267,000 for 2025 to $298,000 for the new CFA year. Actually, the CFA goal for this year should have been $324,000 but the Diocese acknowledged that a jump of over $50,000 in one year was too much and so reduced our CFA goal for 2026.

Our assessment jumped that much because, basically, for every $10 given to the offertory collection last year, $2.60 of that donation was added to our CFA goal for this year. Last year we had over $250,000 extra in donations through the offertory collection! The upside of those extra donations is that our savings account is growing but the downside is that we’re asked to pay more CFA.

For those of you who don’t understand the CFA process a quick explanation. Each diocese in the country has their own equivalent of CFA with different rates and different calculations. However, here in the Diocese of Venice, each parish is assessed 26% of their income from the previous year. Whilst this is higher than in some dioceses, the CFA in this Diocese supports many more programs than in other dioceses, programs that directly support parishes and which help underwrite the costs of the Diocese.

Many of you see CFA as a tax from the Diocese and don’t like supporting CFA because you want to support the parish rather than the Diocese. However, as explained above, if you give to the parish, the Diocese will assess us 26% on all of that income anyway. Last year only 18% of parishioners gave anything to CFA so, to put it another way, 82% of households who supported the parish gave nothing to CFA. I will list some of the many benefits that we as a parish receive from CFA in future Pastor’s Corners but, from a purely financial point of view, if we don’t make our CFA goal, as we were in danger of not doing in 2025, then the Diocese would simply have taken the money from our savings account anyway.

So, bottom line, whether we make our goal or not, the Diocese will still get its CFA assessment from us, whether by parishioners supporting CFA or from the parish savings account. So, as we are about to start the CFA 2026 year my invitation to all of you who don’t give to CFA, or haven’t given for a while, is to consider giving at least a quarter of your donations to the parish via CFA so that we can meet our goal. That way our CFA goal for 2027 will be less because you gave less to the parish in offertory contributions in 2026. Hopefully, this Pastors Corner will encourage you to consider making a contribution to CFA this year. Thank you, and God bless you all.

~ Father Anthony