This last weekend I received a phone call telling me that the person had received a message from me, they did not think it was real. It
was not. This has happened a couple of times before. I announced at Masses and heard from more who had gotten a similar contact. I
posted something on the Parish Facebook page but would like to also cover some of it here in more detail.

I have seen a few of these received by staff or parishioners. They seem to all start very similar. “Can you do me a favor? Fr Backer”. Very
innocent to start; they just want to get you engaged. If you respond, they then will ask if you would get gift cards: “So I can help a
friend” or “someone in need”. If they can get you to think you are talking to me, they may get you to do what they want. Some I have
even heard try and discourage you from reaching out to the real me. With comments like, “Don’t call, I will be going into a meeting.” Or
something like that. What they will try and get you to do is to send pictures of the gift cards front and back, with the code scratched off.
But if they can get the card number and the code, they can remove the cash from the card without ever having the card. Please be careful.

A couple of things you can look for in this case. 1) Sometimes they will have poor English skills. Words misspelled or bad grammar can
be signs of a scam. However, since I myself have poor English skills and have confused auto-correct so much it sometimes just says, “I
have no idea what you are trying to say!” But this is one thing to look for. 2) If it is a text and the area code of the number is not nearby,
beware! The hard part is that they sometimes can manipulate the caller ID. There are only a few people I will text in the parish; I will
not randomly text you. I get some of this Phishing Text that will simply ask me how I’m doing or if I want to go golfing. I loved the one
I got that was asking what private school my kids went to and if I thought it was good. All of these are just trying to get you to respond,
and they will then make their move. I think I get these because I fell for one. Again, it was kind of funny, it was a girl texted as if we had
dated. I was trying to be nice (and that’s what they are hoping for) and I texted back, “You have a wrong number.” They continued to
try and engage me again, even sending a picture (that was supposed to be them). I ended up just blocking the number, since they were
continuing to text. 3) Asking for something, or not wanting you to contact the parish. Trust your gut, if it does not feel right, call me.

This weekend is the Feast of the Epiphany. It always reminds me of a movie called ‘The Fourth Wise Man’. Martin Sheen plays this
fourth Wise Man who gets left behind. The movie is a work of fiction, but it brings some good questions to ponder and ask. His gift for
the child is 3 jewels. I will often ask people to ponder what they would have brought for the Christ Child? We know the 3 gifts also
have deeper meaning. Gold, the kingship of Christ. Frankincense (an incense) the priestly class. Myrrh (an embalming oil) a sign that
this child would be a sacrifice. Would our gift have a special meaning? One of the things I loved about the movie is that the Fourth
Wise man keeps missing the Christ. He comes into Bethlehem just as Mary and Joseph are fleeing with the child. After years, he gets to
the upper room as they are clearing the table from the last supper. His search keeps getting interrupted. He is caring for a community of
lepers and others who are ill. (SPOILER ALERT, stop reading if you do not want to know). 3 different times, he gives away a gift to
help others. When he meets the Christ he says, “I had gifts for you. But I had to use them.” Christ lists all he did to help others and said,
“These are your gifts for me.” What a wonderful thought. With that is mind, once again think about what your gift may be??

The other lesson I get from the movie is to never give up looking for Christ. Sometimes he is so near, and we do not know it, other times
we just need to remember to see Christ in others.

Blessings,
Fr. Backer