Faith Life & Theology
Our Mother of Perpetual Help Catholic Church
320 Church Avenue, Ephrata, PA 17522 • (717) 733-9641
Prayer
Prayer is an integral part of every day at OMPH School. We celebrate Mass as a School Family every Friday and on the Holy Days of Obligation, with a different grade planning and participating in the Mass each week. We begin all activities and classes with a prayer, and hold seasonal prayer services (Advent, Stations of the Cross, etc.). Our School Choir (grades 4-8) and our School Cherub Choir (grades Kindergarten-3) life prayers up in song during our school Liturgies and our special events.
Learning about Catholic History & Traditions
OMPH Students have Religion classes daily, with topics including Sacramental preparation, the lives of the Saints, Christmas and Lenten practices, and much more. Once a week, OMPH Parish Priests visit our 8th grade class to delve into deeper subjects, such as morality. Students have access in their classrooms to Catholic books and Religious art to keep them wanting to learn more about their Faith. Catholic traditions, such as Saint Nicholas’ visit and the Blessing of Throats on the Feast of St. Blaise, are a part of every school year at OMPH.
Experiencing Christ’s Way in Ordinary Living
Keeping Christ as the center of our students’ lives is achieved in the daily happenings at OMPH School, whether it be through prayers for our benefactors and the sick of our Parish community or retreats for our Middle School students. Our Prayer Pal program matches each younger student with a partner in an older grade; these prayer pals share time during the school year working on crafts and learning the Catholic faith together. We encourage our students to live out our annual school themes in all they do in the classroom, at home, and in the community.
Vocation Awareness
The Redemptorist Fathers at OMPH Parish are involved in everyday activities at our school, whether it be stopping in to pray with our classes or playing soccer with students at recess. We hold a Vocation Day during the school year, where priests and sisters from various Religious Orders share their vocation stories with our students. Lessons on vocation awareness are taught throughout the year during Religion classes.
Fr. Paul J. Borowski, C.Ss.R.
Pastor
OMPH Parish
I am the youngest of three boys to Adam and Laura Borowski, I attended Our Lady of Fatima Church (staffed by the Redemptorists) and School in Baltimore, MD. I graduated from St. Mary's Seminary, (the Redemptorist minor seminary) in 1978. In Redemptorist language, I am what they call “a lifer!” After a year in Novitiate in Oconomowoc, WI, I professed Temporary Vows as a Redemptorist in 1982 and then graduated from St. Alphonsus College, Suffield, CT in 1983. I received a Masters of Religious Education from Mount Saint Alphonsus, Esopus, NY in 1985 and a Masters in Divinity from Washington Theological Union in 1987. My ordination was in the Crypt Church at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, Washington, DC on May 15, 1987.
I was an Associate Pastor, DRE and Youth Minister at Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Ellicott City from 1987 until 1989. After two wonderful years, I was asked to go back to school at Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium and received a Licentiate in Philosophy in 1992. When I returned to the States, I was assigned to St. Alphonsus Formation Residence, Whitestone, NY from 1992 until 2008. During my time in Whitestone, I was an Adjunct Professor of Philosophy with specialty in teaching Business Ethics at St. John's University, Jamaica, NY. I also served as the LIFE TEEN Priest at St. Martin of Tours, Bethpage, NY for seven years. During my time in Whitestone, I was Assistant Director of Formation and then Director of Formation. I was elected member of the Baltimore Province Extraordinary Provincial Council in 2005, re-elected in 2008 and 2011; served as Pastor at St. Clement’s Church; Saratoga Springs, NY from August of 2008 until January 2015 and then was elected Provincial Superior of the Redemptorists of the Baltimore Province in 2014 and re-elected in 2018, finishing my two terms in March of 2023.
Highlights of 36+ years of priesthood include: given numerous parish missions in the northeast as well as several in the Caribbean (St. Croix, Dominica, St. Lucia and twice in Grenada); taking young people to work with Habitat for Humanity for two to three weeks every summer from 1995 until 2007 and 2009 until 2014; attending World Youth Day in Denver in 1992 and Toronto in 2002 as well as being part of several Redemptorist North American Young Adult Dialogues and two European Redemptorist Young Adult Conferences.
Fr. Bob Harrison, C.Ss.R.
Associate Pastor
OMPH Parish
I attended Catholic grade school and high school in York, PA. I received my Bachelor Degree from
Mt. St. Mary College, Emmitsburg, MD in 1975. I started my career in the Retailing business and also worked in the Roofing Business for 20 years here in Ephrata. I raised a son, as a single-parent.
My son, Shawn, is a 1992 graduate 1992 of OMPH School. I received my Master in Divinity Degree in 2004 from the Washington Theological Union. At the age of 52 I was Ordained a Redemptorist Priest on May 7, 2005 at OMPH. I had the privilege of presiding at my son’s wedding which was celebrated at OMPH. Since then, I have baptized three grandchildren and have given them all their First Communion.
My assignments have been: the island of St. Lucia; Brooklyn, NY; Philadelphia, PA; Ephrata, PA; Baltimore, MD; and Saratoga, NY. All of these assignments allowed me the opportunity to work with students of all ages.