It may be hard to believe, but October begins this week!  Every October, we are called to consider more deeply why every human life is valuable and reflect on how to build a culture that protects life from conception to natural death.  While we are grateful for the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, we know that abortion still remains legal in most areas of the country.  Yet, this is an historic step forward.  As we continue to promote the protection of the infant in the womb, […]

After more than four years of preparation, I am excited to introduce our new Pastoral Plan for our parish!  Working closely with our Parish Pastoral Council for several years and especially its envisioning team last year, we are now ready to present it to everyone in the parish as we invite you to embrace our three priorities: transformative liturgies, parishioner engagement and faith sharing.  We all know that the primary purpose of our parish – like every parish in the world – is to draw everyone closer to God through […]

CATHOLIC CHARITIES APPEAL UPDATE

Every year, you are invited and encouraged to join with all of the parishes throughout our archdiocese in participating in the annual Catholic Charities Appeal and every year you respond with great generosity!  Although there are 60 parishes in the archdiocese with more parishioners than we have, only one or two parishes contribute more than we do to this very important appeal which provides a variety of services to people throughout our archdiocese.  To date, your contributions to CCA total $107,932, 71% of our $152,390 goal for […]

“Jesus said to his disciples: ‘I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing!’” (Lk 12:49) we hear our Lord teach us in today’s gospel.  As Jesus was sent by his heavenly Father to “set the earth on fire” so he has sent all of us followers to share his saving mission with the whole world.  We recognize our missionary mandate – to make disciples of all nations – to be our primary task; every other work we do flows from it.

Next […]

Due to its ongoing success here, the Bethlehem Carving Group will be returning, once again, to give us a taste of Christmas next weekend.  It was originally planned for the end of July but scheduling conflicts led to its postponement to next week!  Those of you who have visited our parish center when they have been here in the past know that the Bethlehem Carving Group offers a wide variety of beautiful olive wood carvings and other products for sale.  I have invited the Bethlehem Carving Group to set up […]

In just a few weeks, Pope Francis is scheduled to preside over a consistory for the creation of 21 new cardinals.  This was announced in May and was a great surprise to most familiar with the operation of the Vatican.  After all, the Vatican offices are practically closed down in August for the annual Ferragosto, the vacation time taken by many Romans during this, the hottest month of the year.  The last time a cardinal was made in August was in 1807 when Pope Pius VII created Francesco Guidobono Cavalchini […]

I hope you found some helpful instruction and inspiration in last week’s presentation of the first half of Pope Francis’ recent apostolic letter entitled Desiderio Desideravi.  It’s an opportune moment for us all to reflect on the importance of liturgy in our spiritual lives as we return to participating in the Eucharistic Celebration in person after being deprived of it for a time due to the coronavirus pandemic.  As I noted last week, this apostolic letter also helps us to understand why Pope Francis and so many bishops around the […]

POPE FRANCIS’ APOSTOLIC LETTER ON THE LITURGY

We all know that the liturgy is the source and summit of our faith.  As the Second Vatican Council declared so clearly, it is “the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed and, at the same time, the font from which all her power flows” (Sacrosanctum Concilium, § 10).  Recently, Pope Francis offered the universal Church some powerful reflections on the liturgy and especially the Eucharistic Liturgy in his apostolic letter, Desiderio Desideravi, promulgated on 29 June 2022, the Solemnity of […]