This Wednesday, February 26th there is a good chance you’ll see a co-worker or someone at school or at the store walking around with ashes on their forehead.  So, what’s up with that?

February 26th is Ash Wednesday, the day that marks the beginning of Lent, a period of fasting and reflection leading up to Easter.  The day gets its name from the practice of placing ashes on one’s forehead as a celebration and reminder of human mortality and as a sign of repentance.  (Read more…)

Why Sundays don’t count during Lent

The question: the period of prayer and fasting in preparation for Easter is 40 days long, but there are 46 days between Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent in the Roman Catholic Liturgical calendar, and Easter.  So how are the 40 days of Lent calculated?

The answer takes us back to the earliest days of the Church.  Christ’s original disciples, who were Jewish, grew up with the idea that the Sabbath – the day of worship and rest – was Saturday, the seventh day of the week, since the account of creation in Genesis says that God rested on the seventh day. (Read more…)

On Sunday, February 9th, we celebrate World Marriage Day to honor the husband and the wife as head of the family – the basic unit of society; and to salute the beauty of their faithfulness.

The annual observance of the marriage day takes on new meaning these days as the sacrament and institution and meaning of marriage are facing crucial new challenges from within and without.

More than ever, couples are experiencing problems arising from a widespread mistaken understanding of what marriage truly is; and unity and indissolubility are being replaced by personal fulfillment. (Read more…)

On Saturday, January 11th and Saturday, January 18th, seventeen of our First Holy Communion children made their First Sacrament of Reconciliation.  What a joy and privilege it was to see them at this Sacrament!

We also encourage the whole family to come to church with the child and to go to the Sacrament of Reconciliation too.  I’m pleased to say that I was able to hear the confession of some families that morning.  This was a great example not only to the children in the family but indeed to other children and adults present in church – including myself. (Read more…)

The week from January 18-25th, Catholic Christians celebrate the “Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.”  The purpose of this week is to remind us that Catholic Christians are called to ecumenism.    This is the Church’s commitment to the prayer of Jesus at the Last Supper, in which Jesus prayed “that they all may be one” (John 17:21).

At the Second Vatican Council, the Council decided that the realization of that unity in accordance with the prayer of Jesus was an ecumenical imperative.  (Read more…)

I want to say a big thank you to everyone who worked so hard in decorating and preparing our church for Christmas.  Many people have told me how much they enjoyed the Christmas Service.

Thank you to Pat Prakopcyk, Lisa Sforza and Glenn Ricketts, our organists who make our services and liturgies throughout Advent and Christmas so special and prayerful for all of us.

Thank you to Mrs. Vanessa O’Keefe and the children who participated in this year’s Christmas Eve Pageant.  (Read more…)