The memorial of St. Kateri Tekakwitha will be celebrated this Friday, 14 July. St. Kateri was a member of the Mohawk Indian Nation. Her name, in the Mohawk language, would have been pronounced Gah-deh-LEE Deh-gah-GWEE-tah. St. Kateri had problems with her eyesight caused by a smallpox outbreak. The name “Tekakwitha” means “ she bumps into things.” St. Kateri was evangelized… Read More »St. Kateri
Blessings on this Fourth of July weekend. It was on the Second of July, 1776 that a resolution declaring freedom from Great Britain was approved by the Continental Congress. Two days later, edits to the draft of the Declaration of Independence were approved “In Congress, July 4, 1776.” “When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one… Read More »Happy 4th of July!
Our work as a Next Generation Parish soon will enter its third of four phases. The Implementation phase is two years in length that will bring to reality the priorities and goals of the Envisioning Team (phase two) that were gleaned from the information you, our parishioners, provided on the Disciple Maker Index (phase one). The Implementation Team will be… Read More »Next Generation Parish
Greetings and Happy Father’s Day. Blessings to all our fathers, grandfathers, great-grandfathers, godfathers, and fathers-in-law. May you and your families have a very special day, filled with grace and heavenly blessings as we pray: You are God: we praise you; you are the Lord: we acclaim you; you are the eternal Father: all creation worships you. To you all angels, all… Read More »Happy Father’s Day!
“It must be tremendously interesting to be a schoolmaster, to watch boys grow up and help them along; to see their characters develop and what they become when they leave school and the world gets hold of them. I don’t see how you could ever get old in a world that’s always young.” Goodbye, Mr. Chips It is graduation time,… Read More »2023 Graduation!
The National Eucharist Revival is a three year endeavor for the Church in the United States “to be healed, converted, formed, and unified by an encounter with Jesus in the Eucharist – and then sent out on mission for the life of the world.” The year-long initial phase on the Diocesan level concludes this week. A National Eucharistic Congress, celebrated… Read More »National Eucharist Revival
I once celebrated a funeral Mass for a woman who was one of the first to drive across the Walt Whitman Bridge. Her father was one of the bridge builders, and she was entrusted with the task of motoring over the Delaware River. Her first of many such peregrinations from Philly to the Jersey Shore, but probably the only one… Read More »Walt Witman
The Memorial of St. Philip Neri is on Friday, 26 May. St. Philip was a member of one of the greatest canonization classes in the history of the Church. Canonized with him on 12 March, 1622 were St. Teresa of Avila, St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. Francis Xavier, and St. Isidore. St. Isidore was a twelfth century farmer; but the… Read More »Fire-pit Discussions
Happy Mother’s Day. Blessings to all our mothers, grandmothers, great-grandmothers, godmothers, and mothers-in-law. May you and your families have a very special day, filled with grace, as we offer this prayer to our Blessed Mother. Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of mercy. Hail, our life, our sweetness, and our hope. To thee do we cry poor banished children of Eve; to… Read More »Happy Mother’s Day!
Given the light but steady rain of the previous night, the early morning humidity was not unexpected. Yet somehow the chapel’s floor maintained its chill. It was nearly nippy. This welcome temperature transition seemed to be mindful of the moment at hand. The Ontological Change of the Sacrament was within reach. The lay bowing to the clerical. I was soon… Read More »Ordination Season