It’s been a strange and unusually warm winter, hasn’t it?  With the exception of a few extraordinarily frigid days and one snow storm, it’s felt more like fall or spring than winter.  Now, spring is fast approaching.  Liturgically, Lent – which means “spring” – is almost here; it starts this week with Ash Wednesday.  Just as the natural world is reawakened and renewed every spring, each year, the Church, in her wisdom, offers us this liturgical Season of Lent, a season for reconciliation and renewal in preparation for Easter, when […]

National Catholic Schools Week is an annual celebration of Catholic education in the United States.  Now entering its 50^th anniversary year, it is an opportunity for us to recognize the importance of Catholic education and formation and to celebrate our school that has instructed and formed our children for over 100 years.  Our school has enjoyed a strong reputation as an outstanding Catholic elementary school ever since it opened in 1916.  It was originally founded to ensure that the Catholic children in this area would receive both an excellent education […]

REFLECTIONS ON RECENT VATICAN DECLARATION

Part 2

Last week, I provided you with a summary of the recent Vatican declaration entitled Fiducia Supplicans in response to questions that had been raised over the past several years regarding same-sex couples.  As you read this summary, you will recall that it ended with: “beyond the guidance provided above, no further responses should be expected about possible ways to regulate details or practicalities regarding blessings of this type.” It sounded as if the Vatican’s Office for the Doctrine of the Faith expected that it had […]