HOMILY – NOVEMBER 17, 2019
Do you remember the day last April when the Notre Dame Cathedral was so badly damaged by fire? We all looked on with horror and gasped as the spire collapsed into the roof. Was the entire cathedral lost? It was a great relief to learn days later that much of the interior had been spared and the walls were still intact, for the most part. For those of us who have visited this magnificent cathedral, it was a time of great sadness and a feeling of tremendous loss.
This experience […]
A SMALLER BUT MORE COMMITTED CHURCH
The Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan organization that conducts public opinion polls to inform the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world, recently released the results of its ongoing study on religion in our country. The results were not surprising and they are worthy of our reflection. The report tracks the numbers of Christians, Catholics and “nones”, that is, those who identify their religious identity as atheistic, agnostic or “nothing in particular”, over the past ten years here in the U.S.A. In 2009, 77% of […]
Monsignor Brouwers Homily – November 10, 2019
THIRTY-SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
Year C 10 November 2019
Do you know the difference between the Pharisees and the Sadducees? We hear about these two groups of Jewish leaders all the time in the gospels. They’re always trying to discredit Jesus. They saw him as a threat to their religion and, more important, their status as religious leaders. It seems that too many of them were more concerned about taking care of themselves than their people and they felt threatened by Jesus who constantly talked about loving your neighbor and […]
Welcome Youngjin Joo
I’m sure many of you have noticed that we’ve had a new piano and organ accompanist at the 8:00 and 9:30am Masses over the summer. Youngjin Joo, who has played the piano since she was eight years old and holds a Master’s Degree in Organ Performance, has graced us with her excellent musical accompaniment on both the organ and piano. After an extensive search over the summer and auditions with several candidates, we have engaged Youngjin as our new Sunday Accompanist and Adult Choir Director. I want to take this […]
Annual Appeal
“Our seminary is not closing!” This was the opening statement that Bishop Timothy Senior, the rector of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, made as he addressed the priests of our archdiocese at a recent clergy conference. I want you to hear this statement because I’m afraid that there are those who think the seminary is, indeed, closing. There are currently 165 seminarians from 15 (arch)dioceses and five religious communities at our seminary preparing for the priesthood; 75 of them are preparing to become priests for our archdiocese. So, it’s clear that […]