It may be hard to believe, but October begins this week!  Every October, the Catholic Church in the United States celebrates Respect Life Month and 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.  With such issues as abortion, in vitro fertilization and immigration among the most important and controversial topics being debated in preparation for the upcoming elections, this is certainly a providential moment for us to reflect on […]

The Eucharist is a prophetic reminder that the human person is made for worship.

(Making Catholic Schools Eucharistic)

This weekend, we join with the Church throughout our nation and around the world in celebrating Catechetical Sunday.  Those whom the community has designated to serve as catechists will be called forth at the 9:30am Mass to be commissioned for their ministry.  And, I will ask God’s blessing on all parents who are present as well, praying that God may strengthen them in their resolve to share the precious gift […]

FALL ACTIVITIES RESUME

Now that Labor Day is behind us, the summer season comes to an end and all of our parish activities and organization will resume.  Our school already began this past Wednesday, 6 September, PREP begins on Monday,16 September, and Wednesday, 18 September, and all the other parish organizations resume their full fall schedule over the next few weeks.  It will be great to have the parish facilities become fully alive again!

Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA)

As fall activities resume, I would like to […]

Over the past several years, the local media has drawn a great deal of attention to the inequality in the quality of education offered in predominantly Black and Brown neighborhoods in Philadelphia.  Not only does Philadelphia have the unfortunate distinction of having the highest poverty rate among the ten most populous cities in our country but its public education ranks among the worst, coming in 42^nd of the 50 big cities in the U.S.A.  This inequality in educational opportunity has a long history not only in Philadelphia but throughout our […]

As we continue to hear on Sunday from the Gospel of John’s Bread of Life Discourse, I would like to offer some reflections on the Eucharist and its essential role in our salvation.  These reflections are based on one of the inspiring presentations given during the recent National Eucharistic Congress.  This presentation was offered by Sr. Josephine Garrett.  She began by summing up the state of the world before and after Christ and the state of each of our souls before and after we are initiated into the Christian mysteries.  […]

JESUS, THE BREAD OF LIFE

If you have been paying attention to the Sunday Gospels over the past two weeks, you might have noticed that they were taken from the Gospel of John.  If you noticed that, you might have thought it odd since this year, when we are in Year B of the three year Liturgical cycle, the Sunday Gospel is ordinarily taken from the Gospel of Mark.  Since Mark’s Gospel is rather short, however, we have more Sundays than we have Marcan pericopes so periodically throughout the […]

TRANSFIGURATION OF THE LORD

Every year, the Church celebrates the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord on 6 August, 40 days before the Feast of the Exultation of the Holy Cross which is celebrated on 1 September.  The account of the Transfiguration is also proclaimed on the Second Sunday of Lent every year – each year from the proper Liturgical Year – and for good reason.  Just as our Lord was transfigured before the three disciples up on Mount Tabor to encourage them as they prepared to accompany […]

JOSH PARMET ON THE NATIONAL EUCHARISTIC CONGRESS:

MY PERSONAL REFLECTIONS

 Happy Sunday!  As Msgr. Brouwers mentioned in last week’s Bulletin, I was blessed to be able to attend the 10^th National Eucharistic Congress from July 17^th-20^th. I was with a group of eight seminarians from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia who attended the event.  After participating in a Mass at 5:00am on the 17^th at St. Charles Seminary, we headed out in a van with one of our seminary priests to Indianapolis.  From the moment we arrived at the convention center in […]

This past week, over 50,000 faithful Catholics gathered in Indianapolis to participate in the historic National Eucharistic Congress.  Josh Parmet, who has been living here in our rectory over the summer to experience parish life as he discerns his call to priesthood, was one of eight seminarians who were sent by our seminary to the Eucharistic Congress.  Next week, he will provide us with some reflections on this important event in the life of the Catholic Church in our country; I’m sure you will benefit from it!

At the end of […]