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October is indeed flying by. And since Halloween will quickly be upon us, that means that Thanksgiving is almost here, and then of course is Christmas. Okay, I sped things up just a bit so I could talk about Advent and Christmas. It is never too early to be proactive. Read more.

The Holy Eucharist, Vatican II tells us, is "the source and summit of the Christian life" (Lumen gentium, 11). The Eucharistic is always celebrated within the context of the Liturgy, commonly referred to as the Mass in the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church. Most of us take the rhythm and language of the Mass for granted. While many of us have experienced some dramatic transformations in the specific language, orientation, and external structure of the Mass over the past sixty years, the Mass is essentially the same as it has ever and always been. Read more.

October is always a very busy month. As the fall season gets underway, we begin to think of apple picking and carving jack-o-lanterns. While all of these annual rituals are important, there is also always the liturgical cycle and the life of the church that calls for our attention. To that end, allow me a few basic points on events happening around us. Read more.

The work of the church, unlike most other social institutions, is really a 24/7 operation. Calls to the hospital or one of the residential health care facilities happen at any time of the day or night. Our chapter of the Saint Vincent DePaul Society – celebrating the 400th anniversary of foundation by St. Vincent – responds to the material needs of people at virtually any time of day as well. Read more.

We all know the expression “it takes a village”. Well, in our case it takes a parish. Well over 400 volunteers, in addition to the staff of the church and school, made our annual carnival last weekend a brilliant success. Read more.

After months of planning we have arrived at the Carnival weekend. The committee has put together what hopes to be a very exciting weekend with many new attractions, food opportunities, and games for children and adults of all ages. I hope to see everyone there at some point this weekend. Read more.

This week I will be attending the annual diocesan Convocation of Priests from Tuesday afternoon through Thursday afternoon. As there are no retired priests to celebrate Mass on Wednesday and Thursday mornings we will have a Liturgy of the Word service led by Deacon Ray. The Eucharist, which is reserved in the Tabernacle, will be distributed at each celebration. Read more.

It’s purely traditional and perhaps emotionally charged but this weekend marks the “end of summer”. We all know that it only means that school is opening and life returns to a semblance of whatever normal is for your family. Many of us aren’t impacted at all. Hopefully there are some great days ahead before the darkness of winter hit us. Read more.

So, it’s the last full week of summer for our school students. I know that there are very mixed reactions to that statement. There are only a few final touches left to be made the school building before things get underway. The science lab looks great and, thanks to a generous donation from the SBS Art’s Association, the Art Room is also in the midst of some renovations with new furniture and cabinetry. Things are looking really good. We have also developed a middle school concept here. Read more.

It is very disturbing to see the streets of the cities in our country erupt yet again in violence. This seems to be the third or fourth summer in a row now where some unimaginable event has caused civil disturbance. While the right to free speech and peaceful assembly are ingrained in our constitution and deeply rooted in our historical consciousness, reasonableness and rationality are always key to healthy and positive public discourse. While it is important that we pray for peace on our streets and an end to violence and bloodshed, we also all need to be measured in our own words and actions in these matters. Read more.

This week we celebrate the great Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, the patroness of our cathedral and our diocese. A late-summer and mid-week Holy Day of Obligation often gets overlooked. It is a sad reality, and one that reflects some of the casual approach to religious observance in the post-modern world. In order to assist the ability to attend Mass on holy days, I have included Mass on the vigil of the Holy Day (5:00 p.m.) and on the evening of the Holy Day (7:00 p.m.) in addition to the daily 9:00 a.m. Mass. Hopefully this makes it a little easier to be able to attend Mass here for the feast. Read more.

This is a reminder to everyone – we have the Angelus kiosk in the narthex of the church. Like the parish office, it is open on Sunday mornings for everyone’s convenience. We manage a fair number of sales each weekend, and it has already proven to be a valuable resource for everyone. During the week you can come to the parish office during regular office hours and can, from there, visit the shop and make a purchase. Read more.

We have come to the end of the summer religious education academy and it was a very successful program. This new model of providing for the religious education of the students of our parish seems to be a very positive experience for the students as well as their parents and the wonderful teachers who staff the program. Read more.

Kudos to Lori McCahill and the marriage ministry for a fun and successful family picnic last weekend! We had great weather and a nice turnout. In conjunction with our patronal feast day (July 11th) we are planning on making this an annual event. Read more.

It is finally beginning to feel like summer out there and it has been wonderful. We have hit the mid-point in July and the slide to the fall is quickly upon us. Soon many of our young adults will be moving on out – off to college or other points beyond. Two years ago we inaugurated our first college send-off Mass and party for those leaving for the first time. This year we decided to modify that send-off for a couple of reasons. Read more.

This weekend we welcome Father Michael McCormack, O.P. who is preaching the annual Pontifical Missionary Society’s appeal. Father will speak on the work of his religious order, the Dominicans, and it’s mission territory throughout the world. As always, our attentiveness and support are deeply appreciated.

We have been blessed with three weddings already this June – July season and have several more on the books for the rest of the year. This is a great blessing to our parish and a hopeful sign of things to come. I know that many parishes would not be very impressed with three weddings at this time of the year, but that is two more than all of last year and one more than all of the year before. Read more.

The Code of Canon Law of the Catholic Church calls for two consultative bodies to be present in each parish: 1) a Finance Council, which is an obligation of each parish and stands on its own within a parish; and 2) a Pastoral Council, which is the personal and pastoral board of consulters to the pastor. A Pastoral Council requires a pastor to be in place. There is actually no such body as a Parish Council envisioned by the law. Read more.

This weekend we are launching the Annual Catholic Appeal in our parish. While we normally do so in February with the rest of the diocese, because we were in the midst of the Faith to Move Mountains campaign we were granted an extension. Read more.

This weekend we are happy to welcome seminarian Frank Flaherty for the summer. He will be here on a pastoral assignment from June 10th until July 23rd. Frank just completed his first year of theology at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania. Read more.