Pictorial Directories are HERE! Parishioners who had their picture taken for the directory get a free directory.  The directories are in the back of the church listed by family name.  If a family did not get their picture...

This weekend the Church celebrates the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe, more popularly known as the Feast of Christ the King. To help you prepare, we’re sharing ten of Bishop Barron’s best homilies on Christ the King. Enjoy! #10: True Kingship At the end of the liturgical year, we celebrate the feast of Christ the King. But Christ’s kingship is different from any with which we’re familiar – his kingdom “does not belong to this world.” His kingship doesn’t demand violence, but truth. Following him brings us closer to God’s grace. #9: Language Fit for a King The new translation of the Roman Missal is more fit for the celebration of the liturgy because it helps us address Christ in language befitting a King. #8: There’s a New King in Town Christ’s kingship cannot be properly understood outside Israel’s expectations…

Catholics “of a certain age” may remember being taught that, once having settled into a pew, our time before Mass was meant to be directed toward mentally and spiritually preparing ourselves for the great liturgies of Word and Eucharist—participation at which culminates in our physical Communion with the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Lord. “You stop to think before answering a riddle, or a guessing game, or even a question asked by a teacher,” the sister who taught us would say. “Why would you not stop to think, and to pray, before encountering the mystery of the Mass, and before meeting Jesus so interiorly?” Her logic seemed sound enough and I did grow to relish the “quiet time” before Mass—indeed, those spare preparatory moments of prayer and silence became as much a part of the Mass, for me, as the liturgies themselves. When people spoke in hushed…

The next “Bishop Barron Presents” event, featuring social scientist, musician, and Harvard professor Dr. Arthur Brooks, will take place LIVE tomorrow, November 21, at 10:00 p.m. (EST)! The evening is titled Love Your Enemies: Civility in a Culture of Contempt and will be livestreamed from Southern California. In the first part of the livestream, available to the public, Dr. Brooks will be offering a talk on the necessity of charitable dialogue, an economics based in human dignity, and the way forward in a “culture of contempt.” Following his presentation will be an exclusive conversation between Bishop Robert Barron and Dr. Brooks on the intricacies of Catholic Social Teaching and the realities of modern economic structures. Learn more about this exciting Bishop Barron Presents event here: https://wordonfire.institute/bishop-barron-presents-nov-2019/…

As a high school theology teacher, one of the first things I sought out to teach my young students was how much God loves us and how much he longs for us to love him back. This should have been a relatively easy undertaking. I mean, this is “Sunday School 101” kind of stuff, right? There are songs about it. I soon learned, however, that there exist some major roadblocks—namely, that being in love is now seen as a bad thing by many young people today. There exists a growing trend among young adults where experiencing feelings of love for another is something to be avoided at all costs—just like the common cold. In her groundbreaking book iGen, Jean Twenge explains how the iGeneration’s verbiage to “catch feelings” for another person equates the feelings of love to a disease that one would rather not have. (I strongly recommend this…

[On hearing of the death of his son,] the king was deeply moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept; and as he went, he said, “O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!” It was told Joab, “The king is weeping and mourning for Absalom.” So the victory that day was turned into mourning for all the troops; for the troops heard that day, “The king is grieving for his son.” The troops stole into the city that day as soldiers steal in who are ashamed when they flee in battle. The king covered his face, and the king cried with a loud voice, “O my son Absalom, O Absalom, my son, my son!” (2 Sam. 19:1-5) We Americans live in…

As you know, on October 13, Pope Francis canonized John Henry Newman a saint of the Church. Like so many others, I have long admired the depth and breadth of Newman’s thought and insight. Yet my first introduction to Newman was not one of his lengthy books or classic works. It was a short but inspiring meditation he wrote on “The Mission of My Life” that I came across by chance at a time when I was discerning my vocation. Here I try to unpack a genuine spiritual classic that deserves to be widely shared to all who are trying to discern their calling or perhaps have forgotten “The Mission of My Life.” “God has created me to do Him some definite service.” God created you and I intentionally and has blessed us with a unique set of gifts and talents that he wants us to use for some service…

My wife, Patti, has been a music director in parish contexts for over thirty years. She is an accomplished vocal performer, an exacting choral conductor, and a gifted composer. She treats her work as a sacred task in service to the majesty and dignity of the divine liturgy, and experiences her work as an act of prayer and as a call to prayer. Anyone who has ever watched her conduct knows it is pure choreography. David twirling about the Ark of the Covenant with unhampered joy—with abandon!—is the best analogy I can think of. Her ebullience and intensity electrify every space she enters. And as any artist knows, the grace of bringing beauty into the world plants the cross of Christ, the origin and standard of all beauty, deep into the core of her being. How grateful we should always be to artists. Patti has brought into our family over…

Today, Matt Nelson sits down with Dr. Brett Salkeld, in-house theologian for the Archdiocese of Regina in Canada. Dr. Salkeld is an expert in the doctrine of transubstantiation and, in today’s interview, he discusses the history and significance of the central Christian teaching in light of the recent Pew Research study that suggested the majority of Catholics today do not believe in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. It is rare to find someone with a PhD who is not working in academia. Tell us what you do for a living. I am the Archdiocesan Theologian for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Regina (in Saskatchewan, Canada). I got the job—back in my home diocese—because the previous Archbishop wanted to start a diaconate formation program, but we’re a long way from the nearest seminary or theology faculty. So diaconate formation is the biggest part of my work, but once you…

Our vocation is not simply to be, but to work together with God in the creation of our own life, our own identity, our own destiny. . . . To work out our identity in God. —Thomas Merton The riddles of God are more satisfying than the solutions of man. —G.K. Chesterton Mr. Crouchback grimaced. It was wartime in England. His grandson Tony was shipping off to continental Europe to liberate the enslaved states from the iron grip of the Nazis. And Mr. Crouchback had forgotten to give him something. Mr. Crouchback was a curious soul in mid-twentieth-century England. Descended from an aristocratic lineage, he was not pretentious. A widower at a young age, he was not lonely. Financially less secure in his older age, he was…