I have some very exciting news to report in this week’s column:  our capital campaign is officially closed!  As you recall, we conducted the campaign in the Fall of 2018 in order to raise money for the new addition (as well as the beautification of our exterior façade; more on that in next week’s column).  We received an amazing response, with pledges of well over $5 million from more than 600 families.  With such great support, we were able to open our beautiful new addition in the fall of 2020, and it has been a tremendous blessing to our parish.

We began collecting these pledges in 2019, which meant that the final pledges of this three-year campaign were at the end of last month.  I’m so humbled by the extent to which all of you followed through on your pledges.  We’ve had very few people who weren’t able to honor their pledges, and even during the worst of the COVID shutdown, people continued to pay faithfully on their pledges.  I couldn’t believe people’s faithfulness in the midst of such hard times, and I’m overwhelmed by your support.

You may also recall that when the project was completed a year ago, we took out a three-year bridge loan from the diocese in order to pay off our contractor while we were still collecting pledges.  We had expected to continue paying this bridge loan off after the campaign was closed, but I am very happy to report that we paid this loan off completely earlier this month.  That means that we were able to complete this project with no debt and without dipping into our savings!  It’s only your dedication and generosity that made this possible, so thanks to […]

Happy New Year!  On January 1st we celebrate the coming of the New Year, as well as celebrating our Blessed Mother under the title Mary, Mother of God.  Catholics also observe January 1st as the World Day of Peace, certainly an important intention given the many areas of conflict throughout our world and even in our own nation.  In that spirit, here is a portion of Pope Francis’ address from last year’s World Day of Peace, which I hope may aid in your own reflection on this day.  The full text can be found HERE.

“Jesus’ life and ministry represent the supreme revelation of the Father’s love for humanity… At the culmination of his mission, Jesus gave the ultimate proof of his care for us by offering himself on the cross to set us free from the slavery of sin and death. By the sacrificial gift of his life, he opened for us the path of love. To each of us he says, “Follow me; go and do likewise”.

The spiritual and corporal works of mercy were at the heart of charity as practiced by the early Church. The first generation of Christians shared what they had so that no one among them would be in need. They strove to make their community a welcoming home, concerned for every human need and ready to care for those most in need …

The compass of these social principles, so essential for the growth of a culture of care, also points to the need for relationships between nations to be inspired by the fraternity, mutual respect, solidarity, and the observance of international law. In this regard, we must recognize the need to defend and promote fundamental human rights, which are inalienable, […]

We’re heading into the home stretch of Advent, our last week of preparation before we celebrate the coming of Our Lord at Christmas.  While I’m sure that most of us have plenty of secular preparations to attend to in order to be ready for Christmas, I hope we ramp up our spiritual preparations, as well.  One option the Church gives us is the “O Antiphons”, which are part of the Church’s prayer from December 17th through December 23rd each year:
December 17
O Wisdom of our God Most High,
guiding creation with power and love:
come to teach us the path of knowledge!
December 18
O Leader of the House of Israel,
giver of the Law to Moses on Sinai:
come to rescue us with your mighty power!
December 19
O Root of Jesse’s stem,
sign of God’s love for all his people:
come to save us without delay!
December 20
O Key of David,
opening the gates of God’s eternal Kingdom:
come and free the prisoners of darkness!
December 21
O Radiant Dawn,
splendor of eternal light, sun of justice:
come and shine on those who dwell in darkness and in the
shadow of death.
December 22
O King of all nations and keystone of the Church:
come and save man, whom you formed from the dust!
December 23
O Emmanuel, our King and Giver of Law:
come to save us, Lord our God!
I found a great online resource from Word Among Us with some simple yet very beautiful prayers you can say at home with these antiphons in order to make this last week of Advent even more meaningful, so I encourage you to check it out:  Here. It’s a wonderful resource that helps relate these beautiful prayers to everyday life.

Whether or not you take advantage of this particular resource, please be sure to do something to make this last […]

Advent is in full swing.  These four weeks go by quickly, so if it seems like the season is getting away from you, don’t worry – there’s still time to make this season a meaningful preparation for our upcoming celebration of Christmas.  Here are some things going on in our parish that can help you prepare:

An evening Mass is offered every Tuesday during Advent at 5:30 pm, perfect for those of you who aren’t able to make our daily morning Mass.
Confessions will be offered every Tuesday at 6:00 pm, right after the evening Mass.
A lot of extra confession opportunities will be offered during the week leading up to Christmas:

Monday, December 20th: 7:00 – 8:00pm
Tuesday, December 21st: 6:00 – 8:00pm
Wednesday, December 22nd: 7:00 – 8:00 pm
Thursday, December 23rd: 9:00 – 10:00 am

An evening of Taize prayer will be offered tonight at 7:00 pm. (It will also be available on our YouTube channel.)
I’d also encourage you to consider adding Eucharistic Adoration to your prayer routine, offered here in the church from 9:00 am to noon on Fridays.
Volunteers are needed to assist with the Giving Tree, so Linda Fitzpatrick in the parish office can give you information on how you can help.

Of course, all of these offerings are in addition to the personal works of prayer and service that you are performing already.  If these are off to a slow start, I encourage you to think of some way to incorporate daily prayer into your routine.  There are several terrific (free) resources online, and your fellow parishioners can offer great suggestions as well.  The most important thing is that, in the midst of the hectic nature of the […]

Every November, Catholics make a concerted effort to pray for the dead.  At Christ the King, we began the month of November by celebrating our annual Mass of Remembrance on All Souls’ Day.  This Mass was offered for all of our parishioners who have died over the past year.  We also have our Book of Remembrance in the church by the Mary statue, in which parishioners have entered the names of deceased loved ones.  We pray for all of these folks throughout the month of November.

Praying for the dead is an important part of our Catholic tradition.  In particular, we pray that if a loved one is in purgatory, they may be cleansed of their sins so they might live forever in heaven.  (Today’s Catholic recently had an interesting article explaining the practice of gaining indulgences for the dead:  HERE)

There’s a great explanation of this given in the Old Testament.  In the Second Book of Maccabees (12:38-46), the hero of the story (Judas Maccabeus) finds that some of his soldiers have died in a state of sin.  “Turning to supplication, they prayed that the sinful deed might be fully blotted out… In doing this he acted in a very excellent and noble way, inasmuch as he had the resurrection in mind; for if he were not expecting the fallen to rise again, it would have been superfluous and foolish to pray for the dead.”

That’s exactly why we pray for the dead:  because we believe in heaven.  Yes, we know there is judgment, and that there are consequences for our sins, but we also believe that we are still connected to our deceased brothers and sisters in the same Mystical Body and that our prayers for […]