Greetings, Christ the King parishioners!  We hope you all are doing well as you adjust to this new routine.  Know that we miss you and pray for you daily.

Updates:  

Be careful!  There are “bad actors” (as our tech company likes to call them) out there who are using this crisis to send out spoof emails, hoping that you’ll be less watchful about clicking on harmful links.  Please be sure you trust the sender before clicking on any hyperlinks or attachments.  Any email from Christ the King will come from an address ending in christthekingonline.org.  If an email seems suspicious, email one of the clergy and we can tell you if it’s legitimate.
By popular demand, today we’ll start following our noon Angelus with Mass instead of just a Gospel reflection!

Parish Novena:  Our parish-wide novena continues!  Go to https://www.praymorenovenas.com/pandemic-novena and scroll down to Day 3.
Curious as to how other parish families are dealing with the shutdown?  Check out this message from the Gaspers:  https://youtu.be/MRC6jk9K-tw
Prayer Resource for the Day:  Our diocese’s Office of Family Life is keeping an updated posting of “quarantine resources” for families’ spiritual and practical wellbeing;  https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Cancelled-Events—Quarantine-Resources–.html?soid=1118124188939&aid=kGPpAYAybgQ
Prayer Intention for the Day:  For our parishioners who are homebound or who live in assisted living or nursing homes.
Suggested Act of Kindness for the Day:  Thank someone for something you might have otherwise overlooked.

Have you missed previous videos or reflections?  Go to the Christ the King Youtube Channel:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkqv918ak5sglBo-JlVUbBQ (or search for “Christ the King Parish – South Bend” on Youtube)

Let’s keep praying for one another until we can be together again.

Sincerely in Christ our King,
The Pastoral Team at Christ the King Parish

Over the centuries our Church has produced a great wealth of wisdom and teachings. While many Catholics are introduced to this tradition during their time in Catholic Schools, once Catholics leave it can be difficult to know where to go in order to continue to develop our knowledge of our faith. With that in mind, I’d like to share a few of the online resources I have found to be accessible, orthodox, and inspiring ways to encounter the riches our Church has to offer.

Bishop Robert Barron’s Word on Fire: Bishop Barron and his team post weekly homilies as well as videos and articles on faith and culture. Over the years, Bishop Barron has discussed a huge number of issues, from interpreting the Bible to movie reviews to engaging with current events. His material is thoughtful, thought provoking, and consistently orthodox. wordonfire.org

Fr. Mike Schmitz: Fr. Mike Schmitz is from the Diocese of Duluth and wears many hats. He is a nationally known Catholic speaker and shares weekly videos on YouTube through Ascension Presents. He addresses questions and gives practical advice on how to life the Christian Life and grow in virtue. (Youtube.com, search “Ascension Presents”)

McGrath Institute for Church Life: The Institute for Church Life comes from the University of Notre Dame and provides a number of resources that can be helpful, thought provoking, and engage in a deeper and more scholarly way some of the issues and challenges of the Church in the modern world. Their articles tend to be more academic but may be a great resource for someone who wants dive a little deeper into the thinking of the Church. Their journal is a great resource. churchlife.nd.edu

The Bible Project: I’ve mentioned this resource before. […]

It goes without saying that everyone is facing an awful lot of challenges in light of the coronavirus pandemic.  Many people have had many different reactions, but it seems like “unprecedented” is a word that keeps coming up in conversation.  Old or young, we’ve never been through anything like this, and that is very unsettling.

Whenever anything is that jarring, there’s a spiritual dimension to it.  Yes, we’re wondering how we will keep our loved ones healthy, and how we’ll manage a whole host of logistical issues.  But we also wonder how we can persevere through this without losing hope.  Perhaps we’re even wondering how we can be a source of hope and strength to others.

From that perspective, perhaps it’s providential that this is all happening during Lent.  Without over-spiritualizing this crisis or making light of the suffering many are going through, perhaps one way to persevere lies in our traditional Lenten practices of prayer, fasting and almsgiving.  So let me offer this for your reflection:

¨ Prayer:  There are a whole lot of opportunities for prayer that none of us anticipated a month or two ago.  If you find yourself with a little extra time on your hands, perhaps you can use some of that for prayer.  If your family is spending more time together in closer quarters than usual, then perhaps you can pray a family rosary, or go to the Bishops’ web site (usccb.org) to pray together with the readings for Sunday Mass.  There’s no shortage of intentions to pray for.  Pray for those who are sick and those who have lost a loved one.  Pray for world leaders to make good decisions, and for health care workers who are putting in long hours.  Pray […]

Over the past few weeks, I hope you’ve seen the announcement in the bulletin about the scheduled power outage that will take place this week.    Just to make sure everyone knows:

THE CHURCH AND THE RECTORY WILL BE WITHOUT POWER THIS WEEK (MONDAY, MARCH 2ND THROUGH FRIDAY MARCH 6TH).

(Sorry for the all-caps announcement, but I need to make sure everyone sees it!)   This power outage is a planned part of our construction schedule, and we’ve had enough notice to be able to prepare well ahead of time.  Here are some things you’ll need to know:

¨ We will still have Mass at 8:30am and 5:30pm throughout the week.  However, our Masses will be candlelit and unheated, so we encourage our weekday Mass-goers to go to another parish for Mass this week.

¨ 6:00pm Confessions will be canceled on Wednesday March 4th.

¨ Eucharistic Adoration will be canceled on Friday March 6th.

¨ No Stations of the Cross on March 6th.

¨ The Parish Office will be closed all week.

¨ There will be no SCRIP sales this week.

¨ We will not schedule anyone for the Casserole Program or Pack-a-Lunch Ministry for this week.

¨ Calls to the Parish Office will be redirected to the school.  However, you won’t be able to leave a voice mail for any Pastoral Team members that week.  We encourage you to use email instead.

¨ For any medical emergencies requiring the immediate attention of a priest, a priest may be reached any time, day or night, by calling the sacramental emergency line directly:  (574) 273-6709

¨ To see how individual meetings and ministries might be affected during that week, please contact the head of that ministry.

¨ The school will still have power and will only be minimally affected.  A separate communication has gone out to school families via the weekly school […]

I first felt the call to this ministry before I even entered the seminary. While I was in high school, I heard several of my relatives speak about their Army deployments, and they often lamented the scarcity (if not complete absence) of Catholic Chaplains while they were overseas. It broke my heart to imagine so many men and women enduring danger without the aid of Mass, Confession, or spiritual guidance from a priest. As I progressed through the seminary, I learned that Holy Cross has a rich tradition of military chaplains, which began with Fr. William Corby, C.S.C. serving as a Union Chaplain in the Civil War. After much prayer and discussion with the seminary staff, I joined the Army Chaplain Corps in June 2014 and became a full-fledged Army Chaplain in June 2017.

I do not have nearly enough room in this column to describe everything I do as a Chaplain, but it is best summarized by the Chaplain Corps’ mission: to “Bring God to Soldiers, and Soldiers to God.” As a Battalion Chaplain, I travel to a nearby Army Reserve unit once a month and train with the soldiers there for a full weekend (and sometimes longer for field exercises). I have found great joy in celebrating Mass and Confession for Catholics out in the field, as well as providing spiritual guidance for soldiers who may […]