Blogs

We had our last Pastoral Council meeting of the year this past Monday and the officers for the upcoming year are as Follows: Chairperson, Dan Loch; Vice Chair, Nicole Tobin and Secretary, Kristin Chuba. Our congratulations to all three of them. The next night we had a dinner at the rectory for 30 of the many people involved in our Social Concerns ministries. Included in the group were people who work on the monthly food drive, representatives from the three funeral reception teams, teachers of …

Continue reading “11th Sunday in Ordinary Time – June 17, 2018”

It is important at this moment in our public life to remember that the Church has always claimed the right to speak on moral issues in the public square. There are areas where morality and politics overlap and in such cases the Church has always spoken out. No one is surprised to hear Catholic Bishops and priests speak against abortion from the pulpit. Nor should you be surprised when Bishops and priests condemn the federal policy of family separation at the border as part of …

Continue reading “Nativity of St. John the Baptist – June 24, 2018”

You will be reading this on June 3rd, the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ. For Catholics of my advanced age, this was the central dogma of the Church differentiating us from all other Christian denominations. In those days, we alone believed that the substance of bread and wine, while keeping its appearances, became the Body and Blood of Jesus. To receive communion, was to take Jesus into your entire self so that you could become more what you just received. We still …

Continue reading “Body and Blood of Christ – June 3, 2018”

This Sunday is the first of two Solemnities that follow Pentecost Sunday. This weekend we celebrate Trinity Sunday and next weekend is the Feast of Corpus Christi, the Body and Blood of Jesus. As I get older, I find a deepened appreciation of the mystery of the Trinity. Officially, we pray to the Father in Jesus and through the Holy Spirit. This means that our experience of the divine has a relational depth to it. You can have a relationship with each person of the …

Continue reading “Holy Trinity Sunday – May 27, 2018”

Happy Pentecost Sunday! Today we celebrate the birthday of the Church, which happens when the Holy Spirit comes upon those first disciples. In John’s Gospel, the Holy Spirit is given by the Risen Jesus on Easter. In Luke and Acts of the Apostles, this important event is set on Pentecost, 50 days after Easter Sunday. What is important is the bestowal and not the timing. It is the Holy Spirit who is the continued presence of Jesus in His Body, the Church. It is the …

Continue reading “Pentecost Sunday – May 20, 2018”

Here we are in May, and I do believe spring has sprung. Alleluia! The last two weekends we had our Annual Pastoral Council elections. The quality of the candidates was exceptional. So many people voted that the counters were here for over two hours on Sunday night. The reason for the turnout, of course, was so that we would have a strong Council for the coming year, when a new pastor will take over the reins. You should know that we are in a period …

Continue reading “6th Sunday of Easter – May 6, 2018”

There are several things that go into making us the parish we are. Maybe the most important is that we have a number of small ministry/faith-sharing groups that both deepen the faith of the participants even as they flow into parish ministries. Two examples are the Social Concerns Committee, and the REACH Singers (the musicians at the 9:15am and 6pm Masses). I was at last Monday’s Social Concerns meeting and one topic was the need to build up our funeral reception teams. These three teams …

Continue reading “5th Sunday of Easter – April 28, 2018”

I am writing this on Easter Monday, a day of snow! Amazing. It has been a wonderful Triduum here at St. Jerome. I had the unusual experience of participating in most of it from a pew. The only service at which I presided was the 9:30am on Easter Sunday. So, Fr. Rojin did two Triduum services, Good Friday and the Easter Vigil, and Fr. Mike did Holy Thursday. The highlight of Holy Thursday was watching family/friend groups come up for the washing of the feet. …

Continue reading “2nd Sunday of Easter – April 8, 2018”

I am writing this on Palm Sunday but thinking of Easter. Christmas, of course, has many stories, but it is hard to find Easter equivalents. So, I am eagerly awaiting a package from Amazon that will hold a book of Easter short stories. I am hopeful. While I wait, let me turn not to stories, but to poetry. Poetry has the ability to help us look carefully and deeply at life, searching for deeper meanings. One of my favorites is a poem by Cardinal John …

Continue reading “Easter Sunday, April 1, 2018”