Dear Friends, I hope you enjoyed the introduction to Pope Francis’ letter on Holiness last week. Here is a little more from Chapter One: “A Christian cannot think of his or her mission on earth without seeing it as a path of holiness, for ‘this is the will of God,...

Dear Friends, Pope Francis wrote you a letter this week. Like most letters from popes, it is a bit long, so you may not be able to read the whole thing in one sitting. He wrote the letter to encourage you to be holy. It is written in Pope Francis’ style which is not...

Dear Friends, In the eyes of the Church, Easter continues on! Not satisfied with one day, we celebrate Easter for 50 days! The Easter season ends on Pentecost…fifty days from Easter. To honor that reality and as we celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday, I’d like to give you a...

Dear Friends, This Easter I have had some odd memories from my childhood. Not of Easter egg hunts, but of the old-fashioned westerns that were common fare on television when I was young. In many of the old westerns, the hero comes into a village, does the good that...

Dear Friends, Our Lenten Journey has reached its end and the celebration of Holy Week is upon us. I hope you find time this week to join us in the liturgies as we remember the great events of the life of Jesus. I think the liturgies of this week help us to understand...

Dear Friends, What an incredible week we just finished! I am sure that those of you who had the opportunity to attend the Lenten Mission with ValLimar Jansen found your faith-life stimulated, challenged and filled with joy. Her powerful singing voice and acting...

Dear Friends, I hope you can join us for the Parish Lenten Mission being presented by ValLimar Jansen. I am sure you will not only learn, but you will have a chance to pray and to celebrate all that God is and does for you. And, it will be enjoyable. The enjoyable...

Dear Friends, Next weekend, St. Frances Cabrini Parish is having a Lenten Parish Mission!! Years ago, this type of event would have brought in Redemptorist, Dominican, or Jesuit preachers to speak each night at the parish for a week with the goal of challenging people...

Dear Friends, One of my addictions is reading. I cannot read one book at a time. I am always reading four or more at the same time. I blame this on college where we always took at least four courses at once and all of them had reading to be done. I just got into a...

Dear Friends, On Ash Wednesday morning at Mass, Pope Francis gave a challenging homily to his listeners. He recommended three words for the Lenten journey to help us return to God: “Pause a little, leave behind the unrest and commotion that fill the soul with bitter...

Dear Friends, Lent is a holy season in the church calendar, but I wonder if it isn't awfully easy to miss the point of it. Pope Francis recently wrote a letter to the church about the season. In it, he reminds us to practice the basic Lenten disciplines of prayer,...

Dear Friends, The Christmas season ended on January 7, though in some churches the remnants of Christmas remain. The three CUES schools gathered at Holy Name Church on Wednesday of last week to celebrate Mass for Catholic Schools Week together and, in their church,...