Priestly Ponderings

From Fr. Mark    SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT   Situated between the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (celebrated on Monday, December 8) and the Feast of Our Lady of Guadelupe (celebrated Friday, December 12), celebrated on Wednesday, December 10 is the Memorial of Our Lady of Loreto. Pointing to the Virgin Mary, it celebrated a revered relic-the Holy House of Loretto.  In the Autobiography of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux  she wrote: “ I was indeed ha

From Fr. Mark        FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT   C.S. Lewis, the great Christian writer who gave us Narnia, wrote a superb parody about Christmas, describing a baffled time traveler visiting Britain and finding people forced to buy squares of decorated cardboard and mail them to one another.             It is true that many semi-obligatory things, apparently belonging to Christmas in Western countries, bear very little relation to the awesome reality of the birth of Jesus Chris

From Fr. Mark SOLEMNITY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST    KING OF THE UNIVERSE   Jesus said to his disciples: “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who

From Fr. Mark      Before our entire attention turns toward the festivities of Thanksgiving and Christmas, I wanted to return towards November being the time we remember and pray for the Faithful Departed. It is difficult at times to think about what happends to us and our loved ones when they die. Any prayer or pious act applied to the souls in purgatory can be a way to pray for them. The most effective manner of praying is to have Masses offered for them or to apply the fru

From Fr. Mark The teaching torch has been passed. Pope Leo XIV’s first formal document as pope, the apostolic exhortation Dilexi Te (I Have Loved You), was promulgated Oct. 9, the feast day of St. John Henry Newman. The exhortation is the completion of work begun by Pope Francis before he died—a striking resemblance to Francis’s own first document, the encyclical Lumen Fidei (The Light of Faith), which completed work begun by Pope Benedict XVI before his resignation. And ju

From Fr. Mark             Priesthood Sunday 2025 Traditionally, the last Sunday of September is recognized as “Priesthood Sunday” in...

From Fr. Mark             Catechetical Sunday 2025 Today the Catholic Church in the United States is celebrating Catechetical Sunday. The...

From Fr. Mark             On January 31, 2021, Pope Francis announced the establishment of the World Day for Grandparents and the...

From Fr. Mark                         Thank you to all who work so hard in many different ways, from chairing the picnic, chairing...

From Fr. Mark             WELCOME VISITORS TO HOLY CHILDHOOD PICNIC               Thank you to all who work so hard in many different...

From Fr. Mark Mary is Queen of Heaven and Earth                      Rooted in Sacred Scripture and professed in prayers and hymns, the...

Masses: (Vigil) Thursday, August 14 at 6:30pm-St. Liborious Friday, August 15 at 6:30am-Holy Childhood 8:00am (Opening School...

Embracing the New School Year             I know that I have been teasing with my countdown to the start of school, we are now at that...

From Fr. Mark During this year of Pilgrims on the Way of Hope: continuing all this week in Rome, until August 3 is declared the Jubilee...

From Fr. Mark        This past week, On July 22, the Church celebrated the Feast of St. Mary Magdelene, one of the most prominent women...

From Fr. Mark                        On July 28 & 29, 2025 Rome will host a Jubilee event gathering of  Digital Missionaries and Catholic...

From Fr. Mark Deep within the Shawnee National Forest, the Diocese of Belleville owns and operates Camp Ondessonk. The word “Ondessonk”...

From Fr. Mark                        We have moved away from the Solemnities that have been inserted into our calendar. This week,...

From Fr. Mark                                 The vestments worn at mass during Ordinary Time are the color green. We have entered...

Today we celebrate the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. After the resurrection, Jesus entered into the room where the Apostles...