The Feast of the Queenship of Mary – the Coronation – was established in 1954 by Pope Pius XII in a document called Ad Caeli Reginam. The original date for this feast was chosen as May 31st, but was later moved to the octave day of the feast of the Assumption, August 22nd. The Catholic faith states as a dogma that Mary was assumed into heaven, and is with Jesus Christ, her Divine Son. Mary should be called Queen, not only because of her Divine Motherhood of Jesus Christ, but also because God has willed her to have an exceptional role in the work of eternal salvation. Jesus Christ as Redeemer is Lord and King. The Blessed Virgin is Queen, because of the unique manner in which she assisted in our redemption, by giving of her own substance, by freely offering Him for us, by her singular … [Read more...]
Pope St. Pius X – August 21
Pope Saint Pius X was an Italian named Giuseppe Sarto, who was born in 1835 near Treviso, Italy. He was the second born of ten children of Giovanni Battista Sarto, the village postman, and Margherita Sanson. He was baptized on June 3, 1835. Though poor, his parents valued education, and Giuseppe walked 4 miles to school each day. As a poor boy, he was often teased for his meager lunches and shabby clothes, but he never complained about this to his teachers. He eventually came to the attention of the parish priest because of his devotion to the Mass as an altar server. In 1850, at the age of 15, he was given a scholarship from Cardinal of Venice (who his parish priest had written) to attend the Seminary of Padua, where he finished his classical, philosophical, and theological studies … [Read more...]
The Catholic Church Explained
The Catholic Church is the distinctive name of this holy Church which is the mother of us all. She is the bride of our Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God (for Scripture says: Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her). She is the type and she bears the image of the Jerusalem above that is free and is the mother of us all, that Jerusalem which once was barren but now has many children. The first assembly, that is, the assembly of Israel, was rejected, and now in the second, that is, in the Catholic Church, God has appointed first, apostles, second, prophets, third, teachers then workers of miracles, then healers, helpers, administrators and speakers in various tongues, as Paul says; and together with these is found every sort of virtue—wisdom and understanding, … [Read more...]
Kateri Tekakwitha
July 14, 2018 First Native American Saint On Sunday, October 21, 2012 the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI canonized the first Native American Saint, Kateri Tekakwitha. St. Kateri was born in 1656 near Auriesville, New York, the daughter of a Mohawk warrior and a Christian mother. At the age of four, smallpox attacked Tekakwitha's village, taking the lives of her parents and baby brother, and leaving Tekakwitha an orphan. She was adopted by her two aunts and an uncle, and although forever weakened, scarred, and partially blind, Tekakwitha survived. The brightness of the sun blinded her and she would feel her way around as she walked. When Tekakwitha was eighteen, Father de Lamberville, a Jesuit missionary, came to Caughnawaga and established a chapel. Her uncle disliked the … [Read more...]
Religious Freedom Week
Religious Freedom Week takes place from June 22, the Memorial of Sts. Thomas More & John Fisher, through June 29, the Solemnity of Sts. Peter & Paul. Join Catholics across the country to pray and act for the freedom to serve faithfully and with integrity. In recent years, a wave of vandalism and arson has hit Catholic churches and statues. That wave rose following the leaked draft of the Dobbs decision, and it crested after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, allowing states to regulate abortion. June and July of 2022 saw a huge spike in anti-Christian and anti-life attacks on churches. There have been over 250 attacks so far, including the theft of the statue of the Blessed Mother from in front of our own church, and that number steadily continues to grow. Pray that … [Read more...]
From Archbishop Aymond in the Clarion Herald
Q: With the summer heat about to arrive, the norm is for people in New Orleans to dress down even more casually than they do at other times of the year. The issue of church attire is a sensitive one – especially in an area where it’s hot nine months out of the year. What’s your perspective on how people should dress for Mass? Archbishop Aymond: I have a variety of feelings about this. There’s a part of me that remains grateful to God that a person is in church, regardless of how he or she is dressed. I certainly realize there are individual circumstances where a person may have other responsibilities and is not able to dress in what we might consider an appropriate manner, so I want to be sensitive to that. At the same time, the church is a sacred place – truly holy ground. It is a … [Read more...]
Congratulations to Nell Carmichael and Barry & Kati Almon
The Order of St. Louis IX award was established more than 40 years ago to honor those members of the laity who have contributed their time and talents to the church. Our parishioners, Nell Carmichael and Barry & Katie Almon will be among those honored at St. Catherine of Siena Church at 2:30p on May 7. Even if you don’t know Nell, Barry and Katie, you surely know of their work! Nell is a tireless rectory volunteer who also cooks and serves the poor at the Rebuild Center. Most of our younger parishioners know Barry and Katie, who direct our RCIA program for Confirmation. “Whatsoever you do for the least of my brothers, you do for me.” (Mt 25:40). … [Read more...]
Christ is Risen – Alleluia!
Easter Sunday is the day of the “Alleluia!” After forty days of Lenten sacrifice and fasting, we finally arrive at the most important day of our liturgical year, and the only word we have to express our inner joy is “Alleluia!!” In the old Greek version of the Book of Tobias, in the Septuagint Greek translation of the Hebrew psalter, and in the original Greek of the Apocalypse we hear about this most holy word. It is part of the earliest Christian liturgies of which we have record. It is a word composed of the divinely acclaiming verbal form Allelu and the divine pronoun term Ya (for YHWH or Yahweh). So, preserving its radical sense and sound, and even the mystical suggestiveness of its construction, it may be literally rendered, “All hail to Him Who is!” – taking “All Hail” as … [Read more...]
St. Patrick
March 17, 2023 St. Patrick of Ireland is one of the world’s most popular saints. He was born in Roman Britain in the 5th century. When he was a young boy he was captured by Irish pirates and taken to Ireland as a slave to tend sheep. Ireland was a land of druids and pagans but Patrick turned to God for help. In his Confession, he later wrote: After I came to Ireland the love of God and His fear came to me more and more, and my faith was strengthened. And my spirit was moved so that in a single day I would say as many as a hundred prayers, and almost as many in the night, and this even when I was staying in the woods and on the mountains; and I used to get up for prayer before daylight, through snow, through frost, through rain, and I felt no harm, and there was no sloth in me-- as I … [Read more...]
St. Valentine
While many people give candy, flowers and cards to each other on February 14, few know the connection between “Valentine's Day” and the Catholic Church. Until the most recent revision of the Roman Calendar in 1969, February 14 was the Feast of St. Valentine. Little is known of the Saint except his name and that he was buried at the Via Flaminia north of Rome on February 14. It is even uncertain whether the feast celebrates only one saint or more saints of the same name. However, "Martyr Valentinus the Presbyter and those with him at Rome" remains in the list of saints proposed for veneration by all Catholics. The Feast of St. Valentine was first established in 496 by Pope Gelasius I, who included Valentine among those “... whose names are justly reverenced among men, but whose acts are … [Read more...]