The Roman Catholic Church has seven (7) Sacraments instituted by Jesus Christ Himself, no council or synod nor committee of the Vatican created these Sacraments. Christ created them in Divine Wisdom because He and God the Father determined that we need them in our flawed human condition. The Sacraments provide us with God's grace so that we may journey toward salvation.

I am reminded of the often repeated “homily joke : (which I’ve used a number of times before) of St. Peter greeting a new arrival at heaven’s gate and taking him on a tour. After passing by streets paved in gold, silver and platinum and filled with people from all faiths celebrating, St. Peter and he walk past a walled-off area where St. Peter tells the man to be very quiet. The new resident asks “why must I be quiet, everyone’s partying?” Peter replies “this is where the Catholics are and they think they are the only ones up here.”

Once a month, the fourth Sunday of the month, Father John Baptist Pesce, C.P., from Holy Family Monastery and Retreat Center in West Hartford comes to our parish to be the celebrant of the 8 a.m. Mass. Father brings with him more than 60 years of priesthood, 92 years of life experience, and a Doctoral degree in Theology from Rome. We are blessed to have his wisdom and passion for social justice and in leading our Mass celebration.

This Sunday we hear from the Gospel of Luke and within just a few short verses we hear a great deal of pain, anguish and division—troubles—within the early Christian family, the Church. Luke begins this Gospel with Jesus telling His disciples that “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing!” Oh, boy! He then speaks about a baptism that He must undergo and about the anguish it is causing Him...Click to Read More

Of late, I have had a few questions about the Mass—the celebration of it, the use of non-ordained ministers, music, and the role of the priest. I thought over the weeks of summer remaining, I would answer some of those specific questions as well as offer some insight into those “things we might have forgotten” such as What is the name of the position in which the priest stands, with hands extended, during some of the prayers of the Mass? And what does it represent?