It was with great joy that I learned of the white smoke billowing out of the chimney in Vatican City and it is with great joy that we can now celebrate together what it heralded: not only a new Sovereign Pontiff but our first Pope from the United States, from the American midwest and the south side of Chicago, Illinois!
Continuing the impact of the four regional pilgrimages last year, the new St. Katherine Drexel route this year covers Indianapolis through the midwest, south, and west towards San Diego and Los Angeles. Frances Webber, one of our parishioners who attended the National Eucharistic Congress last July, will accompany our Eucharistic Lord across the country this year.
We are still celebrating Easter, and we can continue to focus on making Sundays especially celebratory in our homes. Click here for reflections on continuing to live Easter and to celebrate this beautiful month traditionally dedicated to Mary, our Mother.
Fr. John Paul and I echo Archbishop Bernard Hebda’s sadness at the Holy Father’s passing. He was a man of profound joy, faith, hope, love, and simplicity in life and in death. I invite you to please join me in prayer for the repose of his soul.
We Catholics celebrate Easter with enthusiasm, and we celebrate all the way to Pentecost. Today is Divine Mercy Sunday, a special feast within this season during which we claim our inheritance of joy. Click here for suggestions about living this Easter season with prayer, feasting, and blessed action.
He is risen! Alleluia! Indeed, we have now completed another round of the *preparing* part of our mission, and now can enjoy the great Easter *celebration.*
Palm Sunday is a favorite feast for children, who both love and learn from active experiences. Click here for suggestions about living Palm Sunday through the Triduum with children at home.
We are at the Fifth Sunday of our Lenten season. How can we help each other to remain steadfast in our prayer, fasting, and almsgiving? This is a time for patience and forgiveness. Click here for ideas for this last full week of Lent.
Fr. Erickson offers a vision for returning to 24/7 Perpetual Adoration in this ongoing Eucharistic Revival, as well as an invitation for each of us to commit to an hour.
We are encouraged to mark the fourth Sunday of Lent, Laetare Sunday, with joyful celebrations in our homes. Laetare means rejoice in Latin, and Family Corner this week will help us to look forward in faith to the joy of the Resurrection.
Almsgiving is one of our main practices during Lent. Family Corner this week will focus on ways we can work together in the family and parish to give to others.
Every year, March 19 calls for the celebration of the Solemn Feast of Saint Joseph. It is the perfect day to relax our Lenten sacrificial offerings as a way of honoring the love and leadership of the spouse of Our Lady and foster father of Our Lord. Click the link above for ideas about how to celebrate!
For those who missed the first Eucharistic Consecration, there will be another opportunity on Divine Mercy Sunday, April 27. We invite you to read the Matthew Kelly’s "33 Days to Eucharistic Glory" daily on your own beginning March 26 and to click the link above to sign up.
Lent provides a chance to go deeper: both giving and giving up. Learning and praying together as a family enhances simpler meals. Lent coincides with lengthening days, enriching our patient waiting and preparing. Click for ideas to pray, eat, and work together.
Why does the priest sometimes wear green and sometimes white? What do the seasons of the Church have to do with our daily lives? All this and more in The Family Corner, a new feature where we’ll share ways to bring the liturgical seasons of the Church into our families and homes in simple, accessible, kid-friendly ways.
Small groups for Lent 2025 will begin the first full week of Lent on Sunday, March 9. Sign-ups for open Lenten small groups will begin on Sunday, February 16.
Please pray for the 32 men attending our Men's Retreat next weekend on Lake Mille Lacs. May they be bold in their own prayers, and may they each listen to God's voice for His answers and direction. Thank you!
Friday, January 31 is the priority deadline for room reservations at our Men’s retreat February 21-23. Don’t miss your chance to join in fellowship and faith with Fr. Tollefson at Eddy’s Lake Mille Lacs Resort!