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Our Blog

What Does It Mean to Trust In God?

By Fr. Jeff | 11/13/2011

I titled this article “What Does It Mean to Trust in God?” but the thought behind it really is ‘why doesn’t God answer my prayers?’ In my own life, I very much strive to trust in God, knowing that he…

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Introducing the Lord’s Prayer at Mass

By Fr. Jeff | 11/12/2011

Bulletin Article for 11/13/2011 Appreciating the New Translations After the Great Amen, we come to the Lord’s Prayer.  Currently, there are various phrases the priest may say to lead us into this awesome prayer that Jesus taught us.  In the…

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Translating the Mystery of Faith

By Fr. Jeff | 11/05/2011

My next article on the New Translations Appreciating the New Translations One of the oddities in the new translation that puzzled me is right after the consecration.  Currently, the priest says, “Let us proclaim the mystery of faith.”  In the…

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The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed

By Fr. Jeff | 11/02/2011

Today (November 2nd) is the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed.  That’s its official title.   It is more commonly called All Souls’ Day.  Yesterday we celebrated the Solemnity of All Saints honoring all those who are now saints dwelling in…

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The Solemnity of All Saints

By Fr. Jeff | 11/01/2011

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of All Saints.  It is a holy day of obligation, meaning that we should all gather at Church for Mass today.  It is a solemnity and a holy day of obligation because of the important…

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How Many Will Be Saved?

By Fr. Jeff | 10/29/2011

Here’s my next bulletin article on the new translations Appreciating the New Translations In each Eucharistic Prayer we hear the words over the “chalice”, Take this all of you and drink from it, this is the cup of my blood,…

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Our Faith in the Important Moments

By Fr. Jeff | 10/22/2011

For some faith seems to part of their lives just for an hour on Sunday.  The rest of the week they seem to forget about how our faith calls us to live.  God is present among us at all times…

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Chalice or Cup?

By Fr. Jeff | 10/22/2011

Bulletin Article for 10/23/11 Appreciating the New Translations One of the deliberate word changes within the Eucharistic Prayers is the changing from the word “cup” to “chalice.”  Currently, our tendency is to use the word “cup” to describe the multiple…

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Losing Someone We Care About

By Fr. Jeff | 10/15/2011

One of the few things that is certain in life is that everyone will die at some point.  Recently, we had a funeral for a 96-year-old woman who had been very active in the church.  Her death had been coming for a…

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The Sanctus in the New Translation

By Fr. Jeff | 10/15/2011

Here’s my bulletin article for 10/16/11 on the new translations. Appreciating the New Translations At the end of the Preface we sing the Sanctus (Holy, Holy, Holy).  Currently, it begins Holy, holy, hold Lord, God of power and might.’  “God…

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Respect Life

By Fr. Jeff | 10/08/2011

October is Respect Life Month for the Catholic Church in America.  Life is an awesome gift from God.  Pope John Paul II wrote the Gospel of Life recognizing the gift.  Life is indeed a gift.  Life is more than just…

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More on the New Roman Missal

By Fr. Jeff | 10/08/2011

Bulletin for 10/9/11 Appreciating the New Translations After the gifts are brought up and the altar is prepared the congregation stands and the priest currently says “Pray my brothers and sisters that our sacrifice may be acceptable to God, the…

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Should We Help?

By Fr. Jeff | 10/02/2011

I was just praying over the readings for Monday, October 3, 2011 (Monday of the 27th Week in Ordinary Time).  The gospel is the familiar story of the Good Samaritan.  A man had been robbed and beaten and left along…

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More on the New Translations of the Third Roman Missal

By Fr. Jeff | 09/30/2011

Here’s my article on the new translations of the Roman Missal for October 2nd. Appreciating the New Translations After the opening prayer, we begin the Liturgy of the Word.  Nothing is changing in the readings or the homily (except with…

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Is There a Problem With Saying “God Bless You”?

By Fr. Jeff | 09/30/2011

Did you see the story about the teacher who disciplined his students for saying “God Bless You”?  I read the story on MSNBC at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44722587/ns/us_news-weird_news/. The teacher said he believed the students were being disruptive to the class by saying…

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The Opening Prayer

By Fr. Jeff | 09/23/2011

Here’s the bulletin article for September 25th on the new translations. Appreciating the New Translations After the Gloria, comes the Collect, more commonly known as the Opening Prayer.  The wording of this prayer will seem longer and more formal than…

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It’s Nice to Know People Care

By Fr. Jeff | 09/21/2011

It’s nice to know people care.  I’m not talking about people who care about me.  Two weeks we had major flooding in the southeast corner of our diocese from the remnants of Hurricane Lee.  The Diocese of Rochester in which…

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Working Together As One

By Fr. Jeff | 09/17/2011

To me one of the great treasures of the Catholic Church is that we are not just an agglomeration of individual churches.  Each church has its own building but we share the same liturgy with every Latin Rite Catholic Church…

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Appreciating the New Translations

By Fr. Jeff | 09/17/2011

Here is the this week’s bulletin article on the new translation of the Roman Missal.  After the Penitential Rite comes the ‘ancient hymn of praise,’ “The Gloria.”  At first glance, it may seem to have changed a lot.  What has…

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9-11 & Forgiveness

By Fr. Jeff | 09/11/2011

Here’s my homily on September 11th 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A Sirach 27:30-28:7 Romans 14:7-9 Matthew 18:21-35 September 11, 2011 The traditional Jewish custom was to forgive a person three times.  If they continue to sin against you…

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Next Article on the New Translations

By Fr. Jeff | 09/10/2011

Here’s the bulletin article on the new translations for 9-11-11. Appreciating the New Translations After the opening greeting at Mass comes the Penitential Rite.  We come to Mass to receive the grace we need.  We come acknowledges how we are…

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Building a Better Community

By Fr. Jeff | 09/04/2011

23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A Ezekiel 33:7-9 Romans 13:8-10 Matthew 18:15-20 September 4, 2011 Today Jesus gives us some instruction about how to deal with those who have sinned against us. Note there is no mention of revenge. …

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Next Bulletin Article on the New Roman Missal

By Fr. Jeff | 09/04/2011

Here is my bulletin article for September 4, 2011 on the new Missal. Appreciating the New Translations We do not have to proceed far into the Mass before we come to the first change in the new Translations.  The priest…

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More on the New Missal

By Fr. Jeff | 08/28/2011

I wrote the article below for the parish bulletin to introduce a series of short articles to help us prepare for the new translations. Becoming Familiar with the New Translations of the Mass In January, we began to talk about…

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The Sacrament of Marriage

By Fr. Jeff | 08/20/2011

A primary responsibility of priests is the celebration of the sacraments.  Among them is the Sacrament of Marriage.  Deacons can also witness the Sacrament of Marriage.  I use the word “witness” deliberately because it is the couple that celebrate the…

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