As we prepare for the start of Lent which begins this Wednesday here are a couple of things to keep in mind.  First of all, we will be having three Masses on Ash Wednesday, 6:30am, 12:10pm and 5:30pm.

So many people these days are walking around quite hopeless. We are still under the effects of the coronavirus, things are still uncertain on that front, and then there is all sorts of civil unrest in our country. So much of what we used to take for granted now seems to be unraveling at an alarming speed.

To all of my dear LoboCatholics and all of you who have supported us during this past year:  It’s tempting isn’t it?  How many of you have been thinking that once this year of the pandemic, 2020 is over with that we can start up singing the song that was sung about 100 years ago after the recovery from the Great Depression, Happy Days Are Here Again? 

Attention all Lobo Catholics: Effective Immediately.  Please read completely 

Going around the social media outlets is a very moving and well intentioned picture of a older man sitting at a busy traffic intersection holding up a sign that reads, "No matter who is president, Jesus is still my King."

For those of you who are baseball fans, during this time of the year we have the World Series.  Now many of you are familiar with how when a pitcher is struggling, he’s walking batters, giving up hits and even home runs, the manager will walk out of the dugout and remove him from the game.  But every now and then, there is a starting pitcher who is doing well, having to work his way out of a little bit of trouble, but overall, he’s getting through, he’s doing fine.  But every once in a while the manager will come out and pull him out of the game, and there he goes to the dugout a bit upset and convinced that he didn’t have to be pulled, that he could have still hung in there and continued with the game.

It's quite hard to believe that in just one more week we will be in the month of November as we will celebrate the great Feast of All Saints this year on a Sunday.

Well, here we are, in the month of October. For many of us, either directly through reading certain books or listening to certain videos, or indirectly, you've heard what other people are talking about, October according to some prophecies is supposed to be the month that all sorts of events on a world-wide scale will happen. Are we going to go through another variation of the virus, this time much worse? Is there going to be heightened civil unrest?

As many of you may know, I’ve been counting how many confessions I’ve ever heard. In my 17 years as a priest I’ve had the great privilege of hearing a little more than 57, 300 confessions. Not bad you might say. Well here is something to consider: I heard over 4,100 confessions last year and was on pace to surpass that total this year until the whole coronavirus mess hit.

Dear parish family, I would like to inform all of you of my upcoming schedule as my pastoral year here at the St. Thomas Aquinas Newman Center begins to wind down.

A Reflection from Father DePalma Exactly one year ago, one of the worst nightmares that a pastor could ever experience occurred when word came out during the 3:00 PM hour of Divine Mercy that the bus on which our high school youth group, some of their parents and our seminarian Jason Marshall was on, had been in a horrific crash on their way back from a conference in Colorado.

Dear Parish Family,  We had a handful of people come to Mass this weekend to have a test run with the new but temporary directions from the Archbishop on how to have Mass during Phase 1 of the re-opening.  Things went very well so we are ready to go to the 25% capacity that the governor has allowed us to have for the time being.

We had a handful of people come to Mass this weekend to have a test run with the new but temporary directions from the Archbishop on how to have Mass during Phase 1 of the re-opening. 

Dear Parish Family, As you all know the Governor has implemented as part of Phase 1 the opening back up on a limited basis houses of worship. This means that people can start going back to Mass but only at 10% of what our capacity is.

From Fr. DePalma:  With the pandemic changing most everything about our lives, we cannot forget those who were looking forward to celebrations of their achievements--our high school and college seniors.

LEPANTO Institute “Carthago delenda est!” The Roman statesman, Cato the Elder used to end all his political speeches with this phrase, even if his speech had nothing to do with Carthage. The phrase means, “Carthage must be destroyed.”

Despite the numerous messages of love which have been given to us by our Lord, sometimes we still find ourselves in a position of excessive fear of God as opposed to trusting in his mercy.

St. Peter once wrote: “the prophets who prophesied of the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired about this salvation; they inquired what person or time was indicated by the Spirit of Christ within them when predicting the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glory. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things which have now been announced to you by those who preached the good news to you through the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look. (1 Peter 1:10-12).”

The Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus started in 1672 when St. Margaret Mary Alacoque had visions of Jesus teaching her about the depths of his Love for us all. During these visits he revealed to her twelve promises he would bestow on those who venerate and honor His Heart.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be a witness of the faith as a martyr? All of us are called to be saints; but not everyone a martyr. I have always wondered that if I died as a martyr; how I would die; or would I have the courage to die for Christ? Today we have two martyrs – both were from England; and both died the same way; they were beheaded. However, both are from different vocations.