New Year and Mary, the Holy Mother of God

The first day of the year is also the Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God. Our Mass schedule is the following:

Tuesday, December 31:   4:15 p.m.
Wednesday, January 1:    7:30, 9, 10:30 a.m.

This holy day of obligation honors the most magnificent title and most important vocation of the Virgin from Nazareth - to be the Mother of God. The Greek word "theotokos" ("God bearer") has been traditionally used to profess what we believe about Mary AND that we believe that her son, Jesus, is truly God.

Ecumenical soup kitchen

Pope Francis writes, "I want a Church which is poor and for the poor. They have much to teach us" (The Joy of the Gospel, 198). 


The Women's Alliance has for many years volunteered at the Ecumenical Soup Kitchen which is housed at the old Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church on 2nd Street. This past Saturday, December 28, just a few days after the celebration of the birth of Christ who came among us as a poor baby born in a manger, the Women's Alliance sponsored a meal at the Ecumenical Soup Kitchen. The cheese and meat was sliced and then the assembly line put together hoagies which was served to over 200 people. Here are a few picture of the gang at work. 

May we always keep in mind the words of Our Lord: "Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me" (Matthew 25: 40).

Pastor's Corner, December 29, 2013

Dear Parishioners and Friends,

We have just celebrated the birth of our Savior and we sense the closeness of our God in a very special way in these days. This time is an excellent moment to follow the words of Pope Francis who, in his recently published Apostolic Exhortation entitled Evangelii Gaudium (“The Joy of the Gospel”), invites all Christians to a renewed “personal encounter with Jesus Christ” (3).

I think we will all find that as we draw closer to Christ – as we make the choice to follow him more closely each day through a committed life of prayer and faith – we will experience an increase in joy. The Savior’s merciful and tender love is capable of restoring our joy. This is the joy of the Gospel.

I also think we will find that as we experience our lives being “invaded” by a great joy rooted in our faith in Christ, we will radiate that joy to others. We must never give in to pessimism or defeatism. As the Holy Father writes, “an evangelizer must never look like some who has just come back from a funeral!” (10) No. We have the Good News which gives meaning and purpose to our lives and helps us serve the one great Love of the universe. How can we become discouraged? So many in our world seek God and we “should appear as people who wish to share their joy, who point to a horizon of beauty and who invite others to a delicious banquet” (15).

Happy New Year!

In Christ,

Msgr. Baker

Merry and Blessed Christmas to all

I hope and pray that everyone had a wonderful Christmas. All the Masses here at the Cathedral were beautiful, especially the Midnight Mass celebrated by Bishop Barres. The various choirs sang like angels and all those who assisted with the liturgies gave selflessly of their time and talent. I have heard stories and met people who have come back to Church after spending some time away. We have so much more to do to reach out to those who are searching for Christ and His Church but it can all begin with a simple invitation to "come home." Remember, wise men adore Christ.

Pastor's Corner, December 22, 2013

Dear Parishioners and Friends,

With the coming of Christmas Day – yes, it is just a few days away – we renew our faith in Christ who has become man for the sake of our salvation.

Our faith in Jesus Christ is an act of trustworthiness in Him. In Lumen Fidei Pope Francis points out that we can trust in God because of “his own faithful presence throughout history” (23). The moment of His coming as man is the culmination of His promise to be Emmanuel (“God-with-us”).

God is true to His promise. That is why faith without truth does not save. What we believe needs to be true. If not, Christmas just remains a beautiful story and simply a projection of our desire for happiness. However, precisely because faith is intrinsically linked to truth, "faith is instead able to offer a new light… for it sees further into the distance and takes into account the hand of God, who remains faithful to his covenant and his promises” (24).

Yes, it is true – GOD HAS BECOME MAN! Our faith is not simply a projection of our own desire for salvation and happiness. Our faith is a trust in God who is faithful to His promise and has come to dwell among us to save us from sin and offer us heaven.

Merry Christmas!

In Christ,

Msgr. Baker

Pastor's Corner, December 15, 2013

Dear Parishioners and Friends,

As we get closer to Christmas, we are probably all thinking about who I can bring to Mass on Christmas. There are so many fallen-away Catholics that simply need a loving invitation to come home. Christmas is a good time to extend a welcome to our Church.

Faith is never something private. It always involves the Church. Pope Francis writes in his encyclical “The Light of Faith” that Christ gathers all who believe in Him into His Body. The Christian then “comes to see himself as a member of his body, in an essential relationship with all other believers” (22).

This is why faith in Christ outside the Church is not true Christian faith. “Faith is not a private matter,” the Pope writes, “a completely individualistic notion or a pesonal opinion” (22). “Faith is necessarily ecclesial; it is professed from within the body of Christ as a concrete communion of believers” (22). It opens the individual toward others.

Now is the time for us to extend an invitation to that “wandering” Catholic who, like all of us, needs greater faith. Christmas could be the beginning of their journey home.

In Christ,

Msgr. Baker

Christmas Concert to be broadcasted

The Cathedral Christmas Concert, which took place on December 1, will be broadcasted on Service Electric Channel 2 this Sunday, December 15, at 4:30 p.m. 
We are grateful to all the choirs and to Ms. Beverly McDevitt for the tremendous effort put into this wonderful event. 

Now many people in the Lehigh Valley will be prepared for Christmas will the help of sacred music provided by our choirs. 

Cancellations for Tuesday, December 10

Because of the wintry weather, the 1st Penance Service will not take place this evening, Tuesday, December 10. It will be postponed until tomorrow, Wednesday, December 11 at 7 p.m. This snow date was announced to the parents previously.

RCIA classes have also been cancelled this evening.

Pastor's Corner, December 8, 2013

Dear Parishioners and Friends,

Normally December 8^th is the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. This year, however, the Second Sunday of Advent takes precedence and the feast day is transferred to Monday, December 9 without it being a Holy Day of Obligation.

The Blessed Mother reminds us of the importance of faith. She is the woman of great faith whose unique cooperation in God’s plan of salvation brought about the birth of Our Savior. She received this grace of salvation at the moment of her conception and remained sinless her whole life. As Pope Francis’ encyclical on faith (Lumen Fidei) says, believers become “a new creation” (19) and their life faith is seen as a “primordial and radical gift which upholds our lives” (19). Mary was the most perfect of the new creation and her whole life was sustained by her faith.

The Pope goes on the say that those who have opened their hearts in faith are transformed by a primordial love and then their lives “are enlarged and expanded” (21). When we receive Christ in faith – the one who is Love – he then lives in us and our lives take on “a whole new breath” (21).

Mary had such a heart open by faith and expanded by love. She most perfectly lived the life of Christ in her own life. May she help prepare our hearts to receive in faith the Christ child whose birth we will soon celebrate.

In Christ,

Msgr. Baker

Pastor's Corner, December 1, 2013

Dear Parishioners and Friends,

Today is the First Sunday of Advent. This afternoon at 3 pm the Diocesan Choir, the Vianney Voices school choir and various choirs of our parish will mark the beginning of this season with a celebration of song in the Church. I hope you can join us.

Music is a beautiful expression of our faith and a privileged way of dialogue with God. The Psalms speak often of the importance of singing and music. For example, Psalm 95 says, “O come, let us sing to the LORD; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!” In the New Testament St. Paul exhorts us to “sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God (Col. 3: 16) and the vision of heaven in the Book of Revelation speaks of the twenty-four elders holding harps (Rev. 5: 8).

Our Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI once said: “From the very beginning, liturgy and music have been quite closely related. Mere words do not suffice when man praises God. Discourse with God goes beyond the boundaries of human speech. Hence by its very nature the liturgy has everywhere called upon the help of music, of singing, and of the voices of creation in the sounds of instruments. The praise of God, after all, does not involve only man. To worship God means to join in that of which all creatures speak” (Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Liturgy and Church Music, VIII International Church Music Congress in Rome, November 17, 1985).

May this season of Advent be a special time of grace and conversion so as to prepare us to welcome the Christ-child, including with our voices filled with song.

In Christ,

Msgr. Baker