Tree Service

As some of you have noticed, the large tree in the back parking lot has been taken down. A few years ago we had it trimmed and they told us that it was rotting on the inside and that we may have to take it down the next time it needed service. This past winter, a number of large branches fell to the ground but, praise the Lord, they did no damage to a car or worse land on one of the children of the school. Moreover, this past winter the water from the back parking lot was not draining properly. Over night it froze, causing us to close the lot on Sunday for safety reasons. When investigated, it was determined that the roots of the tree were part of the problem. I know this tree has been a source of beauty and shade for so many parishioners and school children over the long years of its life. It is a shame that we have to take it down but I hope everyone can understand that it needed to be done for safety reasons. 

Pastor's Corner, November 16, 2014

Dear Parishioners and Friends,

As we are coming to the end of the liturgical year, the Scripture readings speak to us of the end times and death. We should never be afraid of death. As St. Josemaria Escrivá once wrote, “Everything can be put right... except death. And death puts everything right” (Furrow, 878). The Bible is a book about death. It tells us of the inevitability of death as a result of Original Sin and the hope that is offered by Christ who suffered, died and rose so that we might be free from the lasting effects of death and rejoice forever in heaven.

It is not a bad idea to consider our own death. Am I prepared if God would call me home to Himself this very night? Am I in the state of grace, ready to be judged by Christ? Do I have everything ready for my family and friends in case of my death? Do I live my life as though today was the last day of my life? If so, I think we would all live a bit better!

At the very moment of death the Church teaches that each of us will receive our eternal retribution in our immortal soul, in what we call the “particular judgment” whereby we will either enter directly into heaven or after some time in purgatory or enter into the everlasting damnation of hell. As St. John of the Cross once wrote, “At the evening of life, we shall be judged on our love.”

In Christ,

Msgr. Baker

Pastor's Corner, November 9, 2014

Dear Parishioners and Friends,

This past week all the priests of the Diocese of Allentown gathered for our annual Priest Convocation. It was a wonderful week in which we learned more about how to be an effective preacher. We had time to pray together, grow in friendship and priestly fraternity and rest. It was a wonderful time to be renewed in our vocation as priests.

Looking around the room, however, I realized that the clergy in the diocese are aging. We need to encourage more young men to consider a call to the priesthood. All of us can be a “vocation director” in the sense that we can and should encourage young men to consider a vocation. A simply and sincere invitation to someone you know might be the exact things God wants to use to call someone to the priesthood and it might be the exact thing the young man was waiting to hear. I like the ICNU method. We can say something like this: “John, I see in you (ICNU) the qualities that would make a good priest. I want you to think and pray about it.”

If we want more vocations to the priesthood and religious life, we need to ask. Does not Our Lord in Matthew 9: 38 say, “Beg the master of the harvest to send laborers in to the vineyard”? Ask, invite and watch the grace of God work!

In Christ,

Msgr. Baker

Pastor's Corner, November 2, 2014

Dear Parishioners and Friends,

Today we celebrate All Souls Day. We pray for all the souls in purgatory with the great confidence born of faith that our prayers assist those who are being purified of the temporal punishment due to sin and have the certain hope that they will one day enter heaven.

Purgatory is a very consoling doctrine. It is a state of final purification after death and before entrance into heaven for those who died in the state of grace but were only imperfectly purified. Purgatory is the final cleansing of divine mercy which makes a soul able to enter into the joy of heaven.

The Church bases Her teaching on Tradition as contained especially in the Councils of Florence and Trent and also on certain scriptural references that speak of a cleansing and purifying fire such as 1 Corinthians 3: 15 and 1 Peter 1: 7.

We also base our understanding and teaching of purgatory on the constant practice of praying for the dead which was evident even in the early Church. This is why it is so important that we pray for the dead and especially have Holy Mass offered for the souls of the deceased. St. Padre Pio said, “More souls of the dead from Purgatory than of the living climb this mountain to attend my Masses and seek my prayers… The souls in Purgatory pray for us, and their prayers are even more effective than ours, because they are accompanied by their suffering. So, let's pray for them, and let's pray them to pray for us.”

In Christ,

Msgr. Baker

Rev. Msgr. Alfred Ott, R.I.P.

It is with great sadness that we heard of the death of Rev. Msgr. Alfred Ott, retired Pastor of the Cathedral Parish, on the evening of Friday, October 31, 2014.

He was a loyal, gentle and kind priest of Jesus Christ who served the Church, especially the Cathedral parishioners, with the selfless love of a good shepherd.

Funeral arrangements are the following:

VIGIL (in the Cathedral Church)

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

  

Viewing: 6 – 9 pm

Vigil Service (not Mass): 7:30 pm

Celebrant: Msgr. Daniel Yenushosky

Homilist: Msgr. Thomas Orsulak

FUNERAL MASS (in the Cathedral Church)

Thursday, November 6, 2014

  

Viewing: 9 – 10:45 am

Mass: 11 am

Celebrant: Bishop John Barres

Homilist: Msgr. Thomas Hoban

Requiescat In Pace - May He Rest In Peace.

Pastor's Corner, October 26, 2014

Dear Parishioners and Friends,

This past week, on October 21, Bishop Barres celebrated his 25^th anniversary of ordination to the priesthood. Please pray for him and that he may enjoy many more years as a priest and bishop in service to our wonderful Diocese of Allentown.

In Bishop Barres we see a successor to the apostles and a living witness of the Church’s link with Christ, her head and founder. The Catechism says, “To fulfill their exalted mission, ‘the apostles were endowed by Christ with a special outpouring of the Holy Spirit coming upon them, and by the imposition of hands they passed on to their auxiliaries the gift of the Spirit, which is transmitted down to our day through episcopal consecration’” (1556).

The office of Bishop is considered to be the fullness of the Sacrament of Holy Orders. Again, we read in the Catechism, “The Second Vatican Council ‘teaches . . . that the fullness of the sacrament of Holy Orders is conferred by episcopal consecration, that fullness namely which, both in the liturgical tradition of the Church and the language of the Fathers of the Church, is called the high priesthood, the acme (summa) of the sacred ministry’” (1557).

It is our duty and privilege to support, obey and pray for our Bishop, especially as he celebrates such a significant anniversary.

In Christ,

Msgr. Baker

Pastor's Corner, October 19, 2014

Dear Parishioners and Friends,

Today is World Mission Sunday. World Mission Sunday, organized by the Propagation of the Faith, is a day set aside for Catholics worldwide to recommit themselves to the Church’s missionary activity through prayer and sacrifice.

Pope Francis says, “‘The great danger in today’s world, pervaded as it is by consumerism, is the desolation and anguish born of a complacent yet covetous heart, the feverish pursuit of frivolous pleasures, and a blunted conscience’ (Evangelii Gaudium, 2). Humanity greatly needs to lay hold of the salvation brought by Christ. His disciples are those who allow themselves to be seized ever more by the love of Jesus and marked by the fire of passion for the Kingdom of God and the proclamation of the joy of the Gospel. All the Lord’s disciples are called to nurture the joy of evangelization” (Message for World Mission Day, 2014).

Through our prayer, sacrifice and charity, particularly through generous contributions of our wealth with those in need, we become true missionaries. As the Scriptures say, “God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor. 9: 7). We all want to be happy and one of the surest ways to be happy is to share with others.

In Christ,

Msgr. Baker