I put off getting a smartphone for years. I don’t think I was the last one in my class in the seminary to buckle to the inexorable advance of technology, but I know I was close. I have seen many changes in the way I operate now that I have fallen to the modern golden calf that is the iPhone, and not all of them have been bad. It’s terribly convenient to have a digital version of my breviary with me at all times, so if I forget my prayer book, I can still pray my office. Staying in touch with my friends has certainly been easier. But one major downside has been the complete and total destruction of my memory for my own calendar of events. Click title for full column.

The regional Thanksgiving Mass will be Thursday, November 28 at 9:00 am at St. Matthias. Click title for information.

It is a natural human tendency to avoid things that have burned us in the past. Stemming from deep-seated survival instincts, we know that when something has caused us pain, or hurt our chances for survival, we must avoid it whenever possible. This same instinct that caused prehistoric man to steer clear of snakes has also prevented me from eating Chinese food since Easter (with literally only one exception) after I got the worst case of food poisoning in my life. It’s a real shame, because I do enjoy sketchy Chinese food. Click title for full column.

Thanksgiving Basket Project 2019 & St. James Mac & Cheese Box Drive for Valley Interfaith Click title for more information.

Members of vibrant parishes are involved in all areas of service, including liturgical ministers. The churches of the WWPR are scheduling these ministers forNovember 30-February 26, and more are needed. Please prayerfully consider helping your church by becoming involved in a ministry and making our parishes amazing! Click on title for more information.

There are a number of beautiful and historical structures in America that speak to the grandeur of Catholicism in the new world. St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City is still a hallmark of the Faith in the nation’s largest city. Baltimore has a cathedral and a seminary that stand as monuments to the original headquarters of the Faith in the United States. Just down the road from us in Bardstown, Kentucky is the Proto-Cathedral that once had ecclesiastical jurisdiction over almost the entire American South and Midwest. But in order to truly get a sense of the magnificence of Roman Catholicism, one must travel to the old world. Rome, Paris, Barcelona, and many other great European cities house edifices built upon the ruins of Apostolic Churches dating back nearly two millennia. Click title for full column.

On Saturday, November 16 starting at 10:00 am, WWPR will celebrate the anniversary of the Apparition of Our Lady of Kibeho by having a procession with a statue of Our Lady of Kibeho, prayers and Mass at St. Matthias.  A reception will follow in Lonsway Hall. Each year the feast day of Our Lady of Kibeho is celebrated in commemoration of the first apparitions of the Virgin Mary in Kibeho. All are invited Click on title for more information.

There are some topics that are forever controversial when it comes to Church teaching. Untold thousands of preachers have shied away from speaking a difficult truth with love when it comes to marriage, tithing, and morality throughout the years. While it would be next to impossible to determine what the most difficult teaching to embrace is, I will tell you that this week’s Gospel ranks as one of the Gospel passages or teachings that is virtually guaranteed to start a fight wherein people end up hating me. The absence of marriage in heaven sometimes seems to be second only to lengthy debates about whether or not there are pets in heaven… Click on title for full column.

On Saturday, November 16 starting at 10:00 am, WWPR will celebrate the anniversary of the Apparition of Our Lady of Kibeho by having a procession with a statue of Our Lady of Kibeho, prayers and Mass at St. Matthias.  A reception will follow in Lonsway Hall. Each year the feast day of Our Lady of Kibeho is celebrated in commemoration of the first apparitions of the Virgin Mary in Kibeho. All are invited.

The Sixth Annual Bible Reading Novena will be held Wednesday, November 6 through Thursday,November 14 from 8:00 am - 8:00 pm (except during Mass and Adoration) in the Chapel at St. James of the Valley. Please come to read,listen and pray in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament. Click title for more information.

I have had, throughout my life, any number of unrealistic dreams. While I’m past the point of hoping that my glove and smooth swing will land me on a major league roster, there are still a few pipe dreams that I indulge in. One of them comes to the fore every November, when the Church prays for the souls of the faithful departed. Ideally, I would like to die at the stroke of midnight on November 2, as the Feast of All Souls begins. Then I plan to coast to Eternal Life on a cloud of prayers intended for those in most need of God’s Mercy, as the Fatima prayer would have it. In an ideal world, I would like to be concelebrating Mass with the Archbishop at that time, dive in front of an attack meant for him, and then receive the Apostolic Pardon from him at the altar. We pray to St. Joseph for the grace of a happy death, and anything worth doing is worth overdoing, right? Click title for full column.