SCCR Parish Blog

  the late Sen. Henry Hyde As expected from his campaign promise, Mr. Biden is continuing to use the power of the presidency to attempt to make all federal taxpayers complicit in abortion by funding it.  His recent budget proposal seeks to eliminate the Hyde Amendment , a decades long congressional attempt to prevent taxpayers from directly funding abortion.  (Ironically, years ago, when a U.S. Senator, Mr. Biden supported it).   Mr. Biden's initial budget was just presented to Congress. The  U.S. Bishops have made it easy to protest this outrageous attack on the sacredness of life by including a link to write to Congress . In the meantime, the U.S. bishops are discussing amongst themselves what to do about this very difficult problem. As an interesting aside,  despite his active promotion of abortion, Mr. Biden has not yet publicly said the word as not yet publicly said the word   abortion  since being inaugurated, instead hiding behind eup...

  From the U.S. Bishops' website, a prayer for Memorial Day . The website also includes prayers for active military.

  As part of its bicentennial planning for 2021, the Archdiocese of Cincinnati's office of evangelization is sponsoring a one-of-a-kind event: a walking pilgrimage throughout the 19 counties of the Archdiocese, with pilgrims carrying a traveling statue to highlight the beauty and power of the Blessed Virgin Mary in bringing many people to Christ. You can find out more at the diocesan website, including the timing and the route.  (It's easy to remember: Mary2021.org )  It will come closest to the South Clermont Catholic Region parishes on June 9th, 10th, and 11th, when there are events at Holy Trinity, Batavia; St. Bernadette, Amelia; and Mt. St. Mary's Seminary in Mt. Washington.  See the route page for details -- and click on Items 26, 27, or 28.  I encourage all parishioners to check this out as a way of honoring Our Lady and spiritually preparing for the bicentennial celebration of the Archdiocese on June 19th.  

The very good news of the ordination of seven men to the holy priesthood a couple of weeks ago on May 22nd is summarized in this short 3-minute video . I was privileged to be there in person to concelebrate the Mass, but in watching the video was struck by the beauty of the prostration rite, where the men (in unison) lie face down on the floor before the altar. More than just a gesture of adoration (as the three magi prostrated themselves before the newborn Christ the King) it symbolizes that before his character and very being is changed and transformed so he can e conformed to the priesthood of Jesus Christ, he must die to self and surrender his whole life to the service of teaching, sanctifying and governing the faithful, as Archbishop Schnurr emphasized in his homily.  Read a little bit more about the new priests here . 

The good people at the Augustine Institute are sponsoring a free virtual conference (Zoom) on the Eucharist for the weekend of Corpus Christi (Holy Body and Blood of Christ).  They have some top notch speakers including Brant Pitre, Tim Gray, and Mary Healey.  It starts Saturday, June 5th at 11:00 a.m.  You can register here .   

  Now that the Easter Season is coming to a close, the Church's liturgical year has several solemn feast days in a row: Pentecost, Holy Trinity, Corpus Christi (Holy Body and Blood of the Lord). There is a great Chrsitian musical tradition for celebrating these feast days, and we can work only a few into the structure of the Mass. So I'm posting some video links of hymns for these feast days. Pentecost : * Come Holy Ghost! Holy Trinity: * All Hail Adored Trinity * Holy God We Praise Thy Name * Come Thou Almighty King Corpus Christi: * Jesus My Lord My God My All oming soon> 

  Pope Pius VII, who condemned slavery The Church has always been involved in the "hot button" issues of the current day.  Not because she is a political institution, but often because they have a moral dimension and the Church teaches us how to live in order to remain in Communion with Christ and build His Kingdom. There is a a Catholic blog which is always worth reading entitled The Catholic Thing. They have an intriguing piece on how the Church reacted to the grave evil of slavery in the past (which was widely accepted but the Church condemned) and the grave evil of abortion today (which is widely accepted in our culture but the Church condemns). What is intriguing about it is how many who profess to be Catholic today simply shrug at the question of abortion and tell the Church not to be "political" about it and let those who promote it receive Communion, but are certain they would have been the ones opposing slavery -- and siding with the Church against the cul...

  Old age creeps up on you.  I was surprised to note that the assassination attempt on Pope St. Paul II was 40 years ago from yesterday.  I remember it like it was yesterday, even though I was only a young teen at the time. It's worth reading that story and passing it on to your children and grandchildren.  It is an astonishing story about how one of the greatest of popes was almost miraculously spared from death (he credits the Blessed Virgin Mary,  Our Lady of Fatima) and an extraordinary story of forgiveness:  the saintly pope went out of his way to visit his would-be assassin in prison, embrace him, and forgive him as soon as he recovered (photo above).  I know that St. John Paul inspired a great many priests of my generation, including myself, to follow his footsteps into the holy priesthood. Here's just a brief excerpt from a short story on this event by Russell Shaw of the Our Sunday Visitor weekly magazine.  There is one other twist to thi...

  Effective for the Sunday Masses of June 6th, Archbishop Schnurr has decided to reinstate the obligation to attend Sunday Mass for all those who do not have a serious reason to be absent from the Sunday assembly (illness, caring for children or invalids, and so on). Please note that watching Mass on television or livestream will NOT fulfill the Sunday Mass obligation.  For those who may still be nervous about sitting close to others, we are working on plans to preserve some socially distanced seating when possible. Here is the letter from the Ohio bishops . 

The Church has an ancient tradition of praying for nine days (between Ascension Thursday and Pentecost Sunday) that we open our hearts and lives to the gifts of the Holy Spirit, Who does great and mighty works in our lives and brings us and others to holiness, happiness and Communion with the Blessed Trinity. Here's a good novena prayer .  You can pray a shortened form if you want (it's a devotion after all) but I recommend at least praying the prayer for the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit each day.  You can read what those gifts are and how they can help you in the guide.  You should start on Friday, May 14th, (the day after Ascension Thursday)   and end on Pentecost on Sunday, June 23rd . By the way, don't let the parish calendar confuse you.  Ascension is actually on Thursday, May 13th, but the Mass has been moved to Sunday in our diocese and some others, so more people can pray together at Sunday Mass. 

  One of our "adopted" American saints who should be much better known is St. Damien of Moloka'i. He heroically served the lepers of the then-Kingdom of Hawaii in the late 19th century. Like so many of the saints such as Peter Claver, Katherine Anne Drexel (other saints of the Americas) he gave his life serving those whom no one else was willing to serve.   You can start reading about him here .  If you are lucky enough to travel to Hawaii, there are shrines to him there. 

  This Saturday, May 15th, Archbishop Schnurr will be ordaining seven new men to the priesthood for service to the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.  A very happy day!  You can read the personal stories of these men here .  I am sure that link will also be updated after Saturday to include stories about the ordination itself. Please pray for these men by name: Soon-to-be Fathers Michael Kapolka, Aaron Hess, Edward Hoffman, Louis Jacquemin, Elijah Puthoff, Scott Morgan, and Anthony Marcelli. In addition to this good news, two men were recently ordained to serve the Oratory of St. Philip Neri , a religious congregation of priests who will be serving some of our inner city parishes in Cincinnati: Fathers Henry Hoffman and Brent Stull, C.O.   Their brief bios are in their newsletter here ,   ( Photo here ). Fathers Henry Hoffman and Edward Hoffman are biological brothers.   It has been far too long since we've had brothers ordained to the prie...

  The last major step for a man preparing to be ordained to the holy priesthood is his ordination as a deacon.  At this time, he promises to live a life of celibacy (renouncing the good of marriage and family life for the sake of building the Kingdom of Heaven).  He also promises to pray for the Church without ceasing, committing to praying the breviary (the Liturgy of the Hours of the Church) every day of his life. Two weeks ago, seven young men were ordained deacons on their way to the priesthood. Please pray for them. You can watch a brief video of the ordination here and see more photos here. God willing, Patrick, our seminarian will be ordained as a deacon one year from now. 

  The Unites States Bishops' Conference is sponsoring a webinar on how citizens can act to prevent the federal government from forcing them to fund abortion with their tax dollars.   This is a real threat as the majority political party has strongly advocated for the removal of the Hyde Amendment, a safeguard against this coercion. The webinar runs next Wednesday the 12th at 2:00 p.m.  Sign up here.