SCCR Parish Blog

  On the weekend of June 19th, the Archdiocese of Cincinnati will be celebrating the bicentennial of our founding.  That's 200 years of the Catholic faith in the Archdiocese, a gift we should not take for granted.

  Just in time for the month of May (the month in which the Church has traditionally emphasized the importance of devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary), some of our parishoiners are organizing a consecration to Mary, using a great resource entitled: Mary's Mantle Consecration: A Spiritual Retreat for Heaven's Help.   It is designed to be done mostly at home, and can be adapted for individuals and families.  Please stay tuned for more information.  We are hoping to start this up on either May 13th (Our Lady of Fatima) or May 31 (Feast of the Visitation). 

  On this World Day of Prayer for Vocations   and Good Shepherd Sunday, please pray with your family for good and holy priests. Here is a blog post by Catholic blogger Philip Kosloski that helps explain how and why. It includes a great quote from a Trappist monk, Fr. Chautard, reminding us that the holiess of the people of God depends on the holiness of their priests. 

  I will be preaching this week on Acts 4.  That include St Peter's bold teaching that anyone who is saved is saved only through Jesus Christ.  The Church also teaches (infallibly) that anyone who is saved is saved only through the Catholic Church, regardless of his faith background.  (If you really want to show off, you can use the Latin phrase for this doctrine,  extra ecclesiam nulla salus) This teaching is highly controversal (as many truths are) and should be understood properly.  To study it in depth, I recommend this fine article on that topic from the apostoalte Catholic Answers.  It is written by one of their Catholic evangelists, Tim Staples. 

  Our Holy Father Pope Francis has asked Catholics around the globe to pray for vocations on Sunday, April 25th, the World Day of Prayer for Vocations . Please check out the excellent resources at the website. 

  I highly recommend this excellent article from the National Catholic Register on how and why to protest abortion-tainted vaccines , especially the recent Covid vaccines.

  The presidential administration of Mr. Biden continues to advance its strongly pro-abortion agenda. In a recent move, Mr. Biden's cabinet recently reversed the ban enacted by President Trump's administration using tissue from aborted children in federal research.   The Catholic Church has long uphold the principle that one can not perform an intrinsically grave evil (such as killing a child through abortion) even if a good may come of it (such as advances in medical research).   A ghastly result of this practice is that the federal government funded by our tax dollars will now in effect be creating a "market" for the tissue of innocent children killed in the womb.  On the question of the status of baptized Catholic politicians who promote grave sins against life and their relationship to the Holy Eucharist, see Bishop Olmsted's recent pastoral letter .  For more on the difficult issue of a baptized Catholic president promoting abortion, read what Ar...