SCCR Parish Blog

  UPDATED: May 21st With great joy, the Archdiocese of Cincinnati ordained seven men to the priesthood today  at the Cathedral Basilica downtown.  .   Their biographical sketches are available from the Catholic Telegraph .  If you are curious what an ordination ceremony looks like, you can view it here on YouTube.  Their first assignments are also posted. Last month we also ordained  seven seminarians to the diaconate , including the South Clermont region's own Deacon Patrick Blenman.  Every seminarian is ordained a deacon about a year before he is ordained to the priesthood and at that time promises to lay down his life in celibacy to love the Church in a completely dedicated and undivided way, as well as promising to pray the Church's breviary prayer cycle every day of his life on behalf of the Church and her needs.  At the same time, 14 men were ordained to the permanent diaconate as well, to serve as deacons in the parishes to assi...

 UPDATED: 12 May 2022 As many of you know, the Supreme Court has on its docket this summer an important case (Dobbs vs. Jackson) which could narrow or even entirely reverse the gravely unjust Roe v. Wade decision of 1973 which, together with a companion case, effectively requires abortion to be legally protected for virtually any reason at any stage in pregnancy in every state in the Union.  (While there are some limits, the Court doctrine of "undue burden" has been interpreted so broadly that it makes most regulation impossible in any state).   Our U.S. Bishops have been asking all Americans to pray for the end of legal structures protecting a so-called "constitutional right" to kill a child in the womb.  In an unprecedented confidentiality breach, a preliminary draft of the opinion on that case has been leaked, which the Chief Justice confirmed as authentic.   This draft opinion essentially invalidates Roe v. Wade, indicating that it has no proper co...

  After a long delay due to the church goods store, we finally received the new tabernacle purchased for St. Peter Church several months ago.   We blessed that at the Sunday Mass on May 1 st .   In a happy coincidence, this was the same weekend that some of the children from the parishes made their first Holy Communion.   Both of these events remind us of the priceless gift of the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist.   Through the power of His priesthood, shared with men ordained called to that vocation, the bread and wine offered at Mass become truly His Body and His Blood, given to the faithful as the Bread from Heaven to nourish us on the path to eternal life.   Once the bread and wine have been consecrated, they remain the true Body and Blood of Christ and so the Hosts not consumed at holy Mass are stored in the tabernacle so that Jesus can remain present, Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in every Catholic church in the world.   That ...

  Archbishop Schnurr has a brief  video for his flock  on the joy of the Easter season.

  We recently finished the Year of St. Joseph. Fr. De Souza writing for the National Catholic Register provides a reflection on the "Shadow of St. Joseph" for Good Friday.

  In the Church's Liturgy of the Hours (daily prayer cycle for the universal Church required for all priests, deacons and religious), I have certain favorites I like to meditate on each year. This beautifully poetic Holy Thursday reflection from St. Melito regarding the sufferings of all mankind that Christ took upon Himself, is one of them. From an Easter homily by Saint Melito of Sardis, bishop The Lamb that was slain has delivered us from death and given us life There was much proclaimed by the prophets about the mystery of the Passover: that mystery is Christ, and to him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.   For the sake of suffering humanity he came down from heaven to earth, clothed himself in that humanity in the Virgin’s womb, and was born a man. Having then a body capable of suffering, he took the pain of fallen man upon himself; he triumphed over the diseases of soul and body that were its cause, and by his Spirit, which was incapable of dying, he dealt man’s des...

Find out more about Holy Thursday from this National Catholic Register blogpost. Note: In the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, the Chrism Mass was celebrated early, this past Tuesday of Holy Week.  You can view the livestream of that Mass at St. Peter in Chains Cathedral Basilica on YouTube. Below, from the Magnificat devotional magazine, is an excerpt of the significance of the Chrism Mass mentioned in the above article - including the purpose of that Mass and the texts that priests use to renew the promises they made on ordination day.  Please pray for your priests and for the men preparing to be ordained to the priesthood for service of our Archdiocese this May. ================================ This Mass, which the Bishop concelebrates with his presbyterate, should be, as it were, a manifestation of the Priests’ communion with their Bishop. Accordingly it is desirable that all the Priests participate in it, insofar as is possible, .... . To signify the unity of the presbyterat...