We have begun planning for the Advent small group sessions. Due to the need for extra organizational time to manage social distancing, we are beginning the sign-up process in October. This year's theme will be hope. We will offer online and face to face options. There will be four sessions with the first one held the week of November 22 and the last one the week of December 13. We are hoping to provide our community and opportunity to create a deeper connection with our faith and with each other. Please prayerfully consider participating in these sessions and register using the form below.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact Susan Cunningham at          618-214-4604 or scunninghamsmc@gmail.com

Have you ever thought about going on a Cursillo (pronounced Kur-see-yo)?  What is a Cursillo?  According to the Belleville and Champaign Cursillo websites, Cursillo is a movement within the Catholic Church that with God's grace, enables the Christian person to become aware of their potential and while accepting their limitations study their faith, live their faith more fully and share their faith.  A cursillo weekend begins on a Thursday evening and ends Sunday afternoon.  During the three days, the participants listen to the Gospel message given in fifteen short talks.  Talks are given by clergy an dlay persons dealing with Grace, Christian study, action, leadership, living a life in relationship with God, the role of the layperson in the church and similar reflections on situiations encountered in daily living.

Please contact the parish office if you have already attended a Cursillo and would like to join a prayer group.

The Vatican announced Pope Francis’ decision that the Church celebrate the Blessed Virgin Mary in her role as “Mother of the Church” every year on the Monday after Pentecost, as a way to foster Marian piety and the maternal sense of the Church.

The decree establishing the memorial was published March 3 in a letter from Cardinal Robert Sarah, head of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.

“This celebration will help us to remember that growth in the Christian life must be anchored to the Mystery of the Cross, to the oblation of Christ in the Eucharistic Banquet and to the Mother of the Redeemer and Mother of the Redeemed,” Sarah wrote.

The cardinal noted that the “joyous veneration given to the Mother of God by the contemporary Church, in light of reflection on the mystery of Christ and on his nature, cannot ignore the figure of a woman, the Virgin Mary, who is both the Mother of Christ and Mother of the Church.”

The Marian title of “Mother of the Church,” was given to the Blessed Mother by Bl. Pope Paul VI at the Second Vatican Council. It was also added to the Roman Missal after the Holy Year of Reconciliation in 1975.
 

Article on the Memorial of Mary, Mother of the Church


 

Bishop Braxton has publshed a reflection on the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  Click HERE to read the pastoral document.