Fr. Greg

This next week begins Penance Service week here in Johnson County. With that happening, I think it would be great for us to examine how to make a good confession, and best practices in the confessional.

Laetare Sunday! Rejoice! This Sunday is the 4th Sunday of Lent, known as “Laetare” Sunday (Latin for “rejoice”). We add elements of joy into our austere Lent this Sunday. The optional color of “Rose” (which looks like pink) can be used this day, flowers can adorn the altar, and the music can be more joyful. Lent is past the halfway point this Sunday.
 

In Lent, the question commonly asked is “so what did you give up?” Oftentimes we tend towards giving up ice cream, chocolate, or deserts all together. What many people do not realize is that the Church actually invites us to do 3 things during Lent: to pray, to fast, and to give alms. Many of us tend towards just the one: fasting.

As we finish our series on Marriage, we will this week cover Convalidations. But first, let's look at what makes a marriage one more time.

As we continue our look at the Sacrament of Marriage, this week we will focus on what an Annulment is. An annulment is not “Catholic divorce” as I have heard some people refer to it is. Divorce is a civil reality (as we covered last week). An annulment is simply saying that the marriage itself never took place. An annulment takes a look back at the day of the marriage to examine whether both parties intended what they said. When we take on an annulment case, we are looking for the 4 things that make a marriage. Here is a reminder:

As we continue to examine the topic of Marriage, this week we will look at what a civil divorce is.

Over the next couple of weeks, we will be covering some areas relating to the Sacrament of Marriage. Before we get into some of those hot topics, it is important for us to understand what a Marriage is.

An incredibly hot topic that I have received questions about recently is that of the Church’s stance on immigration, which I admit, I needed to do some research into. Regardless of what side of the aisle you may find yourself, we can all admit that we are in need of reform. In my research, I found that the best and most concise response was actually from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, entitled Catholic Elements of Immigration Reform.

This year marks the 50th Anniversary of this annual appeal that funds many important ministries of the Archdiocese.  Our Archdiocese is made up of 21 counties and includes 107 parishes and 181,000 Catholics – ACTS supports 43 ministries and programs that we could not do alone as a single parish. These programs benefit our parish and thousands of others in our Archdiocese!

Happy New Year, everyone! This is Fr. Greg here. I’d love to do this column spot weekly, and I used to do that, but as it seems my schedule only gets busier as time passes, recently I delegated if off to Fr. Andrew. However, from time to time, I will jump in like I’m doing now.