¡Feliz Navidad! “En verdad, Dios ha manifestado a toda la humanidad su gracia, la cual trae salvación”, escribió San pablo a Tito en la segunda escritura de hoy, “mientras aguardamos la bendita esperanza, es decir, la gloriosa venida de nuestro gran Dios y Salvador Jesucristo. Esto es lo que celebramos esta noche...
Sometimes, when we’re all alone, we hear things differently, more clearly than when we’re surrounded by others in a crowded room, in a class, or in an office where the phone keeps ringing and people file in and out. Things sound different when on a busy street, a crowded train or bus, or maybe sitting in traffic that doesn’t seem to move. Sometimes an empty church may be the place where things sound different than they do when preachers preach and choirs sing.
I don’t know how you feel but preparations for Christmas seem to be coming earlier and earlier every year. The leaves haven’t even begun to change color and fall from the trees when evergreens and Christmas lights find their way into malls and department stores.
by Una reflexión del obispo David M. O'Connell, C.M., sobre la Navidad
Yo no sé cómo se sienten ustedes pero me parece a mía que las preparaciones navideñas empiezan más temprano cada año. Las hojas ni han empezado a cambiarse de color y caerse de los árboles y ya vemos arboles pinos y luces navideñas en los malls y mercados.
El viernes, 13 de diciembre, nuestro Santo Padre Papa Francisco celebra su quincuagésimo aniversario al sacerdocio. Los aniversarios son hitos en todas nuestras vidas y ciertamente merecen nuestra atención. Dado que el papa Francisco, como Vicario de Cristo y Sucesor de San Pedro, es el Padre y el Pastor de la Iglesia Católica de por todo el mundo, debemos celebrar este hito maravilloso con él en oración.
On Friday, December 13, our Holy Father Pope Francis celebrates his Fiftieth Anniversary of Ordination to the Priesthood. Anniversaries are milestones in all of our lives and certainly worthy of our notice. Because Pope Francis, as Vicar of Christ and Successor of St. Peter, is the Father and Shepherd of the Catholic Church throughout the world, we should celebrate this wonderful milestone with him in prayer.
Faced with declining enrollment and significant financial shortfalls, two Catholic elementary schools in the Diocese of Trenton will close this June. The news was shared Dec. 10 in separate meetings with the faculty, staff and families of Pope John Paul II Regional School in Willingboro, which is overseen by the Diocese, and Our Lady of Perpetual Help School in Maple Shade, which is sponsored by OLPH Parish.
The Catholic Church does not seek to dominate, control or convert the United States of America as a whole or any individual state within it, including New Jersey. It merely wants its members to be allowed to live and practice their faith in the freedom that was envisioned, encouraged and enjoyed by American citizens from the very beginning of our country, without governmental interference. That is all.
State residents are being urged to contact their state senators in opposition to a bill that would force Catholic organizations such as schools, dioceses and social service agencies to offer employees health benefits that violate fundamental Catholic principles.