Our Lady of Hope Blog

My Dear Friends,

Today we are blessed to have Archbishop Christopher Coyne join us at the 9:30 Mass in Harwinton with a light reception to follow. Archbishop Coyne has been making the rounds to all of the parishes. As we welcome the archbishop to our beautiful parish of Our Lady of Hope, we are cognizant of the fact that a bishop is a successor of the apostles and receives the fullness of the priesthood of Jesus Christ upon ordination to the bishopric.

My Dear Friends,

Last week I purposely chose to avoid talking about the political assassination of a young 31 year old on a college campus. He is a controversial figure and the emotions in our country right now are running high. There are many disgraceful comments all over social media as well as on talk shows and newscasts. There is a lot of virtue signaling on the right as well concerning his death. There have been countless acts of violence throughout our country recently, beginning with the assassination of Minnesota State Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband this past June.

My Dear Friends,

The Sacrament of Confirmation is a wonderful and important sacrament of the Catholic Church. It is an outpouring of the Holy Spirit and follows upon the Sacrament of Baptism. In the Eastern Catholic and Orthodox churches, it is given to the newly baptized immediately after baptism. This happens in the Western church when an adult is baptized and confirmed at the Easter Vigil. Otherwise, the Western church, exemplified by the Roman Catholic Church has a history of separating these two sacraments.

My Dear Friends,

Tomorrow, September 8th, is the ninth month since December 8th, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. Many people believe that the Immaculate Conception is referencing Jesus, but Jesus was conceived on March 25th, nine months before December 25th, the Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord. Both dates of conception, March 25th and December 8th, are a statement by the Catholic Church that life begins at conception. In the United States, the Immaculate Conception is a Holy Day of Obligation, while the Annunciation on March 25th is not, but it is a Holy Day of Obligation in other countries.