Roamin' Catholics: Body and Soul

HIS: This week took us back to Connecticut and the Archdiocese of Hartford for Mass and dinner.  And it was for a very special reason.  Friday was my Mom’s 90 th birthday!  We gathered with as much of the family as possible to be there to celebrate with her!  The party began on Friday with an informal dinner at Mamma Mary’s (insert Honey Boo Boo reference if you like) house and continued on Saturday with Mass at St James Church (if that is truly the parish’s name…more later) followed by dinner at the Capital Grille in the Capitol City of Hartford.  Most all of the Fam was there but Harry Callahan (aka – Jacob Walsh) who was sorely missed. Mass this week was 4:30 at St. James Church in Rocky Hill, CT.  The strange thing about St. James is that there is a bit of an identity crisis with respect to the actual name of the parish.  I’m thinking that the Archdiocese did some parish closings/consolidations and St James and St. Elizabeth Seton ...

One mass, two perspectives... HERS: We attended the Sunday 8:00 am mass this week at St. Francis of Assisi in Derwood, MD. St. Francis parish was started in 1972 and the church building was dedicated in 1975. The church is rather simple with the crucifix above the altar as its most striking feature. I was out of town Friday and Saturday attending the funeral of a high school friend in Erie, PA. She was my age - only 51 years old. It really hasn't "sunk in" that she is gone. She is the first of "our group" to pass away and it just seems unreal. I bring all of this up because I was thinking about how young my friend was and the impact she had on so many people, as a sister, aunt, friend, doctor...  Her obituary read, 1966 - 2018... we often hear about the "dash" between the year of birth and death  representing a person's life and the impact that life had on others. Today's homily was very timely in that it referred to Jesus...

Happy Easter!  Yes it is still Easter.  This is only the second Sunday of Easter and there are seven of them in this joyous Season.  The Easter season is 50 days, running from Easter Sunday until Pentecost Sunday.  This week’s celebration of the resurrection of our Lord was with much less excitement that last week’s. 😊 Today was travel day as we returned from our Florida trip, so I’m not sure in which Diocese we actually attended mass.   We were driving through the Diocese of Raleigh as we listened to mass from St. Patrick’s Cathedral in the Archdiocese of New York City. Our "church" this Sunday This week brought us the lessons of doubting Thomas.  Thomas was one of the original Apostles but wasn’t present the first time that Jesus appeared following his crucifixion and resurrection.  He told his fellow apostles that he needed to see Jesus and put his finger through his wounds to believe.  Jesus obliged but then chastised Th...

We began Roamin' Catholics: Body & Soul at one church for 8:00 mass and ended up at 9:00 mass at another. Read about our out of the ordinary Easter experience. HIS: Christ is Risen, Alleluia!  We have more reason to rejoice this week, thankfully that everyone is safe.  This week’s Roamin brings us to yet another diocese, Orlando, FL.  We traveled to Florida to visit with Mary’s Dad and Brother to celebrate Easter as well as a little fun in the sun.   This morning began like any other, albeit not in our own home.  We rose early to make it to the 8:00 am mass at Our Lady of Lourdes in Melbourne. Florida.   As we arrived early at the church, the parking lot was mostly full, but we slid into the Biletnikoff’s usual spot and made our way into the sanctuary at about 7:40.  As we sat waiting for mass to begin, there was a loud noise that came from the air vent above and to the right of where we were sitting.  No one seemed to...