Pascha Nostrum - Parish Magazine
August 2010
My dear People: As I write this, we are half-way through July and have suffered a great deal of exceedingly ghastly weather, including a week of record breaking heat last week. I certainly hope that by the time you read this, the weather will have abated. On Tuesday, 6 July, by four o’clock in the afternoon, the thermometer on the thermostat in the church read 112 degrees F, and as the Oratory (our only air conditioned space) was filled with organ pipes, we reluctantly took the decision to cancel mass that day. Download PDF >
July 2010
My dear People: As I write this, the Feast of the Sacred Heart has just passed, and we have had three hot and steamy Sundays in church in a row. This seems to indicate summer has come! Download PDF >
June 2010
My dear People: I must begin with the warning, and it is sad news for me, that we shall not be celebrating Corpus Christi on its proper day, 3 June, this year. There will be a Low Mass that morning at 7.30 a.m., and the High Mass with the solemnities customary will be delayed until Sunday morning, 6 June. Download PDF >
May 2010
My dear People: As I write this, we have just celebrated Easter and so I must begin with thanks for all those who helped decorate, offered food at various receptions, helped the sextons with church cleaning, washed and ironed linens, polished silver, and those of you who made it a priority in your lives to attend the Holy Week services. Download PDF >
April 2010
My dear People: First of all, rather than have a separate mailing, we have enclosed two envelopes with your copy of Pascha Nostrum. One is for Easter Flowers, and the proceeds of these envelopes pay for Easter lilies, altar flowers for Maundy Thursday and flowers for the altar of repose, and palms on Palm Sunday. Download PDF >
March 2010
My dear People: March this year is a month squarely and entirely within the boundaries of Lent. We shall have inaugurated the season on Ash Wednesday, and had two Sundays of Lent in February. This means that March this year is a time in which our Lenten Rules and resolutions may seem rather tired and difficult. Download PDF >
February 2010
My dear People: We begin this month as always with the Feast of Candlemas, more properly called the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This feast commemorates her purification in the Temple on the fortieth day after the birth of her child, as the Mosaic Law demanded, and the presentation of her Son, the first male child, as the Law also required. Download PDF >
January 2010
My dear People: When will I ever learn? During my almost fourteen years at S. Clement’s, Philadelphia, reporters from the Philadelphia Inquirer and occasionally the television news stations would often call for a “quote” about various disputes in the Diocese of Pennsylvania (and there were many there!) or even in the national church. Once, and only once, I made the mistake of granting such an interview, and the resultant article seemed to have little relation to the comments I had made. Download PDF >