Dear Friends,
This Sunday is the 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Follow the link to learn more about Ordinary Time.
There is NO Faith Formation, EDGE or LifeTeen this weekend due to President's Day and the District Holiday. The 5:00PM Mass on Sunday is NOT a LifeTeen Mass. All classes resume on 22 February.
Bishop Gugliemone will be at the 5:00PM Evening Mass on Sunday, 15 February, to confirm our 18 Candidates for Confirmation. Please pray for these students as they prepare for the Sacrament of Confirmation.
I will speak at Mass this Sunday about the Ministry of Lector. Sign up sheets will be in the Narthex for Ministry of Altar Server and for the Ministry of Lector! Follow the links to learn more about these two ministries.
Members of the Adoration Team will be on the Plaza after all Masses this weekend to sign up Adorers for Adoration during Lent! LENTEN ADORATION COMMITMENT: Do you want to draw closer to God during this 40 day Lenten season? Commit to just one hour per week in our Adoration Chapel (See FLYER). For more details on Adoration and how to sign up online for your own one hour slot (same time a day each week) click Adoration. You can sign up today, or visit our table outside the church this Sunday after Mass where a team of adorers can assist you in signing up, answer any questions about Adoration at our church, or show you around our Adoration Chapel. Sign up today and we hope to see you this weekend.
Members of the Men's Club will be inside by all the Exit Doors this weekend after all Masses to hand out the Little Black Books for Lent 2026, compliments of the Men's Club. Thank you!
The Men's Club is accepting scholarship applications from our graduating High School Seniors. Please apply using these links: MEN'S CLUB SCHOLARSHIP and DEEDS AND NEED SCHOLARSHIP. Paper copies of these applications are also available in the Vollkommer Bell Tower.
ASH WEDNESDAY is on 18 February!
Distribution of Ashes and Mass schedule:
Service @ 7AM (ONLY Distribution of Ashes; NO Mass)
EF Mass (Trad. Latin),10AM; Distribution of Ashes & Low Mass
Distribution of Ashes & Masses @ 12Noon and 6:30PM
Ash Wednesday & Lenten Guidelines
Below are some of the rules and regulations binding on Roman Catholics on Ash Wednesday and throughout the penitential season of Lent.
Summed up succinctly, Roman Catholics must fast and abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday, February 18, 2026, and Good Friday, April 3, 2026. In addition, Catholics are required to abstain from meat on all Fridays during Lent.
Lent is a 40-day season of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving that begins on Ash Wednesday and ends at sundown on Holy Thursday. It is a period of preparation for the celebration of the Lord’s Resurrection at Easter. During Lent, we seek the Lord through prayer and the reading of Sacred Scripture; we serve others through almsgiving; and we practice self-control through fasting.
We are called not only to abstain from certain foods or luxuries, but to a true interior conversion of heart as we strive to follow Christ more faithfully. During this season, we recall the waters of Baptism, through which we were baptized into Christ’s death, died to sin and evil, and began new life in Him.
Many are familiar with the tradition of abstaining from meat on Fridays during Lent, but the Church also calls the faithful to practice self-discipline in other ways throughout the season. Almsgiving is one way to share God’s gifts—not only through financial generosity, but also through the offering of our time and talents. As St. John Chrysostom reminds us:
“Not to enable the poor to share in our goods is to steal from them and deprive them of life. The goods we possess are not ours, but theirs.”
(Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 2446)
During Lent, the baptized are invited to renew their baptismal commitment, while others prepare to be baptized through the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults (OCIA)—a time of formation, learning, and discernment for those seeking full communion with the Catholic Church.
Ash Wednesday is one of two days of obligatory fasting and abstinence for Roman Catholics, the other being Good Friday. According to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the law of fasting is binding on Catholics from age 18 through age 59. Fasting permits one full meal, along with two smaller meals that together do not equal a full meal.
The law of abstinence from meat is binding upon Catholics age 14 and older. Members of the Eastern Catholic Churches are to observe the particular law of their own sui iuris Church.
For those outside the age limits, Canon Law reminds us that “Pastors of souls and parents are to ensure that even those who by reason of their age are not bound by the law of fasting and abstinence are taught the true meaning of penance.”
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops also notes non-age-related exemptions:
“Those excused from fast and abstinence include the physically or mentally ill, including individuals suffering from chronic illnesses such as diabetes. Also excluded are pregnant or nursing women. In all cases, common sense should prevail, and ill persons should not further jeopardize their health by fasting.”
The other obligatory day of fasting and abstinence is Good Friday, the day on which Catholics remember the death of Jesus on the Cross. The U.S. Bishops explain that, when possible, the Good Friday fast should extend through the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday night.
While these are the only two days of obligatory fasting and abstinence, the entire season of Lent is meant to be a time of spiritual formation and preparation for Easter. As the bishops write in their Pastoral Statement on Penance and Abstinence:
“For all other weekdays of Lent, we strongly recommend participation in daily Mass and a self-imposed observance of fasting… We urge, particularly during Lent, generosity to local, national, and world programs of sharing… We also recommend spiritual studies, beginning with the Scriptures, as well as traditional Lenten devotions such as the Stations of the Cross and the Rosary, and all the self-denial summed up in the Christian concept of mortification.”
The Catholic tradition of “giving something up” for Lent is a meaningful and pious custom, though it is not regulated by Church law.
Courtesy of the Catholic Telegraph, Archdiocese of Cincinnati. Shared from St. Clare of Assisi Church in Charleston.
LAST CHANCE TO SIGN UP FOR THE
VALENTINES DINNER AND DANCE!
PADRE'S PICK
A weekly series of videos to watch (or listen to) that I recommend for every parish household and family! This week's Word on Fire video is the tenth in a mini course on CATHOLICISM:
The entire Word on Fire Library is also available. Just click the white "play" arrow to begin or follow the link to access the library.
CHILDREN'S ENVELOPE ARTWORK
We encourage all our parish children to use their envelopes at the Sunday Morning Masses. Children can make a monetary donation or just write something on the envelope; a good deed, a prayer, artwork, etc. Father Dennis will hold a basket and invite the children to come forward at the appropriate time. If you have forgotten an envelope or need more, they are available in the Narthex.