Announcements

Merry Christmas! Today’s the fifth day of our celebration of Christmas and I’m hoping that you’re still feeling the excitement of this holy season as we celebrate the great gift of Our Lord’s birth in Bethlehem.

Bishop Izen and I were blessed this year to attend the Christmas concert at Annunciation School.

Pope Benedict XVI once said, “Music is capable of opening minds and hearts to the dimension of the spirit and leads people to lift their gaze to the Most High, to open themselves to the absolute Good and Beauty whose ultimate source is in God.”

In this heartfelt video, our bishops remind immigrants and families in need that the Catholic Church stands beside them, offering accompaniment, compassion, and support. As we celebrate Our Lady of Guadalupe, they invite us to let her tender love sustain our hearts in moments of difficulty and fill us with renewed hope. 

This past Saturday, Bishop Izen, Bishop Kenney and I joined Father Dennis Zehren, Deacon Kevin Conneely and many of their Annunciation parishioners and school families to celebrate a Rite of Reparation in the context of the Eucharist, making it the first Mass held in Annunciation church since the tragic loss of life that occurred there on Aug. 27. I was so proud of our priests and deacons who came out in great number to pray with us and to show their support for a community that still grieves for Harper Moyski and Fletcher Merkel.

In light of recent statements regarding the Somali community in the United States, Bishop Daniel E. Garcia, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Subcommittee for the Promotion of Racial Justice and Reconciliation, called on all people to remember each person’s God-given human dignity.

Monday, Dec. 8, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, is a Holy Day of Obligation. 

Archbishop Bernard Hebda has announced the following appointments in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis

I am still on a high from being with a group of high school students from our archdiocese (and about 16,000 of their peers) at the National Catholic Youth Conference in Indianapolis.

As the liturgical year nears its end, the Church annually turns her focus to the “Four Last Things”: death, judgment, heaven and hell. All this helps set the stage for the celebration of Christ the King—the final Sunday of the liturgical year, when we recognize that Jesus has the ultimate authority, far above every earthly power.

As the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) gathered for their Fall Plenary Assembly in Baltimore, the bishops issued a Special Message addressing their concern for the evolving situation impacting immigrants in the United States. It marked the first time in twelve years the USCCB invoked this particularly urgent way of speaking as a body of bishops. The last one issued in 2013 was in response to the federal government’s contraceptive mandate.

he kitchen was the heart of our family home. My mom was a prodigious baker and seemed to be tethered to the stove, always just a few steps away from our rotary phone. (Those of you who are young can ask your grandparents what life was like before cellphones.)

As Hurricane Melissa continues its devastating course through the Caribbean, Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, urged Catholics to pray for and support the people and communities impacted by the Category 5 hurricane.

Following a multi-year process of discernment, Chesterton Academy of the Saint Croix Valley in Stillwater has entered into an Agreement to Operate as a Catholic School of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis and now may use the title Catholic.

Each year when we celebrate the Solemnity of All Saints on Nov. 1, I’m reminded of the great gift we have in the intercession of our heavenly friends.