News - September 2021 RSS Feed

Last week I was reading from a sermon by Saint Augustine entitled “On Pastors.” It is addressed to those who serve as pastors in the Church. In the portion I was reading, Saint Augustine was criticizing pastors who promise that the followers of Christ will enjoy earthly ease.

ELBERTA — Fr. Nick Adam returned to one of his “favorite buildings in the world” on Sept. 18.

MOBILE — The Catholic Foundation recently reached a 10-year milestone, but the future is what’s especially exciting.

Dr. Thomas Doyle held many distinguished titles throughout his more than 50 years dedicated to Catholic education, many of which were spent at Montgomery Catholic Preparatory School

Last week, I had the good fortune to sit down for a Zoom interview with Jordan Peterson, Jonathan Pageau, and John Vervaeke. As I’m sure you know, Peterson, Professor of Psychology at the University of Toronto, is one of the most influential figures in the culture today. Pageau is an artist and iconographer working in the Orthodox Christian tradition, and Vervaeke is a professor of Cognitive Psychology at the University of Toronto. All three of these gentlemen have a powerful presence on social media. The topic of our conversation was a theme that preoccupies all four of us — namely, the crisis of meaning in our culture, especially among the young. To kick things off, Peterson asked each of us to give our definition of meaning and, more specifically, of religious meaning. When my time came, I offered this: to live a meaningful life is to be in purposive relationship to value, and to live a religiously meaningful life is to be in purposive relationship to the summum bonum, or the supreme value. 

TROY — St. Martin of Tours Parish in Troy held its Family Catechesis on Sept. 12.   As a part of the parish Faith Formation program, children were joined by their parents, students from Troy University, Fellowship of Catholic University Students, Leadership ministry, and parishioners for intergenerational discussions about the Catholic faith.  

The Knight Commanders of the Order of the Fleur De Lis elected Knight Commander Stephen F. Koach of Enterprise as the 11th Grand Chancellor during its annual meeting Aug. 28 in Memphis, Tenn.

I am writing this on the feast of the exaltation of the Cross. This seems a strange thing to exalt and celebrate. St. Paul says that the Cross is a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles. I know that by the time you read this the feast day will have already passed. However, we proclaim not just Christ, but Christ crucified. The Cross does in fact seem foolishness to the eyes of the world and it is in fact a stumbling block for many.

The story of the loaves and fish is an awesome example of stewardship. This is the only story of Jesus’ miracles told in all four Gospels.

50 Years Ago Clergy appointments included: Fr. Casimir J. Cichanowicz, SSE, pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes, Mobile; Fr. William J. Le Page, SSE, assistant pastor; Fr. Maurice J. Butford, SSE, pastor of St. Edmund, Dauphin Island; and Fr. Russell F. Wise, SSE, assistant pastor, Assumption/St. Elizabeth, Selma.

As you may imagine, the Cathedral rectory where I live along with two other priests, Msgr. William Skoneki, the Vicar General, and Fr. Victor Ingalls, the Vocations Director is usually a quiet and sedate home. There is certainly activity during office hours and when there are meetings, but for the most part it is not a noisy place.

Desde mayo del 2020, cuando se restablecieron las Misas públicas en nuestra Arquidiócesis, la Misa en español de la parroquia Santa Maria de la Misión en Opelika se celebró en la parroquia San Miguel Arcángel de Auburn, debido al número limitado de asientos en la iglesia Santa Maria y al gran número de feligreses de habla hispana.

In our mid-summer weekday Masses, we read a series of parables from the Gospel of St. Matthew. These stories were perfect for summer with their portrayal of Jesus and His disciples by the sea and their images of farmers laboring in their fields.

Six Sisters of Mercy of the Americas commemorated the day of their entrance into Religious Life with a liturgy Sept. 4 at Corpus Christi Parish in Mobile.

Catholic evangelist and best-selling author Gary Zimak will be the keynote speaker at the Archdiocesan Council of Catholic Women annual convention on Tuesday, Nov. 2 at Perdido Beach Resort in Orange Beach. 

I hope that everyone was safe and relatively unharmed by Hurricane Ida. We were very fortunate here. It is odd to think about how different so many people are experiencing life right now. I am writing this on Aug. 31, just a day after Ida passed through.

When I was young, I always thought of myself as a leader. I would make decisions, organize activities, assign people to do tasks and give advice. I did not have leadership training but it seemed to come naturally to me. Even though I was an introvert, I was able to go outside of my comfort zone when I was focused on a specific task or activity. When an adult would ask me to lead something, it felt good to be given responsibility and intensified my focus.

Christ the King School is hosting a Daphne KOC Chicken BBQ fundraiser, with curbside pickup only at KOC Hall on Sunday, Sept. 26