Dear Parishioners of Sacred Heart,

Next week we will begin an initiative at Sacred Heart to connect us more to our Catholic roots and the rhythm of Christian life. The Church has always held up certain feasts of saints and other events as worthy of celebrating throughout the year. Such practices were simply the way of life in Catholic cultures when people were more imbued with their faith. Sadly, however, today with many Catholics not having the benefit of living in a Catholic culture, or even if they do secularism has taken such a strong hold, we have become distanced from the Faith because it does not mark our daily lives. As a result the parish of Sacred Heart will begin to celebrate feasts that are significant to our own parish but are also part of the patrimony of the universal Church. So along with such universal and significant celebrations for Christmas and Easter, and more recently the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, we will be adding other celebrations. Among these are St. Patrick and St. Boniface, patron saints of Ireland and Germany respectively, which are enshrined in our beautiful high altar due to the Irish and Germans who settled and formed our parish. Their feast days are March 17th and July 5th, respectively. It is also important to recognize our patronal feast of the Sacred Hearth which always falls on the Friday after the Second Sunday of Pentecost, this year July 1st. Hopefully, we will also find time to celebrate the Solemnity of St. Joseph which falls on March 19. As the earthly father of our Lord he is of importance to the whole Church, as marked by his prominent place in our own church, yet sadly he is very much neglected today.

Also of significance is the feast of St. Anthony, whose image adorns the northeast corner of our church and whose feast falls on June 13. While all these feasts have significance for our own church it is important to remember that they belong to and have significance to the universal Church. Unfortunately, many of these feasts fall close to each other and other celebrations in the life of the Church so we may have to move their observance slightly in order accommodate all feats and make attendance easier. Our first celebration will be in observance of St. Patrick and will take place after Mass with a dinner on Sunday March 13th. I hope that you will be able to join us.

Fr. Pisut