ABVM PARISH COMMUNITY

  THE REASON FOR CATHOLIC SCHOOLS             We are blessed in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia with a long tradition of Catholic schools.   One of the founders of the Catholic school system in the United States is Saint John Neumann, the fourth bishop of Philadelphia (d. 1860).   He established many schools for thousands of students during his episcopate.   He thought it necessary to establish them to protect the faith of Catholic children, who belonged to a religious minority whose beliefs were often vilified by Protestants.   Their faith was challenged in public schools by direct and indirect attacks.   Since the most important thing which a child must learn is how to love God, and how to be loved by Him, it was deemed essential by Bishop Neumann, his pastors and the laity that the children of Catholic parents be educated in an environment that would support their beliefs, rather than contradict them.   I believe this to still be true today.               Saint John Neumann was

  REMEDY FOR A THROWAWAY CULTURE             The country was shocked recently when news media presented a video of a security camera of a teenage New Mexico woman stopping her car next to a dumpster, getting out, and throwing a garbage bag into the dumpster and driving away.  Six hours later the baby inside of the garbage bag was heard crying and was pulled out of the garbage bin by three good Samaritans.  The umbilical cord was still attached to him.  The child is now recovering in a hospital and people have been donating items to the state’s Children, Youth and Family Department for the boy.  The mother has been charged with attempted murder and child abuse.  The tragic incident depicted on the video is a vivid image of what Pope Francis has lamented since the beginning of his pontificate of a “throwaway culture.”             In his inaugural homily the Holy Father called Catholics and all the world to be protectors of creation, explaining what he means: “It means protecting peop

  FEASTS OF LIGHT – EPIPHANY, BAPTISM & CANA             The Gospel for Mass today presents the miracle of the changing of water into wine by Christ at a wedding banquet in Cana.   This event, in which Christ’s divine power is manifested for the first time to his disciples, and they begin to believe in him, was originally celebrated in the Church on the feast of the Epiphany, along with the baptism of the Lord, and the visit of the Magi in Bethlehem.   This feast originated among Christians in the Eastern part of the Roman Empire sometime in the second century if not earlier.   It was the original Christmas celebration and included a commemoration of the Nativity.               We have evidence that Christmas was celebrated on December 25 in Rome by the year 336.   Later in this century the Christians in Rome began celebrating January 6 as the feast of the Epiphany – the time between the Nativity and the Epiphany were then designated as the twelve days of Christmas.   The churc

  THE BAPTISM OF INFANTS AND CHILDREN             It has always been believed by the Church that one is saved and joins the community of the faith through baptism, and that it should be given not only to adults but to children, as Saint Peter taught the crowd in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost: “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.   For the promise is made to you and to your children and to all those far off, whomever the Lord our God will call” (Acts 2:38-39, emphasis added).               Christ himself said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these” (Matthew 19:13).   Judaism always welcomed children into the Covenant with God at the beginning of their lives.   God mandated in the Law of Moses that sons be initiated eight days after birth by ritual circumcision, although they were not held to