News RSS Feed

On any given day, you may encounter Angelica Valdes dropping her 10-year-old daughter Alexa off at school; or volunteering at the migrant camps; or participating in a Bible study with her fellow “Women of the Word” parishioners at St. Catherine of Siena Parish in Portage; or helping to run the diocesan San Agustin Institute for Hispanic Lay Ministry Formation Program.

En cualquier día, encontrará a Angélica Valdés dejando a su hija de 10 años, Alexa, en la escuela; o como voluntaria en los campos migrantes; o participando en el estudio Bíblico con sus compañeras del grupo de “Mujeres de la Palabra” en la parroquia de St. Catherine of Siena; o ayudando a coordinar el programa diocesano, Instituto San Agustín Programa de Formación Pastoral y Liderazgo.

During the season of Advent (from Latin adventus, “a coming”), we are prayerfully and joyfully awaiting the coming of Jesus Christ at Christmas. Advent also marks the beginning of a new liturgical year for the Church. These weeks allow us to focus on deepening our prayer life, both individually and as a family and, hopefully, inspire us to strengthen traditions centered around preparing ourselves and our homes for a new year with Christ.

Father James Vinh Le’s journey through mine fields and refugee camps to the priesthood

When the calendar announces that December has arrived, we immediately feel that it is the season for celebrations, feasts, and, especially, meditation on who are the real protagonists of this season: Baby Jesus, the Virgin Mary, St. Joseph, the Magi and the simple shepherds of Bethlehem.

Cuando el calendario nos anuncia que llegó Diciembre inmediatamente sentimos que es un tiempo que nos lleva a pensar en celebraciones, fiestas, tradiciones y especialmente nos lleva a meditar en los verdaderos protagonistas de este tiempo, el Niño Jesús, La Virgen María, San José, Los Reyes Magos y los sencillos pastores de Belén.

More than 1,000 faithful from around the diocese gathered at the Radisson Hotel in downtown Kalamazoo on October 19, 2019 for the first-ever diocesan Eucharistic Congress. The day began with Mass, celebrated and concelebrated with over 40 priests, and ended with a Eucharistic Procession around the streets of Kalamazoo complete with Benediction.

Paul Lamoreaux has voluntarily been playing liturgical music at Masses for more than 50 years, in California, Arizona and, for half a century, at Holy Family Parish in Decatur.

Since Advent is a time to anticipate with hope and yearning for the greatest gift of all, the child Jesus, it reminds me of the same feeling of anticipation we experienced as children when we would plan our roadtrips to visit our grandparents in northern Mexico. The joy of preparing and planning was as much a part of the experience as finally arriving at our destination. On these pilgrimages (as my mother would call them) my brothers and sisters and I would sing songs, tell jokes, sleep and look out the car window at all the beautiful landscapes we encountered as we made our way up and down the Sierra Madre Mountains. It took us three days to arrive at my grandparents’ house because we also would stop and visit uncles, aunts and cousins who lived along the way.

Advent begins on the first day of December, and will conclude with the celebration of Christmas on Dec. 25, 2019. While Advent is the second shortest of all the liturgical seasons, lasting only four weeks, it’s an important season. It’s something similar to the reset button on a clock, because we start all over again. The First Sunday of Advent marks a new liturgical year which concludes at the end of the week following the Solemnity of Christ the King (i.e., Dec. 1, 2019-through Nov. 27, 2020). Thus, the First Sunday of Advent is the beginning of a new cycle of feasts and seasons that we celebrate again, hopefully with renewed faith and a new love and deeper appreciation for Jesus and all that he has done for us through his life, death and resurrection.

For years, Jay Landry described his approach to life as “being on a treadmill to make my life worthy of God’s love. It was, and remains, an illusion that only took life from me.” His participation in the diocesan Trauma Recovery Program helped him realize that “God loves us first. I don’t have to prove my worth to God whose love empowers us to be good.” Jay attributes that lifelong feeling of unworthiness to a childhood trauma he experienced when he was just two years old.

El Adviento Comienza el primer día de diciembre y concluirá con la celebración de Navidad el 25 de diciembre de 2019. Si bien el Adviento es de todos los tiempos litúrgicos el segundo más corto, dura solo cuatro semanas, es un tiempo importante. Es algo similar al botón de reinicio en un reloj, porque comenzamos de nuevo. El primer domingo de Adviento marca un nuevo año litúrgico que concluye al final de la semana siguiente a la solemnidad de Cristo Rey (es decir, del 1 de diciembre al 27 de noviembre de 2020). Por lo tanto, el primer domingo de Adviento es el comienzo de un nuevo ciclo de Fiestas y Estaciones que celebramos nuevamente, con suerte con una fe renovada y un nuevo amor y un aprecio más profundo por Jesús y todo lo que ha hecho por nosotros a través de Su vida, muerte y Resurrección.

A few years back, I took an epic road trip with my best friend Stephanie. Sevenvdays, 2,014 miles, two women and one little blue truck. We met in our shared hometown at her father’s to drive his old truck back to her home in Washington state. We’d both lost a parent that year; her mom in January and my dad just weeks before our journey began. Thus, we approached our roadtrip as an homage to them and to our decades-long friendship.

Each year around the feast of the Epiphany, many parishes throughout the world participate in an annual blessing of chalk. It is an ancient tradition that places God at the entrance of your home and places your entire family under his protection.

What does it mean to prepare to receive the Eucharist? Is it really a big deal if I have a bite of toast before I go to Mass? First let me say: Don’t complain! At one time, you couldn’t have a glass of water before attending Mass. In fact, you couldn’t eat or drink anything after midnight on the day you were going to receive holy Communion. The “Eucharistic fast,” as it is called, is an important part of preparing to receive Holy Communion.

Bishop publishes Loving God and our Neighbor; Living Eucharist as Mission; declares 2020 ‘Year of the Eucharist’ Just in time for the new liturgical year, Bishop Paul J. Bradley has published his fifth pastoral letter to the people of the diocese. Loving God and our Neighbor: Living Eucharist as Mission explores the sacred relationship Catholics have with the Eucharist and its spiritual nourishment to inspire us to lead lives in model of the example of Jesus.

Sitting across from bespectacled Josh Ingraham, it’s hard to imagine that he was once “quite a handful,” as he calls it. The earnest young man, a junior this year at St. Philip Catholic Central, seems more interested in discussing his latest adventure camping trip than in causing trouble. But it was his troublemaking, he says, that got him kicked out of two public schools before second grade — a series of events that led his mom, Renee, to enroll him at St. Joseph Elementary School in Battle Creek.

This October, the legendary coach Lou Holtz will come to Kalamazoo for an evening of inspiration and words of wisdom. Southwest Michigan Catholic spoke with Holtz who shared an interesting tie to Kalamazoo and insight into how his Catholic faith has been at the center of his life.

It might have been helping out at the Tootsie Roll Drive or delivering baskets to the homebound. Whatever the reason, it was Brother Fred Cabras’ love of service, cultivated from the time he was a young boy tagging along with his parents, that eventually drew him to consider joining the Capuchins.

On April 17, I attended a lecture at Notre Dame University presented by Mary Meg McCarthy. She is the director of the National Immigration Justice Center and a strong human rights advocate for immigrants. I was inspired by her talk and commitment. I spoke with her after about how I might see for myself the reality of the crisis at the border. She gave me a connection with Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Laredo, Texas.