Shocking

02-26-2023Pastor's LetterFr. John Bonavitacola

Dear Friends,

The great question to us is whether we are still capable of being truly shocked or whether it is to remain so that we see thousands of things and know that they should not be, and must not be, and that we get hardened to them. How many things have we become used to in the course of the years, of the weeks and months, so that we stand unshocked, unstirred, inwardly unmoved.

This quote comes from Fr. Alfred Delp, S.J a German priest who was part of the Resistance to the Nazis and was convicted of treason and hanged by the Nazi’s in 1945. Maybe it’s because of the extreme horrors of the Camps that we too easily become unshocked by what we see today.

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The Making of Black Catholic History

02-19-2023Pastor's LetterFr. John Bonavitacola

Dear Friends,

The cause for the first canonization of a US born priest has begun in Chicago. This journey to sainthood reminds us once again how God can write straight with crooked lines: Fr. Augustus Tolton (1854-1897) was also the first native born black man and former slave ordained a priest from the US. As St. Paul reminds us, God often uses what the world considers insignificant to confound the rulers of this world.

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Do I Look Like Love?

02-12-2023Pastor's LetterFr. John Bonavitacola

Dear Friends,

I am always struck at how the secular culture latched on to the feast of St. Valentine. This simple Roman priest who gave his life for love impacted our culture in a way that all the great Roman emperors and Popes have not.

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Order and Law

02-05-2023Pastor's LetterFr. John Bonavitacola

Dear Friends,

The country witnessed another horrific police involved killing in Memphis recently. Even though the number of these types of killings is low relative to the amount of interactions police officers have with suspects, it is still unacceptable and constant vigilance, training, supervision, and accountability must be in place.

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