News - March 2022 RSS Feed

At the beginning of each season of Lent, I have the pleasure and the privilege of celebrating the Rite of the Elect in various places across our archdiocese. The Rite of the Elect is the prayer service where those who are preparing to be received into the Catholic Church at Easter come together and publicly express their desire to be a member of the Church. Some of these people have never been baptized.

As the cost of everyday goods rise, many are relying on Catholic Social Services’ three thrift stores where the prices remain the same. CSS operates three thrift stores throughout the Archdiocese of Mobile

MOBILE — Archbishop Thomas J. Rodi and the Archdiocese of Mobile were to join Pope Francis’ consecration of Ukraine and Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary at the Cathedral-Basilica of the Immaculate Conception on Friday, March 25. 

The Archdiocese of Mobile lost a champion of the Catholic faith as former editor of “The Catholic Week” and author Anna Crow died March 12 at the age of 98.

The 37th annual Archbishop Oscar H. Lipscomb Memorial Priests Golf Tournament will be Monday, April 25 at Spring Hill College Golf Course. The event is sponsored by the St. Serra Club of Mobile, of which the Mobile chapter was founded by the late Archbishop Lipscomb more than 40 years ago. 

MOBILE—The Sisters of the Visitation invite you to attend the annual celebration of the Feast of Divine Mercy on the grounds of their Monastery on Sunday, April 24. 

The modern world often sells us distorted notions of reality. It tells us that we deserve everything, even when we don't make the effort to get what we want. It tells us that we are the center of the universe, and that others were created to serve us. It tells us that the satisfaction of our desires and pleasures is the most important thing, even if it comes at the expense of the happiness of others.

During my second year of teaching religious education, my sixth-grade class met on Sunday nights.  One time on the Sunday night immediately following Ash Wednesday, a student asked me “What if you already ate what you gave up for Lent?”  It seems she had given up chocolate, but forgot.  I chuckled and then told her that she should not eat any more chocolate for the rest of Lent.  Sometimes we might make a mistake during Lent and this might lead to giving up on what we had started.  This mindset might also lead us to avoid challenging ourselves during Lent because it might be too difficult.  

I am continuing a reflection on things that we can learn from looking at the creation stories from the Book of Genesis. You may recall that we are doing this in response to a question from the Pharisees, Jesus repeatedly tells His audience to go back the beginning if we really want to understand what He is teaching.

50 Years Ago Bishop John L. May announced that Montgomery Catholic High would continue and begin its second century of Catholic secondary education in 1973. 

MOBILE, Ala. - Archbishop Thomas J. Rodi and the Archdiocese of Mobile will join Pope Francis’ consecration of Ukraine and Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary at the Cathedral-Basilica of the Immaculate Conception on Friday, March 25.

As we continue our journey of Lent, I pray that this will be a time when we draw closer to God. The Church encourages us to abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday and the Fridays of Lent and to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. This is a minimum observance and hopefully will draw us into further observances that will assist us to live this Holy Season in a manner which will help us to love God and to love neighbor more strongly.

Archbishop Thomas J. Rodi asked that each parish in the Archdiocese of Mobile hold a collection to provide humanitarian aid to those in Ukraine. Archbishop Rodi announced the request in a video posted March 3 on Archdiocese of Mobile social media and mobarch.org. He described the news from Ukraine “heartbreaking” and “infuriating.” 

Montgomery artist and Holy Spirit Parish parishioner Sue Pieri’s latest works are now displayed in the parish church thanks to an overheard conversation.

MOBILE — The Daughters of Mary of St. Ignatius Parish in Mobile invite all women of the archdiocese to rejuvenate their prayer life with a morning of prayer, reflection and renewal led by author Heidi Saxton. The retreat on March 22 will begin with 8:15 a.m. Mass at St. Ignatius, 3704 Springhill Ave.

Sister Suzanne Buthod, who served for 11 years with the Edmundite Southern Missions in Selma, died Feb. 28 at the age of 92.

The St. Michael Catholic High School Model United Nations (UN) Team competed at the 14th annual University of Alabama Model UN Conference, where the team won the most awards and the conference’s top honor.

Lent calls for sacrifice much like stewardship. What better time than Lent to focus on being a good Christian steward. During Lent we make sacrifices for 40 days through prayer, fasting and almsgiving to prepare for Easter. As faithful Catholic stewards, we are called to step out of our comfort zone to share the gifts of time, talent and treasure that God so generously gave us all the time. If we are not living the life of a Christian steward, Lent is the perfect time to start!

Then Jesus came, He revealed God the Father to us, but we tend to forget the other “revealing” He did.

Anne Baggett compiles information for Looking Back from past issues of this newspaper. Anne is a member of St. Mary Parish in Mobile.