Posts by Fr Jay Scott Newman

Dear Friends in Christ, Ecclesia semper reformanda. The Church is always in need of being reformed because Christians are always in need of being reformed. The Church is also always holy because the Holy Spirit dwells within her and gives her life as the soul does in the body. This dual dimension of the Church’s…

Dear Friends in Christ, From today through Pentecost, we will be using the Apostles’ Creed at Mass instead of the Nicene Creed. This is a practice suggested by the Roman Missal because the text we call the Apostles’ Creed is so directly connected to the sacrament of Holy Baptism, the promises of which we renew…

Dear Friends in Christ, An important new book has just been published, and I commend it to you with highest praise. “Strangers in a Strange Land: Living the Catholic Faith in a Post-Christian World” was written by Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia, one of the most perceptive churchmen of our time, and this new book…

Dear Friends in Christ, “Be still and know that I am God.” This exhortation of Psalm 46 reveals the connection between sacred silence and being in the presence of the living God. Throughout Holy Scripture the prophets reveal the necessity of reverential silence as a condition for approaching the majesty and mercy of God, and…

Dear Friends in Christ, Ash Wednesday falls this year on 1 March, and so the beginning of Lent is less than three weeks away. Now is the time to prepare to keep a holy Lent by deciding on a path to a more intense and intentional following of the Lord Jesus in the Way of…