Posts by Fr Jay Scott Newman

Dear Friends in Christ, For most of the 19th and 20th centuries, the Bishops of Rome were saintly scholars and heroic pastors who inspired great devotion among Catholics because of their radiant goodness, and for the Church to have the service of such men is a great blessing. But in that blessing lies a danger.…

Dear Friends in Christ, “Be still and know that I am God.” Thus does the Lord instruct us in Psalm 46, verse 10. The stillness to which we are called in Holy Scripture is a letting go of actions and words that yields silence, both interior and exterior, and such silence is essential for every…

Dear Friends in Christ, Given the great cultural changes through which we are now living, some Catholics may be tempted to withdraw from the world the better to resist the challenges to Christian life that confront us all. But such a withdrawal is not the Catholic way. Consider, for comparison, the Amish, who are famous…

Dear Friends in Christ, My shoulder surgery is on Tuesday of this week, and so I will not be back at the altar of St Mary’s for next few weeks. I am grateful for the assistance of my brother priests and deacons in providing for the sacramental life of the parish and for the promise…

Dear Friends in Christ, Here at St. Mary’s, one of the distinctive features of our celebration of the liturgy is the deliberate pace of each part of the ritual. Nothing is hurried at Mass, and the reverent speaking or singing of every text helps all of us enter into the sacred time of prayer which…