Posts by Fr Jay Scott Newman

Dear Friends in Christ, On the next two Saturdays, a total of 35 men from around the state will be ordained to the Order of Deacons for service in the Diocese of Charleston, and because there are so many ordinands, the bishop had to divide them into two groups for their ordination. The first group…

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, The vast majority of Christians, including almost all Catholics, are baptized when they are infants, and this is most fitting. The sacraments are instruments of God’s grace, and even newborn babies need the grace of God. Moreover, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church puts it, “The sheer gratuitousness of the…

Dear Friends in Christ, The Solemnity of the Epiphany is one of the richest feasts in the Christian liturgy, and for this reason, it is also among the most misunderstood. The Greek word which we translate epiphany simply means “appearance” or “manifestation”, and in the Western liturgical tradition the Epiphany is linked most strongly to…

Dear Friends in Christ, Christmas is not just one day on the calendar; Christmas is an entire season of the Church’s liturgical year. The season of Christmas Time or Christmastide begins with Vespers on Christmas Eve and ends with Vespers on the Feast of the Baptism the Lord, this year on Sunday 10 January. And…