The Month of March 2024

My Friends,
The Turning Point of Our Lives
            The celebration of the Sacred Paschal Triduum is the turning point of our lives and of our worship.  In our celebration of Holy Thursday, Good Friday and the Easter Vigil we are drawn into the saving mystery of our redemption in Jesus Christ.  The schedule of our Triduum celebrations is detailed on page three of this bulletin.  I encourage you to plan to participate as fully as you are able.  Grace will be abounding! It is yours for the taking!
“Hope has a name”
            An ancient hymn for Easter Day puts words on the lips of the Risen Christ.  He says, “I arose and am still with you!”  He is!  This is the cause of our joy.  This is the reservoir for our hope.  Pope Francis elaborates on that theme in his Easter message.  Let his words permeate your mind and your heart!”
           “Our hope has a name: the name of Jesus.
            “He entered the tomb of our sin; he descended to those depths where we feel most lost; he wove his way through the tangles of our fears, bore the weight of our burdens and from the dark abyss of death restored us to life and turned our mourning into joy.
            “Let us celebrate Easter with Christ! He is alive! Today, too, he walks in our midst, changes us and sets us free. Thanks to him, evil has been robbed of its power; failure can no longer hold us back from starting anew; and death has become a passage to the stirrings of new life.
           “For with Jesus, the Risen Lord, no night will last forever; and even in the darkest night, in that darkness, the morning star continues to shine.
“ever more enflamed…”
            Pope Francis whets our appetite about the meaning of the mystery the Church celebrates on Holy Saturday night.  Everywhere the Vigil of the Resurrection of the Lord is kept, the celebration begins in darkness.  About that experience our Holy Father writes this:
            “During the Easter Vigil, we will celebrate once more the moving rite of the lighting of the Easter candle.  Drawn from the ‘new fire’, this light will slowly overcome the darkness and illuminate the whole church and the entire congregation.  ‘May the light of Christ rising in glory dispel the darkness of our hearts and minds’, and enable all of us to relive the experience of the disciples on the way to Emmaus.  By listening to God’s word and drawing nourishment from the table of the Eucharist, may our hearts be ever more enflamed in faith, hope and love.”
“You did it for me”
            Each year the Archdiocesan Annual Catholic Appeal funds people programs that serve over one half million children, women and men in our metropolitan community.  People of all faiths, and of no faith, benefit.  The homeless are provided shelter.  The hungry receive nutritious meals.  Women and children at-risk are afforded safe-haven and necessary care.  Senior citizens receive a continuum of needed services.  Disadvantaged children and teens are educated.  Those are only a few of the people programs made possible by the Appeal.
            In coming days, you will receive a letter from Archbishop Rozanski, along with a pledge card, asking your generous support for the 2024 Annual Catholic Appeal.  You will receive a letter from me, too, with specific participation details for our Pro-Cathedral family.
           There are two goals set for us and for all by the Archdiocesan Appeal leadership.  One is calculated according to a standard formula. Our formula goal is $6,933.  The other goal is a challenge to meet the total of our gifts to the 2023 Annual Catholic Appeal last year.  Our challenge goal is $26,625.  In my almost twenty-two years among you, we have never not reached goal!
            Please return your pledge card, with your gift, in the envelope that was enclosed with the Archbishop’s mailing.  If you prefer, you are welcome to return it to the Pro-Cathedral with your Sunday Offering, or by mail to the Pro-Cathedral office.  The time for making your gift spans the dates of Saturday, April 20, 2024 till Sunday, May 5, 2024. The last date for gifts is Friday, August 16, 2024.  If you misplace the pledge card from Archbishop Rozanski, please contact the rectory.  We will be happy to provide a replacement card with a postage paid return envelope to you.  As the Appeal nears its conclusion, we will send a follow-up reminder to those who might have forgotten, or not yet had chance to respond with a gift to the Appeal.
           For the Annual Catholic Appeal each year I ask that you be as generous to God, and the works of God, as God has been generous to you.  Your gift, then, will be the right one.  I am grateful.  Archbishop Rozanski is grateful.  All those who benefit from your generosity are most grateful!
…the venerable patrimony of the Archdiocese
            In the late 1800’s, Archbishop Peter Richard Kenrick, second Bishop/first Archbishop of St. Louis, became dissatisfied with the original St. Louis Cathedral on the riverfront.  The neighborhood had become disreputable.  The building was not suitable.  The new Cathedral on Lindell Boulevard was still a dream.  The Archbishop designated St. John’s as the Pro-Cathedral of the Archdiocese.  His home was across from the front plaza, among a number of stately townhouses on what was then 16th Street.
           While it served as Archbishop Kenrick’s Cathedral Church, four priests were consecrated bishops here.  The first was Father John Hogan in 1868, to be Bishop of Kansas City.  Then in 1872 Father Patrick Ryan, the then-pastor of St. John’s, was consecrated and became Archbishop of Philadelphia.  Father Thomas Bonacum was consecrated in 1887 to be Bishop of Lincoln, Nebraska.  In 1888, Father John Hennessy was consecrated and sent to serve as Bishop of Wichita.
           That those sacred and solemn celebrations took place in St. John’s are yet another reason that the church is part of the venerable patrimony of the Archdiocese of St. Louis.  Here grace has been abounding.  So may it be for a long time to come.
In Brief
            So great is the meaning of the mystery of the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead that one day celebrating it is not enough. Not even a week is sufficient.  For fifty days, then, until Pentecost Sunday, May 19th, the Church celebrates Eastertide.
           Let me express my gratitude to all who will contribute to make our Easter Celebration prayerful and uplifting. Each, in your own way, and all together, you enrich our prayer and enlarge our hearts to assimilate the transforming power of Easter’s grace.
            My thanks and appreciation goes to those of you serving as ministers of the Masses, sacristans, decorators, vocalists and musicians.  I include, too, our parish staff in the offices and on the grounds, and the volunteers who contribute time and talent maintaining the parish campus.
            And I am grateful to all of the members of this Pro-Cathedral family for your extraordinary generosity and faithful support of our mission and ministry, and that of the Church of St. Louis. 
            God reward you all as only He can!

                                                                                    Faithfully, Monsignor Delaney