The Month of August 2026
My Friends,
“…our grandparents have been for us examples…”
Recently the Church celebrated the sixth World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly. This observance was initiated by the late Pope Francis, He frequently, throughout his pontificate, spoke of his own dear grandmother and the life-lessons he learned from her and cherished his whole life long. Pope Leo, this year, in a reflection for Grandparents Day, offered these thoughts:
“The life of the Church and the world can only be understood in light of the passage of generations. Embracing the elderly helps us to understand that life is more than just the present moment, and should not be wasted in superficial encounters and fleeting relationships. Instead, life is constantly pointing us toward the future. In the book of Genesis, we find the moving episode of the blessing given by the aged Jacob to his grandchildren, the sons of Joseph; his words are an appeal to look to the future with hope, as the time when God’s promises will be fulfilled. If it is true that the weakness of the elderly needs the strength of the young, it is equally true that the inexperience of the young needs the witness of the elderly in order to build the future with wisdom. How often our grandparents have been for us examples of faith and devotion, civic virtue and social commitment, memory and perseverance amid trials! The precious legacy that they have handed down to us with hope and love will always be a source of gratitude and a summons to perseverance.
“Our affection for our loved ones – for the wife or husband with whom we have spent so much of our lives, for our children, for our grandchildren who brighten our days – does not fade when our strength wanes. Indeed, their own affection often revives our energy and brings us hope and comfort.
“These signs of living love, which have their roots in God himself, give us courage and remind us that, as St. Paul says, ‘even if our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day’. Especially as we grow older, let us press forward with confidence in the Lord. May we be renewed each day by our encounter with him in prayer and in Holy Mass. Let us lovingly pass on the faith we have lived for so many years, in our families and in our daily encounter with others. May we always praise God for his goodness, cultivate unity with our loved ones, open our hearts to those who are far away and, in particular, to all those in need. In this way, we will be signs of hope, whatever our age.”
“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.
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 $7,350.00. The other goal is a challenge to meet the total of our gifts to the 2025 Annual Catholic Appeal last year. Our challenge goal is $32,647.00 In my twenty-four years among you, we have never not reached goal.
So it is again this year! The 2026 Appeal officially concludes this month. As of July 24th the gifts from our Pro-Cathedral family total $38,381.00! We were given a first-time donor goal of two members. This year two of our members were first time donors.
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.
“Where she has gone we hope to follow…”
On Saturday, August 15th, the Church celebrates the feast of the Assumption of Mary into Heaven. That our Blessed Mother is with the Lord is sign of hope, and an encouragement for us that, in God’s good time, where she now is, ultimately, we will be. One of the Mass prayers for the Feast of the Assumption, in fact, prays, “where she has gone, we hope to follow.”
The feast of the Assumption is not, this year, a Holyday of Obligation.
For those wishing to participate, Holy Mass will be celebrated, on the feast, at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, on Lindell Boulevard, at 8:00 A.M., and at the Old Cathedral, on the Riverfront, at 7:00 A.M.
Deepening Faith
Our St. John’s Faith Enrichment Group is observing a hiatus for the month of August and will not meet. The group usually meets on the first Sunday of the month, in the church hall, following the 10:00 o’clock Mass. In September, because of the Labor Day Holiday weekend, the group will meet, instead, on Sunday, September 13th. The group that gathers reflects the diversity of our membership.
The life and impact of soon-to-be-beatified Archbishop Fulton Sheen will be the springboard for continuing conversation at the next meeting. The meeting usually lasts about one hour. Light refreshments are served. All are welcome.
A Saint in the making
The late Archbishop Fulton Sheen is considered by many to be the greatest preacher the Catholic Church in the United States has known. He was born in Peoria, Illinois, and, as a young priest served in the Diocese of Peoria. Later, for many years, he led the global missionary outreach of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith. His earthly remains are entombed in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Peoria.
Archbishop Sheen is soon to be beatified, as the last step, before he is canonized a saint. The beatification will be celebrated in St. Louis, on September 24th, at the Dome at America’s Center. Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, the head of the Vatican Congregation for Evangelization, as the delegate of Pope Leo XIV, will preside at the celebration. Complete details about attending the Beatification Mass are available at: https://www.celebratesheen.com/.
History unfolding
Last month, on July 18th, we celebrated the bicentennial of the founding of the Diocese of St. Louis by Pope Leo XIII in 1826. On July 20, 1847, under Pope Pius IX, St. Louis became an Archdiocese. At that time it encompassed the entire State of Missouri. Bishop Peter Richard Kenrick, since 1843 was serving as the second Bishop of St. Louis. He then became Archbishop of St. Louis and would serve in that office until 1895.
The founding of the parish of St. John, Apostle & Evangelis was among his first major acts as Archbishop of St. Louis. After the Old Cathedral on the riverfront, St. Mary of Victories on Third Street, St. Vincent de Paul on Ninth Street, and St. Joseph on Eleventh Street, we were the fifth parish established in the city of St. Louis.
The definitive history of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, by Father John Rothensteiner, tells us that, “In November 1847, Father Patrick O’Brien was charged by the Archbishop with the organization of a new congregation in what was the West End of St. Louis. The neighborhood was as yet a forest and farmland. Washington Avenue ended in a peach orchard on Seventh Street and devout worshipers had to plod their way along the woodland paths and unpaved street to attend Mass at St. John’s.”
In Brief
On August 24th Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski celebrates the twenty-second anniversary of his consecration as a bishop, in the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen, in Baltimore, where he was serving as a pastor. He served as Auxiliary Bishop of Baltimore until 2014 when he was named Bishop of Springfield in Massachusetts. In June of 2020, then, he was named eleventh Bishop/tenth Archbishop of St. Louis. We pray that God continue to bless him in his service to this local Church.
We share the joy of Sarah and Charles Clements on the birth of their second son, Caleb. Big brother Charlie loves his baby brother too. Caleb is proof-positive, in flesh and blood, of the age-old intuition of the Church at “love creates life”. Thanks be to God!
We keep in prayer Margaret Czapla, Dan Prater, Paul Hogan, Cardinal Justin Rigali and all who are ill, together with their loved ones and caregivers. May God give them strength, grace, and peace.
Faithfully,
Monsignor Delaney