From Father George's Desk 2/22/2026

This weekend at the 10:30 Mass at Holy Family, we are celebrating the Rite of Sending for catechumens and candidates.  Catechumens are those individuals who are preparing to be baptized at the Easter Vigil and then be confirmed and receive First Holy Communion; our catechumens are: Saoirse Marie Johnson, Kassidy Shaffer, and Michael A. Warren. Candidates are those who either have already been baptized but have never received the other two sacraments of initiation or have been baptized in another Christian tradition but wish to be received into the full communion of the Catholic Church; our candidates are: Ella Rose Baldonieri, Sophie Renee Baldonieri, Hannah Nicole French, Maddox Baker Scaffardi, Logan Gene Skuta, Cameron Thomas Tillman, and Brynn Charlotte Zangaro. At the Rite of Election at Blessed Sacrament Cathedral in Greensburg last Sunday afternoon, Bishop Kulick officially called our catechumens, along with those from throughout the diocese, to the Easter Sacraments and called our candidates, along with those from throughout the diocese, to continuing conversion for full reception into the Church.  We are sending them to Blessed Sacrament Cathedral in Greensburg to present them to Bishop Kulick at the Rite of Election for catechumens and the Call to Continuing Conversion for candidates for full reception into the Church.  Please keep them in your prayers during this Lenten Season as they enter their period of final preparation for the Easter Sacraments.

For those of us who are baptized, Lent is about preparing ourselves for coming celebration of the Paschal Mystery, however, the work that we do in this season should also bolster our spiritual lives to bring out positive and   lasting change long after these Forty Days are over.  Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving are often referred to as the Lenten triad.  We should not view them as separate “menu items” for us to pick and choose from.  To truly have value, we Catholic Christians must take them together:

The three practices should be intertwined.  Prayer can soften hearts and awaken compassion, making a person more likely to be generous to others.  It also makes fasting more palatable.  A deeper relationship with God leads to growing solidarity with the poor, a desire to imitate Christ in his poverty and a hope to be freed from the snares of our consumerist culture.  Fasting aids prayer by reminding us of our dependence on God and can also...help us in a practical way by saving money for alms.  Finally, almsgiving can deepen our prayer as we are brought into contact with our brothers and sisters who live in poverty, and it can prompt an important question: Am I consuming too much?  [America editorial, 2/18/13]

So, in the midst of all of our Lenten activity it is vitally important for us to keep in mind the meaning of this season.  Through the intertwined practices of the Lenten triad, by all means, let us prepare ourselves to celebrate our    redemption and salvation at the Paschal Triduum.  But may our practices over these Forty Days also bring about permanent positive change in each of us, in our Church, and in our world.

Our next Anointing Mass will celebrated next Saturday at 10:00AM at St. John.  These Masses not only provide more chances to celebrate the Sacrament of Anointing of Sick but also present a wonderful opportunity raise the awareness and understanding of the sacrament.  All too often we think this sacrament is only for those at the point of death, however, “This sacrament gives the grace of the Holy Spirit to those who are sick: by this grace the whole person is helped and saved, sustained by trust in God, and strengthened against the temptations of the Evil One and against anxiety over death.  Thus the sick person is able not only to bear suffering bravely, but also to fight against it. [Pastoral Care of the Sick #6]

Finally, on Monday the Church honors the bishop and martyr, St. Polycarp.  We don’t’ have many details of his life but it generally agreed that he was born around the year 69 and was converted to the faith by St. John the    Evangelist around the year 80.  He became bishop of Smyrna in Asia Minor (in modern-day Turkey) around the year 96, and, since we was a disciple of St. John and a friend of many who personally knew Jesus, he was recognized as one of the most important leaders of the Church’s second generation.  Polycarp fought against many of the heresies roiling the Church in the first half of the second century and helped bring stability as it grew and matured in the decades after the last of the apostles died.  When he was 86-years-old, St. Polycarp was    arrested and sentenced to death by being burned at the stake during a persecution of the Church.  Witnesses say that when the fire was lit, it would not consume his body so he had to be stabbed to death with a dagger.