Religious Education - Children
Catechist BlogResurrection – The Road to Emmaus
We celebrate this first week of the Easter season as one great day of joy – Sunday to Sunday. Through this week and the Sundays of the Easter season we will listen to the stories of how, when, and where the first disciples encountered the risen Christ. They are quite...
Housing Facts and Figures – Prince William County
The area median income (AMI) for a family of three in the area is $109,200. Home Ownership There are no units in the County available for purchase for households making 30% of AMI or $32,760 and below. The greatest lack of affordably priced housing occurs at about...
Prince William County Housing
Prince William County is experiencing a housing shortage crisis. As part of the County update to the Comprehensive Plan, the County consultants forecast a shortage of 19,000 housing units if nothing changes in current housing zoning and density policies. VOICE – Did...
Mary Magdalene
“I have seen the Lord!” In today’s Gospel Mary Magdalene proclaims this Easter message. There is good reason to believe that Mary Magdalene was the first to see the risen Lord, before any of the apostles. In John’s Gospel she is also the first to proclaim the...
Anointed and Sent
“He is not here, for he has been raised just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples”, such is one of the verses before our Gospel reading of this Easter Monday morning. This gives context and meaning to the following...
In the darkness
There have been many Good Fridays in the course of my life. I have heard the Passion narrative. I led the Passion narrative during Good Friday liturgies. Over the many years of Bible study I have covered the Passion narrative more than a few times. In the summer of...
In the shadows
The gospel reading for the Wednesday of Holy week is always about Judas and his betrayal of Jesus. The Gospel of Mark, for example, gives no motivation for Judas’s sudden betrayal. Matthew, writing a decade or so later than Mark, attempts to clarify things in his...
Betrayal and Denial
In today’s Gospel we hear the final words that Jesus speaks to his followers as they recline at table for the Last Supper. Jesus tells his disciples that one of them will betray him: “Amen, amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” Moreover, Jesus announces...
Thanksgiving and Faith
The closeness and the smell of death is overcome by the perfume of humility, profound thanksgiving, service and love. Today we begin Holy Week reflecting on the actions of Mary – not Mary the mother of Jesus nor Mary Magdalena. This is Mary of Bethany, the sister of...
Faith and Hope in the Midst of this Wide and Alien World
As Holy Week draws closer, Jeremiah speaks about being surrounded by violence, vengeance and traitorous friends and neighbors. Certainly, it would be difficult and disheartening to have to live in such a situation. I am sure it would quickly lead to paranoia,...