Holy Hour in honor of St. Pio

Holy Hour of Prayer on Sept. 23 in honor of St Pio

Holy Hour with Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament on Wednesday, September 23, at 5:30 p.m. to mark the feast of Saint Padre Pio. 

Our Lady of Pompeii Church, 355 Foxon Road, Rt 80, East Haven.

Join us in prayer for the intercession of this very popular saint for abundant blessings on the occasion of Pope Francis' visit to the USA, the World's Refugees and your own particular intentions. 

The saint's relic (his glove) will be here for veneration.

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Contributor: Paul A. Zalonski

Catholic Connecticut

255 Foxon Hill Road

East Haven, CT 06513-1216 USA

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I didn't know Pope Francis had a sense of humor

This made me laugh...

"The Pope had taken the vial with the blood of St. Gennaro - displayed on the altar - in his hands and kissed it. Cardinal Sepe said over the microphone: “It is the sign that St. Gennaro loves Pope Francis: half of the blood turned to liquid.” The pronouncement was followed by a long applause from faithful. The Pope then replied: “If only half of it liquefied that means we still have work to do; we have to do better. We have only half of the saint’s love.” But the blood continued to liquefy until the whole relic had turned to liquid, with many faithful crying out as they witnessed this."

I'm not sure if Pope Francis' quick wit quip is correct about having "half of the saints love" or if perhaps the Saint just approved of the speech he gave:

"Prior to this, the Pope had set aside his written speech and continued off the cuff, describing some personal experiences he had had and encouraging faithful to worship and love the Church (“you cannot love Jesus without loving his Church”) and show apostolic zeal (“The Church exists in order to bring Jesus” to people, he stressed). “We need to start from Jesus and Mary, the Pope urged, before going on to condemn wheeling and dealing in the Church, the “terrorism of gossip” and the attachment to money displayed by some priests and religious. “Wheeling and dealing” in the Church is an “ugly” thing."

Who could find fault with any of that?



In Christ,


Julie @ Connecticut Catholic Corner



Source: http://vaticaninsider.lastampa.it/en/the-vatican/detail/articolo/francesco-napoli-39932/

Three Misconceptions of Catholicism

The misconceptions of Catholicism are numerous and widespread. If people took a moment to find out what Catholics really believe and why all these misconceptions could be dispelled. Unfortunately, many people don't take the time to investigate things concerning religions and instead accept something they heard as the truth without considering it could be wrong.

A few common misconceptions about Catholic beliefs that I'd like to respond to are Catholic views of Mary, earning salvation by works and holy relics. First, Catholics don't worship Mary. They never have and never will because the Catholic Church teaching is that only God is worthy of worship. To worship anyone besides God is a sin. Mary is the Mother of God incarnate, Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. The angel Gabriel called her "full of grace" and "highly favored". When Mary had given birth to the Savior she said "My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my Savior. For he has looked upon his handmaiden's lowliness; behold, from now on all ages will call me blessed." (Luke 1:46-48) The Catholic faith calls her 'full of grace' and 'blessed' because Sacred Scripture records this fact. She is not worshipped, she is honored and highly favored.

Secondly, Catholics do not 'earn' salvation. Salvation comes by grace from God. Faith and good works go hand in hand, neither 'earns' us our salvation, they are the fruits of the grace God gives us. Jesus Christ is God incarnate and came to bring salvation. No one 'earns' their salvation, if we could there would have been no need for Jesus.

And finally, those holy relics. Catholics don't worship holy relics and they are not magic charms. Relics are scriptural and found in both the Old and New Testaments. In 2 Kings 13:21 we see a man brought back to life when his dead body touched the bones (relics) of the Prophet Elisha. In the New Testament we see that handkerchiefs touched by Paul were taken to the sick and they were healed. These healings are all from God. God using ordinary things to do extraordinary miracles with relics.

Saint Augustine said something like "Remember, you will be faulted not because you are ignorant against your will but because you neglect to seek out what it is that makes you ignorant." I think that applies to all of us in our assumptions of things that we take as fact without bothering to seek out the truth of a matter.