| WEEKLY DEVOTION | 
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This weeks devotional focus: Luke 17:5-10
"Increase Our Faith"
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| ST. IGNATIUS CALENDAR | 
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View Full Calendar
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| POOR BOX COLLECTION | 
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Each weekend St. Ignatius specifies a Poor Box collection for a needful cause. To learn what next weekend's collection is for
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| PASTORAL COUNCIL NOMINATIONS | 
For more information
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| WORLD WATCH | 
Weekly updates on Christian persecution around the globe. Keep a prayerful watch on what is happening with your brothers and sisters!
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| JOIN OUR LIST | 
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My Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ: Two weeks ago I celebrated the 11 a.m. Sunday Mass at St. Francis Xavier Church on Caroline Street in east Baltimore. That congregation is the first and oldest African American Catholic Parish in the USA. For the past year it has been celebrating its 150th Anniversary (1863-2013). I was invited to preside at the liturgy because St. Francis Xavier Church has its origins at St. Ignatius Church. (Their History) Our own church was opened in 1856. Less than a year later in 1857, the Jesuits invited African American Catholics from across the city to come and celebrate Mass and carry out their ministries from the Chapel of Blessed Peter located in the undercroft of the church. Then in 1863, with the financial assistance of our parishioners, the Jesuits purchased a church building located at Calvert and Pleasant Sts. for the African American Catholic Community and named the building St. Francis Xavier Church. Jesuit Father Peter Miller was the pastor until 1873 when the Jesuits turned over the church and the congregation, at the request of Cardinal Vaughan of London, to the recently founded community of priests and brothers, the Josephites who still serve at St. Francis Xavier. To learn about Black Catholic History in Baltimore click here. And so, to all of our sisters and brothers in Christ at St. Francis Xavier Church, we thank God for His Faithfulness towards you, and yours towards Him! Gratefully in Christ, |
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A Tool For You - Commonweal Magazine
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It is our goal to present to the people of our parish tools and resources that can help them both grow in their relationship with the Lord, but also in understanding of world affairs as they unfold and their pertinence to Jesus, His Kingdom, and our responses as His followers. A very good resource that you may or may not be aware of is the Commonweal Magazine. Their purpose is to provide a forum for civil, reasoned debate on the interaction of faith with contemporary politics and culture and to speak into what can at times be a contentiously divided Catholic Church in the midst of a secular culture. That's enough introduction to get you going. We now point you toward several pertinent articles from this past week (click on highlighted links).
 First is Grant Gallicho's new post on the 'gathering of eight', in which he reports that the council "will recommend major changes to the Roman Curia, not merely 'cosmetic' ones."
Second, as a follow up to a featured story from John Wilkins, former editor of The Tablet of London, he writes: "The papacy satisfies the sense of mission Francis has always had," Wilkins writes "Now his mission is to breathe spirit back into Catholicism."
And third, Robert Imbelli took up the "murky metaphysics" raised in the pope's recent interview with Eugenio Scalfari in La Repubblica (which we published for you last week).
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News Feeds: Pope Francis In Assisi
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St. Francis of Assisi - from biography.com
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The world's focus last week was on the town of Assisi, a medieval city built on a hill in Italy, in the province of Perugia in the Umbria region. Assisi is the birthplace of Saint Francis. As the aforementioned articles note, during last week's celebration of The Feast of St. Francis, his namesake, Pope Francis visited this spiritual hamlet. Attached here are some facts and history about St. Francis from biography.com. Click here to read.
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Events For The Week
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Pastoral Council Meeting
- Wednesday, October 9
 The Pastoral Council will meet Wednesday evening at 7:30 pm in the Parish Office. It is a meeting that is not open to the general congregation, but we thought we would make a few comments about it. If you notice the column on the left, we are currently asking for nominations for the Pastoral Council. Please click on that link to learn about the nominating process. We thought you might like to know a bit about its function. The Pastoral Council serves as an advisory board to Father Bill Watters, S.J. and oversees the mission of the parish. Much of our work this year has been spent meeting with Parish ministries, staff and various parishioner groups; and after listening, discussion, reflection and discernment, we engage in a process of reporting and updating the Parish's progress on each of the 5 pillars which make up the plan and, in some cases, revising pillar goals to address the changing needs of our dynamic parish. The five pillars of the Parish's Strategic Plan are: #1: Liturgical and Personal Development; #2 Faith Development (Adult, Youth and Family); #3 Community-Building: Hospitality of Inclusivity and Diversity; #4 Social Responsibility; and #5: Fiscal Soundness and Stewardship of our Facilities. We hope to complete this work over the next two months and to present an update to the Parish community via forums in early 2014. Make sure to pray for the Pastoral Staff...and the Pastoral Council.
Ministry Fair
- October 12 & 13
ANNUAL MINISTRY FAIR: Plan to come to Ignatian Hall after Mass this weekend where our various ministries will be featured. Learn about the many ministries and volunteer opportunities available at St. Ignatius Church. See the exhibits, talk with those who serve on the committees, pick up literature, and sign up to participate in their activities. The fair will be open to all after each of the Masses.
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The Community of Taizé
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 | Life at Taizé
- Click on Video to View - |
The Taizé Community is an ecumenical monastic order in Taizé, Saône-et-Loire, Burgundy, France. It is composed of more than one hundred brothers, from Protestant and Catholic traditions, who originate from about thirty countries across the world. It was founded in 1940 by Brother Roger Schutz, a Protestant. Guidelines for the community's life are contained in The Rule of Taizé written by Brother Roger and first published in French in 1954.
The community has become one of the world's most important sites of Christian pilgrimage. Over 100,000 young people from around the world make pilgrimages to Taizé each year for prayer, Bible study, sharing, and communal work. Through the community's ecumenical outlook, they are encouraged to live in the spirit of kindness, simplicity and reconciliation. We thought you would enjoy a peek inside the community, and perhaps consider a visit yourself.
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 October is special in that one of the designations for the month is RESPECT LIFE MONTH. With prayers and petitions we need to keep before us the sanctity of human life from beginning to end. Support for this can take many forms in our lives. The important thing is that we do all in our power to make those around us aware of that belief. To read an article regarding the observation of Respect Life Month from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops click here.
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