St. Joachim News

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Vatican Corner 02-16-2020

Over time, the Christian Religion has separated into many different branches. The red lines in the adjoining chart show the Roman Catholic branch with its Western and Eastern Rites. The chart shows the division that took place in the 16th century, when German...

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Pastor’s Desk 02-16-2020

Christopher Burns wrote an article, "Wars' Lethal Leftovers Threaten Europeans,” in 1994 on the casualties of war, not the most current one with its Improvised Explosive Devices but of wars that officially ended seventy years ago in the case of World War II and...

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Vatican Corner 02-09-2020

As part of his Friday of Mercy initiative, and just before the World Day of the Poor, Pope Francis on January 31, 2020 blessed the Vatican’s new Night and Day Center for homeless people .The Center is in a four-story palace that was constructed in the 1800s, and...

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Pastor’s Desk 02-09-2020

President Woodrow Wilson once told the story of his encounter with true Christian light. He said: "I was in a very common place. I was sitting in a barber chair, when I became aware that a powerful personality had entered the room. A man had come quietly in upon the...

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Vatican Corner 02-02-2020

On Sept. 29, 2019, the first new sculpture since the mid-19th century was installed in St. Peter’s Square. Pope Francis wanted it located at the busy tourist area in front of St. Peter’s Basilica “so that all will be reminded of the evangelical challenge of...

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Pastor’s Desk 02-02-2020

C. L. James in his delightful book, To See a World in a Grain of Sand, tells the fable of a wise old cat who notices a kitten chasing its tail. "Why are you chasing your tail?" said the wise old cat. The kitten replied, "I have learned that the best thing for a cat is...

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Vatican Corner 01-26-2020

Pope Benedict XVI, was the first pope in the modern era to retire. He promised when he stepped down in 2013 and took the title of “Pope Emeritus” that he would remain “hidden to the world. However, he has not remained hidden entirely. A 6,000 word essay by the former...

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Pastor’s Desk 01-26-2020

Those of you who saw the remarkable film Amazing Grace remember the story of William Wilberforce. Wilberforce was a British politician who, after his conversion to Christianity, became England’s greatest anti-slavery advocate. It was through his tireless efforts that...

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Vatican Corner 01-19-2020

Pope Francis’ Apostolic letter of Sept. 30, 2019 established that “the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time is to be devoted to the celebration, study and dissemination of the “Word of God.” This will be the first time the “Sunday of the Word” will be celebrated and it will...

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Pastor’s Desk 01-19-2020

John the Baptist, the Essene preacher who introduced Jesus as the “Lamb of God.” When John’s parents died, he may well have been still too young to be on his own. Zechariah and Elizabeth had been very old when John was born, so that would not have been a surprise, but...

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Vatican Corner 01-12-2020

The Vatican Observatory in partnership with the University of Arizona operates a 1.8 meter telescope built in the 1980s named the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope or VATT. It is located 10,000 feet high on Mount Graham, AZ where the skies are among the clearest,...

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Pastor’s Desk 01-11-2020

Origin of baptism: Neither John nor Jesus invented baptism. It had been practiced for centuries among the Jews as a ritual equivalent to our Confession. Until the fall of the Temple in 70 A.D., it was common for Jewish people to use a special pool called a Mikveh --...

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Vatican Corner 01-05-2020

After the time of Galileo, when the Catholic Church wrongly condemned him for his astronomical proof that the sun and not the earth was the center of the solar system, the Church developed a keen interest in astronomy. The papacy founded three early observatories:...

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Pastor’s Desk 01-05-2020

A survey was made among school children asking the question why they enjoyed reading Harry Potter novels and watching Harry Potter movies. The most common answer was, “Because you never know what’s going to happen next.” This sense of suspense and surprise prompted us...

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Vatican Corner 12-29-2019

More than 400 books have been written about the Star of Bethlehem and how its story could fit within modern astronomy. In a recent article in Evening Standard Magazine, Guy Consolmago, the director of the Vatican Observatory, an American Jesuit brother with a...

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Pastor’s Desk 12-29-2019

It was a busy morning, about 8:30, when an elderly gentleman in his 80s arrived to have stitches removed from his thumb. He said he was in a hurry as he had an appointment at 9:00. I took his vital signs and had him take a seat, knowing it would be over an hour before...

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