Welcome to St. Philip Catholic Church

Helping the Laity to More Fully Participate in the Church’s Liturgy Dear Parishioners, Peace to you from the rectory, and Happy Feast Day of the Baptism of the Lord! Sunday’s feast marks the official end of the Christmas Season. In the Church’s calendar this is a time to look forward to the coming year, and make plans and resolutions. As Father Donahue wrote about these past two weeks, one of the resolutions for this Parish is to learn to chant the Our Father in Latin. The Second Vatican Council came to a close more than 50 years ago. This most recent ecumenical council addressed several needs of the Church, one need in particular was for the laity to more fully participate in the Church’s Liturgy. To this end, the Council gave two instructions: first, the Council instructed that Bishop Conferences had the power to permit the use of the vernacular at Mass. And second, the Church instructed that “steps should be taken so that the faithful may … be able to say or to sing together in Latin those parts of the Ordinary of the Mass which pertain to them.” (Second Vatican Council, “Sacrosanctum Concilium: Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy”, #57) Or, in other words, Vatican II instructed that the Church should teach every Catholic how to say/sing all of the responses in Latin. The Church has been successful following the first instruction (practically all Catholics have experienced the Liturgy in their mother tongue), but we have a long way to go to follow the second. Out of a desire to be faithful to Vatican II, and for the reasons outlined by Fr. Donahue in his previous letters these past weeks, we at Saint Philip are going to begin chanting the Our Father in Latin at Sunday Mass. Learning new things is always tricky, and so to make this change as easy as possible, we are going to supply multiple aids. We will have classes to learn how to chant the Our Father. We will also have the text and music at every Sunday Mass, so everyone can follow along. Stay tuned for more information! Our goal is that every parishioner of Saint Philip will know from memory the Our Father in Latin by Easter! Please pray for the success of this goal, and please always pray for your priests. Your servant in Christ, Fr. Steven New Start Date for Men's Bible Study First Meeting Set for Jan. 28 Weather canceled the first session of the new Men's Bible Study, so the group will now hold its first meetng on Monday, Jan. 28. The men will meet twice a month, on the 2nd and 4th Mondays, at 7:30pm in Room 5. Meeting are ongoing, and you are welcome to come whenever you can. The intention is to read, pray, discuss, learn, and be on our way home by 9pm. For more information, contact Tom Pratcuh at scripture@stphilipsparish.com Have You Made Your 2019 Offertory Pledge Yet? Support Your Church and Keep Our Programs and Facilities Strong Each parish household had been invited to make a pledge in the parish offertory program. If you were unable to pledge, you can still do so using pledge envelopes in the vestibule pamphlet rack, or by going to the parish website or to Parish Giving, the parish e-giving program. Since pledging is so important, household pledges for 2019 can be made until the end of January 2019. Thank you in advance for your support of St. Philip Parish. Watch the Parish Offertory Program video below. As you watch the Saint Philip Parish Sunday Offertory Program video, please consider how you and your family can best support our church. Sign up for Parish Giving and start supporting Saint Philip today.