Welcome To St. Patrick Catholic Church

This year, the Fourth Week of Advent is the shortest it can be – only one day long. Because Christmas Eve falls on a Sunday this year, I wish to clarify the various liturgical celebrations and obligations:

On the weekend of December 9-10, participating dioceses will take up the annual collection that benefits approximately 24,000 elderly religious sisters, brothers, and religious order priests across the United States. Coordinated by the National Religious Retirement Office (NRRO), the collection provides qualified religious institutes with financial aid to address retirement necessities.

The Catholic Church in the United States will commemorate National Vocation Awareness Week, November 5-11. Each year, national Catholic organizations, dioceses, schools, and local parish communities sponsor events and provide different resources to raise awareness for vocations, and help those who are discerning a vocation, particularly one to ordained ministry or consecrated life.

Since the Hamas attacks earlier this month, and in the wake of boldly proclaimed rhetoric and the increase of actions of religious hatred in the United States, Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Religious Liberty issued a sharp rebuke and called for peace.

Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee seminarian Fernando Diaz Olazábal was installed in the Ministry of Acolyte during Mass, on October 18, 2023, at Sacred Heart Seminary and School of Theology, in Hales Corners, Wisconsin.