Month Archives: August 2025

Fr. Dominic Savoie, FSSP   Last Sunday’s gospel parable recounted how “two men went up into the temple to pray.” The publican, whose prayer was favored by God, is familiar to us. He “stood far off,” with his “head down,” and “struck his breast.” We see the publican’s prayer imitated in our liturgy at every Mass. The priest and ministers, before ascending the altar, stand far off, profoundly bow while saying the Confiteor, and strike their breasts while publicly confessing their faults. These rubrics, which direct the ministers’ bodily postures, …

  On September 12, the St. Stephen’s Youth Group will resume. It meets twice a month during the academic year, generally on second and fourth Friday, in the evening. Its primary purpose is the continuing Catholic education of high school students in our parish. The secondary purpose of the group is to help the youth form and keep good Catholic friendships amongst one another. The group assists at the evening Mass, afterwards moving to one of the classrooms for a short meal and social time. Then one of the priests, …

  Many of the men in the parish have expressed an interest in forming a confraternity that focuses in the first place on the development of the spiritual life. A preliminary rule has been drawn up by several of them. The group aims to observe a common schedule for prayer and penance, with regular and regional small groups that give opportunity for prayer and accountability. The regional nature of the group accounts for the long distance that many men live from the parish and should provide more flexibility for men …