Santa Maria Addolorata/RCIA

  We are currently accepting registrations for RCIA and for Adult Religious Ed . If you are interested in taking “Virtual Online Classes” in preparation of receiving your Sacraments, please complet e the pre-registration form online and you will be contacted within 3 days of submission. Click here for the online form.

Graduates 2020 / Graduados 2020 – Santa Maria Addolorata

One of the benefits of the "stay at home order" during this pandemic, is that it allows me to keep in touch & remember those close to me via phone and social media but as well "web surf" for any topic  such as: crafty ideas, good reads, prayer practices, etc. Yes, I know. I'm dating myself by using the term "web surf." It's still think it's a cool term! LOL.  Here are some thoughts that came to mind while web surfing...The 40 days of Lent is a period of spiritual growth & remembering that Christ died on the cross for our sins. The 50 days of Easter is also a period of spiritual growth through our actions of spreading with joy the Good News! Christ has Risen! But during the Coronavirus pandemic a question remains; “How?” How do I spread the Good News for my love of God and for my love of others.  Share !  Share what you Love, to whom you Love, for the sake of your Love of Christ!  Share something new that you have just learned; ...

I'm hoping that all is well with you! Please stay safe. We will be in touch soon!

What to expect on Confirmation day?  Happy Feast of the Annunciation! Today we celebrate the memory of the Archangel Gabriel appearing to Mary and announced that she was chosen to be the Mother of our Lord. Her Yes or to put it more exactly, “ Let it be done according to your word” is an example of our response to God when we celebrate the Sacraments, especially Baptism, Confirmation and the Eucharist. Continuing the discussion on Catholic Practices & the How To’s, in this session we will discuss the topic of what to expect on Confirmation Day. If you are in First Communion program and received your Confirmation as a baby, these steps will give you some idea of how the rite was celebrated when you were a child. Yes, and as I’ve explained before, in the past baptism and confirmation were celebrated together. This for most this is no longer the practice today. Apart from the RCIA program, you will receive all three sacraments at the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday. I ...

Continuing with the topic of Catholic Practices and the "How To's, " in this session I will be discussing the ways in which we receive Holy Communion. We have already discussed in detail what the Eucharist is in January. I'll include those presentation slides as a reminder for you. In this session, I will use the names Eucharist and Holy Communion interchangeably since it means the same thing. At the end of this, I will also insert the Cardinal's message regarding the COVID-19 aka Coronavirus. Outline:  1.      Preparing to receive Holy Communion 2.      Posture and Gestures 3.      In the hand or in the mouth 4.      After receiving Communion 5.      Video 6.      Cardinal Cupich's Message regarding COVID-19  7.      Reference Links  1. Preparing to receive Holy Communion Before receiving the Eucharist ...

Due to the Coronavirus, we will not meet for RCIA & Adult Religious Ed on Sunday and next Wednesday until further notice. We will finish off our sessions online. Please comment or post a thumbs up in the 'comment box' below to show that you are checking in. I am unable to tell if you are reading this. You can also post a question about a particular Session if you wish. When permitted, I will contact you so we can meet for our Final Session. Also, I wanted to inform you that Confirmation Practices and Confirmation has been postponed. The parish will post updated information on the website as well as Facebook. It would be a good idea to check here for more information on Mass times, Confirmation and other updates. Santa Maria's website:  http://smacatholichurch.com/ Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/santamariaaddolorata.church.9 In these last few weeks of our RCIA/Adult Religious Ed program, we will discuss all the 'How To's" How to go to Confessi...

In session 19, I spoke about the three main prayers (among many) that I believe every Catholic should. These prayers are: the Glory Be (Doxology), the Lord's Prayer and the Hail Mary. Here's a few highlights from the class: Doxology means a prayer of praise or glory. The Glory Be is a beautiful prayer to our Blessed Trinity.  The Lord's prayer was given to us by Jesus to his disciples: see Matthew 6:9 , or Luke 11: 1 The first part of the Hail Mary can be found in Luke's gospel: see Luke 1:28 & Luke 1:42 In session 20, yesterday, we spoke of other useful prayers such as the Lectio Divina, Adoration prayers, the Angelus,  etc. Here are the PowerPoint presentations & handouts used in both sessions Session 19 Session 20  The Angelus & Regina Coeli Lord's Prayer Lectio Divina Stations of the Cross Traditional Prayers Holy hour I want to thank you for participating in our Lenten retreat yesterday as well Here is the PowerPoint presen...

In this session and in the remaining weeks, we focus our attention on prayers & Catholic practices. Now that we've learned the Church's teachings & dogmas on the Bible, the Creed, Mary & the Saints as well as the Seven Sacraments, the question remains how do we apply these teachings in our own lives. As I've stressed during this evening's class, "In the past couple weeks, we took look a look at the Sacraments. Remember, in the sacraments we receive God’s “grace” That grace is God, Himself . Put in another way: when we receive the sacraments, God first calls us to Him , then we  respond 'Let it be'   by celebrating the sacraments that Christ instituted. In that celebration, God offers Himself; His grace. In the next couple of weeks, we will look into other ways that God calls out to us. It is God who inspires us to pray." This evening we've learned what is prayer and what are the traditional Catholic prayers. Before looking into the ...

Hang on tight, we only have 6 sessions left of the RCIA / Adult Religious Ed program. :) I can only hope and  pray that this journey for you has been informative enough for you to make an honest "yes" when you receive your sacraments. We have just completed the Seven Sacraments. Just remember the key to each of the sacraments is God, himself. In each sacrament, God offers his 'grace' to us. The grace he offers to us is enough to sustain us as we journey on in life. Here's a the sacraments in brief: Sacraments of Initiation: 1. Baptism - We become adopted children of God and members of the Church. 2. Confirmation - Our baptismal promises are "sealed" with Holy Spirit. 3. Eucharist - The Sacrament of all sacraments. The true presence of Christ in the Eucharist, in the form of bread & wine. Sacraments of Healing: 1. Reconciliation / Penance / Confession - In this sacrament, the sins we commit after Baptism is forgiven & absolved. 2. Anoi...

In this week's session, we look continue on with last group of sacraments the Sacraments of Service: rather, as stated in the Catechism of the Catholic Church , The Sacraments at the Service of Communion. A. The sacrament of Holy Orders was entrusted to the apostles by Christ. There are three (3) degrees of Holy Orders (in other words 3 steps = 1 Ordination): Deacon Priest Bishop B. The sacrament of Matrimony signifies the union of Christ and the Church. It gives spouses the grace to love each other with the love with which Christ has loved his Church. CCC 1661 Here are the PowerPoint Presentation with notes & video shown in class: Sacraments of Service Sacrament of Holy Orders (Loyola Press) Sacrament of Matrimony

My apologies for not uploading this sooner. I am including both class session's PowerPoint presentation. You will notice that one is for the First Communion Class and the other is for the RCIA & Adult Religious Class. You will notice that the focus from both classes are quite similar, with one exception; in the First Communion Class, I focused more on the Eucharist. The Sacraments of Healing are probably the most, in my opinion, misunderstood sacraments. Here's why: The sacrament of Reconciliation is misunderstood because we, as individuals, have go to a priest to confess our sins to God and the Church and we have to verbally admit what we have done wrong. The sacrament of Anointing of the Sick was thought to be for those who are on their death bed. Jesus truly did give authority to his apostles to forgive sins . This SACRED TRADITION has been passed down to the priests and bishops since the apostles. Jesus understood that Baptism was necessary but because of ou...

In this blog post, I will go over what we have discussed in both classes on the topic of the Sacraments of Initiation  (RCIA & Adult Religious Ed which meets on Wednesdays & Adult Rel Ed/First Communion which meets on Sundays.)  I've used two different PowerPoint presentations for both days because our focus was different; so I'll sum them up here. First of all and as a reminder, a sacrament is an outward sign of God's grace. It is not just what we do for God but more importantly what God does for us . The Seven Sacraments in which we celebrate in the liturgy were instituted by Jesus. In other words, God calls us nearer to Him, we respond to His call in faith and He further blesses us with His 'grace' through the sacraments. So who can receive the sacraments?  Anyone who asks for it. It is good to remember that God does not impose Himself on anyone. So one key word to remember is  Freewill,   a gift that was freely given to us by God Hims...