Saint John Church is known for its young adult ministry, Jack’s Yacs (Saint John’s Young Adult Community). When I arrived as pastor in September,2022, young adult outreach was defunct. It disappeared during the long Covid shut down and it had […]
Many people from many places have told me how they used to regularly come to Saint John Church to pray and to “make a visit” to the Blessed Sacrament or to light a candle at our Lourdes Shrine. People remember […]
Today’s Gospel is the most disturbing story about Jesus in the New Testament. A pagan woman, not a Jew, came to Jesus to beg for the healing of her daughter. Jesus responded with a seemingly rude response, “It is not […]
On Saturday, August 26 our Jack’s Yacs young adults will “Light the City”. However, this is not just a young adults event. Everyone is welcome. We will begin with a vigil Mass at 7 PM, followed by some instructions and […]
Saint John Church is a place of prayer and peace in the midst of our busy Center City. During the course of a week, we offer 22 public Masses. Each Mass requires one or more lay volunteers, readers, extraordinary ministers […]
Three Capuchin friars from Bavaria arrived in Pittsburgh in 1873: Father Hyacinth Epp, Brother Eleutherius Guggenbichler, and Father Matthew Hau. Two years later a group of Westphalian (Germany) friars, headed by Father Anthony Schuermann, set up another foundation of Capuchin […]
Father Benjamin F. Madden, OFM Cap, died at St. Augustine Friary in Pittsburgh, PA, on Friday, 14 July 2023. He was 90. He was born on March 10, 1933 in Cumberland, Maryland. At his baptism at SS. Peter & Paul […]
Do you have a daily prayer routine? I often ask people who come to confession if they pray each day. Most people tell me that they have a daily prayer routine. For many, it is the rosary. The rosary is […]
When I was a boy attending Mass at Saint Monica Church in Wampum, Pennsylvania, our pastor would tell us at the beginning of summer to enjoy vacation, but don’t take a vacation from God. He had two points: if you […]
We celebrate Independence Day this week. On July 4, 1776, 56 Americans risked their lives and signed the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia. Not only were these patriots declaring their independence from a colonial power in Europe, they were making […]