We are well into Lent by now. On Ash Wednesday, the Gospel we read that day laid out for us the program for Lent. Jesus speaks of prayer, fasting and almsgiving as the path to conversion. So how are you […]

Those of us who love our Catholic faith and who sincerely believe in Jesus often lament the decline in religious belief and practice. We can remember a time when people went to church more often and tried to govern their […]

Since 2022 Saint John’s, in cooperation with Holy Redeemer, has had a revamped RCIA (now called OCIA) program, partly by zoom, partly in person. Many Catholics throughout the English speaking world are familiar with the term RCIA (Rite of Christian […]

On February 16, 1899 at approximately 9 PM, a fire began on the south side of Market Street in the Emerson Shoe Company between 12th and 13th Streets. Soon a six story building was ablaze and several businesses were being […]

Lent begins this week on Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday is the biggest day of the year at Saint John’s; attendance surpasses Christmas and Easter. Saint John’s is a unique church with a robust weekday ministry because of the many workers […]

Saint Francis of Assisi died on October 3, 1226. This is the 800th anniversary of his death. In January, 2026, the Catholic Church just concluded its Great Jubilee year, a time of hope and renewal where pilgrimages where encouraged and […]

At the Last Supper on the night before He died, Jesus established the Holy Eucharist as a perpetual memorial of His suffering and death and as the means to continue His abiding presence in the Church and in each individual […]

Recently I was in a Center City restaurant having lunch with a Saint John’s parishioner. We were talking about Saint John’s church business and activities. I overheard people at the table next to ours also talking about their own church […]

In 1963, the Capuchin friars of Saint John Church saw the plight of many homeless men in our neighborhood and decided to do something about it. They opened a hospice in a small building on a nearby street. That small […]

The Baptism of Jesus is the final day of the Christmas season. The next day, Monday, January 12, begins Ordinary Time, which continues until Ash Wednesday and Lent. The baptism of Jesus should prompt us to think about our own […]