Harvest

Edward Yock of Hampden describes attending Mass as a necessity for him and his wife.

With work schedules and household tasks, keeping holy the Sabbath day may, for many, seem like an elusive desire, despite best intentions.

Can we love God without loving our neighbor? To love God with one’s heart, soul, and mind and to love one’s neighbor are the greatest commandments of all.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us that “Baptism is the basis of the whole Christian life, the gateway to life in the Spirit, and the door which gives access to the other sacraments” (CCC 1213).

Your question reflects a heart of love, and I am so grateful for it.

Our global responsibility to confront COVID-19

Together, we form the Church.

Caring, considerate, kind, and patient.

Student nurses from Boston College say a week they spent in northern Maine offering free health services to community members will shape the work they do going forward.

“I know that a lot of people, once they go to college, just kind of lose their faith, and I did not want that to happen to me."

"May God bless this tree and this garden and all those who will venture upon it."

They have been present at Mass since the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic.

When the pandemic hit in spring 2020 and schools switched to remote learning, Emma Garrity of Gorham, like many parents, worried about the impact it was having on her daughter Paige.

Milka Alay watched with joy as Father Michael Sevigny, OFM Cap., gently poured holy water on her daughter Sylkia’s head.

Just as with Holy Thursday, Corpus Christi Sunday, which we celebrate June 6, provides us an opportunity to give thanks for the gift of the Eucharist to the Church and to ponder that gift.

In my last article, I described a sacrament as a sign instituted by Christ to impart grace to those who receive it. Before proceeding to a quick overview of the seven sacraments, it seems worthwhile to explore that definition in a little more detail.

As we explore our faith and try to grow into it, we will find passionate, articulate people who try to bring us to agreement with their viewpoint.

Blaine Guido, age 26, says he has always believed there is a reason why things happen.

“You can never learn too much about God.”

Over the past 10 and a half years, Julie Abbott has heard hundreds of people share stories of struggle.

Erin McConnell, an elementary education major at the University of Maine in Orono, carries a full course load, while also working 30 hours a week.

Care for our common home begins with care for one another

In the twenty-second chapter of Matthew’s Gospel, we find a Pharisee, a scholar of the law, testing Jesus by asking him the question: “‘Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?’

Here begins a series on the sacraments of the Church. We will be exploring each of the seven sacraments individually and looking at how the sacraments are usually organized into groups. 

I get lots of questions from parishioners about the wider Church’s fundraising efforts, specifically the once-a-year effort that, in the Portland Diocese, is called the Catholic Appeal.

Opening doors to Christ on a college campus

St. Joseph: A man of our times

The Diocese of Portland is pleased to welcome a third priest from the Diocese of Kumbo in Cameroon.

Father, protector, worker, patron – they all describe St. Joseph, a quiet man who put his trust in God and played a key role in salvation history.

You’re helping people first and foremost by caring for the family and trying to compassionately guide them.

“It’s like being on a long, bad retreat.” That is how Father Louis Phillips, sums up this past pandemic year.

A comment we often hear and one we ourselves so often make is how quickly time passes. However, the passage of time often depends on the perspective from which we look at it.

This final line of the Creed sums up our faith in a life that continues beyond our physical death. It’s not quite what many people would expect.

The madness of our present age can be scary and worrisome, but I would love for us to think about it as an invitation for each and every person reading this to think about racism and Christianity.

The importance of music to liturgy should not be underestimated. The Catechism of the Catholic Church emphasizes ‘The musical tradition of the universal Church is a treasure of inestimable value, greater even than that of any other art,’ quoting Pope Paul VI’s Sacrosanctum Concilium.

November 28, 2020, was a historic day for the Catholic Church in America. On that day, Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Washington, D.C., was created a cardinal by Pope Francis making him the first African American bishop to attain that rank.

For Dancile Nshimirimana, being a member of the Catholic Church has always been like being part of a family.

As we look at the statements in the Nicene Creed, it helps to remember that each one was formed over several decades as a result of discussion, dispute, reflection, and prayer.

Knights of Columbus in Maine and around the world are celebrating the beatification of Father Michael Joseph McGivney who founded the lay fraternal order in 1882.

Let’s start by looking at some of the words for love that we see in the Bible. This is not an exhaustive list, but it captures the main ones.

Should I get the COVID-19 Vaccine?

“The Lord said, ‘Go.’ And I said, ‘Who? Me?’ And He said, ‘Yes, you.”

After we have spent some time professing our faith in the Triune God, the Creed moves immediately to the Church.  This is no accident. 

Father, protector, worker, patron – they all describe St. Joseph, a quiet man who put his trust in God and played a key role in salvation history.

As a new year begins, we sing “Auld Lang Syne,” watch fireworks, and make resolutions. Most of these New Year’s rituals are about reviewing the past year and the desire for changes in the coming 12 months.

“Let’s see. There’s Fran, JoAnne, Diane, Turk, and Roy.” Father Philip Clement, administator of St. Peter the Fisherman Parish in Machias, has no problem naming the regulars who attend Mass at St. Timothy Church in Welshpool.

Many Christians lack a clear concept of or a sense of a personal relationship with the Holy Spirit. In traditional art, the Father and the Son are most often portrayed in human form.

The Nicene Creed’s description of the Father is remarkably succinct: only 19 words, in our English translation, speak of our faith in the One who is the Source of all. 

Having briefly glanced at the Trinity as a whole in my last article, I’ll now look at what the Creed says about the Father here. 

In the last issue of Harvest, we looked at our faith in God as One and how that faith in God’s essential unity is (or ought to be) reflected in how we, as His Church, are one.