PathToHoliness

Here’s the latest church I was blessed to attend Mass at, as well as confession. It’s St. Mark Catholic Church. I was traveling with my wife, Cindy, for a change. We were doing some work at a swine health seminar in Wrightsville Beach, NC. It’s a tough job but someone has to do it. The beach was nice but it’s good to be home.

“St. Mark is a Roman Catholic Parish sustained by God’s Word and Christ in the Eucharist, empowered in the Holy Spirit, which provides for the sacramental life of our community. As a welcoming and diverse people, we are called to evangelize, to teach and to live the Catholic faith. We do this through our parish and school programs and our commitment to stewardship that span all generations.”

I’ve been in a blogging drought here the last several weeks. In that time I’ve been to events in Panama City Beach, FL, Minneapolis, MN, Denver, CO, Willamsburg, VA and Des Moines, IA. Finally got home at the end of last week.

So I may not have been real diligent in my posting but I did make it to weekday and Sunday Masses at several churches like Holy Ghost Church in Denver. I’ll try to be a little more frequent here now that the schedule has calmed down temporarily!

As I have often found to be the case, my guardian angel led me to Mass today. Usually when I’m in a place I don’t know and I’m about to give up finding a church, it’s then that I suddenly come across it.

Today that’s in Utrecht, Netherlands where I’m attending a dairy conference that starts tomorrow. I had some free time before my first dinner this evening so I got some very approximate directions to a church. It turned out to be St. Augustine’s and I arrived while Mass was in progress which started at 12:30pm.

As I was leaving I met one of the priests who celebrated Mass. He pointed me toward the St. Catherine’s Cathedral which proved to be a really nice walk along the riverwalk that goes through town. I first stopped at St. Martin’s Cathedral (or Dom Church) thinking I was there but it turned out to be the original Catholic cathedral which was taken over by protestants.

I like to find a statue or image of our Blessed Mother in each country I visit so I was looking for a gift shop. At St. Catherine’s I was directed back to St. Martin’s where they have a nice little shop. Interestingly, since it is now protestant they had quite a few images and statues of Mary and I purchased one. They also sell rosaries and holy water founts. I guess they get a lot of Catholic visitors.

So, it has been another interesting day and another opportunity to visit our Lord in His Blessed Sacrament!

Cindy adds: Reminds me of a Dan Fogelberg song “Netherlands”

Off in the Netherlands
I heard a sound
Like the beating of heavenly wings
And deep in my brain
I can hear a refrain
Of my soul as she rises and sings
Anthems to glory and
Anthems to love and
Hymns filled with early delight
Like the songs that the darkness
Composes to worship the light.

The next couple of days I’ll be in Atlanta but this morning I got to attend Mass at St. Pius X in Conyers, GA with my parents. It was a beautiful Mass with a young priest on his first assignment. Here’s the welcome message from the Pastor.

Dear Friend,

Father John C. Kieran, Pastor

Last week I was on the road again. While in St. Louis I attended Mass at St. Ann in Normandy, MO which is a south side suburb. They’ve got a great website. Pastor Fr. William Kempf has his own blog called “Pastor’s Pen.”

It all started with the kindness of a woman, who like the widow in the gospel, was so incredibly generous with what God had given to her. In 1854, the widow Ann Lucas-Hunt donated the land along with a monetary donation to the Jesuit Order “to establish a church and see to the education of the children” in her beloved Normandy, Missouri. The Jesuits then tasked Fr. Peter DeSmet with the project of establishing St. Ann church. In him we know a parish founded with a missionary spirit. St. Ann was his ‘home’ when his feet were not on the road proclaiming the good news to the Native American Indians. Our first pastor, Fr. Adrian Van Hulst, would make the journey from the Jesuit provincial house at the corner of Lindell Boulevard and Grand Avenue by horse and carriage. It was said that he was so punctual that farmers could set their watches by his approach. In him, we see the virtue of a steadfast, faithful presence.

Today I had the pleasure of delivering an image of the Divine Mercy to our parish office.

Pictured with me is our Pastor, Rev. Msgr. Robert A. Kurwicki. He blessed the image right away. We found a temporary home for it in the office area until they can decide on where to place it permanently.

On Divine Mercy Sunday my wife and I participated in our service and that’s when we found out that we didn’t have one available in the Cathedral Parish except for one in the school. So we ordered one right away from Divine Mercy Images. It is beautiful and I would recommend them if you’d like a nice image for your church or home.

I know I’ve posted a picture of the Redemptorist church in Kansas City, MO before but it is one of my favorites. This week my wife Cindy and I were in town to exhibit our company, ZimmComm New Media, at an annual convention. We attended Mass here.

Welcome to the website of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church – affectionately known throughout the area simply as “Redemptorist Church.”

Redemptorist Parish also sponsors the Redemptorist Social Services Center, one of the largest food pantries in Jackson County.

This is St. Joseph Church in Salisbury, MO. I had forgotten all about the photos I took there last month until I was cleaning up my memory cards.

This is the home of Fr. Bill Korte, Pastor and my spiritual director. Salisbury is pretty far removed from the hustle and bustle of big city life. I think I envy that country lifestyle a little bit.

Most months Fr. Korte comes to Jefferson City to provide spiritual direction to myself and some other folks. But every once in a while I need to drive up there to see him. One thing I can tell you is that in your plan of life you need regular direction from a good priest. I come away with some new insight, thoughts, resolutions every time. I highly recommend it.

While attending a conference in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico this past week I was able to attend Mass at Iglesia María Reina de la Paz.

This church is located right next to the airport runways which can be very distracting when planes are landing and taking off. One whole wall of the church is made of folding glass panels so they can be opened up. They were while I was there since the weather was so nice.

This is the Chapel at Chicago Midway Airport in Concourse C. I was sitting in Concourse A yesterday with a long wait for my flight when I heard an announcement for Mass. That pretty much answered my question about what to do with my time.

I headed right on over and got there a little early. The priest was there waiting too and was very happy to hear Confession. So I got two sacraments!

The Mass was very nice and we had quite a few people show up. Most large airports have some type of ministry like this and I’ve been able to take advantage of them at various times. It is a wonderful work and I pray they are able to continue it.

St. Joseph’s Downtown San Antonio was the church I got to attend away from home last week. It’s just a block from the Marriott’s Rivercenter and Riverwalk. I was there for the Cattle Industry Convention. We had almost 6,000 people involved in raising cattle and producing beef there.

This is the view before noon Mass when they had the Blessed Sacrament out for adoration.

The church was founded in 1868 and can be found at 623 East Commerce Street, San Antonio, TX 78205-2693.

Hello from Panama City Beach, FL. It’s family vacation time and this morning we attended Mass at St. Bernadette Church. This is a view of the Altar before Mass.

After Mass the day care kids all got up in front of us and said a prayer and sang a song and presented the priest with a nice Christmas present. They were very cute.

I pray that you will all have a wonderful Advent week leading up to the birthday of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

I just got home yesterday after a 12 day trip to Morocco, Egypt and Jordan. Let’s just say that going to Mass presented a big challenge. I was in Cairo over last weekend and had been assured that there was a Catholic church next to the hotel. It proved to be an Episcopal Cathedral after a couple of the guys in my group and I went there on Sunday for a 6pm Mass in English. There was actually supposed to be a Catholic church nearby. We walked for almost an hour trying to find it until we became uncomfortable with the neighborhood we were walking in at that point.

So, I didn’t make it to Mass and was highly disappointed. The closest I came to a church that I could identify as Catholic for the rest of the trip was the one pictured here that we passed on a highway in Cairo.

I am seriously looking forward to attending Mass today!

I’m currently on a trip with the U.S. Grains Council in Morocco with stops still to come in Egypt and Jordan.

Today I talked my group into stopping by a Catholic Church. This is Notre Dame de Lourdes de Casablanca. Unfortunately my schedule didn’t allow me to attend Mass.

Morocco is a mostly Muslim country but there are quite a few Catholics that are helping spread the faith.

One of my goals in traveling internationally has been to come home with an image of Mary from each country I visit. I was really thinking that wouldn’t happen in Morocco. However, in the back of the church there was a very nice plaster image of Mary holding Jesus. I bought it and made and hope I can get it home safely! That’s my miracle of the day.

Last week I got to attend Mass at St. Augustine Church in Covington, GA. It’s right near my parent’s house.

I used my business trip to Moultrie, GA as an excuse to spend a couple days with family east of Atlanta. Path To Holiness contributor, Chelsea, my daughter came along. She stayed with family while I went south to the Sunbelt Ag Expo.

It was great to see my brother and his family including my Godson. But I have to say, it’s nice to be home with my wife!