Sunday Sermon, September 23 -- St Padre Pio, The 50th Anniversary of his Entrance into Heaven (Father Ryan Erlenbush, Corpus Christi Parish)

St Padre Pio, the great miracle worker of Italy, received the stigmata 100 years ago (20 September 1918), and bore these wounds of Christ on his own body for 50 years until his death 23 September 1968.  As we celebrate the 50th Anniversary of his entrance into eternal life, this sermon is dedicated to the story of this holy example of priest, confessor, spiritual guide, and wonder worker.

Adult Formation Series, September 18 -- The Stigmatic Saints, Female Stigmatics - Part 3 of 3 (Father Ryan Erlenbush, Corpus Christi Parish)

Celebrating the visit to our Parish of the Relics of St Padre Pio, we have a three part series on the stigmatic saints who were so united to Christ Crucified as to receive the wounds of the Lord's Passion upon their own bodies.


Objectives of Session 3
1) Recognize that over 80% of stigmatics have been women
2) Review the life of St Catherine of Siena
3) Review the life of St Gemma Galgani
4) Become familiar with Teresa Neumann

Adult Formation Series, September 11 -- The Stigmatic Saints, St Francis of Assisi and St Padre Pio -- Part 2 of 3 (Father Ryan Erlenbush, Corpus Christi Parish)

Celebrating the visit to our Parish of the Relics of St Padre Pio, we have a three part series on the mysterious gift of the holy stigmata, by which certain saints have been so united to Christ Crucified as to receive the wounds of Christ's Passion upon their own bodies.

Objectives of Session 2:
1) Become familiar with the life of St Francis of Assisi
2) Recognize what makes the stigmata of St Francis different from all others
3) Become familiar with the life of St Padre Pio

Sunday Sermon, September 9 -- St James the Less, The Example of an Holy Bishop (Father Ryan Erlenbush, Corpus Christi Parish)

St James the Less, the brother of the Lord (i.e. the cousin of Jesus by way of St Joseph, and a more distant relative through Mary also), lived a life of prayer and penance. He prayed so much on his knees, that they were as callused as a camel's hoof. His whole life was spent in fasting and penance - never eating meat or drinking wine, he lived a perpetual Lent.

Additionally, in his Letter, St James exhorts us to charity in speech, patience, and love of the poor. St James is an example of the authentic Christian witness to which all bishops (indeed, all the faithful) are called.  If we live lives of prayer and penance, marked by charity and love for the poor, the world will be converted!

Adult Formation Series, September 4 -- The Stigmatic Saints: Introduction (Part 1 of 3 -- Father Ryan Erlenbush, Corpus Christi Parish)

 Celebrating the visit of the relics of St Padre Pio to our Parish, we will have a three part series on the mysterious gift of the "stigmata" - the wounds of Christ's Passion that were impressed upon the hands, feet and side of Padre Pio.

Objectives of Session 1:

1) Define the "stigmata" and review the Biblical foundation for the word

2) Recognize the relation of the "visible" and "invisible" stigmata.

3) Appreciate the basic historical facts and statistics related to the stigmata.

Sunday Sermon, September 2 -- No Bible without the Pope (Father Ryan Erlenbush, Corpus Christi)

We now read from the Letter of St James at the Sunday Masses for five weeks. This week and next, we will preach about the Letter, its place in Scripture, and the life of St James the Apostle.

St James is one of the seven "Catholic Epistles" - while these are all now recognized as part of the Bible, they were not always accepted by all. We consider the formation of both the Old Testament and the New, why the Protestant Bible is missing seven books from the Old Testament, and why the Catholic Church has always been correct to included those seven books.

Without the teaching authority of the Pope and Ecumenical Councils, we would never know which books truly belong in the Bible -- without the Pope, we wouldn't have the Bible.

Finally, looking more particularly at St James' Letter, we see that man is not justified by faith alone, but through works in faith. This Letter is the death of Protestantism.