Immaculate Conception will be Dec. 9

The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, normally celebrated on Dec. 8, will be observed on Monday, Dec. 9 this year. Since Dec. 8 falls on the Second Sunday of Advent, the feast was moved to the following day. And even though it still is a solemnity, which is the highest level of feast day in the Church, the obligation to attend Mass did not transfer with the feast. Simply Catholic gives a good explanation for this exception. "According to the Church’s canon law, the obligation to attend Mass is fixed to a date, not necessarily More

Support retired religious Nov. 30-Dec. 1

The annual Retirement Fund for Religious collection will be held Nov. 30 - Dec. 1 in the Diocese of Little Rock. Coordinated by the National Religious Retirement Office (NRRO), the appeal benefits more than 31,000 elderly Catholic sisters, brothers and religious order priests whose religious congregations lack adequate retirement funding. Last year, Catholics in the Diocese of Little Rock donated $166,927.48 to this collection, and two religious communities in Arkansas received financial support from the Retirement Fund for Religious. They were: Subiaco Abbey More

First thanksgiving began with the Mass

Thanksgiving, as an American holiday, traces its roots back to 1621 when Gov. Bradford of the Plymouth colony called for a day of public praise and prayer to celebrate the first harvest. But the very first thanksgiving on American soil took place much earlier; 56 years earlier to be exact, and the highlight of the occasion was a Catholic Mass. The first thing Spanish settlers did when they arrived safely in St. Augustine, Fla. was celebrate Mass in thanksgiving to God on Sept. 8, 1565. "After the Mass, Father Francisco Lopez, the chaplain of the Spanish ships and the first pastor More