Q. St. Paul is the only saint whose conversion is celebrated by a universal feast of the Church. Why would the Apostle have that unique honor? A. The Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul the Apostle (January 25) originated in Gaul (present-day France) in the sixth century. This day on the calendar is the presumed date of the transfer of the Apostle’s relics to the Constantinian Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls near the Ostian Way in Rome. Why would St. Paul have this uni

Q. Last Sunday we celebrated the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. Was the baptism of John, which Jesus received, the same as Christian baptism? A. The baptism administered by John was not the Christian baptism which the Church administers. This difference was most clearly demonstrated when St. Paul encountered some men in the city of Ephesus who had received John’s baptism. The Apostle insisted that they still had to receive Christian baptism (Acts 19:1–6). In a similar way,

Q. Jesus used bread and wine for the first Eucharist. When did the Church replace these with the Host? A. The Church has never changed from using bread and wine as Jesus did. The Host is bread before it is consecrated to become Our Lord’s Body, even though it more closely resembles what has come in our time to be called a “wafer.” This bread is made simply of wheat flour and natural water that has been mixed and baked. The first Eucharist, at which Our Lord Jesus presided, wa

Dear St. Catherine’s Parish Family, The beginning of the year is always a time for us to make resolutions, and if you are anything like me, often our resolutions are related to growing in our faith. There are certainly many ways for us to do this, but as we begin this new year, I want to offer a special invitation to all the men and women of our parish to join us for our Men of Faith and Women of Faith monthly prayer breakfast gatherings. These meetings are a wonderful way fo