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Note:
The Church is closed - La Iglesia estrada Cerrada - Nhà Thờ đóng cửa:
10:00 am - 4:00 pm
Monday - Friday, Lunes - Viernes, Thứ Hai - Thứ Sáu
Pastor
Rev. Tuan Pham
Parochial Vicars
Rev. Ramon Cisneros
Rev. Danh Trinh
Rev. Anthony Vu
Deacon
Dcn. Francis Xavier Hao Nguyen
Saturday Vigil
4:00 PM
Vietnamese
5:30 PM
English
7:00 PM
Vietnamese
Sunday
6:30 AM
Vietnamese
8:00 AM
Vietnamese
9:30 AM
English
11:00 AM
Vietnamese
12:45 PM
Spanish
4:00 PM
Vietnamese
5:30 PM
English Youth Mass
7:00 PM
Spanish
PRAYER OF THE WEEK
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God Be in My Head
God be in my head, and in my understanding;
God be in my eyes, and in my looking;
God be in my mouth, and in my speaking;
God be in my heart, and in my thinking;
God be at my end, and at my departing.
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FATHER ANTHONY’S WRITING THIS WEEK (January 29):
Catholic Education
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The National Catholic Schools Week this year falls on January 29-February 4, 2023. The Church in the USA tries to promote Catholic education among parishes and among the Catholic faithful. The sad reality is that many parishes in the country are closing their parochial schools due to a number of reasons: most notably, the lack of enrollment and finance. I always like a parish with a school. It is always nice to see the kids in uniforms marching to their classrooms and to church. But more importantly, it is good to instill in them a sense of reverence for our Catholic traditions. I am glad to be back to St. Barbara where we DO have a school. I have always been an fan of Catholic education. In this Catholic Schools Week, I am calling all our parishioners to support our school in particular, and Catholic education as a whole in general.
While I myself never had a chance to attend any parochial school or any Catholic high school, I do have some background and experience with Catholic education. Within my journey to the priesthood, I have had the opportunity to study at two Catholic institutions: the University of Dallas in Irving, Texas; and the University of Louvain (or Leuven, in Flemish) in Belgium—the latter of the two being the more important by far. Louvain, founded in 1425, is the oldest existing Catholic university in the world—medieval universities like Oxford, Bologna, and Salamanca were founded even earlier… but none is still Catholic now. Theologians from Louvain have contributed a great deal to the works of the Second Vatican Council (1962-65). The late American archbishop Fulton Sheen (d. 1979), also a graduate of Louvain, had stated that he was greatly indebted to this university. I am grateful to our former diocesan bishop Tod Brown for having given me the opportunity, back in 2004, to study theology either in Rome or Louvain. To this day, I am still thankful that I ended up in Louvain. Like Fulton Sheen, I will forever be indebted to this old university for the way I think about my Christian faith.
Anyway, I want parents to realize that a good Catholic education will shape the minds of children as they venture into the future. While the future is uncertain for everybody, we cannot underestimate the importance of a good Catholic foundation instilled in a child. At one of my former parishes, St. Angela Merici in Brea, I once spoke with a school parent about this subject. I brought up the fact it is costly to send children to Catholic schools. She responded that people invest in many things: cars, homes, businesses, stocks, etc… so why not in their own children? I understand that while not every family can afford a Catholic education for their children; and that public schools are, by all means very good, and can sometimes offer more in terms of resources—parents should do well to invest in their own children in the ways of faith… On Sunday January 29, our St. Barbara School will have its “Open House.” Please come and see, and support our school. But do not just come and see; come and STAY too!
