Please Pray for Central High School...

Our hearts go out to the community of Central High School. To the students, teachers, parents, staff, and administration... know that we are praying for you all, especially for the MacDonald and Siler familes. (photo by J. Mies Cary-Knoxnews.com)

Welcome Back Irish!

As you probably already know, school starts promptly at 8:05 tomorrow morning, and as is the case each year, there are some new faces (about 150 of them) and some people that we'll miss seeing from last year. There are many new teachers that will bring new experience to Catholic, but many folks will be lost tomorrow so let's all be nice and help the newcomers out.

Please be sure to welcome any of our priests that will be coming and going each day, offering the mass for us in the midst of their already hectic schedules. This week, we'll have Fr. Bill McNeeley on Monday, Fr. Bill Gahagen on Tuesday, and Fr. Alex Waraksa on Wednesday; be sure to thank them when you see them and let them know we appreciate their presence.

Our First Mass of the Year at KCHS

Today, we celebrated mass for the first time this school year in the Holy Trinity Chapel during our annual Leadership Workshop. Monsignor Mankel came and offered the sacrifice of the mass. Some would look to the cheerleading squad to see an example of the greatest school spirit at KCHS, or to a member of one of our excellent sports teams. But to those who have spent more than four years on Fox Lonas or on Magnolia, our two Monsignors rank far above any cheerleader in showing their life-long support of our singular Catholic high school in Knoxville.

With the echo's of today's Gospel reading where Jesus hands the keys to Peter and proclaims him the rock of the Church, I sat and thought about Mnsgr.'s Mankel's tenure as student, teacher, priest, administrator, principal, superintendent, Vicar General, and spiritual director. Fifty-five years has passed since the day that then Xavier Francis Mankel entered KCHS as a freshman and a mere mortal. He has been standing watch ever since, participating in our growth through the years, and is steadfast as an icon of how to respond to God's call.

In an era when priestly vocations are down, and the crosses are being removed from classrooms around our country, we are growing. Statistically, our Diocese is experiencing a boom time as compared with the rest of the country, with multiple seminarians moving through their formation and towards ordination. KCHS now has it's first every priest become elevated to bishop just last year when our Fr. Vann became Bishop Johnson. Next week, there will be various pastors coming to offer the mass for us in the chapel; these priests will offer us over 150 years of preaching experience. Please continue to pray that we will receive a new bishop soon, and that he will assign us a new spiritual director to replace our learned Fr. Orr. -dpat

my favorite image from italy...

Of all the photos that I shot while in Italy this summer, and of all the beautiful things my wife and I saw there, this image trumps them all, and it should. It is St. Peter's at the Vatican and is the singular church on the planet that gives glory and praise to God with each nail, dab or mortar, frescoe, and piece of polished marble. We visited many churches while in Rome, but none even come close to compare with St. Peter's. This photo was shot in the evening around 7:30pm. The light only comes through the windows in the dome for a few minutes each day; it was a masterpiece to behold: God lighting His sanctuary for me. And so it's only appropriate to share it with you... Deacon Pat :)