Fr. Marc Lyden-Smith's Parish Page

09/06/2026

08/06/2026

Songbirds in church practicing for their concert, which is this Saturday at 7.15pm in Holy Rosary. Drinks and bingo in hall afterwards. All welcome. Pay at the door.

08/06/2026

Millions Witnessed Her. No One Could Explain It. 💙

From 1968 to 1971, above a modest church in Cairo, Egypt, something extraordinary was seen by countless people. The phenomenon, known as Our Lady of Zeitoun, was not reported by just a few individuals it was witnessed by millions over several years.

Christians, Muslims, skeptics, children, soldiers, and ordinary citizens all gathered to see a radiant figure believed to be the Blessed Virgin Mary appearing above the church. There were no secret visions or isolated encounters only a luminous presence seen openly by people from every walk of life.

During a period marked by conflict, anxiety, and uncertainty, the apparitions brought a message of prayer, repentance, hope, and peace that transcended religious and cultural boundaries.

It was as if Heaven was gently reminding the world:

"I am still with you. You are not forgotten."

08/06/2026

We are excited to have Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament as part of our YMT Summer Festival 2026. The Catechism of the Catholic Church calls the Eucharist 'the Source and Summit of the Christian life' (CCC 1324), and we cannot wait to Behold Him together at Festival 2026 🤍

08/06/2026

He was only 12 years old.

An orphan.

A child.

Yet he stood before governors, soldiers, torturers, and rulers—and refused to deny Jesus Christ.

The Church remembers him as
⚜ Saint Abanoub,
The Child Martyr of Egypt.

Born in the Nile Delta to devout Christian parents, Abanoub lost both his mother and father while still very young.

Raised in the faith, he developed a deep love for Christ.

One day, while attending church, he heard the priest urging the faithful to remain steadfast during the brutal persecutions of Emperor Diocletian.

Those words pierced his heart.

After receiving the Holy Mysteries, the young boy prayed that God would guide him in confessing his faith.

Then he did something extraordinary.

He gave away all his possessions to the poor and set out alone on foot toward the city of Samanoud.

Along the way, tradition says that the Archangel Michael appeared to him in heavenly glory and told him that he would suffer for Christ but would receive an eternal crown.

When Abanoub arrived in Samanoud, he boldly presented himself before the Roman governor and openly proclaimed that Jesus Christ is the true God.

The governor was furious.

The twelve-year-old boy was beaten so severely that his body was torn apart.

Yet God miraculously preserved him.

Imprisoned with other Christians, Abanoub strengthened their faith and encouraged them to remain faithful.

His persecutors transported him from city to city, subjecting him to increasingly terrible tortures.

He was suspended upside down from a ship's sail.

Thrown into prison.

Placed upon a burning iron bed.

His hands and feet were cut off.

He was cast into a cell filled with poisonous snakes.

But each time, according to ancient tradition, God worked miracles through him.

The snakes would not harm him.
His wounds were healed.
Many witnesses converted to Christianity.

Even soldiers and magicians who saw these miracles professed faith in Christ and later suffered martyrdom themselves.

Ancient traditions recount that despite the cruelty inflicted upon him, Abanoub continued to proclaim his love for Jesus and his confidence in the eternal life promised by Christ.

Finally, realizing they could not break his faith, the authorities ordered his ex*****on.

At only 12 years old, Saint Abanoub was beheaded for refusing to abandon Jesus.

The world saw a child.

Heaven saw a victorious martyr.

Centuries later, countless miracles and apparitions have been associated with his relics in Samanoud, where Christians continue to honor his memory.

Saint Abanoub reminds us that holiness is not measured by age.

Sometimes the strongest faith is found in the smallest heart.

⚜ Saint Abanoub,
Child Martyr of Christ, pray for us.

08/06/2026

In what will certainly become one of the most fundamental speeches of his pontificate, Pope Leo XIV told the Spanish Parliament, before receiving a 7-minute standing ovation: "The defense of human life is neither a partisan issue nor a confessional interest: it is a goal of civilization."

"If life ceases to be recognized as a fundamental value, what future can our societies have?" he said, speaking to a gathering of politicians, many supporting abortion and euthanasia.

"Can a community that casts into the shadows the unborn child, the elderly, the sick, those who suffer in silence, or those who depend entirely on the care of others be called fully just?"

"Every human life must be recognized and safeguarded from conception to its natural end, in every circumstance of its existence. When this certainty is obscured, the most vulnerable are the first victims, and the law loses its deepest meaning: to serve and protect every person."

"For this reason, the moral greatness of a nation is manifested, above all, in its capacity to accompany, protect and love those lives that are most fragile," he said, repeating what John Paul II emphasized decades ago.

Starting his speech he commented that Church's is the "message offered in the spirit of service to the human person."

"When the Church addresses anything concerning public life, she does so while respecting the proper mission of institutions and the legitimate responsibility of those who have received the mandate to legislate," Pope Leo said, emphasizing "the Church offers a reflection born of the desire to serve the common good."

He hailed Spain as country that "has known how to view the human being as more than just a cog in the social, economic or political order. It has recognized the human being as a creature open to truth, endowed with freedom, and driven by a thirst for eternity that no temporal reality can quench -- in a word, as someone whose dignity takes precedence over all utility and to whose service legislative action is subject."

He said it was Catholic orders that "helped to shape a legal and moral consciousness capable of remembering that authority always entails responsibility and that every human being must be recognized as a subject of rights and duties."

"That aspiration continues to resonate today: that dignity, justice and the common good should be the measure of social relations, both at the national and international levels."

Referring multiple times to his "Magnifica Humanitas" encyclical, he said: "When the common good ceases to be a shared horizon, public action runs the risk of fragmenting into partial interests, incapable of safeguarding what belongs to all."

"In this context, the family — the primary human reality and the natural foundation of the community — takes on particular importance," Pope Leo said.

"The family will always be the first school of humanity, where one learns, before anywhere else, the basic grammar of living together: welcoming life, caring for others, forgiving, serving and belonging."

"Human life can never be treated as a commodity," the pope said.

"A law does not attain its true greatness merely by having been formally enacted; it attains it when, in addition to being valid in form, it can stand before the dignity of the person and pass that test without shame."

"I invite you, then, to lift your gaze to the world around you, not to turn away from reality, but to remember that every decision by public authorities affects real people, especially those who have less power to make their voices heard."

"The expanse of one’s vision consists precisely in looking more deeply at what is at stake in every public decision. This is why, alongside technical solutions and legal reforms, a moral renewal is also needed."

07/06/2026

7 reasons why Catholics should watch the

07/06/2026

Pope Leo just gave a major catechesis on the place of religion in the public square in Spain -- celebrating Mass in front of the city's town hall, Palacio Cibeles -- and the impact that Catholic heritage of the Spanish people can have on the common good and human relationships.

This is precisely what Spaniards were hoping for, which we learned in Madrid before the papal trip -- that Pope Leo would encourage Catholics in the country to be signs of hope and have courage to speak up about their faith in public.

During his homily Pope Leo emphasized that a remedy for Spain's problems and wounds today is the Catholic faith lived truly and publicly by Spanish people.

"The task of Spain today and in the future," Pope Leo said, is "to ensure that the religiosity which has shaped and defined this country for centuries is not a museum of the past to be visited, but a school of faith from which to draw even today."

He said it's a "school that teaches us to kneel before God and before our neighbor, because no one can kneel before the Lord and despise their brother; A school that teaches us of the gratuitousness of love that becomes a gift, so that it may flow among us and break the chains of all selfishness; A school from which we learn that God is a real presence and that we too are called to be present in the realities and challenges of society, not shying away, but personally committing ourselves to the building of the common good."

The historical memory of the Corpus Christi processions, he said, "is not confined to wistful nostalgia."

"Instead, it stands as an invitation in the present moment, in our daily lives, in our relationships, in society, and in the building of the future," Pope Leo said before he will take to the streets to walk with the monstrance on the Solemnity of Corpus Christi in Spain.

"It is not merely a matter of bringing out the monstrance, but of allowing ourselves to be brought out of our selfishness and indifference, of a comfortable, private faith, so as to respond to his invitation to conversion, to change our perspective, and to welcome his presence which transforms us and makes us builders of a new world," Pope Leo said.

"Here in Madrid, as in many other parts of Spain, Corpus Christi is more than just another celebration on the liturgical calendar. It is a way of returning to the heart of the faith to renew our love and fidelity to God."

"It is a profession of faith in the presence of the risen Lord, who is alive and continues to walk among us, who becomes bread to satiate our hunger for life, and visits the recesses of our hearts and history, even those shrouded in darkness."

"Just as Christ gives himself as food in the Eucharistic celebration," he said, "the procession shows that he is not confined to the church, but comes out to meet us."

"Jesus travels the streets, crosses the squares and visits our neighborhoods, dwelling in the settings of our daily lives. He is a God who is close to us, who walks with his people, the Lord of history. He is comfort to the weak, light for families, hope for the sick and peace for those who suffer. The Christ who processes through the streets in the monstrance is the same one who identifies with the poor, the downtrodden, those who are alone and forsaken. It is no coincidence that the Church here in Spain has long combined the Solemnity of Corpus Christi with the Day for Charity," Pope Leo said at Plaza de Cibeles.

The appeal he gave at the end of Mass is in the video below:

"Let us drink anew from this Eucharistic spring, which does not enclose us in private devotion, but sends us out to refresh our brothers and sisters, our families, the poor, the suffering, and those who have lost hope. Eucharistic grace transforms us and makes us protagonists of the transformation of history, a sign of hope for those we meet."

"May the Lord Jesus, present in the Eucharist, transform you into bread that is broken, given, and offered, so that a life of fullness may spring forth for you, for your families, and for your country."