St. John Paul II Ordinariate Parish

07/04/2026

07/03/2026

Trinity V 2026



Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I will keep this short because I imagine that this holiday weekend you all have various things to do, and you also have the superadded need to keep cool and hydrated.

I am writing to remind you all that next Saturday (7/11) from 8 AM to 2 PM, we have an opportunity to volunteer at the Allentown Soup Kitchen. The sign up will be below. Any questions? Ask me . Or Ray .

And the next day, we will have a blessing of St. Benedict medals after Mass, so if you have any, bring them along.

If you have been following the news, you will have heard that after their act of disobedience in consecrating two bishops, the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) has been excommunicated. It is nothing about which we have to be worried, but it is interesting.

They are leaving the Catholic Church because they know better, and because the Modern Church has wandered into error. 500 years ago, a group of folks did exactly the same thing for exactly the same reasons- in their considered opinion, the Church was wrong and they were right. That is the Magisterial Protestant Reformation.

I look on this, and pray for healing and reconciliation, as we all should. But I am also reminded of the fact that the newest ocean on Earth has begun formation in the Great Rift Valley of Africa. I know they mean well. I know they have the best of intentions. But one is reminded of what type of roads are paved with such material.

As a former Protestant, and as someone familiar with the history and trajectory of the past 500 years, I can tell you that it starts like this , but it will end like this without repentance and amendment of life. So pray for our brothers and sisters who would walk away from the Church.

And in the meanwhile, I look forward to celebrating Mass with you all on Sunday.

In Christ’s Peace,
Fr. Matthew

https://app.flocknote.com/note/37578573

06/26/2026

Trinity IV 2026



Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

FIrst and foremost- A reminder that this Saturday at 4:00 PM is the next Dinner & A Decade. Come join us for a potluck meal and a decade of the Rosary. The address is 7673 Herber Rd., New Tripoli .

Second and just about as foremost is the fact that we are set to volunteer at the Allentown Soup Kitchen on Saturday July 11 from 8 AM to 2 PM. The SIgn Up will be at the end of this note.

It is hard to believe but the Saturday after this is going to be July 4, Independence Day. At my last Lutheran congregation I had a retired ANG Brigadier General. ANd he was always adamant that one did not say “Happy July 4th!” It should be “Happy Independence Day!” I mean, when you think about it, we don’t say “Merry December 25th!”

We should as good Catholics, and as disciples of Christ, celebrate Independence Day, and give thanks for the 250 years of freedom we have enjoyed. We need to remind ourselves and a number of our Evangelical brethren that the Venn Diagram of the Kingdom of God and the United States are NOT, nor have they ever been, two superimposed circles.

But the Catholic Church and the United States do share an important commonality. They are both creedal entities. One is not born Catholic- one is baptized. We may talk about someone being a red blooded American, but what makes that blood important is not matrilineal or patrilineal DNA markers. What makes someone an American is what she or he thinks, what she or he holds to be true and important. It is the same way in the Catholic Church.

The difference between them (besides the whole One True Church thing) is the fact that America is a place where people from all over the world can come, and if they commit to the creed of the Constitution, can become an American. And the Church is the people who go into every place and share the Creed- and those who confess it- that Jesus is Lord- are, as St. Paul so beautifully put it, members of the Body of Christ.

They are empires of the soul- concerned more with the substance of mind and heart than with the accidens of looks and language. I am not saying that the United States has been simon pure. Far from it. Chattel slavery is our original sin. And we, as the Catholic Church, have felt the sting of hatred and exclusion. Look no further than the Blaine Amendments that are still part of many state’s constitutions.
But for all of that, we have reason to celebrate. So I hope you all have plans to do so. And join us at Mass on July 5 to give thanks for a land where we can gather before the altar of Our Lord, and worship him in peace and safety.

As always, I look forward to celebrating Mass with you all on Sunday. As it is the last Sunday of the month, we will have the laying on of hands and prayers for healing after Mass.

In Christ’s Peace,
Fr. Matthew

Signup:
Allentown Soup Kitchen 11 July

Signup URL: sjp2lv.flocknote.com/signup/263622

https://app.flocknote.com/note/37499908

06/19/2026

Trinity III



Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Sunday is Father’s Day, so we will dispense with the Coffee Hour Obligation. Come to Mass and take part on the great sacrifice of the Son to God the Father, and then goe and spend the day with those whom you love.

I wanted to write to you about Artificial Intelligence and the Holy Father’s first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas . But I think I am going to wait until after its publication date in July, and do it in preparation for a discussion of the text for a Literature & Lemonade in August. But that is not the only thing we have planned for the Summer. So I would suggest that you grab a copy when it is published and stay tuned for further details.

Based on our discussion of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith’s document on the Ordinariates , we were discussing the third characteristic, Direct Outreach to the Poor. And we are taking part in that with our serving at the Allentown Soup Kitchen on Saturday 11 July, from 8:30 AM to 2:00 PM. There will be a Sign-Up at the end of this letter.

And the next day, July 12, we will have a blessing of St. Benedict medals. Hisfeast is Saturday, and since we will all be so busy at the soup kitchen, we will do the blessing after Mass.

There is more I want to share with you, but I received an urgent email from the DIocese of Allentown and I am going to share the germane part of it with you here:

Dear Friends in Christ,

Catholic education in the entire State of Pennsylvania – needs your help, and it needs it now.

A bill before the Pennsylvania State Legislature — House Bill 2632 — would cut back and ultimately eliminate the Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) program. For years, EITC has opened the doors of Catholic schools to children whose families could not otherwise afford the tuition. Families in every county of Pennsylvania have used these scholarships — averaging under $3,000 per student, funded by private donations — to give their children an education in an environment suited to their needs. 4,248 students in our Diocese, representing 49% of all students, received EITC funding during the past school year so their families could afford to send them to Catholic school.

If HB 2632 becomes law, it would slash this critical funding, tie the program up in bureaucratic red tape, and threaten the very existence of many Catholic schools. The children who would be hurt most are those who need the help most.

Please take two minutes to make your voice heard.

Click here to contact your legislators through the PCC Voter Voice Tool .

The tool makes it simple — a message is already prepared for you. Just add your name and it will be sent to your State Representative and State Senator, asking them to oppose HB 2632.

Note: This is very time-sensitive. Please act today, and please share this message with family and friends.

Thank you for standing with the children and families of our Diocese. Please keep this important effort in your prayers.

I know from my time at Roman Catholic High School how important this is.

As always, I look forward to celebrating Mass with you all on Sunday.

In Christ’s Peace,
Fr. Matthew

Signup:
Allentown Soup Kitchen 11 July

Signup URL: sjp2lv.flocknote.com/signup/263622

https://app.flocknote.com/note/37426088

06/16/2026

Coming up



Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

This missive comes a little out of sequence. First and foremost- we are having another planning meeting on Thursday at 6:00 PM before our 7:30 PM Rosary.

If you want to participate, just click on this link . This meeting will be all online this time, since I have a hospice meeting just prior. We will be discussing our activities for the Summer, including a discussion of Pope Leo’s new encyclical Magnifica Humanitas and pilgrimage to the Padre Pio Shrine in Barto this Fall.

We will then have our regular weekly Rosary at 7:30 PM. If you want to take part in that, just click here .

And don’t forget our next Dinner & a Decade on Saturday June 27.

In Christ’s Peace,
Fr. Matthew

https://app.flocknote.com/note/37383727

06/11/2026

The Sacred Heart of Jesus 2026- We are all invited!



Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

We all are invited to this event on Friday. I would also point out that as a Solemnity on a Friday, abstinence from meat is dispensed, so have a cheese steak for dinner, or at least pepperoni on your pizza.

In all seriousness, as our nation approaches its 250th Birthday, it is a meet, right, and proper thing for us as Catholics to join together in prayer for our United States.

So I invite you all to join in. I am also including a prayer card for your use for those who cannot make it.

I hope to see you there!

Pray for our country.

In Christ’s Peace,
Fr. Matthew

https://app.flocknote.com/note/37331130

06/06/2026

Corpus Christi 2026



Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

On Sunday, we will, as a community, join the Church in celebrating the Solemnity of Corpus Christi. No, we are not celebrating Texas Gulf cities . We are taking part in the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ.

I can recall growing up as an outsider looking in at things like the Corpus Christi celebrations and processions and being somewhere between amused and bemused by their extravagance. Some of that was undoubtedly an artifact of growing up Swedish in a German Lutheran congregation.

So I was surprised to find that the European country that probably had the highest per capita devotion to the Feast of Corpus Christi was Pre-Reformation England. And what was amazing about it was the fact that the devotion was in many ways a ‘bottom up” phenomenon driven by the laity. Different guilds in twins and cities would vie for the honor of decorating the altars.

This was one of the things that the “Reformers” had to work at extirpating. One wonders why the vehemence in stamping out this celebration. The official party line would be something along the line of eliminating vain popish activities that get in the way of true faith. They would also probably work in the word “ gallimaufry .”

But I suspect that there was another darker design at work. The Tudor regime, starting with Henry, was part of the beginning of the modern nation state and intelligence apparatus. There could be nothing more important than the King and no one else to whom you can owe allegiance.

The interesting thing about celebrations like Corpus Christi is that they hold two seemingly disparate ideas in a beautiful paradoxical tension. The first is that Jesus is Lord- that He is our King, and no other. There is no one greater. And the second is that Jesus is our friend, our brother, and is with us in homely and quiet moments. People could live their entire lives and not once ever see their reigning monarch in person. But Jesus- Jesus was with them whenever the Mass was celebrated. Jesus was with them resting in the Tabernacle.

At Mass we use Sanctus bells that are rung at key moments of the Mass- moments that indicate when the great miracle of transubstantiation takes place. The thing is, the Sanctus bells were a relatively recent innovation.Originally, one of the regular church bells would be rung so that those who were out and about their business could stop what they were doing and reverence Christ who, through the power of the Holy Spirit, was making himself present to His people. How cool would it be to be able to do that again?

For people who wanted to make the State the center of life, this is highly problematic. So Corpus Christi was repressed.

The good news is that the Truth can only be repressed for so long. So come on out on Sunday and join us for Mass, and for adoration and a procession. And stay for some fun after, and our continued discussion of Characteristics of the Anglican Heritage as Lived in the Ordinariates Established by the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus . It has been fruitful as we continue to look to our future.

In the meanwhile, mark your calendars for June 27 and our next Dinner & a Decade gathering. For those who are wondering what that is, we gather as a community for a potluck dinner at 4:30 PM, and we close with the prayerful recitation of one mystery of the Rosary. The idea is that it allows families with little ones to share fellowship and food, and to help the little ones learn some of the basic prayers of the Faith.

As always, I look forward to celebrating the Mass with you all on Sunday.

In Christ’s Peace,
Fr. Matthew

https://app.flocknote.com/note/37274074

06/04/2026

06/04/2026

See you there!