St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church

04/04/2026

04/04/2026

“Unless there is a Good Friday in your life, there can be no Easter Sunday.” – Fulton Sheen

Your suffering isn’t wasted. Your cross has a purpose.
Before the resurrection comes the sacrifice… before the victory comes the surrender.

This Good Friday, don’t run from the cross—embrace it. Because what feels like an ending might be the very place God begins something new.

✝️

04/04/2026

04/04/2026

AN EASTER LIKE NO OTHER

Easter Vigil 2026 will see:

• 🇫🇷 France

Over 20,000 people catechumens will join the Church at the Easter Vigil — a record-breaking surge, with 8,152 French teenagers becoming Catholic.

20% increase in numbers becoming Catholic on last year; 42% aged 18–25; 82% aged 40 or under.

400% increase in past decade

• 🇪🇸 Spain

Number of adults becoming Catholic this Easter increased by 164% compared to last Easter.

• 🇺🇸 United States

Diocese of Lansing, Michigan: 940 people becoming Catholic over Easter — highest number in two decades.

Archdiocese of St. Louis: 1,000 people joining the Church this Easter — record numbers of adults.

Washington, D.C.: 1,500 new Catholics this Easter — record numbers.

Archdiocese of Miami: 1,000 adults entering the Church — 25% increase on last year; record numbers.

Archdiocese of Boston: Record number of adults; 51% increase from last year.

Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston: Highest number of new Catholics at Easter in 15 years.

Archdiocese of Albany, New York: 122 adults received; 300% increase since 2021.

Mobile, Alabama: Over 600 people becoming Catholic this Easter — 35% increase on last year.

New York Times reports a “surge”/“explosion” of new converts with record numbers across the USA, citing online influences (e.g., Fr. Mike Schmitz, Dr. Taylor Marshall)

• England ✝️

Nottingham: Highest number of new Catholics this Easter in 40 years.

Archdiocese of Liverpool: Record numbers of adults for baptism and full communion.

Westminster : Largest Rite of Election in 15 years.

• 🇧🇪 Belgium

Record numbers of adult baptisms this Easter: 30% increase from last year and 300% over the past decade.

• 📱 Tens of thousands of young people across the Western world posting on social media about their impending conversions to Catholicism.

• 🇻🇦 🌎 Overall Catholic Church membership passed 1.422 billion for the first time (per 2026 Pontifical Yearbook)

04/04/2026

As the 7th day of Holy Week, Christ brings the OT Sabbath to its fulfillment on Holy Saturday — in the mystery of His eternal rest (Hebrews 4:9-10). And as Easter Sunday is the 1st day of a new week, Christ’s resurrection signifies a New Creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). Likewise, as Easter Sunday is also the 8th day, Christ’s resurrection mysteriously fulfills the OT rite of circumcision, which was done on the 8th day (Genesis 17:12). Paul teaches in Colossians 2:11-12 that baptized believers undergo a spiritual "circumcision made without hands,” in union with the risen body of Christ (i.e., the cutting off of the sinful and mortal flesh). This inward circumcision represents the removal of sin through Christ's death and resurrection, thereby fulfilling the OT rite by the interior transformation of the Holy Spirit in our baptismal rebirth.

For further study of this biblical typology and patristic outlook, see Cardinal Jean Danielou, “The Bible and the Liturgy” (Notre Dame, 1956), amzn.to/4vbP45c
Part III, chs. 14-18:

Part III — Liturgical Time
The Mystery of the Sabbath
The Lord's Day
The Eighth DayEaster
The Ascension
Pentecost (also a Sunday, 50 days after Passover)

04/04/2026

04/04/2026

7 million new Catholics in Africa in only ONE YEAR!

04/04/2026

Today is Holy Saturday, the day Jesus Christ descended into Hell.

Modern Christians treat Holy Saturday like a quiet day off before Easter. They think Jesus was just sleeping in the dark.

But in Catholic tradition we call today the Harrowing of Hell.

While His physical body lay cold on the stone slab, Christ’s Spirit descended directly into the underworld.

He went as a Conqueror. He shattered the bronze gates of Limbo, bound the enemy, and personally rescued the souls of the righteous Patriarchs: Adam, Abraham, Moses, David, and all the righteous dead who had been waiting for millennia.

Today is a day of great Victory. Now we wait for the return of the King.
ANON

04/04/2026

NEW YORK 🇺🇸 ✝️

Huge crowds processed across the Brooklyn Bridge yesterday, led by Archbishop of New York Ronald Hicks