Immaculate Conception Catholic Church

06/16/2026

Our ICC and Holy Family Youth Group would love to invite you to join us for our Youth Movie Night Fundraiser as we watch the film “David.” This one will be Pajama Night, bring your favorite blanket or stuffed animal and get comfy.

We’ll be hosting movie nights in June, July, and August to support a fun, safe, and faith‑filled year for our ICC & Holy Family Youth Group. Your generosity helps us prepare for the upcoming year, including supplies, day retreats, and fun‑filled youth activities that help our teens grow in faith and community.

If anyone feels called to donate snacks, drinks, or any small contribution ahead of time, we are truly grateful. Thank you for always supporting our teens and helping them grow in faith and community.

“Let all that you do be done in love.” — 1 Cor 16:14

06/16/2026

Friends, today, in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:38–42), the Lord exhorts us to nonresistance to evil. Martin Luther King Jr. was deeply influenced by Mahatma Gandhi’s techniques, and Gandhi learned them, largely, from the Sermon on the Mount.

Both Gandhi and King appreciated that the text dealing with the nonresistance to evil has nothing to do with passivity in the face of injustice, but rather with a new and distinctive type of resistance.

Consider the Lord’s injunction “When someone strikes you on your right cheek, turn the other one to him as well.” I realize that this sounds like mere passivity, fleeing before evil, but the truth is anything but. In Jesus’s time, you would not have used your left hand for any type of social interaction, since it was considered unclean. Therefore, to strike someone on the right cheek is to strike him with the back of your hand, the way a master might treat a slave.

By turning the other cheek, one neither fights back directly nor flees, but rather stands his ground and declares, “You will not treat me that way again.” It thereby effectively mirrors back to the aggressor his aggression. It is the declaration that the aggressed person refuses to cooperate with the world of the aggressor.

06/16/2026

Reading for the Tuesday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

Daily Bible Readings, Podcast Audio and Videos and Prayers brought to you by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

06/15/2026

🌟 Community Appreciation Spotlight 🌟

The Immaculate Conception Church Casino Night Committee would like to extend our sincere gratitude to the Board of Directors and staff of Taft Cotton View Terrace Apartments for their generous support of our community.

Your commitment to serving the residents of Taft goes far beyond providing housing. Whether through special events, community programs, or responding to the needs of your residents, you continually demonstrate a spirit of compassion, generosity, and community involvement that makes a positive difference in the lives of so many.

We are grateful for your contribution and support of our Casino Night fundraiser. Partnerships like yours help strengthen our community and make it possible for organizations such as ours to continue serving others.

Thank you for all that you do for the people of Taft. Your dedication and willingness to give back do not go unnoticed, and we are truly appreciative of your support.

We look forward to seeing you at our Casino Night fundraiser and celebrating together a successful event for our parish and community.

With gratitude,

🎲 Immaculate Conception Church Casino Night Committee and Rev. Peter Thenan

06/15/2026

Reading for the Monday of the Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time

Daily Bible Readings, Podcast Audio and Videos and Prayers brought to you by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

06/14/2026

06/14/2026

As our 2nd Annual BBQ Fundraiser comes to an end, I just want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Thank you to our BBQ Committee for all the hard work, long hours, and dedication that went into making this event a success. Thank you to our Guadalupanas, Knights of Columbus, Catholic Daughters, and Altar Society for your generosity and willingness to serve our parish.
Most of all, thank you to our parishioners. This fundraiser was made possible because of you and for you. Your support, whether through purchasing tickets, volunteering, donating, or simply offering prayers, is what makes our parish family so special.
I am truly blessed to be part of such a faithful and loving community. May God continue to bless our church, and may we all do our part to keep it beautiful and strong for generations to come.
Thank you all.
— Deacon Pete

06/14/2026

June 14, 2026, Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)
Exodus 19:2-6a / Romans 5:6-11 / Mathew 9:36 - 10:8

Then [Jesus] Summoned His twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to drive them out and to cure every disease and every illness.
Mathew 10:1

Please remember to check our parish bulletin regularly, as it includes important updates, upcoming dates and helpful information for our parish community. It's the best way to stay informed about events, ministries, and opportunities to get involved. Thank you for staying engaged and supporting the life of our parish

06/14/2026

Friends, in today’s Gospel (Matthew 9:36—10:8), Jesus summons apostles whom he shapes and sends on mission.

Priests through the centuries—from Augustine and Aquinas, to Francis Xavier and John Henry Newman, to John Paul II—are the descendants of those first friends and apprentices of the Lord. They have been needed in every age, and they are needed today, for the kingdom of heaven must be proclaimed, the poor must be served, God must be worshipped, and the sacraments must be administered.

Spiritual fathers are required especially in our time, when a rising tide of secularism threatens to overwhelm the religious impulse. We are wired for God; we will never satisfy the deepest longing of our hearts apart from God.

The secularist ideology teaches that sufficient amounts of wealth, pleasure, power, or honor will make us happy. Who will counter this? Who will speak to this culture of the beauty of God? Who will remind us that our lives are not about us? Who will break open the words of the Gospel and spread out the banquet table of Christ’s body and blood? This is why we need priests.