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Do you know Someone who: - Has never been baptized, - Has been Baptized but is not a practicing Catholic, - Has been Baptized but has never been confirmed? If you know someone like this please ask them if they would be interested in becoming a full member of our Catholic Church. This year's RCIA Program will be starting in October. Please contact either Scott Murphy at 802 245 4990, or Patty Dailey at 802 345 9555, or the office at SacredHeartSaint (SHSF )at 802 442-3141 or St John the Baptist at 802 447 7504  for more information.

When it comes to vibrant parishes, there is an essential and fundamental element – the laity. “Without the laity, what is a church?” asked Holy Cross Father Robert Wiseman, pastor of Sacred Heart St. Francis de Sales Parish in Bennington. “Priests would stand in an empty church with no one responding,” he said.

Dear Parish Families: In an effort to keep everyone up to date on the Confirmation preparation changes, we want to give you a brief description of what we, as a parish, are planning to do.

Posted on 07/17/2019 20:00 PM (Word On Fire Blog Feed) Moses, hearing the voice of the LORD from the burning bush, said to him, “When I go to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ if they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what am I to tell them?” God replied, “I am who am.” Then he added...

Posted on 07/16/2019 20:00 PM (Word On Fire Blog Feed) We all face the temptation to do “big things” in our lives--to accomplish important, lasting feats that leave a legacy. But maybe, as Dr. Tom Neal counsels, we should not look for God to do “big things” as much as allow him to make us magnanimous, “big souled”, in a life of stable commitments that make the ordinary radical.

Posted on 07/15/2019 20:00 PM (Word On Fire Blog Feed) The soul’s at fault, which ne’er escapes itself. —Horace One of the great scourges of our time is preoccupation. Every day, precious time is lost in ruminating about the past or worrying about the future. Our phones buzz with new calls, impatient texts, and pressing alerts about various and sundry facts like how far we’ve walked, the score of the game, and the timing of our next doctor’s appointment. Our schedules are designed to make us masters of efficiency. We pride ourselves on multitasking as we divide our attention between everything while truly attending to nothing. In making everything a priority we have, in effect, made nothing a priority. Eternal moments with God, our family and our friends—the very stuff of eulogy—are lost to meaningless and forgettable distraction. In his masterwork Pensées, Blaise Pascal observed, “All the problems of men arises from one single fact,…

Posted on 07/11/2019 20:00 PM (Word On Fire Blog Feed) God gave me parents more suited for heaven than this earth. —St. Thérèse of Lisieux I have been ministering to youth and young adults for more than a decade, and there seems to be overwhelming hopelessness. There are many reasons for this, but one of the most poignant comes shortly after asking them, “When is the first time you witnessed authentic love?” For many of them, it takes some time to respond to this, especially young adults. I’ve met people in their twenties who can very much attest to only recently seeing love lived well, embodied even. It’s one of the greatest compliments when some have said the first time they witnessed it was in my home, with my husband or with our children. It’s humiliating (in a good way) but also saddening to know that sources of authentic love—primarily…

Posted on 07/11/2019 16:15 PM (Busted Halo Show w/Fr. Dave Dwyer) In today’s podcast from the Busted Halo Show, Brett asks for some fatherly advice from Father Dave about an unwanted houseguest. Father Dave, Brett, and Christina talk about the boundaries of good deeds and learning when to say no.

Posted on 07/10/2019 20:00 PM (Word On Fire Blog Feed) Having made my first promises in 2002 (after three years of dallying), I will this upcoming September celebrate seventeen years as a fully professed Benedictine Oblate. I’m sure my Holy Father Saint Benedict is rolling his eyes, rather unimpressed. After all these years, I can’t say I’m an impressive Benedictine, and I am sure he asks from heaven, “Have you gotten that Rule down yet?” Erm, well, no, Father. Not yet. Especially not that part about receiving all guests as Christ. “Let all guests who arrive be received like Christ, for He is going to say, ‘I came as a guest, and you received Me’” (Rule of St. Benedict, chapter 53). I became a Benedictine, rather than a Secular Franciscan, because my instincts have always been to the quiet side of life. I have always preferred prayerful contemplation and reading to almost anything else, and my instinct has always run…

Posted on 07/10/2019 16:45 PM (Busted Halo Show w/Fr. Dave Dwyer) Father Dave sits down with husband-wife duo Chris and Emily Norton, the authors of “The Seven Longest Yards: Our Love Story of Pushing the Limits while Leaning on Each Other.”

Posted on 07/9/2019 20:00 PM (Word On Fire Blog Feed) About five years ago I saw a mockingbird make a straight vertical descent from the roof gutter of a four-story building. It was an act as careless and spontaneous as the curl of a stem or the kindling of a star. —Annie Dillard I have to say that, for me, one of the bitterest curses of the smartphone is its power to distract from the beauty, surprises, and annoyances of the real world. As we look down at our glowing screens, mediating a self-selected (or ad-driven) reality, we will miss the unruly, unpredictable epiphanies of earth, sea, sky, or faces around us. And as we are repeatedly immersed in streaming Xfinity megabits per second, our minds dull, become impatient to the unhurried and un-swiped pace of life. I try hard not to hate on smartphones. They offer immense advantages, obviously,…