Our Day of Spiritual Renewal was an unparalleled success.
Father John W. O’Malley of Georgetown University preached at St. Paul on Sunday, January 24th to perhaps the largest Sunday Mass ever celebrated at our parish.
Main Celebrant and Speaker, Father John W. O’Malley, S.J.
At the first annual St Paul the Apostle Lecture, given in honor of our founding pastor, Father Robert Scott, C.S.P.; more than five hundred and fifty friends heard Father O’Malley speak. He concluded his address with these powerful words:
“The Second Vatican Council was about much more than a handful of superficial adjustments of the Catholic Church to the modern world, as expressed in the woefully inadequate slogan, “to modernize the Catholic Church.” It was about much more than changes in liturgical forms, even though changes had profound implications. It was certainly about much more than power-plays among high churchmen. It had a message (in fact, many messages). The message was traditional, while at the same time radical. Prophetic while at the same time gentle. The message speaks, I believe, to our world today… a world wracked with discord, retaliations, hatred-spurting blogs, bombs, terrorist attacks, fear-mongering, threats of nuclear proliferation which threatens the destruction of all life. The message is profoundly counter-cultural while at the same time responding to the deepest yearnings of the human heart. Peace on earth. Good will to men.”