The month of June is filled with some of the most beautiful feasts of the liturgical year, and in a particular way they touch deeply upon the spirit and life of the Oratory. On Monday, June 1, we celebrate the transferred solemnity of the Feast of St. Philip Neri, the founder of the Congregation of the Oratory, with a Solemn Mass at 6:30 p.m. St. Philip is a joyful reminder that holiness is not cold, harsh, or distant. He drew souls to Christ not through severity, but through genuine charity, humor, patience, prayer, and personal holiness. In an age that was anxious, distracted, and fractured, St. Philip built a community rooted in prayer, friendship, reverence, and the love of God. We would do well to ask his intercession for our own age, which often suffers from many of the same spiritual illnesses.

On Thursday, June 4, we celebrate the great Feast of Corpus Christi with a Solemn Mass and Eucharistic Procession at 6:30 p.m. In the Blessed Sacrament, Our Lord remains truly present among us — Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. The procession is not simply ceremonial. It is a public act of faith, a witness that Christ is not hidden away from the world, but reigns over it. I strongly encourage everyone to attend and to make this feast a priority.

Later in the month, we will celebrate the Feast of the Sacred Heart on June 12 at Sacred Heart Church with a Solemn Mass at 6:30 p.m. followed by a social and fireworks, as well as the Feast of St. John the Baptist on June 24 with a Solemn Mass at 6:30 p.m. followed again by a social and fireworks. These feasts remind us that Catholic life is meant to be lived together. The Church gathers not only to pray together, but also to rejoice together.

This month, I also want to announce an important practical change regarding communication. Going forward, my public email communication will increasingly move through the parish office and our secretary rather than directly through me personally. My current email addresses will be phased out or transferred to the staff. The office will help manage scheduling, messages, meetings, requests, and communication, and will coordinate with me on responses and pastoral needs. There are several reasons for this change. Quite simply, the volume of emails has become overwhelming and, if unchecked, could easily consume hours of the day, which isn’t the best use of my time. Between parish responsibilities, Oratory life, and personal obligations, scheduling has also become increasingly complicated with the various means people wish to communicate. In addition, inappropriate emails have increasingly become an issue.

If you need to schedule a meeting, a sacrament, a house blessing, or another pastoral matter, please contact the parish office directly. If there is a genuine emergency requiring a priest, the correct way to reach us is always through the parish phone number — either during office hours or through the emergency prompt after hours. Emergencies should never be communicated via email or social media, as messages there can easily be missed.

I would also ask everyone to treat our office staff with patience, kindness, and respect. This is an issue that is brought to my attention from time to time. They are there to help both you and me, and they carry a great deal of responsibility behind the scenes.

More broadly, I believe this change is healthy not only for me, but perhaps for many of us. Modern technology is useful and often necessary, but there is also something deeply inhuman about living every moment attached to a screen and expecting constant, immediate communication. Technology can become addictive. It can weaken patience, charity, and genuine human interaction. It is easy to say terrible things from behind a screen or to take things without proper context. Studies have shown that even the most gentle individuals can surprisingly come across as quite harsh when they’re behind a screen. This is not good. Human beings were not made for perpetual digital noise and instant gratification. We were not made to constantly communicate with strangers across the country and the world about matters not related to our state in life. We were not made to move from crisis to crisis and live in a state of heightened anxiety that steals our inner peace and joy.

Perhaps one small spiritual exercise this summer is to honestly examine our own relationship with technology and to ask whether it is helping us grow in virtue — or quietly distracting us from God, from prayer, and from one another. Resist the urge to respond immediately to things or to read the latest gossip. Get outside, have a real conversation with another human being, and enjoy the creation that God gave to us. This will be helpful to both our temporal and spiritual lives.

May St. Philip Neri teach us joy, charity, and simplicity of heart, and may Our Lady always lead us closer to her Son in the Most Blessed Sacrament.

The post Father’s Column – June 2026 appeared first on Oratory.

In this spirit, we will celebrate our May Crowning on May 10, following the 9:00 a.m. Mass at Old St. Mary’s, as well as after both Masses at Sacred Heart. This beautiful tradition reminds us that Mary is truly our Queen—not by earthly power, but by her humility and perfect obedience to the will of God. When we crown her image, we are also called to “crown” her in our own lives, placing her in a position of honor within our homes and hearts. I encourage all of our parishioners to be present for this fitting tribute and to renew their personal devotion to Our Lady during this month.

May is also a time of great joy for our parish as we congratulate our First Communicants. These young members of our community received Our Lord in the Most Holy Eucharist for the first time. This is not simply a milestone, but the beginning of a deeper lifelong relationship with Christ. Their innocence and faith should be a powerful reminder to all of us of the reverence, gratitude, and love with which we ought to approach the altar. Let us pray for them, that they may remain faithful and grow in holiness, and let their example call us to examine our own dispositions when we receive Holy Communion.

Finally, we look ahead to the great Feast of the Ascension on May 14. Forty days after the Resurrection, Our Lord ascends into Heaven, not to abandon us, but to prepare a place for us. He draws our hearts upward, reminding us that our true home is not here below. A Sung Mass will be offered at Old St. Mary’s at 6:30 p.m. on this holy day, and I encourage all to make every effort to attend and to honor this profound mystery of our faith.

May Our Lady, Queen of Heaven, lead us ever more closely to her Son.

The post Father’s Column – May 2026 appeared first on Oratory.

With great joy I offer you Easter greetings on behalf of the Oratory Fathers, Brothers, and Parish Staff. After the labors of Lent, the Church now bursts forth in the light of the Resurrection. What we have prayed, fasted, and sacrificed for these past forty days now gives way to the triumph of Christ, who has conquered sin and death and opened for us the way to eternal life.

I wish to express my gratitude to all who made this Lenten season so fruitful in our parish family. In a particular way, thank you to the many volunteers who worked so generously to make the Old St. Mary’s Fish Fry and the Sacred Heart Ravioli Sale such a success. These events require countless hours of preparation, coordination, and service, and they are a beautiful expression of our shared life together.

I am also deeply grateful to all who gave of their time and energy to prepare for the sacred liturgies of Holy Week and Easter. From the sacristans and servers, to the musicians, decorators, and those who assisted in so many hidden ways—your devotion and care helped to ensure that the mysteries of our salvation were celebrated with the reverence and beauty they deserve.

Easter is not simply a single day, but a season—a time for us to live more deeply the new life that Christ has won for us. The Resurrection is not only something we commemorate; it is a reality into which we are called to enter. Each of us is invited to rise with Christ, to leave behind whatever still binds us to sin, discouragement, or tepidity, and to walk in the freedom of the children of God.

The world around us often speaks of darkness, uncertainty, and fear. But the Christian knows something more. We know that the tomb is empty. We know that death does not have the final word. And so we are called to be witnesses—quietly but confidently—of the hope that comes from the Risen Lord.

Let us then live this Easter season well: faithful in prayer, renewed in charity, and steadfast in hope.

And as always, we turn to Our Lady, who stood faithfully at the foot of the Cross and now rejoices in her Son’s victory, that she may help us to share ever more fully in the joy of the Resurrection.

The post Father’s Column – April 2026 appeared first on Oratory.

The Oratory’s latest newsletter has been posted to our Newsletter webpage. Please be sure to check it out!

If you wish to make a donation, you can do so here: https://www.paypal.com/us/fundraiser/charity/1647242

or on Venmo

The post Lent/Easter 2026 Newsletter! appeared first on Oratory.

Today we celebrate the Feast of Saint Joseph, spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Protector of the Universal Church. On this same day, we also mark the ninth anniversary of the canonical establishment of the Cincinnati Oratory.

With gratitude, we give thanks to God for all those who have helped us along this path—from the beginning until now. We remember in our prayers those who have gone before us, and we entrust to His providence all those whom He will yet send.

Please continue to pray for us, and especially for vocations, through the powerful intercession of St. Joseph.

The post Happy Feast of St. Joseph appeared first on Oratory.

Lent places before us a demanding but liberating call: fasting and abstinence. In a world trained to indulge every appetite immediately, the Church teaches us to say “no” — not because food or comfort is evil, but because our souls must govern our bodies, not the other way around.

Fasting is not about minimalism for its own sake. It is training. When we willingly embrace hunger, we discover how often we eat not from need but from restlessness. When we abstain from meat, from unnecessary luxuries, from constant stimulation, we strengthen the will. Discipline grows. Clarity grows. Freedom grows.

This is how virtue is built — through repeated, concrete acts. You cannot become patient without resisting impatience. You cannot become chaste without governing desire. You cannot become holy without self-denial. Fasting is necessary for virtue. Done faithfully, it strengthens the interior life.

But Lent is not merely private struggle; it is also communal renewal.

On March 3 at 6:30 p.m., we will gather for our Musical Oratory of Lent at Old St. Mary’s— an evening that draws the heart upward through sacred music and meditation. It is a fitting reminder that discipline is not dour; it makes space for beauty.

On March 19, we celebrate the ninth anniversary of the establishment of the Cincinnati Oratory on the Feast of St. Joseph. St. Joseph is the model of disciplined silence, steady work, and faithful obedience. His hidden strength built the Holy Family. May his example strengthen our own resolve this Lent. We will have a Solemn Mass at 6:30 p.m. at Old St. Mary’s. 

Finally, on March 25, we celebrate the titular feast of Old St. Mary’s, the Annunciation of the Lord. Solemn Vespers will be held on Monday, March 24 at 6:00pm, and Solemn Mass on Tuesday, March 25 at 6:30pm, followed by a social. The Annunciation reveals the highest fruit of discipline: Our Lady’s fiat. Her “yes” was possible because her heart was already ordered to God.

This Lent, let us fast with purpose. Let us abstain with intention. Let us grow in discipline so that, when God asks something difficult of us, our answer — like St. Joseph and Our Lady — will be ready and firm: Fiat.

The post Father’s Column – March 2026 appeared first on Oratory.

The main doors of the church will mostly be locked during this time, but you can access the Church via the side door. If the door is locked, please knock. If you hear a knock, please check the peephole and let in the next adorer. If you park in our lots between 5:00 pm and 6:00 am, please ensure you have a parking pass on your dashboard. The office will make sure we have extras by the side door of the church in the bulletin area.

The post Forty Hours appeared first on Oratory.

The post Boiler Update appeared first on Oratory.

The Holy Family reminds us that holiness is most often formed not in extraordinary moments, but in daily faithfulness: in patience, sacrifice, and perseverance when little is seen or celebrated. In an age that prizes immediacy and visibility, the hidden life of Nazareth teaches us the enduring power of constancy and trust in God’s providence.

This month is an especially fitting time to entrust our families to the care of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. Many families today carry unseen burdens, yet the Holy Family assures us that no quiet offering is ever wasted. In a particular way, we also entrust the Oratory itself to the Holy Family. As St. John Henry Newman once described it, the Oratory is a domestic circle—a family bound together by prayer, charity, and fidelity to Christ.

On Monday, February 2, we celebrate the Feast of the Purification, also known as the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord. On this day, Our Lady humbly submits to the Law, and Christ is presented in the Temple, where Simeon proclaims Him to be a light for the nations. God’s promises are revealed not with spectacle, but through obedience and trust. It is on this feast that candles are traditionally blessed, reminding us that Christ remains the Light who endures through the darkness.

If you wish to have candles blessed, please arrive at the evening Sung Mass (6:30 p.m.) at least fifteen minutes early and ask a server to place them near the altar. Candles should be boxed and clearly labeled, and may be collected following Mass.

Later this month, on Wednesday, February 18, we enter the sacred season of Lent with Ash Wednesday. On this day the Church calls us to repentance and renewal through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Ash Wednesday is a day of fast and abstinence. Fasting binds those aged 18 to 59, and abstinence from meat binds those aged 14 and older. Those who are ill or have serious health concerns are dispensed from these obligations. Ash Wednesday Mass times are as follows: at Old St. Mary’s — 7:15 a.m. (Low Latin), 12:10 p.m. (English), and 6:30 p.m. (Sung Latin). At Sacred Heart — 9:00 a.m. (Low Latin).

Be assured of my prayers for you and your families. May the Holy Family watch over our homes and lead us into a holy and fruitful Lent.

The post Father’s Column – February 2026 appeared first on Oratory.

On Thursday, the boiler at Sacred Heart went down. This has only affected the church. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like a fix will be quick. Mass will continue as usual tomorrow, but note that the temperature in the church is between 40 and 45 degrees, depending on the time of day. Masses tomorrow will be un-sung and efficient. We will assess the situation again on Monday and try to get a better timeline for a fix and our options. Masses beginning on Friday, February 6 will most likely be relocated to the parish hall until the boiler is fixed. Watch here for more updates.

The post Sacred Heart Boiler appeared first on Oratory.