Category: Archived

PREP/CCD Children’s Ministry – Registration Now Open!

Posted on by Jenna Violi

PREP/CCD: Helping Our Kids Grow Towards God

Our PREP/CCD program is enthusiastic about helping kids live as Disciples of Jesus Christ in the communion of His Catholic Church.  We prepare children for their sacraments, coach them as they learn to pray, and equip them with the skills to use and love the Bible and Catholic Catechism.  All MDP K-8th graders are most welcome!

To register your child, please fill out the Registration Form here and mail, email, or drop off to the parish, Attn: Religious Education.  Our DRE Lauren Joyce will be in touch to set up a meet and greet and answer any questions you may have!

For more information, contact Lauren Joyce at 610-337-2173 or LJoyce@MDPparish.com.

“I know My sheep!”

Posted on by Father Cioppi

This Easter season has been filled with miracles, revelations and works; all to demonstrate the saving power of God.

We see these works through the poorer and in ordinariness of simple living. The sacramental life of the suffering members of our parish show us what it means to be created in the image and likeness of a God Who was born lowly and suffered dishonorably.

By becoming one of us, the Son of God reaches into our bodies and raises them up so that we can become vehicles for human redemption. Jesus, the Good Shepherd understands our struggles, our feelings of alienation and fear, our arrogance and ignorance and still gathers us up like lost sheep and rests us on His shoulders. He carries us to communion with the Father and the Holy Spirit.

Continue reading ““I know My sheep!”” →

The Eucharist is a mystery of Faith!

Posted on by Father Cioppi

In his encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia, John Paul writes: “The Eucharist is a mystery of faith” that rises above our human understanding so much so that the only way we can respond is to surrender: to abandon ourselves to do the Will of God in our lives.

The fact that we believe that Jesus exists in the form of Bread and Wine is awesome and acknowledges for the world that God and Man do meet and do encounter one another every day right here on our Altar.

Continue reading “The Eucharist is a mystery of Faith!” →

Vacation Bible School registration now open!

Posted on by Jenna Violi

Calling all kids for a week of fun & faith!

2017 VBS Registration Form
(Send to the MDP Parish Office, Attn: VBS)

Kids entering K – 5th grade are invited to join us on June 26-30, 9am – Noon, for Vacation Bible School!  We will explore how we are “CREATED BY GOD – BUILT FOR A PURPOSE” and enjoy time for music, sports, crafts, and prayer!

Students entering 6th – 12th are invited to be “camp counselors.”  Adults 18+ needed to chaperone.  Contact Lauren Joyce with questions: 610-337-2173 or LJoyce@MDPparish.com.

Catholics are fundamentally a sacramental People

Posted on by Father Cioppi

The readings today lead us to a God Who always desires for us to remain in communion with Him and if we sin, that we seek in sacramental ways the mercy and reconciliation necessary to achieve reunion with Him.

We are, a sacramental People and as Catholics we depend on these seven ‘outward signs’ as the conduit of God’s grace. If we deny the sacraments we deny our hope for eternal life.

The Gospel today gives us Thomas, the doubter, who represents us in our frailty and sin. He who could not see with his own eyes the truths proclaimed to him, refuses in his own human stubbornness to believe that Jesus had been raised

Continue reading “Catholics are fundamentally a sacramental People” →

“He is not here. He has been raised!”

Posted on by Father Cioppi

“He is not here. He has been raised!”  With those words our lives have been changed forever. “It is now no longer I who live…Christ lives in me.”

This message burst forth from the mouths of the Twelve lighting up a darkened world, saddened by sin and spiritual sloth.

The same message reverberates through a new generation of believers, igniting the Church with a spark that reaches the darkest corners and nourishes its most impoverished dwellings. He is risen!  Alleluia!

Continue reading ““He is not here. He has been raised!”” →

THE ULTIMATE REALITY

Posted on by Jenna Violi

Deacon Greg Maskarinec’s Homily

PALM SUNDAY

We are obsessed with reality TV…shows like Keeping Up with the Kardashians, Dancing with the Stars, Survivor, and the like.  There’s another series known as “Undercover Boss”. It features a company’s founder or senior executive who temporarily gives up his or her power and authority to become an entry-level employee at the bottom rung of the ladder.  The “boss” goes “undercover” to investigate what’s really going on in their company so that they can improve the business and reward hard-working employees. They are not tyrants…they’re sincerely interested in the welfare of their business and their workers.   They’re on the road away from home and spend time agonizing about how to solve the problems of the companies.   At some point the undercover boss returns to the workforce and reveals their identity.  The exceptional workers are rewarded for their efforts and are given the financial means to help make their dreams come true.

On this Palm Sunday, the beginning of the week we call “Holy”, the readings speak to us of a somewhat similar figure, but one who offers us infinitely more than any reality TV show or personality. Continue reading “THE ULTIMATE REALITY” →

This Week @ MDP: Living Stations of the Cross

Posted on by Jenna Violi

Our CCD/PREP students presented the “Living Stations of the Cross,” a beautiful and traditional Lenten Prayer, last week in Church.  The MTC Catholic School students will do the same on 4/7 at 7pm.  All are welcome for this solemn reflection on the saving death of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Here at MDP, we seek God in prayer.

“We adore you, O Christ, and we praise You, because by Your Holy Cross You have redeemed the world.”

The man was blind but now he sees!

Posted on by Father Cioppi

“There was a time when you were in darkness, but now you are in the light of the Lord…”

Everything we do during lent aims at awakening our consciences, arousing them to make good judgments and understand that the Light offered us dispels the darkness of the world and those secrets we hide from even ourselves.

A person who has a hardened heart and a formless conscience becomes a spiritually blind man who cannot see or hear the call to repentance or exercise the freedom that results from a life with Jesus.

We will never be able to live a full life, a meaningful life, a life of satisfaction unless we live the life of Jesus. Nor can we avoid the consequences of our actions no matter how big or small they might be; we cannot pretend them away.

Continue reading “The man was blind but now he sees!” →