St. Luke’s/White Coat Mass & Brunch a Success
We had close to 70 people attend the White Mass and Brunch, featuring Matt Bowman of Alliance Defending Freedom. Auxiliary Bishop Keith Chylinski was the principal celebrant of Holy Mass, which was accompanied by the magnificent Cathedral Choir.
Check out this article and group photo published in Catholic Philly: White Coat Mass Celebrates Catholic Doctors in Philadelphia – CatholicPhilly
St. John Neumann CMA Guild Commits to Prayer Intentions for the Coming Year
At the request of Bishop Chylinski, former Rector of St. Charles Seminary, our priests, seminarians, and professed religious, our Guild has committed this coming year to praying for priestly and religious vocations for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Our secondary intentions are for the welfare of our Holy Father Pope Leo XIV, for family life, and for renewal and growth within our St. John Neumann Guild. Please join us by making a commitment to pray for the above by committing to a time by clicking the button below.
We will present our prayer commitments for the coming year as a Spiritual Bouquet to Archbishop Nelson Perez during the Christmas season.
End of Year Appeal
What a year! Our membership is growing, student participation has increased, attendance at our events is growing, and our county specific outreach efforts have been fruitful. This year we made it possible for 5 health professional students to attend the CMA Bootcamp, a week-long immersion in Catholic spirituality, bioethical principles, and leadership training. We have a new website and newsletter that are helping us to reach a broader audience, and we’ve added new benefits for our members, including:
- access to the National Catholic Bioethics Center publications and resources
- consultants for questions of ethics and conscience,
- and the rollout of a special “classified ad” page on our website to support members looking for “good help”—for all of these, we are grateful.
Making these investments for our present and future—especially the new website– has caused us to dip into our reserves. We need your help to replenish them. Can we count on our generosity? Please click the button below to help.
Don’t wait for holiday shopping and “Giving Tuesday.” In the spirit of transparency and good stewardship, we’ll present our 2025 financial report to members in the early part of 2026.
Tour of our New Website NeumannGuild.org
Over the next few issues, we’ll review some of the features built into neumannguild.org.
In this issue, we feature the Resources page.
We’re busy and on the go. We sometimes have just a few minutes to listen, focus and pray. We’ve curated a number of popular apps, podcasts and digital subscriptions for you to access via Android or iPhone. Wanted to take the next step in daily prayer? Consider the Hallow app or iBreviary, which has the Readings of the day, along with the Liturgy of the Hours. Listening on the road? Try these podcasts: Restless Catholic Young Adults, Bible in a Year, The Road to Emmaus with Dr. Scott Hahn, or Bishop Barron’s Sunday Sermons. Websites include preferred access to the National Catholic Bioethics Center, the Philly Office for Life and Family, Magisterium—the world’s leading Catholic AI tool, Catholic Answers, a searchable Bible Gateway, and the national CMA website.
Thanksgiving and the Month of the Holy Souls
Thanksgiving is a uniquely American holiday. Despite the challenges of political dissonance, we have much for which to be grateful. From the National Archives: “On September 28, 1789, just before leaving for recess, the first Federal Congress passed a resolution asking that the President of the United States recommend to the nation a day of thanksgiving. A few days later, President George Washington issued a proclamation naming Thursday, November 26, 1789 as a “Day of Publick Thanksgivin” – the first time Thanksgiving was celebrated under the new Constitution.” The entirety of Washington’s proclamation can be found here: https://www.si.edu/spotlight/thanksgiving/proclamation
One our family’s favorite films at this time of year is Coco. It is a tale of a young Mexican boy who wants to be a musician and who finds himself in the Land of the Dead, searching for his idol who is a famous guitarist. While it’s not religious, the themes of family and traditions—and the remembrance of those who have gone before us—can be a good segue to discussing life after death, reparation for sin, and our hope in the Resurrection. During November, let us pray for our deceased, especially those in need of God’s Mercy. Here’s one prayer you can print off and say with your family: https://www.catholic.org/prayers/prayer.php?p=555
