News - September 2025 RSS Feed

Today the Archdiocese of Washington is joining the universal church and celebrating the 111th World Day of Migrants and Refugees.  There will be a procession with reflection beginning at 2:30 p.m.  at the Shrine of the Sacred Heart (located at 3211 Sacred Heart Way, NW, Washington DC). Those participating in the procession will walk in prayer from the Shrine of the Sacred Heart to the Cathedral of Saint Matthew the Apostle (1725 Rhode Island Avenue, NW) where there will be Mass at 5:30 p.m.

September the 21st is normally the feast of Saint Matthew the Apostle. In honor of his feast day, I want to talk about the history of our Cathedral Parish of Saint Matthew the Apostle which is the mother Church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington. I have taken much of the material here from the cathedral website.

A parishioner asked me after Mass recently what was a Doctor of the Church. He had heard on the news that Saint John Henry Newman would soon be named a Doctor of the Church and wanted to know what that meant.

Last week I devoted my column to St. Alypius, a close friend and associate of St. Augustine. This week I am devoting this column to another one of Augustine’s close friends, St. Possidius, the first biographer of Augustine’s. Possidius became a member of Augustine’s first monastic community in Hippo (modern day Annaba, Algeria). Both Saints Alypius and Possidius are remembered on May 16 on the Augustinian liturgical calendar.