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January 17, 2020The Parish Office will be closed on Monday, February 20, in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Day. Many thanks for your consideration.Read More -
January 14, 2020Read MoreOur fourth annual Trivia Night is on Saturday, January 25, at 7 p.m. Gather friends and neighbors to make your own table of 8, or join others to create a table. This is a fun-filled night of good food and drink (because you bring your own!), laughter, and friendly competition. The cost is $10 per person, and prizes are awarded to the top three teams. Registration must be done in advance and we are limited to 14 tables—so please register early! Registration is now open at https://tinyurl.com/StCatTrivia2020. You can pay at the door.
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January 14, 2020Read MoreIn our ongoing conversation about parish empowerment, we invite our community to read Confident and Competent: A Challenge for the Lay Church by William L. Droel and F. Augustine Pierce. The book is available electronically here. Please call the Parish Office if you would like a hard copy. We will have discussion sessions about the book on January 26 (chapters 1–3) and February 9 (chapters 4–6) at 10:15 a.m. and 12:45 p.m., and will hold an interactive evening with Greg Pierce, one of the authors, on Sunday, March 1, from 5–7:30 p.m. We hope you can join us!
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January 14, 2020Read MoreWe are excited to be hosting the third year of the Discovering Christ program called Sharing Christ. We hope all those who participated in the past will be returning to share the next step of the journey. We will follow a similar schedule—dinner, video presentation, and small group sharing. Sharing Christ will be held on Tuesdays from 6:30–9 p.m. from February 4–March 10, with a daylong retreat on March 21. Sharing Christ is designed for those who participated in the Discovering and Following Christ programs, but if you are interested in joining the group, we are happy to explore that with you. Please contact Ann Marie at ann.marie.eckert@dor.org or 257-2493.
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January 14, 2020The Beyond the Plate fundraising dinner to benefit the Ithaca MobilePack for Feed My Starving Children will be Sunday, February 23, from 5–9 p.m. in Mahler Hall. Once again the dinner will feature local expert chefs—including our own Fr. Joe Marcoux, Sam Epps, Jim Durkee, Serendipity Catering, and Jay Dietershagen—all donating their time and artistry to prepare a course. Triphammer Wine & Spirits will pair wines with each course. Tickets are $100 per person and will go on sale online Monday, January 27—watch this space! Sponsorships are also available for this event. If you would like more information, please contact Patricia Sipple in the Parish Office at 257-2493 or patricia.sipple@dor.org. Many thanks for your support of this event, and of the Ithaca MobilePack for Feed My Starving Children!Read More -
October 3, 2019The annual Catholic Ministries Appeal has begun to help those in need throughout the diocese. The money raised in the appeal allows the diocese to take care of the poor, the troubled, the battered, and the addicted through Catholic Charities. It supports chaplains for colleges, hospitals, and jails; provides Catholic school tuition assistance and youth retreats; trains catechists; and prepares our seminarians for ordination. The CMA also helps to make our parish ministries possible here at St. Catherine’s. Please watch the video for this year's CMA appeal here. Please prayerfully consider making a gift. Our goal for the appeal this year is $56,250. Our parish is responsible for sending the full amount to the diocese, regardless of how much we raise in pledges, so your generosity is vital to supporting both St. Catherine’s and the diocesan mission. Thank you for your generosity.Read More -
September 12, 2019Faced with multiple legal claims under the New York State Child Victims Act that exceed its resources to settle or litigate, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester has filed for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. Bishop Matano has released a letter about this bankruptcy filing, which you can read here. The diocese has also created a web page with resources about the filing, which you can access here. Please keep the victims of clergy abuse and the diocese in your prayers.Read More -
July 2, 2019Beginning Sunday, June 30, we will be livestreaming our 9 a.m. Sunday Mass. We hope this will allow those who are sick or homebound to continue to be a part of our community. To access the livestream, please click the link under the Mass Livestream heading to the right on our homepage. The stream is live only during the Mass.Read More -
April 5, 2019On Friday, April 5, at 7 p.m., the Lenten cantata "Portraits in Grace" will be presented at Immaculate Conception Church, 113 N. Geneva St. The cantata tells the story of Jesus’ suffering and death through song and narrative, with music based on familiar hymn tunes. Singers from Tompkins County Catholic faith communities, including St. Catherine’s, are participating and will be accompanied by chamber orchestra. Our music director, Sherry Scanza, will conduct the performance. The concert is free and open to the public. All are welcome!Read More -
March 11, 2019Read MoreAs many of you might have heard, the Jesuit Northeast Province has made known an allegation of sexual abuse of a minor against Fr. Carsten Martensen, who has served in campus ministry at both Ithaca College and Cornell since 2007 and who has occasionally celebrated Mass here at St. Catherine’s. The allegation dates to the 1970s. Fr. Martensen has stepped down from all current assignments and public ministry pending completion of an investigation by the Province and recommendations by its independent Review Board. The Diocese of Rochester has never received an allegation against Father Martensen during his ministry in the Diocese. You can read the statement from the Jesuit Northeastern Province here. This raises up the issue of abuse within the church once again. Fr. Joe and staff members are available if you feel the need to talk to someone. Please call the office at 607-257-2493. Please keep all victims in your prayers. We also encourage you to pray for Fr. Carsten while the accusation is being investigated and the Campus Ministry staffs at Cornell University and Ithaca College during this time of change and uncertainty.
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February 6, 2019Read MoreFr. Joe was recently interviewed by Eric Clay, M.Div., Ph.D., on the "Made of Clay Program" on local public radio station WRFI. You can listen to the interview here. -
February 6, 2019Read MoreWe pray that the passage of the Child Victims Act brings some measure of healing to all survivors by offering them a path of recourse and reconciliation. The legislation now recognizes that child sexual abuse is an evil not just limited to one institution, but a tragic societal ill that must be addressed in every place where it exists.
Sadly, we in the Church know all too well the devastating toll of abuse on survivors, their families, and the extended community. Every Catholic diocese in New York has taken important steps to support survivors of child sexual abuse, including the implementation of reconciliation and compensation programs. We are proud that these pioneering programs have not only helped well more than a thousand survivors of clergy abuse in New York, but have also become a model for how to help survivors in other states and in other institutions.
Now, we hope that this same type of survivor-centered approach, that puts the emphasis on healing, is available to all survivors, regardless of when the abuse occurred, or who their abuser was—whether it was a priest, a coach, a teacher, a doctor, or, as is all too common, a family member. We have long called for strengthening the Child Victims Act and will continue to advocate for the elimination of the criminal statute of limitations, compensations programs for those who prefer it to litigation, and mandatory safe environment training for anyone who works with children, as we have implemented in the eight dioceses throughout New York State.
We thank the brave survivors who have told their stories of abuse in every sector of society. Their witness has moved us all. We renew our commitment to combatting the monstrous crime of childhood sexual abuse and helping all survivors find recourse and reconciliation as they heal. -
October 29, 2018Read MoreThe 2018 Catholic Ministries Appeal is underway. Please help support Catholic Charities, Catholic schools, campus ministries, and seminarian education by donating to the CMA. Please see this year's CMA video to see how your donation helps others. You can donate online with the Diocese of Rochester here; please make sure to mark St. Catherine's as your parish. Many thanks! -
October 29, 2018We invite you to match your gift to the Catholic Ministries Appeal or give a separate donation to any advocacy organization that works specifically with victims of sexual abuse by priests. Fr. Joe is matching his donation to the CMA with a donation to those who have been directly abused by priests, and he invites us to do the same.Read More -
October 29, 2018Read MoreOur parish has held a number of Listening Sessions and Courageous Conversations about the clergy sex abuse crisis in the Church. Participants included middle- and high-school aged youth, young adults, parents, and adults of all ages. We have prepared a report that puts together the main themes of these sessions, which you can access here. The report is also available in the printed and online bulletin for October 28. -
September 10, 2018Read MoreRecent revelations about the abuse of minors by Catholic clergy in Pennsylvania have once again sickened and angered our community and the Church as a whole. Please see the following links for responses to this crisis from Pope Francis, Bishop Matano, and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. We have also provided links to some of Fr. Joe's homilies that addressed this crisis directly. To see the Diocese of Rochester's Office of Safe Environment site, click here. To see St. Catherine's Creating a Safe Environment page, click here. Victims of abuse should always report to the civil authorities. To report a case of possible sexual abuse and to receive help and guidance from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester, victims are encouraged to contact the victims’ assistance coordinator, Deborah Housel, at (585) 328-3228, ext. 1555; toll-free at 1-800-388-7177, ext. 1555; or email at victimsassistance@dor.org.- November, 2018: Message from Cardinal DiNardo
- Letter of his Holiness Pope Francis to the People of God
- Letter to the Faithful from Bishop Matano
- Statement from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, September 19
- Statement from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
- Bishop Robert Barron Q&A on the Abuse Crisis
- Podcast: Courageous Conversations About Sexual Abuse Scandal in the Catholic Church with Dr. Dobie Moser
- Podcast: Talking To Young People About the Scandals in the Catholic Church
- Fr. Joe's Homily from the Feast of the Assumption (August 15)
- Fr. Joe's Homily from the 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time (August 19)
- Fr. Joe's Homily from the 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time (August 26)
- Fr. Joe's Homily from the 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time (September 2)