May 25, 2020
Click on video above: Weekly Update - May25, 2020
A Memorial Day Reflection
‘Do this in memory of me’ — A Catholic Reflection on Memorial Day
Parishioners pray the rosary near the grave of a Civil War soldier at St. James at Sag Bridge Parish in Lemont, Illinois, following a Mass in celebration of Memorial Day, May 25, 2015. (Karen Callaway/CNS, via Catholic New World)

By Fr. Curtiss Dwyer
Our Memorial Day was originally known as “Decoration Day,” an opportunity to decorate many graves of the over 600,000 men who died in the Civil War. It was, by far, our nation’s costliest war in terms of human life, about 2 percent of the entire population. Today, that would translate into 6.5 million people. Memorial Day honors all who have died in military service to our country since its inception.

But why should we, as a nation and as Catholics, remember something so … grim?

It was September 2006. The rooftop was sweltering. Three U.S. Navy SEALs were in an “overwatch” position on a Ramadi home with two Iraqi soldiers. It had been an eventful morning, but it was quiet at the moment. From below, without warning, someone lobbed a grenade. It bounced off Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael A. Monsoor’s chest, then clattered on the deck. Penned together, all five were easy prey for the grenade’s deadly spray of shrapnel. At point-blank range, it couldn’t miss. READ MORE
Time to Weigh In...
This is the last week for us to hear from you. Please take a moment to complete this survey regarding our web-based services and new services you might be interested in. Thanks!
From the Pastoral Council...
BARBARA IPSARO

My name is Barbara Ipsaro. This is my first year on the Pastoral Council and it is an honor to serve.

I have been a parishioner at St. Ignatius off and on for several decades. I was born in Shreveport, LA as part of a large, extended Catholic family. Our parish was St. John’s Jesuit Church. Both of my brothers graduated from Jesuit high schools and colleges.

When I was 14 years old, my father’s occupation brought us to Baltimore and St. Ignatius became our parish for many years. READ MORE
JOE HILLERY

Hello to all my fellow parishioners at St. Ignatius! My name is Joe Hillery, and I am in my second year as a Pastoral Council member.

I retired in 2018 after a career in software engineering: 9 years in the Army, 3 at a small software firm, and 35 at Northrop Grumman.

My late wife, Carol, and I joined the parish in 1991, not too long after Fr. Watters arrived for his first term as pastor. Over the years we had been involved in various ministries, including RCIA, Eucharistic, Sanctuary, and Loaves and Fishes. READ MORE
From the Justice & Peace Committee
Economic Justice and Voting

As the Justice & Peace Committee of the St. Ignatius Catholic Community, we wanted to provide resources for social justice education and action during social distancing. Although we cannot come together to meet, our communities can take individual action through online education. We can take this time to dive into social justice issues that tug at our hearts and minds, and come out of this quarantine period ready to work together, renewed, for peace and justice. Please visit our individual committee pages, found here , to learn more about the Justice & Peace Committee.

This week, our focus is on Economic Justice & Voting. The articles and podcasts below provide information on the upcoming election, and how COVID-19 is affecting voting.

Parishioner Perspective
Editor's note: This article appeared in The Atlantic magazine last week and is written by our own parishioner, Firmin DeBrabander. Firmin often teaches within our PREP department, and is the one with the lovely wife, Y ara — and kids (several serve as lectors!). Firmin has been a professor of philosophy at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) since 2005. Your can read his bio here.
The Great Irony of America’s Armed Anti-Lockdown Protesters
They say they are demonstrating against tyranny, but they are in fact enjoying an extreme—and dangerous—sort of liberty.

In recent weeks, the nation has been treated to an unsettling sight: angry men with assault rifles protesting various state lockdowns in response to the coronavirus pandemic. These demonstrations reached an ugly peak in Michigan last month—though they may yet worsen as the pandemic persists—when armed protesters rushed into the capitol building, and put on a chilling display of fury and intimidation. They claimed to be exercising their democratic rights of free speech and gun ownership. But there is something profoundly undemocratic about this form of demonstration.

Michigan lawmakers were understandably shaken when the armed throng  surged  into the capitol atrium; some  donned  bulletproof vests. The protesters screamed in the faces of stoic policemen who refused them entry to the Senate gallery. Many demonstrators
sported  fatigues and tactical gear, and also dark face masks—not so much out of public-health concern, mind you, though that was surely a handy excuse to seem even more menacing. READ MORE
Helping Our Daily Bread - Update
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Thanks to so many wonderful parishioners we collected 104 mac and cheese casseroles for Our Daily Bread on Saturday. In the four weeks the program has been operating 266 casseroles have been donated to Our Daily Bread creating over 2100 meals. We can't thank you enough!

The Casserole program will now move to a monthly collection. The next dates are Saturday, June 20th, Saturday, July 18th, and Saturday August 15th all at 9:00 AM in front of St. Ignatius.

Please give some thought to making two casseroles if you have been making one, since we will be collecting once a month. Thank you again for your generosity, we've been overwhelmed with the response and Our Daily Bread is most grateful.
A Father/Daughter Message
For "life to be kind"...
I think we are experiencing a national period of grief. Grieving the loss of family summer rhythms, the gathering of friends singing soulful songs, the loss of graduation celebrations, the feeling of the angst of older grandparents disconnected from their families. These are some of things we are feeling. With grief, we need more grace, more kindness, and more understanding. Here, we p resent to you father and daughter, Mat and Savanna Shaw. They are in "stay-at-home" mode like the rest of us as they create music together. With everything that is going on in the world, sometimes it's best to pause and remember the simple prayer of a father and daughter for “life to be kind."
Director of Media and Communications
Click video above for: "The Prayer"
Worship, Offerings and Prayer
HOW TO GIVE   
How to contribute when we are not gathering together during this season.
POOR BOX 
This weekend's Poor Box support goes to help Vulnerable Families in Crisis
PRAY FOR THE SICK
A list of those who have been added to our
weekly prayer list.
In the Media
The biblical book of Ezekiel describes a vision of the divine that medieval philosophers understood as revealing the connection between religion and science.  By Matthaeus Merian (1593-1650) ,  CC BY-NC
When religion sided with science: Medieval lessons for surviving COVID-19


Faced with a range of serious patient reactions to the  COVID-19 disease , doctors and nurses have sometimes struggled to find viable treatment options. But when we examine faith-based responses to the virus, spiritual guidance has proved even more elusive.

Guidelines for faith leaders from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention  encourage groups to clean surfaces and limit meetings or gatherings. But they do not address the emotional effects that COVID-19 victims, and those of us who   live in fear of contracting it , might experience.

Religious figures such as Pope Francis have composed  prayers for protection from coronavirus . But the idea of prayer as a vital part of any response to COVID-19 might feel inappropriate or even irresponsible to some in a world that often views medicine and religion as polar opposites – one turning to science, the other to God.

As a  social historian  of the medieval Islamic world,  I think and write  about the role of religion in daily life. Looking at how people thought about science and religion in the past can inform the contemporary world’s approach to COVID-19. READ MORE
When Can I See My Grandkids?
The pandemic has separated many grandparents from their grandchildren. Here’s advice for safely reuniting your family’s oldest and youngest generations.

Grandparents have had enough. They want to see their grandchildren.

A life in seemingly endless lockdown and isolation from grandchildren is not how grandparents want to spend their golden years. But adult children don’t want to risk exposing an older, more vulnerable generation to the new coronavirus during a family visit. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that eight out of 10 deaths from Covid-19 are in people aged 65 and older.

But a healthy life is more than just physical health. Loneliness is also a general predictor of decline and death in people over 60. As reality sets in that pandemic living will be measured in months and possibly years, grandparents are asking, “How can I safely visit my grandchildren?” READ MORE