Today the Church celebrates the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, our Lady's greatest title. This feast is the octave of Christmas. In the modern Roman Calendar only Christmas and Easter enjoy the privilege of an octave. According to the 1962 Missal of Bl. John XXIII the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, today is the Solemnity of Circumcision of Our Lord.

"Mary, the all-holy ever-virgin Mother of God, is the masterwork of the mission of the Son and the Spirit in the fullness of time. For the first time in the plan of salvation and because his Spirit had prepared her, the Father found the dwelling place where his Son and his Spirit could dwell among men. In this sense the Church's Tradition has often read the most beautiful texts on wis-dom in relation to Mary. Mary is acclaimed and represented in the liturgy as the "Seat of Wis-dom." — Catechism of the Catholic Church 721

The Eighth Day of Christmas

Mary the Mother of God On New Year's Day, the octave day of Christmas, the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Holy Mother of God. The divine and virginal motherhood of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a singu-lar salvific event: for Our Lady it was the foretaste and cause of her extraordinary glory; for us it is a source of grace and salvation because "through her we have received the Author of life" (127).

In the West, 1 January is an inaugural day marking the beginning of the civil year. The faithful are also involved in the celebrations for the beginning of the new year and exchange "new year" greetings. However, they should try to lend a Christian understanding to this custom making of these greetings an expression of popular piety. The faithful, naturally, realize that the "new year" is placed under the patronage of the Lord, and in exchanging new year greetings they implicitly and explicitly place the New Year under the Lord's dominion, since to him belongs all time (cf. Ap 1, 8; 22,13)(128).

New Year greetings also include an expression of hope for a peaceful New Year. This has pro-found biblical, Christological and incarnational origins. The "quality of peace" has always been invoked throughout history by all men, and especially during violent and destructive times of war.

The Holy See shares the profound aspirations of man for peace. Since 1967, 1 January has been designated "world day for peace."

Faith Formation at our Parish is mutli-faceted.  It includes Baptism preparation, Liturgy of the Word with Children, Vacation Bible School, Family-based sacramental preparations, Saturdya sessions for publich school (Gr. 1-2), faith Nights for all children in Grades 3-4, Junior youth Ministry (With St. Agnes and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton) for Grades 5-8, Senior Youth Ministry (With St. Agnes and St. Elizabeth Anne Seton) for Grades 9-12, and parish-sponsored Family Activities.

As most of you know, the IC150 Leadership Team at Immaculate Conception has been busy planning for our parish’s 150th anniversary in June of 2012. But your help is needed now as we assemble the history of our church in photos. Currently, we are specifically looking for photos from 1873 to 1927 (Fr. Michael Murphy to Fr. Edward Murphy), so please look through your attics, your photos albums that may have been passed down through your family, or any other photo resource you may have available to help build our collection.

But remember, though we’re currently targeting this 54-year period of our parish, we are still welcoming all photos of our church, parish activities, etc. for this important recognition. Please label each photo with your name, year the photo was taken (approximate, if you’re not sure) and a phone number where you can be reached for any questions. For Immaculate Conception parishioners, large envelopes are available in the narthex area of the church that you can use to submit your photos. All photos will be scanned and returned. Questions may be directed to John Javor (724-863-7071) or Rose Straley (724-864-4281). Your help is appreciated.