Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish at 10 Austin Place, Staten Island, NY 10304 US - Home
Welcome to Our Parish!
This is the home of Our Lady of Good Counsel on the Internet. Here you will find a wealth of information at your fingertips. Get the latest news and information about the church, school and all the organizations within our community. View our weekly calendar. Take a look at our Mass schedule and Office hours. You can download the bulletin at your leisure. You may contact us with any questions or concerns you may have. You can even register online with the parish.
We hope you enjoy your visit and we encourage you to check back often for updates!
Want to hear some good news?
On Monday, January 30, the New York Times had an article about a controversy concerning contraception on Catholic college campuses. Except for a few recent pleasant articles about the elevation of Archbishop Dolan to cardinal, most recent items in the national media about the Catholic Church have been about some kind of scandal or controversy. It's no wonder that modern society has a negative impression about the Catholic Church. This affects not only non-Catholics, but also has a negative effect on how we think and feel about our own church.
I recently spent a few hours watching the first 3 DVDs from a 10-program series of presentations by Father Robert Barron, a priest from the Archdiocese of Chicago. This series of DVDs, called “Catholicism,” is the perfect antidote to the way that current depictions of the Catholic Church tend to sour our own perceptions of the church that we love so much. The individual programs in this series present the teachings, the wisdom, the people, the richness and the beauty of the Catholic faith in many, many ways. We get to see how the teachings of Christ and the good things that the church has accomplished have had a humanizing effect on civilization, culture and history.
I am very, very impressed with these DVDs.
These programs have very high production value. Father Barron takes us to places like Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Galilee - the places and the roads where Jesus walked. He shows us the magnificent churches that now stand over the where Jesus was born, where he preached the Sermon on the Mount, where he died on the cross, where he rose from the grave. With these places as background, Father Barron presents in an easy-to-understand way, the basic truths of Christianity and of the Bible. He draws heavily on the teachings of St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to open for us to treasure of Catholic wisdom, in a way that is easy for most people to grasp.
I have always been proud to be a Catholic, but while watching these DVDs yesterday I found myself becoming prouder to be a Catholic, when I was able to make connections between things that I had known about Jesus and about the church for many years, and these places that Father Barron was using as background for his words. I found myself getting choked up at seeing the deep faith and genuine joy of my brother and sister Catholics, living and practicing their faith in places like Uganda, India and Fatima.
Seeing Catholics from all over the world in action and in worship is a thrill to me.
Cardinal-designate Dolan strongly recommended this DVD series in one of his recent letters to the priests of the archdiocese. A number of my fellow pastors mentioned to me that they were planning to use this series in their parishes. I recently purchased this series on behalf of the parish, and I want to invite all of you to watch it with me together during Lent.
Starting at 7:30 PM February 27, the 1st Monday of Lent, we will run this series every Monday throughout Lent in the church, and probably for a few weeks after Easter as well. Each session will be comprised of a DVD program of about 45 to 50 min. in length, followed by time for discussion and questions.
I hope that you will avail yourself of this wonderful opportunity to learn more about the beauty and dignity of our beloved Catholic faith.
Peace,
Father Liam