Unconsecrated Hosts, by Emma Bidelspach

Communion hosts are the small, circle shaped pieces of bread that are transformed into the Body of Christ during the Mass.

Once the communion hosts (also called communion wafers) become Christ’s Body in the Sacrament of the Eucharist, they are consecrated hosts. The unconsecrated communion wafer consists of only wheat and water, and in the Roman Rite is unleavened, which means it contains no yeast. The Vatican officially stated that the host must include some amount of gluten, which is in wheat, in order to be used in the Sacrament of the Eucharist.

Unconsecrated communion hosts are primarily made by monasteries of religious women. Our parish, along with most parishes in the United States, gets communion hosts from Cavanagh Company in Greenville, Rhode Island.

The communion host is made of bread because Jesus and his disciples ate bread during the Last Supper as Jesus said, “take this bread and eat of it for this is my body given up for you,” making the bread his body. The communion host is an important part of the Mass.

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, by Evelyn Wagner

Elizabeth Ann Bayley was born on August 28, 1774, in New York, New York. Although she was born to a high-class family, her early life was simple and sometimes lonely.

In 1794, Elizabeth married William Seton. He was wealthy, and their first few years of being married were happy and prosperous. A little later though, William’s father died leaving William and Elizabeth in charge of William’s seven half brothers and sisters along with the family’s importing business. Soon William’s business failed along with his health. He was forced to sign a bankruptcy, and to help William with his health, he and his family sailed to Italy where he had some business friends.

Sadly, William died of tuberculosis while in Italy. Elizabeth’s only consolation was that he had awakened to the things of God. Even after these devastating events, Elizabeth’s heart was drawn to God. The accepting and embracing of God’s will - “The Will,” as Elizabeth called it - would be a key factor in her spiritual life.

Elizabeth was raised Episcopalian and began to be interested in the Roman Catholic Church through the guidance of her friends in Italy. Elizabeth had lost her mother at an early age and found great comfort in the idea that the Blessed Virgin Mary was her true mother. She officially joined the Catholic Church in 1805. Back in America, the president of St. Mary’s College in Baltimore, Maryland, suggested that Elizabeth start a Catholic school. Elizabeth and two other women established the first free Catholic school in America. Elizabeth had also been discerning sisterhood, and, on March 25, 1809, Elizabeth Seton pronounced her vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, binding for one year. She was called Mother Seton from that point on.

Sadly, Mother Seton became afflicted with tuberculosis, yet she continued to guide her children. The Rule of Sisterhood was formally ratified in 1812; the sisters of that rule established schools and orphanages across America. Today, six groups of sisters can trace their origins to Mother Seton’s initial foundation. For the last three years of Mother Seton’s life, she felt God getting ready to call her. St. Elizabeth Ann Seton died in 1821. She was only 46 and had been Catholic for sixteen years. She was beatified on March 17, 1963, by Pope John XXIII and canonized on September 14, 1975, by Pope Paul VI.

Mother Seton’s favorite prayer was the 23rd Psalm, and she had a deep devotion to the Eucharist, Mary, and the Scriptures. Quote from St. Elizabeth Ann Seton: “If I seek out God in the simplicity of my heart, I will surely find Him.”

How Does One Sin? By Gabriel Ringwald

The Catechism of the Catholic Church says “Sin is an offense against reason, truth, and right conscience; it is failure in genuine love for God and neighbor caused by a perverse attachment to certain goods. It wounds the nature of man and injures human solidarity. It has been defined as “an utterance, a deed, or a desire contrary to the eternal law.” (CCC 1849)

A sin can be venial or mortal. The conditions of a mortal sin are that it must be a grave matter, there must be full knowledge of the grievousness of the act, and it must be done with full consent to the action. For example, say you did not go to Mass on Sunday because you didn’t realize you were expected to be at Mass on Sunday and instead you had been watching Mass at home. Not going to Mass on Sunday is a grave matter, but in the example the action was committed without full knowledge of the obligation to go to Mass. So while it does not meet the requirements to be a mortal sin, it is still a venial sin, for an obligation was still broken. God is in a relationship with each one of us. God wants us to follow his commands, because by following his commands we love him and obtain eternal life with him.

We are human and we all unknowingly make mistakes which hurt our side of the relationship, and we also make mistakes knowingly which hurt even more. But there are multiple different ways that we can atone for our sins. Venial sins can be atoned for by receiving the Eucharist, but notice that I didn’t say that mortal sins can. That is because you are not allowed to receive the Lord in the Eucharist while you have a mortal sin that is unconfessed, for to have a mortal sin is to be separated from God, and by receiving to Eucharist you are receiving God the Son. To receive the Eucharist with mortal sin is to receive God unworthily and make another mortal sin, a sacrilege. Mortal sins can only be forgiven through the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

The Nature of the Sacraments, by Thomas M. Cabeen

We all need help. Since the first sin we have needed help from God. Everyone knows that they themselves as well as the entire human race are more inclined to sin than to virtue as evidenced by the fact that man would rather lie than tell the truth. We know the consequence of sin is eternal damnation, but it is so hard to not sin. The Holy Trinity knows that we are in this pickle and thus gives us grace, His help, and only through His grace can we be saved. There are two means by which we can receive grace: prayer and reception of the Sacraments. Through prayer we obtain many different graces from God, and through the Sacraments specific graces are produced inside us. But what is a sacrament?

The word “sacrament” comes from the Latin “sacramentum,” a word used to describe any holy object or action. The early Church used it in a similar way, but over the centuries “sacrament” was narrowed to its current meaning: a sign, instituted by Christ, that instills in us a real grace. There are seven Sacraments, all of which share three essential parts: the outward sign, the inward grace, and the institution of Christ.

The outward sign of a Sacrament has two parts: the matter and the form. The matter is the physical “stuff” used with the form, or the words, to confer the grace. For example, in Baptism the matter is the water, and the form is the words, “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit,”. The form is necessary for the sacrament for without the words the water is just water. The matter apart from the form, though, is not a sacrament. Only when the matter is applied or is proximate (i.e. the water is poured on the catechumen’s head in Baptism), is the Sacrament present. It is important to know that the Sacraments are not just signs but are a real cause of grace: when a person is baptized, their original sin is totally wiped away. Some may argue, though, that men cannot institute a sacrament, so they are not valid. In this they are correct: man did not institute the Sacraments, Jesus Christ did.

Jesus, who is God and Man, has all power over the physical and spiritual world, and so through His power alone He gives us spiritual graces through physical signs. Why? Because we are both physical and spiritual. When we pray, it is an act of the soul and of the body: we kneel, and we move our bodies. So when we receive a physical action in a sacrament, we receive a spiritual grace. As well as giving us spiritual graces, Our Lord uses the Sacraments to unite His Church. The Church, while Christ’s mystical body, is also a physical people, and through the visible Sacraments He makes it so to receive grace we must testify aloud our belief in Him, His Church, and our faith in the sacrament.

The Sacramental ceremony - the way it looks and sounds - is set by Christ. Christ gave His Church the power to set ceremonies for the sacraments. The ceremony’s purpose is to bring our mind to what is happening, to prepare us, to show us the gravity of the sacrament and of its dignity, and to increase our devotion to the Sacraments. They are the physical signs by which God bestows upon us his saving grace, the help we desperately need.

Good News Team and Contributors

Editor in Chief: Thomas M. Cabeen

Co-President: Ryan Hanson

Webmaster: Benjamin Wells

Contributors: Avery Bidelspach, Emma Bidelspach, Evelyn Wagner, Benjamin Wells, Alex Hanson, Gabriel Ringwald, Ryan P. Hanson, Mary Catherine Vallejo

Poet: Benjamin Cabeen

Head of Distribution: Benjamin Cabeen

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