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    This Week's Letter From Father

All Saints November 1, 2025

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today we celebrate the Solemnity of All Saints. It was originally instituted to honor the Christian martyrs in the late Roman Empire. St. Martin of Tours (+397) was the first saint, not a martyr.

The Eastern Feast of All Martyrs was mentioned for the first time in the 4th century and attested by St. Ephrem of Edessa (+373). In 609, the Roman Pantheon was dedicated under the title Santa Maria ad Martyres. In the 9th century Pope Gregory IV chose November 1 as the feast dedicated to the martyrs. In 935 Pope John XI decided that this feast will honor martyrs and non-martyrs together.

All the Saints we honor today, are not only those who were formally canonized or beatified, but also innumerable men, women and children who, with God’s grace, achieved sainthood and whose names are only now known to God. One day we will meet them all in person as we reunite again with our loved ones. This is our hope. This is what we pray for.

Saints were real people, not stereotypical figures from holy cards. They struggled with uncertainties, difficulties and problems of everyday life. They even wrestled with doubts. However, they ultimately chose God and entrusted their lives to Him/Her.

All saints constantly intercede for us encouraging us to follow a path to holiness. Also, the Beatitudes (Matthew 5,1-12) help us grow in holiness, to see the world both as it is now and what it could be. We need to constantly remind one another that we are God’s children, that we are loved by the one who created us and still calls us to holiness in all we do. “Be Holy, for I am Holy” (1 Peter 1:6).

Let us honor all saints known and unknown. Let us become Holy and saintly followers of the Lord, as they did.

Today we are also reminded that saintly people live among us. Filled with God and formed by the Beatitudes, they go forward with their daily lives loving God, neighbor and stranger by what they do and say. Let us imitate their good works.

Happy All Saints’ Day,

Fr. Ryszard

All Souls’ Day November 2, 2025

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today we celebrate All Souls’ Day. Saint Odilo of Cluny established the memorial in 988. Three centuries later, it was accepted in Rome. Afterward, the commemoration of the faithful departed became more and more widespread in Christendom.

An unknown person said: “Death separates, but it also unites. It reunites whom it separates.”

When I was a youngster, the deceased person was carried to the cemetery for his or her Įnal rest accompanied by the tolling of the church bells. The bells announced the loss of human life on earth and also the birth of the departed for heaven.

Each death affects the community. The entire creation is interconnected. As we are all bound on our earthly journey, so we are also bound in eternity with our Creator. Thus, each time the bell tolls for someone, it tolls at the same time for every one of us. The English poet John Donne (1572-1631) expressed that truth in his poem “For Whom the Bell Tolls”.

“No man is an island,

Entire of itself.

Each is a piece of the continent, A part of the main.

(…)

Each man’s death diminishes me,

For I am involved in mankind.

Therefore, send not to know For whom the bell tolls,

It tolls for thee.”

Rene Descartes (1596-1650), the Father of Modern Philosophy and Mathematician, chose these words for himself as an epitaph:

“No man is harmed by death, save he

Who, known too well by all the world,

Has not yet learnt to know himself.”

Today we pray for our loved ones and those who have no one to pray for them, who have gone before us in the hope of salvation. We share their hope. We trust the Lord that one day we will be reunited with them in heaven.

Jesus assures us in today’s Gospel reading: “Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and I will not reject anyone who comes to me, because I came down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me. And this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of what he gave me, but that I should raise it on the last day” (John 6:37-39). Let us remember that the risen Jesus intercedes for us at the right hand of the Father. Let us also remember the words of St. Irenaeus: “The glory of God is the human person, fully alive.”

Throughout the month of November, we will pray at St. Egbert for our deceased loved ones and friends. As we hold them close to our hearts, may our loving and merciful God grant them eternal life in heaven.

If your loved ones or friends are buried nearby, visit their grave or columbarium, and say a prayer for them. If they are buried far away, also keep them in your prayers.

May the Lord bless you on All Souls’ Day,

Fr. Ryszard

Welcome Message

Greetings in Christ Jesus!

Whether you are just visiting for a short while, have moved here and are joining our parish, or are returning to your Catholic Faith, on behalf of our parish community, we welcome you to St. Egbert Catholic Church and the beautiful Crystal Coast of North Carolina.

When Jesus was asked which of all the commandments was the greatest, he replied, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.  This is the great, and first commandment. And a second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” These two Commandments form the foundation of our mission to Love God, Love Neighbor, and to Share the Good News.