No matter what sacrament you need, there is a way to obtain it. Please contact Mary Toscano at (210) 226-5024 or religiouseducation@stphilipofjesus.org.

God the Father sent his Son Jesus to earth to become human and to save the human race from sin and eternal death. To enable people to receive salvation, Jesus founded a church, the Catholic Church. The fullness of truth and the fullness of grace can only be found in the Catholic Church. Every other version of Christianity and every other religion contain only partial truth and goodness.

If you have not been baptized, then becoming a Catholic usually requires about nine months of learning the faith and starting to practice it in a process called RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults). Becoming a Catholic is a serious commitment. It requires discernment and preparation.

If you are open to the possibility of becoming Catholic or want to learn more, please talk to Fr. Sean. Either see him after a Mass or call the office (210-226-5024) to schedule an appointment.

If you have trouble affording any of these prices, please let us know.

 Baptism of Infant = $50

Funeral = $200 (The funeral home includes this cost in their pricing. You do not need to pay the parish directly.)

Quinceañera = $300

Wedding = $300

First Communion Class = $20

Confirmation Class = $20

RCIA = $30

Other Religion Classes = $15

At Mass, Catholics receive Holy Communion. Other names for Communion are the Eucharist and the Blessed Sacrament. Catholics are known to have strict rules about who should receive Communion and who should not. There is a good reason for this.

For Catholics, Communion is not bread and wine. It is not a symbol of Jesus. It literally is Jesus. Communion is the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Jesus under the appearance of bread and wine. This is called the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. It is a miracle which surpasses understanding, but which we must believe in order to be good Catholics.

Most Protestant Christians (who are not Catholic) do not believe this. They think Communion is just bread and wine which symbolize the body and blood of Jesus. This belief is mistaken. It contradicts Scripture and Tradition, particularly the Gospel of John chapter six.

Because Holy Communion is truly Jesus, a person needs to be well prepared to receive him. Those who are not well prepared should not receive Communion.

There are three types of people who are not well prepared:

1) a person who is not Catholic – A person who is not Catholic is not in full Communion with the Church that Jesus founded. Since Jesus loves his Church and is united to her, if a person is not united to the Church, then that person cannot be fully united to Jesus.

2) a Catholic who does not believe that Holy Communion is literally Jesus – It is not enough to be a Catholic. One has to believe what the Church teaches about Communion in order to receive Communion.

3) a Catholic who is not in the state of grace – Even a Catholic who believes that Jesus is truly present in Holy Communion might still be prevented from receiving Communion if he or she has mortal sin on his or her soul. Mortal sins are serious sins that break our relationship with God. If we have committed a mortal sin and we have not been to Confession, then we need to go to Confession before we can receive Communion.

It might seem like the Catholic Church is too strict about Communion, but when you understand that Communion is actually Jesus, then you should appreciate why we have to be so respectful toward this sacrament. We should be well prepared in order to receive Jesus.

All of that being said, Catholics who believe and regularly practice their faith should not be afraid to receive Jesus in Holy Communion. He wants to be received. That’s why he has given us this sacrament.

If your relatives or friends do not practice their Catholic faith, there are a few things you can do for them.

1) Pray for them. Ask God to show them the truth and to help them act upon it.
2) Be a good example to them. If you don’t practice your faith well, why should they?
3) Invite them to events at your parish such as celebrations and retreats.
4) Share with them what your faith means to you and why it is so important.
5) Learn more about your faith so that you can explain why we believe and practice what we do. If they have a question, and you don’t know the answer, tell them you will look up the answer and get back to them, then actually do it. When Catholics do not have answers to questions, people tend to conclude that there are no answers.

At the end of the day, you cannot make someone do something if he or she does not want to do it. If people you care about do not practice the faith, that is sad, but it is not your responsibility. They have to make their own choices in life, even if we don’t like their choices. We can encourage them to make good choices, but we should not beat ourselves up if they do not.

This is a difficult question to answer briefly. There are so many different questions that come along with this question.

What is prayer? Why should I pray? What type of prayer should I do? How often should I pray? How long should I pray? What time of day should I pray? Where should I pray? With whom should I pray? Let’s look at each of these questions individually.

There are so many different ways to pray. Prayer is basically talking to God. Prayer is how we get closer to God, how we become better people, and how we receive from God what we need.

How close you are to God is directly proportional to how well, how often, and how long you pray.

How long should you pray? This is a hard question to answer. It differs for each person, and can differ from day to day for the same person. It is usually best to establish a minimum length of time that you want to pray every day, and stick with prayer

When should you pray? It is usually best to pray at a consistent time each day. If not, then you will tend to put it off until it is too late. Also, prayer should be scheduled when you actually have enough energy to focus. If you only pray right after you wake up, when you are most groggy, or you only pray in bed right before falling asleep, when you are most tired, then you will never be able to focus in prayer. Prayer should be scheduled when you are fully awake. That doesn’t mean you can’t pray when you are sleepy, but that should not be the main time you pray.

Should pray as long as you can focus.

How often? Every day. At least once a day.

What should I pray? (PDFs to be added soon)

If you have any questions about the Catholic faith, please ask Fr. Sean after Mass, or call the office (210-226-5024) to schedule a time to talk to him. Fr. Sean loves answering questions about the faith.

There is also a great website called Catholic Answers (catholic.com). If you enter key words into their search bar, it will come up with several articles written about that topic.

If you have any questions about Catholic practice, please ask Fr. Sean after Mass, or call the office (210-226-5024) to schedule a time to talk to him. Fr. Sean loves answering questions about the faith.

There is also a great website called Catholic Answers (catholic.com). If you enter key words into their search bar, it will come up with several articles written about that topic.