News RSS Feed

Jesus was often surrounded by crowds. They followed him through the countryside and gathered around him in the cities. They pushed their way into homes where he was staying. In one instance, they even tore away the roof tiles to reach him that he might cure a paralytic.

View the July 9, 2021 letter from Very Rev. Stephen Schultz, Pastor, regarding Our Lady of Fatima ministries.

School will be back in session soon and our Religious education classes will be starting in just a few short months! Keep your eyes open for future announcements in the bulletin and on our parish website about meeting times, class schedules and fees!

Do you remember being out at recess during school and teams being picked for baseball or dodgeball or some other game? It could be scary, thinking about how it would turn out. Will I be the last one picked? Will everybody laugh at me? Will I be good enough? Many of us may approach our faith and relationship with Jesus the same way, asking whether or not God will choose us; whether or not we are “good enough.” The Good News for each of us today is that God has already chosen us, and send us out on a mission that we can accomplish through his grace, power, and authority.

Today’s passage from the Gospel of Mark (Mark 6:1- 6) is quite revealing. Those who had gathered in the synagogue that was located in Jesus’ “native place” clearly were familiar with Jesus because they began to name his family – Mary, his mother; his brothers, James and Joses, Judas and Simon. They even mention his sisters. It is important to note that this identification as brothers and sisters must be taken within the context of the culture and language in which Jesus was living. These “brothers and sisters” would be more like extended family, perhaps cousins. This passage in no way contradicts the truth that Mary conceived Jesus by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit and that she remained ever-virgin, having had no other children.

View the current Fatima Parish update from Fr. Stephen Schultz in response to the latest Health Order from the New Mexico Department of Health, and instructions from the Archdiocese of Santa Fe.

One important message that we hear in today’s Scripture Readings is that God created all things for good. Still, we cannot deny that there is evil in the world. Illness, poverty, injustice, and war are frequently in the news, but these things do not come from God. Pain, violence, and death came into the world as a result of sin – of man’s disobedience and belief in the lies of the devil.

The Parish Office will be closed on Monday, July 5, 2021, for the Independence Day holiday. Daily Mass will be held at the normal times of 6:30 AM and 8:15 AM.

We want to welcome a newly assigned Deacon to Our Lady of Fatima parish, Deacon Charles “Chuck” Navarrete, Jr. and his wife Rebecca. Deacon Navarrete served in the U.S. Navy for 12 years as a Religious Program Specialist and was tasked with supporting clergy of all faiths in their pastoral activities as well as providing physical security for them in combat environments. We are grateful that he has been assigned to Our Lady of Fatima Parish. ​​​​​​

Deacon Timoteo Lujan is a native New Mexican and has been ordained as a deacon in the Diocese of Gallup for almost 30 years. Since his ordination in November of 1994, Deacon “Timo” has been involved in many areas of ministry. He was canonically assigned to pastoral ministry to the four Catholic Parishes of the Cibola Deanery where he developed and provided learning to adolescents and adults in Catholic Bible Study, Catholic spirituality, morality, theology and liturgy. He has served as Chancellor of the Diocese of Gallup and functioned as the chief operating officer. He holds the canonical office of Defender of the Bond for the marriage tribunal of the Diocese of Gallup. We are grateful that he has been assigned to Our Lady of Fatima parish.

“Quiet! Be still!” With these words, Jesus calmed the storm that was threatening the Apostles as their boats were being tossed about and filled with water in today’s Gospel (Mark 4:35-41). It must have been a fierce storm indeed to have frightened these men, several of whom were seasoned fishermen who had made their living on the sea before becoming disciples of Jesus. They were so frightened that they woke up Jesus who was asleep in the boat. They needed him to be present to them in their panic and fear.

Today’s First Reading (Ezekiel 17:22-24) presents the image of the growth of plants. It is God who regulates what will prosper and what will not. This image will be used in the Gospel where Jesus applies it to the question of how faith grows. God will bring down the mighty and arrogant and will lift up the lowly and the humble. This is a theme we hear in the hymn sung by the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Magnificat, found at the Visitation in the Gospel according to Luke. In Ezekiel’s day, the mighty and arrogant were represented both by those who refused to repent of their evil ways in Judah and by the nation of Babylon, which had conquered the kingdom if Judah and sent its leading citizens into exile.

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi). The Catholic Church has consistently taught from Apostolic times that during a valid celebration of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the bread and wine truly become the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. This is what is meant by the “True Presence” or “Real Presence” of Jesus in the Most Holy Eucharist. Although the elements still have the appearance of bread and wine, they have – through the power of the Holy Spirit – been changed into Jesus’ Body and Blood, just as they did at the Last Supper. Tragically, a large number of Catholics have not been catechized well with regard to the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. They have come to see the Eucharist simply as the symbolic presence of Christ rather than his Real Presence.

Today we celebrate one of the most fundamental beliefs of Christianity: the Most Holy Trinity – three distinct, coequal Persons in one God. For the Church, the Trinity is considered a mystery. There are aspects of the Trinity that we will never fully grasp while we are this side of Heaven. But it is something we hold as revealed truth. We experience the presence and reality of the Most Holy Trinity as what has been described as “a divine communion of love.”.

In the Scripture Readings for today’s Mass, we hear two accounts of the Pentecost. The more dramatic of the two occurs in our First Reading from the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 2:1-11) where the Holy Spirit descends upon the Apostles, empowering them to speak in different tongues so that the Jews from different lands who had gathered in Jerusalem could hear the message of Jesus proclaimed in their own language. The second, and perhaps less dramatic account is found in today’s Gospel (John 20:19-23) where the Risen Jesus, himself, appears to the Apostles, breathes the Holy Spirit upon them, and commissions them to go forth and continue the mission of announcing the coming of the Kingdom of God.

View the latest Coronavirus update from Fr. Stephen Schultz, Pastor.

Father Stephen Schultz will celebrate the 22nd anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood on Saturday, May 22, 2021. The community of Our Lady of Fatima Parish thank and congratulate Father Schultz on this special occasion!

Today we celebrate Christ’s ascension into Heaven and his return to the right hand of the Father. A week from now, we will commemorate the birth of the Church at Pentecost. For over six weeks now, we have observed the Easter Season and reflected on the glory of the Risen Christ. In the Gospel chosen specifically for today’s feast (Mark 16:15-20), Jesus gives his Great Commission to the disciples: “Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.”

The Archdiocese of Santa Fe has instructed Catholic parishes to maintain COVID-19 protocols that were already in place prior to the most current health order. ​​​​​​​In the spirit of charity and to ensure the safest environment possible, persons entering the church are requested to wear a mask and observe social distancing, regardless of their vaccination status.  Other safety protocols will also remain in place.

The Women's Guild of Our Lady of Fatima will be meeting for the first time since the pandemic on Sunday, May 23, 2021 after the 10:00 AM Mass, Room 2 FGH. Please join us as we reacquaint one another and discuss where we go from here.