This Sunday’s Gospel reading begins a series of five Sundays of selections from Matthew’s composition called the Sermon on the Mountain. The Sermon on the Mountain is the first of five major sermons the author of Matthew’s Gospel constructs from current traditions about Jesus in the mid-eighties of the first century. Why five?

The Most Rev. Edward K. Braxton, Bishop of Belleville will give a major address at John Carroll University on the Catholic Church and the Black Lives Matter Movement on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2017. The bishop’s address will examine key elements contributing to the racial divide in the United States and the emergence of the Black Lives Matter Movement from the perspective of the Catholic Church.

Fr. Peter Hsu, 85, died Dec. 31, 2016 in Herrin Hospital. He would have celebrated his 60th anniversary as a priest in the Diocese of Belleville in 2017.