Religious Education Program

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Weekly Letter from our DRE

October 14, 2020

Blessed Carlo Acutis – Child of the New Millennium and Blessed Patron of OLPH RE Family

Dear OLPH RE Family,

In this remote learning environment that we are currently living in, I have designated Blessed Carlo Acutis as our Blessed Patron of the OLPH RE Family.  We will call on him to intercede for us in all our woes and victories through our experiences of being connected to Christ through the internet, zoom meetings, cell phones, apps, web pages, emails, etc.   

Let us remember that it is Christ who joins us as one family of God at OLPH parish, and that technology is a tool that we need at this time to seek and find Him.  Carlo’s life story will captivate children and adults alike, and I cannot possibly write here all that Carlo has offered and continues offer to the Church. 

Last Saturday Carlo Acutis was beatified in Assisi, Italy.  Beatification is a perfect way to study, pray, and follow a person’s path to become a canonized saint in the Catholic Church.  Carlo is known and loved for his example of childhood holiness, his passion for communications technology, and for his devotion to the Eucharist and our Blessed Mother.

I first learned of Blessed Carlo Acutis when I attended the traveling Eucharistic Miracle Exhibit at St. Patrick’s Parish in Lake Forest during Lent almost two years ago.  I was captivated by all the stories of Eucharistic Miracles throughout the world and across the centuries revealed to me on large poster boards within the traveling Eucharistic Miracle Exhibit.

In many ways, Carlo Acutis was a typical teenager. He loved his PlayStation and making videos of his dogs. He favored Nikes and jeans, and he had a cellphone and an email address.

But in one significant respect, Carlo — who was just 15 when he died of leukemia in 2006 — stands out from his peers: He is on his way to becoming the first millennial to be recognized as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church.

Carlo, who lived in Milan, was beatified, or declared “blessed” by the pope, on Saturday after a miracle was attributed to him earlier this year. The ceremony, in Assisi, Italy, was the second-to-last step before Carlo can be canonized as a saint.

Since his death, Carlo has become known in some Catholic circles as the patron saint of the internet for his facility with computers and his early and enthusiastic embrace of the web, which he used as an expression of his Catholic faith.  (The New York Times - 10/12/20)

Blessed Carlo Acutis, pray for us!