The 40 days of Lent will begin on February 17 and end on April 3, 2021. Lent is a replication of Jesus Christ's sacrifice and departure into the desert for 40 days. Just like everything we have done in this pandemic, Lent assumes its own challenges this year.

Following guidelines released by the Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, we will follow precautions for Ash Wednesday that include sprinkling ashes over the head of each person who comes forward, rather than the priest, deacon or lay minister making a cross on each forehead. According to Catholic News Service, sprinkling ashes on the top of a person's head, rather than marking foreheads with ashes, is the customary practice at the Vatican and in Italy. Given the spread of the coronavirus, the practice has the advantage of not requiring the priest or the minister to touch multiple people.

Many of us focus so much on what we give up – a practice not made mandatory by the Church – that we neglect the three pillars of Lent; prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. I invite you to focus on these three during the Lenten season, to help us grow in our faith during our 40-day journey to Easter. Pope Francis urged Catholics to use the season of Lent to spend less time immersed in the chatter and noise of the world through television and their phones, and to spend more time in silence and in conversation with God. Pope Francis posed a question: What if we checked the Bible like we checked our cellphones?

CATHOLIC WOMEN PREACH: I would like to introduce you to a new digital resource for members of CTK and St. Stephen.  Catholic Women Preach (CWP) is a deeply faithful, hopeful and joyful initiative intended to build up the church and to further enlighten its members to the beauty of the Scriptures.  It is designed to encourage Catholics with weekly messages of hope that renew faith, strengthen us and encourage active engagement in the life of the Church for our work in the world. Catholic Women Preach presents both video and text of qualified and theologically informed women.  

The website can be accessed by clicking here - (you can also find additional information for their Facebook page and podcasts on their website).

 Fr. Paulson

9am, 12 noon (bi-lingual), and 6pm

(The 9am and 12 noon masses will be livestreamed)

St. Stephen Church - 9:30am Mass

4pm - Prayer Service

(for RE families, but all are welcome to attend)

You can watch in person or on-line.

Speakers will be announced weekly.

Facebook or YouTube

Mondays & Wednesdays 12pm to 2pm

Fridays 12pm to 6pm

Join us once a week as we prepare for Easter and provide a spiritual renewal with two short courses on sacramental “Encounters with God.” For more information and to sign up Read More

(with reflections and prayers you can read daily during Lent)

Books will be distributed at mass this weekend or

you can come by the parish office

Monday-Friday 9am to1pm to pick one up

The Little Books App is now available for your iOS and Android devices. For a simple $10/year subscription, you’ll get all the seasonal books in the app for easy daily reading. Click here for more information.

Rice bowls will also be distributed at mass this weekend. Or you can pick one up at the office.

More information can be found here

Please enjoy in print some of Fr. Joyce's

"Four Minute Homilies" from 2002. Click Here

If you are interested in your child attending CTK for the 2021-2022 school year, the admissions portal on the school's website is open. Please click here to apply.

60 years ago, with the ground breaking on January 26, 1961 and construction completed in the fall, our parochial school opened its doors in September of 1961. Read more on the history of CTK School Here

Food Drive: Thank you to all the volunteers who helped on Saturday to make our food drive a success. We bagged over 250 grocery bags for the homeless in Contra Costa County. Special thanks goes to Carolyn Peters of Christ the King Church who put in countless hours organizing this event with our partner First Church of Concord who we partnered with.

Paul lived in a time when slavery was commonplace throughout the Roman Empire as part of society’s structure. Being born a freeman and Roman citizen, Paul voluntarily chose slavery to the mission of bringing Christ to the pagan world: “I have become everybody’s slave." Read More

Private Confessions will continue every Saturday from

3pm to 3:30pm.

Please meet in front of the church.

Entire Eucharist" 2002

Pope Paul VI in his encyclical letter on the Eucharist reaffirmed belief in the presence of Christ in communion, but he also spoke of the very real presence of Christ in acts of concern and compassion, in the preaching of God's word, in the faithful shepherding of God's people, and in the celebration of all the sacraments. Christ comes to us in many ways, but the Mass (not one magic moment, but the Mass from beginning to end), the Mass is the principle and most important way he touches us, nourishes us, calls and causes us to be His body and sends us out to make a difference in our world.