January 18, 2026 • Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Dear Parish Family: 

Friday, January 23, 2026, is the Feast Day of one of the newest American Saints: Saint Marianne Cope of Molokai. Born in Germany in 1838 and given the name Barbara after her mother, her family immigrated to Utica, New York, two years later. After finishing her basic education, Barbara worked in a factory. In 1862, she became a Franciscan nun and was given the religious name Sister Marianne. She began teaching German immigrant children in upstate New York. A natural leader, she was the superior of St. Joseph’s Hospital in Syracuse three different times, where she learned much that would be useful during her later years. 

She was elected the Mother Superior of her order. She received a request from King Kalākaua of Hawaii for sisters to help with those suffering from leprosy. Fifty religious orders in the U.S. and Canada had already said no. Mother Marianne not only said yes, but went herself. On October 22, 1883, Mother Marianne and six other sisters left for Hawaii, where they took charge of the Kakaako Receiving Station outside Honolulu. They later opened a hospital and a school for girls on Maui.

In 1888, she and two of her sisters went to the island of Molokai to open a home and school for women and girls, where Father (future Saint) Damien was operating a home and school for men and boys. By that point, Father Damien had already contracted the disease. Mother Marianne cared for him while he was dying. She then continued his work for another three decades until her death (not of leprosy) in 1918. 

Mother Marianne brought her own gifts and charm to the leper colony. She wanted people not to be ashamed. She treated all with respect and dignity. She loved and cared for them as if she were their own mother. She was canonized in 2012.   Saint Marianne Cope, pray for us.

Please remember that Thursday, January 22, 2026, is the National Annual Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children. It is a special day to pray and offer sacrifices for the dignity and legal protection of God’s gift of life. We respect and honor life at all its stages, born and unborn. Please join us for 24 Hours for Life here at Good Shepherd.  Details are on page 7 of this week’s bulletin.    

Grace and peace! 
Father Neil Sullivan