“We pronounce, declare, and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma: that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever-Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.”  

— Pope Pius XII, Munificentissimus Deus, 1950

This beautiful feast day is a Holy Day of Obligation for all Catholics. A Solemn High Mass will be celebrated Thursday, August 14, at 6pm at the parish. Confessions will be heard at 5:30. This will be an anticipatory Mass that will fulfill your obligation. We will also have Mass on Friday, August 15 at 12:10pm (confessions heard at 11:40am). If you cannot make it to St. Edmund’s for either of our Masses, you can fulfill your obligation by attending any Catholic Mass on August 15 or the evening of August 14.

At the Solemn High Mass for the Vigil of the Solemnity of the Assumption on Aug 14, Deacon Michael Lugo, a seminarian from the Diocese of Charlotte will join us to serve as deacon and to preach.

An old Legend of Assumption: when Mary the Mother of Jesus felt that her end was drawing near, she sent her guardian angel to summon the Apostles, who had gone out into the world to preach the Gospel of Her Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ. When they received the summons, they came in a great hurry and were just in time to witness the happy death of their dear Mother. Everyone had come except Thomas. He was three days late. When he heard that the Blessed Mother had been resting in the tomb for days, he cried bitterly and pleaded with the Apostles to open the tomb once more and let him glance at the beloved features. The other Apostles yielded to his plea, but as they opened the tomb, they found it filled with flowers, which gave out a heavenly scent. On the place where they had laid the body, there was only the shroud left – the body had been borne up to heaven by the angels, where it was joined to the holy soul of the Mother of God. According to the legend, all the flowers and herbs on earth had lost their scent after Adam and Eve committed the first sin in the Garden of Eden. On the day of the Assumption of the Blessed Mother, however, the flowers were given back their scent and the herbs their power to heal. 

One tradition to celebrate this Solemnity is that people bring herbs and flowers to Holy Mass to be blessed by the priest. The herbs and flowers are put in the Sanctuary during the Offertory procession and they are blessed immediately after Mass. Afterwards the bundle of herbs/flowers is kept near a picture of the Blessed Mother. In cases of sickness, a leaf is dropped into the food of the patient, and during heavy thunderstorms, one of the herbs is put into the fire on the kitchen stove (in modern times burned over a candle or some other way) – it is a sacramental and is meant to protect us in body and soul.  

- from Around the Year with the von Trapp Family, Maria Augusta von Trapp

Last Sunday, at the 8:30am and 11am Masses, we had the Rite of Acceptance for the boys and girls who will be studying for their confirmation this year. Please keep these children and their families and sponsors in your prayers!

Use buttons below to register for Adult Catechism/OCIA, CGS, and CCD!

Plans for Teen Apologetics / Youth Nights on Fridays, Bible Study for Adults after the 12:10 pm Wed Mass, Men’s Groups, and the Music Class for Infants and Toddlers are in progress.

A few copies of “Divine Worship: The Ordinariate Study Missal” and “Divine Worship Daily Office” are available for purchase for interested parishioners. The Study Missal is $105 and Daily Office is $95. Please contact Stephanie Butler at wncord@gmail.com or 828-393-5775 if you would like to purchase one of these books. 

Visit exodus90.com/st-michaels-lent to learn more!

On July 31, we received the joyful news that our Holy Father, Pope Leo XIV, has conferred upon St. John Henry Newman the title Doctor of the Church! With this, his feast day is added to the General Roman Calendar of the universal Catholic Church. 

Born in 1801, Newman was an Anglican priest and Oxford theologian who converted to Catholicism in 1845. A few years later he was ordained as a Catholic priest, founded oratory at Oratory in Birmingham and London, was eventually made a cardinal and was at the beginning of a long line of Anglican clergy, literary figures and laity to return to the faith of their ancestors. 

St. John Henry Newman is an important part of our patrimony and our identity in the Ordinariate. The significance of this title conferred on a Saint is precisely in its universality. The Pope is declaring that Newman‘s doctrinal contribution to the life of the Church—his particular way of expressing the faith in English—does not belong to one specific time or culture or linguistic context.  He is, in the language of Anglicanorum coetibus, a treasure to be shared. This is the way patrimony works, by enrichment. This is the way the Ordinariate is meant to work. To celebrate this wonderful news, at the direction of Bishop Lopes, we sang the Te Deum after Communion at the Masses (with triple thurifers at 11am!) this past Sunday, August 3.

Time spent in prayer before the Eucharistic Presence of our Lord will transform your life and build this parish. In August, parish leaders will be seeking to schedule home visits to gather personal feedback and deliver a personal appeal from Fr Johnson. The appeal will not only be financial, but for an increase in commitment to prayer and service. A big part of that appeal will be for commitments to a specific scheduled weekly hour of Eucharistic adoration in the Church. Our church is staffed a majority of the time Tues-Fri during business hours, but should it be closed, or you cannot come during the day, you can apply for a code to access the Church to spend time in Eucharistic Adoration before the tabernacle. Please contact Stephanie Butler at the parish office (828-393-5775 or wncord@gmail.com) if you would like to set up a time or apply for a code.

Thank you for your participation in the feasibility survey and Home Campaign Novena! We will be starting the next phase of the Home Campaign soon - watch for additional news in the announcements!

We are excited to announce that we will have two Well-Read Mom groups starting in September. The groups will meet once a month, with one group in Flat Rock and one in Traveler's Rest. A flyer with more information is available below and is also posted on the bulletin board downstairs. There are booklets about the program in the narthex. You can also contact Victoria for additional information: 828-595-5430.

Calling Catholics in their 20s & 30s to join the recently formed Metanoia YA Group.  Use the QR code or go to:  https://groupme.com/join_group/108921763/fTvRRYtK

This year, North Carolina Right to Life (NCRTL) will be at the Mountain State Fair in Asheville and at the North Carolina State Fair in Raleigh.

The Mountain State Fair runs from September 5th - 14th, 2025. If you would like to volunteer with us, please go to this link for more information and to register.

SIGN UP FOR THE MTN STATE FAIR

The North Carolina State Fair runs from October 16th - 26th, 2025.  If you would like to volunteer with us, please go to this link for more information and to register.

SIGN UP FOR THE NC STATE FAIR

Additionally, for the first time, we will be offering trainings via Microsoft Teams for our volunteers.  You will receive more information on how to sign up for these trainings after registering.

At the 11am Mass Sunday we have introduced a new Gloria, arranged by Healey Willan. It is a more difficult piece to master, but beautiful when a congregation learns it! Below is a link to a PDF of the singing score and above is a YouTube video of the Gloria being sung at Mass.