MSI Press Blog

   Continuing in the series of Sula (parish cat) Easter posts and especially on Caturday, here is another excerpt from Sula's Easter book; it comes from the section on the Easter vigil: Waiting before the Vigil The church is always dark on Easter Vigil. I am among the first there, waiting not just for the Resurrection that is to come but also for the people who will be coming to wait together—they with me and I with them. I like greeting the people as they come in. Often, I will know with whom I should be waiting. That, after all, is my mission.     The Mass The Easter Vigil Mass is unique. It is not like any other Mass during the year. The Vigil Mass is also complex—and rich. It goes from dark to light, from people who cannot see each other to people welcoming new members into the body of Christ. The Mass has four elements. These are (1) the Service of Light, (2) the Liturgy of the Word, (3) Baptism, and (4) the Liturgy of the Eucharist. The Service of Light starts outside, around

  Yep, it's Caturday, and we want to share, somewhat anonymously for privacy reasons, a bit of the recent trials and tribulations of Sula, the parish cat at Old Mission who has written six books. Sula has both a big fan club -- you can even join it on her Face Book page HERE -- and quite some renown, thanks to both own publications and publications about here, which you can read about HERE (pick and choose the ones that might most tickle your fancy). To briefly encapsulate the history: 1. Sula arrived as a kitten, perhaps somewhere around age 1, at the Old Mission, which really is the only action in her little town. 2. After a few years spending much time outdoors in this sunny California town, Sula developed skin cancer on her ears. They were trimmed. The cancer came back. Her ears were removed. You can read her story about that experience in her book, Surviving Cancer, Healing People: One Cat's Story .  3. Elizabeth Mahlou related Sula's story to Guideposts Magazine , wh

  Photograph by Stacey Gentry  And now, about me— Every morning, I make the rounds of the museum, grounds, and church, after starting my day at Mass in the Chapel with the priest and parishioners I love—and, appropriately, on a bit of an empty stomach though I do not take communion (being a cat, you know). After Mass, I go to the Mission Gift Shop for breakfast and, depending upon the day, I begin my rounds somewhat later. Actually, if you have read my other books, you know as much about me as it is possible to know. For those who have not read them yet, I can tell you my tale in a nutshell. It is pretty simple because the beginning is rather cloudy. I only know what the people at the Mission Gift Shop remember about me some 12 years ago. Yes, I am quite a big girl now with my own set of life experiences. It seems that I was always in San Juan Bautista, a beautiful Mission town in the Mexican tradition. Lots of Spanish spoken here, so I have had to learn to meow in and respond to two l

  Excerpt from Easter at the Mission Zhenya with his daughter, Julie Photograph by his wife, Alla Yanovich MEMORIAL TO EVGENIY YANOVICH I want to dedicate this book to Evgeniy (Zhenya) Yanovich, the illustrator of my Christmas book. Even more, I want to share his exceptional story. Zhenya was born in Akademgorodok, a tiny town like San Juan Bautista, outside the large city of Novosibirsk in Siberia. Akademgorodok, situated on the Ob River, is home to the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, which is about all that is there, but that is enough. The Academy of Sciences is a special institute of some of the most talented scientists and researchers in Russia. Zhenya was born with spina bifida. In 1979, Siberia had no access to antibiotics or the special treatments available to spina bifida children in some other parts of the world. Doctors held out no hope for Zhenya’s survival, but he lived. As he grew up, everyone in his town noticed his artwork and the immense talent it

(drawing by Uliana Yanovich) What is Palm Sunday? Palm Sunday is the Sixth Sunday of Lent and the Sunday before Easter. It is a moveable feast because the date changes every year, just like the moveable feast of Easter. Palm Sunday starts Holy Week, the last week of Lent. On Palm Sunday, the priest is allowed to wear a color other than purple—but can wear purple if he wishes to. Palm Sunday is a joyous interlude in the somber season of Lent. I can almost always feel the joy of the parishioners, the priest, and those who serve for the Mass—the cantors, lectors, and altar servers. I get much petting on Palm Sunday. Palm Sunday celebrates Jesus’s triumphant ride on a donkey into Jerusalem. Jesus sent his disciplines into town to bring to him a donkey and a colt, and to tell the owner of the animals that the Lord needed them. A large crowd followed Jesus into Jerusalem, and they laid palm branches in front of him along the way. Some even laid their cloaks in front of him, making a

  Well, this may be the shortest book back story yet. Easter at the Mission came about at Easter time after several other Sula (parish cat). Essentially, it was Easter. Sula had already written a popular book, Christmas at the Mission . Readers reported learning things about Christmas they had not known, and the hope was, with the help of the deacon, to do the same with he Easter book -- that hope seemed to have been realized even more in the Easter book than the Christmas book. For more posts about Sula and her award-winning books, click HERE . Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter Follow MSI Press on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .   Interested in publishing with MSI Press LLC? Check out information on  how to submit a proposal . Interested in receiving a free copy of this or any MSI Press LLC book  in exchange for  reviewing  a current or forthcoming MSI Press LLC book? Contact editor@msipress.com. Want an  author-signed copy  of this book? Purchase the book at 25% disc

  The story behind Dia de Muertos is pretty simpe, really. Sula, the parish cat at Old Mission San Juan Bautist a, already had published five books about the Mission and about Catholic customs and beliefs, all of them in English. The parish, however, was pretty equally divided between English speakers and Spanish speakers with two Masses each Sunday in each language and holiday and holy day Masses bilingual. (The community of San Juan Bautista is a pretty evenly divided bilingual community, as well.) Sula, the parish cat, was present at all Masses. She was beloved by all parishioners. The "Sula books" were written to help raise funds for a very expensive retrofit requirement. (The church sits atop the intersection of three major fault lines and has twice fallen from earthquakes high on the Richter scale). Although most Spanish speakers in the parish could understand English, they felt left out of the Sula project. They wanted a book that spoke to their community in their lan

  (drawing by Uliana Yanovich) What is Lent? One of the duties during Lent is to go to confession (reconciliation). Lent is one of two times in the Catholic Church when the Sacrament of Reconciliation is required. Can you guess the other? Yep, it is Christmas. I like to sit with people in the church as they take turns going to one of the priests—our Mission often brings in several priests on one evening during Lent to make it easy for people to go to confession. I notice that when they come back—maybe the priest has given them a penance of a prayer or something like that—they sometimes pray beside me. They always seem happy! That is why I think the Sacrament of Reconciliation is a good thing! Sometimes people seem nervous at first, but if anyone is willing to take advice from a cat, I say “go for it; don’t pass up any opportunity for reconciliation.” The Mission, like every Catholic church makes the opportunity for confession available at any time. Usually a few hours each week are

  (Sula in the arms of Fr. Ed at her godparents' house in Hollister, godparents on the left, friend on the right, and another MSI Press author, CB Leaver , in red in the front) Sula has been the parish cat at Old Mission San Juan Bautista for 13 years and through four bouts of cancer (fourth just starting/reappearing). With Covid-19 and the shutdown of the Mission, along with the rest of the state of California, Sula retired to live with her godparents in Hollister, where she can be watched after and can even have a visit occasionally frnom a retired priest from the parish who lives neaby. She still works on Sundays, though -- and visitors are always delighted to find her in the pews at Mass, where she goes on her own and sits with whomever seems to need her at the moment even though she does have her own pew with her name on it, and between Masses at the Mimssion gift shop. Here is her bio: Sula is a very unusual cat. She is the parish cat for Old Mission San Juan Bautista and, b

(Easter 2022 at Old Mission San Juan Bautista ) Excerpt from the beginning chapter of Blest Atheist (a repeat and more from Easter 2017 , never loses its significance...) Siberia on Easter Morning  “ Khristos voskres ” (Christ is risen). One person after another greeted me with these words as I climbed the stairs of the little, wooden church in Akademgorodok, a tiny town at the end of the man-made Ob Sea, bejeweling the Siberian steppe 45 minutes south of the city of Novosibirsk. The intertwining snow-covered birch and kedr (Siberian pine) trees created an illusion of a land of fantasy, made more so in the late evenings by the moon reflecting off the naked silver-white birch bark onto the dark red-brown trunks and evergreen branches of the pines. This was not yet the inhospitable taiga ; it was somewhat south for that, but nonetheless the birch and kedr trees stood closely side-by-side like brothers-in-arms against a hostile white and cold universe.             “ V istinu voskres ” (