|
|
WEEKLY BULLETIN August 5, 2007
|
|
|
FROM FATHER RICK SUMMER MASS SCHEDULE Saturday – 4:00 PM Sunday – 8:00 AM & 10:30 AM This Mass schedule will be extended this year to include the weekend after Labor Day, September 8/9. A HOLY DAY OF OBLIGATION AND OUR SUMMER COOKOUT # 2 Cookout #2 – Wednesday, August 15 @ 6:30 PM Masses for the Holy Day will be at 12:10 PM and 5:30 PM. The evening Mass will be followed by our second summer cookout. Please RSVP to Irene in the Parish Office before Sunday, August 12. PARISH FEAST DAY Our parish feast day weekend is drawing near again. We are looking forward to a fun weekend of prayer and festivity as we celebrate our patron and begin another year of life as the community of St. Robert Bellarmine. There will be more details forthcoming as we get closer, but for planning purposes here is the outline of the weekend: Friday, September 14 Early Evening (tba) – Weekend Opening Combined Choir Concert; Americana Refreshments/Supper Saturday, September 15 4:00 PM – Feastday Mass 5:00 PM – Italian Fiesta with Entertainment Sunday, September 16 7:30 AM – Feastday Mass 8:30 AM – Euro Breakfast 9:30 AM – Feastday Mass 10:30 AM – Euro Breakfast 11:30 AM – Solemn Feastday Mass 12:30 PM – International Food Festival Arleen Puccia will be coordinating the Italian Fiesta again this year and will be contacting her team in the next week or so, as I will contact the "international chefs." On a personal note, thanks for all the prayers and support over the past couple of weeks. Have a great week, If you want peace – work for justice (Pope Paul VI), Fr. Rick
Imagine being part of an organization that fills your heart and your mind with the joy of giving to others and the feeling that comes with making a difference. Knights are Catholic men, 18 years of age and older, who are committed to making their community a better place, while supporting their Church. Being a Knight is more than camaraderie; it is being involved with your community; it is supporting your local Catholic Church, while enhancing your own faith and setting a good faith example; it is about protecting and enhancing your family life. You can volunteer as much as you like or as little and on your own schedule. If you want to find out more, contact Jim McKain at 978-475-7931 or visit the website at www.kofc.org. August Meeting: there will be one meeting only in August, which will be held on Wednesday, August 22nd, at 7:30 PM in Driscoll Hall. Money Matters On the weekend of July 28/29 Weekly donations $2,284.00 Monthly donations $895.00 Catholic Appeal Goal $39,500.00 Catholic Appeal to Date $53,152.00 Stewardship Reflection "Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions." Luke 12:15 The Gospel message today is so contrary to our modern culture where advertising continually tries to convince us that our value lies in the many things we possess. Jesus showed us that our true value lies in the way we live our lives. He challenges us to not store up or hoard material possessions. Rather, strive to be rich in that which matters to God. Becoming Catholic Have you been coming to mass with your family but are not Catholic yourself? Are your children’s questions prompting you to reflect more deeply about your journey of faith and leading you to consider becoming Catholic? If you are interested in exploring this possibility further and in learning more about what it means to be Catholic, please contact Amanda at 978-683-8922 or amroberts@comcast.net Thank You for Your Generosity Mary McCarthy writes from The Pregnancy Care Center: "On behalf of all of us at The Pregnancy Care Center, thank you for your friendship, prayers, and support! We are grateful for your participation in our Baby Bottle Campaign. Your church campaign has contributed generously to the efforts of the Pregnancy Care Center and the women and children we serve. I can assure you that your donation will bear the fruit of touching and changing many lives in our community." The Pregnancy Care Center, located in Haverhill and Amesbury, is a non-profit, non medical agency committed to providing individualized, accurate and relevant peer counseling and information about pregnancy, sexual health and relationships to anyone facing an unintended pregnancy. You can learn more online at www.pccnortheast.org or by calling 978-373-5718. Bread and Roses August Prep and Summer Support On Sunday, August 19th, we will prepare the meal for the Bread and Roses hospitality house in Lawrence to be served on Monday, August 20th. We plan to prepare BEEF TACOS with a tossed salad and dessert. Food items needed are: cooked ground beef, soft tacos (large size please), packages of shredded cheese, packages of taco seasoning, jars of salsa, lettuce, tomato, cucumbers, large cans of fruit salad, cookies or brownies. Please use the sign up sheet on the clipboard in the church lobby. Many of our parishioners who regularly donate to this effort will be on vacation during July and August. Please consider contributing some needed food item if you will be here during these months. Any donation would be very much appreciated. Kitchen helpers meet on Sunday at 9:30 AM. All food donations should be received by 10:30 AM. Call Betty Bufano at 978-851-5682 or Lisa Lattari at 978-749-3736 for further information. Recycling for the Parish Please remember that the parish benefits from your bottle and can deposits and your paper recycling. The collection bin for bottles and cans is at the end of the driveway to the Rectory. Paper recycling can be dropped in the big yellow and green bins located at the back of the church parking lot. Thanks for your support! Mass Schedule and Intentions Saturday, August 4, Vigil, 18th Ordinary Sunday 4:00 pm: Roger La Frenier Sunday, August 5, 18th Ordinary Sunday 8:00 am: Henry Vetrano 10:30 am: Thomas Lynch Saturday, August 11, Vigil, 19th Ordinary Sunday 4:00 pm: Louis Denis Duquette Sunday, August 12, 19th Ordinary Sunday 8:00 am: George Keith, Jr.; Helen V. Brokaw 10:30 am: John F. Sullivan; Kevin M. Sullivan Please remember to send all liturgical ministry schedule exceptions by August 24th to Irene at 978-683-8922 or ibonner@comcast.net. Thanks you! Readings for the Week of August 5, 2007 Sunday: Eccl 1:2; 2:21-23/Col 3:1-5, 9-11/Lk 12:13-21 Monday: Dn 7:9-10, 13-14/2 Pt 1:16-19/Lk 9:28b-36 Tuesday: Nm 12:1-13/Mt 14:22-36 or 15:1-2, 10-14 Wednesday: Nm 13:1-2, 25-14:1, 26-29a, 34-35/Mt 15:21-28 Thursday: Nm 20:1-13/Mt 16:13-23 Friday: 2 Cor 9:6-10/Jn 12:24-26 Saturday: Dt 6:4-13/Mt 17:14-20 Next Sunday: Wis 18:6-9/Heb 11:1-2, 8-19 or 11:1-2, 8-12/Lk 12:32-48 or 12:35-40 Question of the Week Eighteenth Ordinary Sunday Question for Adults: What wisdom do you pull out of this reading to help you set priorities in your life? Question for Youth: It is easy to get self-centered and greedy. What do you have in your life that is unnecessary? In your life, what keeps you close to God? What distracts you from your relationship with God? Question for Children: What is the most important thing in your life? Fall Course Offerings Master of Arts in Ministry Program Fall courses are being offered at the Master of Arts in Ministry Program for laity beginning the first week of September. Consider taking a course and deepening your knowledge of your faith: Basic Truths of the Catholic Church will be taught by Rev. John MacInnis at St. John’s Parish in Peabody on Thursday evenings from 7:00-9:00 PM, from September 6th to December 13th. The Gospel of Matthew will be taught by Prof. Celia Sirois at St. Peter’s Parish in Plymouth on Wednesday mornings from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM, from September 4th to December 5th. In addition, the following courses will be offered at Peterson Hall in Brighton, from September 4th to December 13th: Liturgical Spirituality (Rev. Brian Mahoney), Tuesdays from 5:00-7:00 PM Pastoral Counseling (Rev. Terence Curley), Thursdays from 5:00-7:00 PM Foundational Theology (Rev. Paul Ritt), Tuesdays from 5:00-7:00 PM Faith & Reason (Rev. Christopher O’Connor), Tuesdays from 7:30-9:30 PM Old Testament (Prof. Celia Sirois), Thursdays from 7:30-9:30 PM Moral Theology (Prof. David Franks), Thursdays from 5:00-7:00 PM Ecclesiology (Rev. Philip Merdinger), Tuesdays from 7:30-9:30 PM For more information, please check www.rcab.org or call 617-779-4104. Summer Mass Schedule Extended We are extending our summer Mass schedule (4:00 PM on Saturday; 8:00 and 10:30 AM on Sunday) to include the weekend of September 8/9. On the weekend of September 15/16, we will return to our winter schedule (4:00 PM on Saturday; 7:30, 9:00, and 11:00 AM on Sunday). Keep in mind that we will also be celebrating our parish feastday on the weekend of September 15/16. See Fr. Rick’s column for more information. Please plan to join us! Fair Trade Coffee Buying fair trade coffee is a tangible way we can put the values of our faith into action. It provides hope for small-scale farmers who have been trapped in poverty by international market forces over which they have no control. It guarantees prices that enable producers to cover their costs of production and provide a decent standard of living for their families. It reminds us there are people behind all the things we consume. St. Roberts participates in the CRS Fair Trade Coffee Program by committing to the use of fair trade coffee for parish functions and by making it available for purchase to the parish community. Our coffee comes from Dean’s Beans, a company that supports the welfare of small-scale farmers and the CRS Fair Trade Coffee Program by donating a percentage of your purchase to the CRS Fair Trade Fund to support CRS’s work with disadvantaged coffee farmers overseas. Bring your values to the marketplace – bring Dean’s Beans Fair Trade Coffee into your homes! Coffee will be available for purchase in the Seton Room after all Masses this weekend, August 4 and 5. In Service Maj. Kurt O’Rourke Mark DuPont, USCC, Kevin Grace, USA, Lyle Shackelford, Jaime Ray Seluk, USN, Pvt. Alexander Sabu, USA, Lt. Col. Paul Severance, USAF, Gen’l. R. Steve Whitcomb, USA, Lt. Col. Brian P. Bedell, USA, Capt. Lauren Whitcomb, USA, Col. Patrick J. Donahue, USA, Col. Brian P. Donahue, USA, Michael McGaffigan, USA, Beth Carriere, Nurse, USA, Steve Comstock, Pilot, USN, Lt. Jesse Salisbury, USAF, Sgt. Maureen Galvin, USA,SpOps, Lt.J.G. Kevin B. O’Brien, USN, Miko Belonia, Maj. Tony Hoffman, USA, Maj. Ross Coffman, USA, Maj. Garth Howe, USA, USA, Chief Warrant Officer II, Michael Morris, Captain Matthew Mancini, USA, Sgt. Ellen Barnes O’Connor, USA, Pvt. Adam James Mazza, USA, Pvt. Joseph D. Gagnon, USM, Col. Joseph Albanese, USA, Cpt. Eric Eckberg, USA Second Summer Cookout Mark Your Calendar! Hard to believe the summer is more than halfway through! Our second summer cookout will be held on Wednesday, August 15th, at 6:30 PM, following the 5:30 PM Holy Day Mass. Looking forward to seeing you there! Save the date and please RSVP to Irene at ibonner@comcast.net or 978-683-8922 before Sunday, August 12, if you plan to attend. Lazarus House Hike for Hope The 8th Annual Hike for Hope to benefit Lazarus House ministries will take place on Sunday, September 30, 2007, rain or shine, at Merrimack College. The five-mile pledge walk (one-mile route also available) begins and ends at Merrimack College and winds its way through downtown Andover. The walk begins promptly at 1:00 PM and ends between 3:30 and 4:00 PM. You can pre-register online at www.hikeforhope.org or by calling Lana at 978-689-8575, ext. 206. This is a very special year for the Hike for Hope, as this year’s participants will be walking and collecting pledges on behalf of the families who will be moving this October into the recently-completed transitional housing complex Capernaum Place. Capernaum Place is a name chosen with much prayer and reflection, drawn from St. Mark, Chapter 2: "When He had come back to Capernaum several days afterward, it was heard that He was at home. And many were gathered together, so that there was no longer any room, not even near the door, and He was speaking the word to them. And they came, bringing to Him, a paralytic carried by four men. Being unable to get to Him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above Him; and when they had dug an opening, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic was lying. And Jesus seeing their faith said to the paralytic, Son your sins are forgiven." How joyful that the faith of the community removed the roof and helped to give this man new life. In a very real way, Capernaum Place has been built and will be supported by the faith and determination of every past, present, and future walker and supporter of the Hike for Hope. This faith will now offer the residents of Capernaum Place a chance to move beyond their homelessness, restoring their dignity and offering a new life. And just as the paralytic may not have known those who carried him, our guests may never know those who help carry them, bringing them new joy and opportunities in their lives. SCRIPTURE READINGS FOR NEXT WEEK – NINETEENTH ORDINARY SUNDAY A reading from the Book of Wisdom 18:6-9 The night of the Passover was known beforehand to our fathers, that, with sure knowledge of the oaths in which they put their faith, they might have courage. Your people awaited the salvation of the just and the destruction of their foes. For when you punished our adversaries, in this you glorified us whom you had summoned. For in secret the holy children of the good were offering sacrifice and putting into effect with one accord the divine institution. A reading from the Letter to the Hebrews 11:1-2, 8-19 Brothers and sisters: Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen. Because of it the ancients were well attested. By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; he went out, not knowing where he was to go. By faith he sojourned in the promised land as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs of the same promise; for he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and maker is God. By faith he received power to generate, even though he was past the normal age—and Sarah herself was sterile—for he thought that the one who had made the promise was trustworthy. So it was that there came forth from one man, himself as good as dead, descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sands on the seashore. All these died in faith. They did not receive what had been promised but saw it and greeted it from afar and acknowledged themselves to be strangers and aliens on earth, for those who speak thus show that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of the land from which they had come, they would have had opportunity to return. But now they desire a better homeland, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. By faith Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was ready to offer his only son, of whom it was said, "Through Isaac descendants shall bear your name." He reasoned that God was able to raise even from the dead, and he received Isaac back as a symbol. + A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke 12:32-48 Jesus said to his disciples: "Do not be afraid any longer, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your belongings and give alms. Provide money bags for yourselves that do not wear out, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven that no thief can reach nor moth destroy. For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be. "Gird your loins and light your lamps and be like servants who await their master’s return from a wedding, ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival. Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself, have them recline at table, and proceed to wait on them. And should he come in the second or third watch and find them prepared in this way, blessed are those servants. Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour when the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come." Then Peter said, "Lord, is this parable meant for us or for everyone?" And the Lord replied, ‘Who, then, is the faithful and prudent steward whom the master will put in charge of his servants to distribute the food allowance at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master on arrival finds doing so. Truly, I say to you, the master will put the servant in charge of all his property. But if that servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants, to eat and drink and get drunk, then that servant’s master will come on an unexpected day and at an unknown hour and will punish the servant severely and assign him a place with the unfaithful. That servant who knew his master’s will but did not make preparations nor act in accord with his will shall be beaten severely; and the servant who was ignorant of his master’s will but acted in a way deserving of a severe beating shall be beaten only lightly. Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more." Copyright 1970, 1986, 1992, 1998, 2001 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc. Washington D.C. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by an information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner. |
