Sunday: 5:30PM Vigil Mass $266; Sunday 8:30AM $310; 10:00AM $244; 11:00AM $247; 12:30PM $692; 8:00PM $380; Week Masses $283; Total $2422 – Thanks!
–So we come to Labor Day Weekend which marks the end of summer and the beginning of the School Year. It is the last fling before young and adults get back to working routines. I am sure a happy relief to parents. Hectic time with last minute back to school purchases. It is always amazing to me how many leave everything to the last moment including enrolling their children in school or catechetical programs etc. any way good luck!!
–I have to report that the Parish Council was very supportive. They were informed and looked at the terms of the rental and had some questions. I don’t have the minutes at hand but I will share them with you when I get them. The secretary is away in vacation for a few days. But officially the Parish Trustees and Pastor have now signed the document of rental on our behalf. I am not sure that Marymount have done so and until they do nothing is official. As I am not in charge of the negotiations I cannot tell you the reasons for the delay.
–Christ did not limit himself to taking just the lowest place at the table, but took the lowest place in the world on the cross, explained Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday. Jesus, taught the Pope, repeatedly offers humanity “a model of humility and of free giving” and showed the world “radical humility” by accepting the Cross. I mention it because if you came to church that was also the gist of my sermon quite coincidentally.
–You know how you read that Catholic countries like Ireland and Poland that used to have massive mass attendance on Sundays have become increasingly secular and attendance has dropped considerably. I was surprised to read somewhere that a national Catholic newspaper has become Poland’s top-selling weekly, outstripping its secular competitors. Gosc Niedzielny (Sunday Guest), a 92-page tabloid owned by the Archdiocese of Katowice, was confirmed Aug. 23 as the country’s highest-circulation weekly with more than 144,000 copies. It benefitted from a vigorous chief editor, a priest, and youthful editorial team, as well as from support by Catholic parishes nationwide. He said the staff had made sure the paper is “contemporary and up-to-date in form and content and addresses the issues most preoccupying people here in an open, approachable way.” ZKDP, the association that controls Poland’s press distribution, said Gosc Niedzielny, which runs local editions in half of the country’s 34 Catholic dioceses, had boosted sales by 5.5 percent in the past year, overtaking its nearest secular rival, Polityka, whose circulation fell by 2 percent to 142,000. Father Jaklewicz deputy chief editor, said Gosc Niedzielny offered a positive sign to counter media claims that the Polish Catholic Church faced decline with falling priestly vocations and Mass attendance. “Although the church has its problems and weaknesses, there are many good, hopeful things happening as well,” he said.
–I think the visit of the Pope to England is fraught with dangers. It is a German Pope and you know the English and the Germans and the second world war etc… Also, the scandal of pedophilia by priests, the move to incorporate the conservative wing of the Anglican Church into the Catholic and the proximity to Ireland. You remember the letter the Pope wrote to the Irish during Lent. They wanted the Pope to visit them and show solidarity with their spiritual woes. There is a lot of to and fro at this very moment to consolidate, final touches etc. to organize, to work out problems and possible kinks, in advance and forestall any disagreeable incident. Ambassadors are under tremendous stress. Francis Campbell, the British ambassador to the Vatican, is one member of the group of diplomats who seem to spend every afternoon and evening running from a meeting to a conference and then on to a reception or dinner party. Somehow, despite the busyness, he and at least one other member of the diplomatic corps find time to plan fairly elaborate practical jokes to play on their colleagues and on journalists. But for the past year, he has had what he described as being almost another full-time job: preparing for Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Great Britain Sept. 16-19. Susan Boyle said in an interview on Wednesday that she is “honored and humbled” for the invitation to sing for the Pope in her homeland of Scotland next month. The performances she will make during the Pope’s visit are “her greatest dream come true.”
–A report issued on Friday showed the U.S. birth rate in 2009 falling to the lowest in a century. Experts, including president Steve Mosher from the Population Research Institute, (PRI) have cited the current economic recession as a significant factor in the recent numbers. Are these incontrovertible signs of stagnation and decline?
– Two Catholic bishops will take part in a Denver marathon in October. One is running to raise funds to pay off the $2.07 million debt on his diocese’s cathedral, while the other is joining local Catholics to increase prayers for and awareness of vocations to the priesthood and religious life.
– The Missionaries of Charity, the religious order founded by Blessed Mother Teresa, has no set plan for the future, revealed the current Mother Superior. In an interview released on Monday by Fides news agency, she said that Mother Teresa left them only with her constant advice: to become ever more holy.
German-born Sister Mary Prema spoke with Fides as the 100th anniversary of Bl. Mother Teresa’s birth, celebrated on Aug. 26, approaches. Mother Teresa’s “only goal” of loving Jesus and transmitting that love to others is the legacy she left to the Missionaries of Charity, said Sr. Mary.
Asked what major challenges the order under her direction expects in the future, she answered that the Missionaries of Charity don’t make plans too far in advance. “We try to remain open to what God asks of us,” she explained. “Only Jesus will tell me what is the next step. So, in the spirit of Mother, I’m not the one who controls things. God is the one who decides.”
– The Spanish Royal Federation of Soccer (SRFS) offered the World Cup trophy Spain recently won to Our Lady of Guadalupe at the basilica in Mexico City. During the emotional ceremony, the president of the SRFS, Angel Maria Villar, presented to trophy to Msgr. Diego Monry, fulfilling a promise made during his last visit to Mexico. The Spanish officials were accompanied by the president of the Mexican Soccer Federation, Jacinto Desio de Maria, and other members of his staff. In his homily, Msgr. Monroy Ponce emphasized the human values that sports foster in society and proposed that they are a vehicle for the creation of spiritual strength. “An effort of this dimension not only has do to with winning but also with spirituality,” he said.
–My brother goes to reconciliation at more than one parish so he can sure he is getting the “right” penance. This isn’t normal. What should do? Worried sick.
Dear worried, it sounds as though your brother has scrupulosity a condition characterized by obsessive thoughts about matters of faith and spirituality. People with scrupulosity sometimes confess the same sin to several priests so they can compare the answers. Living with scrupulosity is lonely and emotionally draining. The shame the scrupulous feel over their perceived sinfulness often isolates them from friends and family who can’t understand their fears. The treatment for scrupulosity is a combination of good pastoral care from one – and only one – priest as well as professional guidance, which often includes drug therapy. Researchers are studying scrupulosity’s similarities to obsessive-compulsive disorder. The more we learn, the more we can help people like your brother. Another source of support is Liguori Publications’ free monthly newsletter, Scrupulous Anonymous, which is available on our website www.liguori.org (scroll down to Spiritual Newsletters and click on Scrupulous Anonymous). If your brother asks for help advise him to ask his pastor for the name of a priest in his diocese who specializes in scrupulosity and tell him about Scrupulous Anonymous. But until he asks for help, all you can is pray for him and continue to be a loving compassionate sibling. (Thomas Santa, CSsR)
First Communion
– If you have children that need to make their First Communion, now is the time to contact our office and register them . Here in US the optimal time for First Communion is Second and Third Grades. We intend to repeat the program of last year of Catechism classes on Thursdays here in the rectory maybe at 3:30pm. Then the First Communion ceremony on the First Sunday of May next year. Please get in touch with our office as soon as possible so that I can get organized and order books etc.. We have a starting date for these programs which is October 14 next. So you need to get moving.
–Everybody is talking about the hurricane which seems to be tracking its way towards New York, a first in 40 years, I believe. The Bulletin printers have advised us to send the bulletin asap so that they can pass it on to FedEx as early as possible which in turn must air lift it to New York ahead of Earl.
–Last but not least, pls. remember in your prayers my confrere Father Pasquale Ruggeri who died at 3pm on Tuesday August 31. He was 87 and half years old. I will attend his funeral in Boston if possible. In memory of the ten years we spent together at St. Ann’s. I honored him in past bulletins if you remember. He was getting very fragile and lost. He was ready for heaven.
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