Sunday: 5:30PM Vigil Mass $706; Sunday 8:30AM $379; 10:00AM $480; 11:00AM $300; 12:30PM$886; 8:00PM $866; Week Masses & donations $756; Total $4,373 — Thank you!
–I wish to acknowledge $1000 from Anna Villa towards the purchase of new tables for our parish hall. Thank you.
– As you can see the chair lift outside our church is almost ready. Now the problem will be its safe operation and control. It has a key so it is not a free for all. We must be very careful to avoid anyone getting injured. It is a huge addition to our church. It is very safe and made by state of the art current technology. We’ll be probably the first church in NYC to have something like this. There was no other possible way to facilitate disable people into our church. As you know it is an expensive gift by the children of the great Maestro Leonard Bernstein to honor Julia Vega, their beloved Nanny, who died last year and whose birthday is February 25. We shall have a Mass in her memory at which the Bernstein family and friends will be present. It is going to be on Sun. February 28. Jamie, the eldest of Leonard and Phylicia Bernstein’s children is making the arrangements and I’ll keep you informed. Probably 12:30pm, although Julia’s Mass was 11am.
First Communion
– Here at SFDS we have two courses of religious instruction thanks to the help of two nice ladies, Dr. Teddy Polito, who takes care of the Confirmation (Her class is on Sun. from 11:30 to 12:30pm) and Elizabeth Lynch who takes care of First Communion (Her class is on Thu. from 3:30 to 4:30pm). Now the date of First Communion is Sunday May 2 at 12:30PM Mass. This week I was also able to arrange the date for Confirmation with Bishop Josu Iriondo for Wednesday, May 12 at 6PM here in our Church. So now that we know for definite, I need the cooperation of everybody to be available on that day. We’ll prepare a nice ceremony for the candidates, red gowns and stoles and we’ll have a beautiful ceremony. I think the Bishop is a very nice friendly man and we’ll have a great Confirmation.
– Dear Fr. Victor, The section on confession which you included in today’s bulletin is really wonderful and helpful. It is solid theologically and humanly. Giving people the words to say when trying to explain a hurt feeling that one keeps replaying for ego satisfaction and which needs healing and forgiveness is giving us real help in growing in the inner life. We all need encouragement to realize that feelings themselves have no morality but the indulging of them leads to the sore spot in the soul that needs attention. Thank you for providing this really practical piece and I welcome more such. Mary Ellen.
Fr. Koterski, SJ
– Theology on Tap-NYC (a young adult apostolate) presents “Does Your Conscience Have a License?” on March 8, 2010 at Metro 53 Bar, 307 East 53rd Street at 7pm-9pm. Do we truly allow our conscience to dictate our lifestyle? Do we make excuses for bad behavior and say, “well, my conscience told me it was ok.” Come and find out this night! The speaker is the Fr. Joseph Koterski, SJ, professor at Fordham University. (www.totnyc.org).
– Catholic Charities Junior Board (a young adult division of Catholic Charities) present a Two-Part Lenten Recollection on February 25th and March 4th at the Cathedral of St. Patrick Parish House, 14 East 51st Street, from 6:30pm-8:30pm. On February 25th, Fr. John Bartunek, author of the book, The Guide to the Passion will show scenes from the film, “The Passion of the Christ,” and offer meditations on these scenes. On March 4th, Fr Ron Perez, from Blessed Kateri Parish in Dutchess County, will provide a reflection on Our Lady and the Passion of Our Lord through her eyes. Please rsvp at: mario@cspya.org.
–Four new families have officially joined the parish in the last couple of weeks. I feel heartened by it.
–Lent will be soon upon us and we need to think of our Annual Cardinal’s Appeal only that now it is called The Archdiocesan Stewardship Appeal. I don’t want to hear negative comments about the Archdiocese. The Stewardship Appeal is the money that we send to the Archdiocese to which we belong and as any serious parish we have to assume our responsibilities and do our part (gladly not reluctantly). I am sick of people mouthing off against the church or church authorities. We had a clergy meeting this week and everybody was saying how generous people have been for Haiti. We should be proud of the Catholic Church and of our Archbishop. The new formula worked out is to ask every parish of the Archdiocese to contribute 1/6th of their Annual Sunday Collection (not inclusive of Christmas and Easter). In our case $24,500 (up from 18,400). It is a lot of money, but for instance last year we raised more than that ($26,100). Be careful. I want to reach the goal but not exceed it. Only the strictly required!
–Retired Archbishop Philip M. Hannan of New Orleans said “it would be tremendous” if his city’s team, the Saints, beat the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLIV Feb. 7 in Miami. “As a matter of fact, if it happens, the downtown parish of the city will simply explode,” he told the Clarion Herald, newspaper of the New Orleans Archdiocese. Archbishop Gregory M. Aymond, current head of the archdiocese, and Indianapolis Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein placed a friendly wager on the game. “If we win, he owes me some southern Indiana pork chops, and if they win, I owe him some gumbo,” Archbishop Aymond said. “It should be fun.” But it was Archbishop Hannan, now 96, who was there at the beginning, when the Saints and their fans were “newly minted,” as editor Peter Finney Jr. of the Clarion Herald recounted in his column for the Feb. 6 issue of the newspaper. The archbishop, who headed the archdiocese from 1965-88, even helped name the Saints. According to Finney, the archbishop reassured then-Gov. John McKeithen “that he did not consider the nickname sacrilegious. “But I have to tell you,’ he told McKeithen, ‘from the viewpoint of the church, most of the saints were martyrs.’” (I am afraid that Peyton Manning is too good. I think the Colts will make short work of the Saints).
–The Archdiocese of New York today announced that Saint James School, located on Saint James Place, and Saint Joseph School, on Monroe Street, will merge into one school beginning in September, 2010, the first step in a process that will result in the eventual merger of the two parishes. The new school will be known as Saint Joseph School and will be located in the current Saint Joseph School building. In addition, Saint Patrick’s Old Cathedral School, located at 233 Mott Street, will be closed at the end of the current school year in June. The decision to merge Saint James and Saint Joseph was made after careful consideration of how to best use our resources to ensure that our school is fully enrolled and fully supported on all levels. The merger will strengthen the enrollment at Saint Joseph’s, enabling it to continue to provide an excellent Catholic school education for its students. The Archdiocese remains committed to providing a quality Catholic education to any child who seeks one. Parents of the current students of Saint Patrick’s Old Cathedral School will be able to select another Catholic school in the area, including Immaculate Conception School on East 14th Street, Saint Brigid School on East 7th Street, and Our Lady of Sorrows School on Stanton Street. In addition, Transfiguration School, which has grown too large for its current school building on Mott Street, will use Saint James School beginning in September 2010, assuring that the building will continue to fulfill its mission of providing a Catholic education.
During the current academic year, St. James School has 213 students in grades pre-k through 8, and Saint Joseph School has 187 students in grades k through 8. Saint Patrick’s Old Cathedral School has 129 students in grades pre-k through 8. There are no other school closings anticipated for the current academic year. Who made the decision to close schools? The decision was made by the local Pastor of St. James, and approved by the Superintendent of Schools for the Archdiocese of New York. The closings will be coordinated by Archdiocese’s Department of Education. What were the criteria used to decide what schools closed? Declining enrollment places significant upward pressure on per pupil costs. The proper educational environment for students and the long-term interest of the entire system include maintaining high academic levels, upgrading technology, providing enrichment courses and after-school programs while remaining flexible enough to meet the changing needs of the school and parish community. The decision was also influenced by the proximity of other Catholic schools in the neighborhood that have spaces available to welcome the children. Will any faculty lose their jobs because of the closings?
It is our hope that teachers who have lost their jobs will be placed in other Catholic schools. The Superintendent’s office publishes priority hiring lists of those teachers who have lost their jobs due to school closures. These lists are sent to principals within the Archdiocese of New York. What will you be doing with the buildings? Saint James School, located on Saint James Place, and Saint Joseph School, on Monroe Street, will merge into one school beginning in September 2010. The new school will be known as Saint Joseph School and will be located in the current Saint Joseph School building. Transfiguration School (with flourishing Chinese population), which has grown too large for its current school building on Mott Street, will use Saint James School beginning in September 2010, assuring that the building will be used for Catholic education. In addition, Saint Patrick’s Old Cathedral School will be closed in June, and the building will revert to Saint Patrick’s Parish. It’s their property.
