Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church

From Our Pastor ~ April 24, 2016

April 23, 2016 St Mary Fred

Dear Good People of Saint Mary,

This week as I write this bulletin article I am in Louisville, Kentucky, and we are hosting the National Workshop on Christian Unity.

As you probably know, I’ve been serving as the President for CADEIO, or the Catholic Association of Diocesan Ecumenical and Interreligious Officers, for the past six years. My job has been to coordinate the efforts of diocesan ecumenical officers across the country, to help facilitate the teachings of the Church, bring the developments of national dialogues to the local level, and to provide formation and education for those whom bishops appoint in their dioceses as ecumenical officers. This year also will be the eighth year that I have served on the National Planning Committee for this National Workshop. This Wednesday, at our General Assembly Meeting, we will elect a new President for CADEIO. Our Constitution requires that the President serve only two three-year terms; I will have completed these on Wednesday of this week. I’m retiring!

So, as you might imagine, the work going into finding new leadership, charting the next course for a new president, and defining our next goals for the Association is underway.

To be honest, I must say that the idea of retiring from this role at this particular moment in time, for me, is a relief. I have found so much travel taking a significant chunk out of our parish life. I want to thank you for your patience while I have been doing this work outside of the parish, it is important. I will still be involved in the work of ecumenism and interreligious affairs locally; I simply will not have a national leadership role any longer and probably will get to stay closer to home.

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Again soon, we will begin the celebration of parish First Communions during Sunday Masses. Last year we started a new program where, instead of celebrating First Communion at one large Mass for a large number of children, we spread more than 200 children’s First Communions during Sunday Masses over a four to five-week period.

Sometimes, large parishes are referred to as “sacrament factories.” So many people receiving so many sacraments can tempt us to try to provide the most expedient solutions for sacraments, and often times we discover this is not ideal. Over the past years, our First Communion Masses have become so impersonal, sometimes even irreverent. Our church size limits the number of family members who can participate in each celebration, and we find that families no longer celebrate the sacrament of Eucharist in the context of the Sunday Mass. By scheduling our First Communions to a Sunday Mass, we discover that The community is better able to celebrate the sacraments with the families of those receiving First Communion.

Beginning the first weekend in May, if you attend a Mass where children receive First Communion with their families, please be sure to stop them after Mass and congratulate them. Tell them how meaningful it is that you are able to witness their First Communion, and how it reminds you of your First Communion when you were young. Tell them how significant it is that you’re able to celebrate with them in their lives.

Too often the temptation is to think that when we receive a sacrament, it is meant for us alone. The reality of sacramental theology, however, teaches us the sacraments are intended for the community itself. Not for the individual—it is an opportunity for the community to celebrate the grace of God and the reception of those gifts as something that bring the community to life. None of us received a gift from God without the instruction to also share it.

Allow these celebrations with children in our parish to restore in you the memory and the understanding of the great gift of Eucharist that you have received. Of course, it is the Eucharist that draws us together. It is the Eucharist that provides for us the meaning of our life. It is the Eucharist that calls us to our final goal, and the temporary celebration of thanksgiving until that gratitude is perfect and fulfilled in heaven.

God bless you.

Express Announcements ~ April 24, 2016

April 23, 2016 St Mary Fred

* Saint Mary Parish Night Out 2016: Join us for an evening of dinner and dancing to the Andrew Thielen Big Band, Friday, April 29 at the UMW Jepson Center, Cash Bar 6-11pm, 7pm Dinner & Dancing. $75 person. Last year tickets sold out! Reserve yours now— see page 7 for details—its time to step it up, Fred!

* The second collection this weekend is for the Catholic Home Missions Appeal. Help “strengthen the Church at home” with your generous donation. To learn more about the home missions appeal, please visit www.usccb.org/home-missions.

* On May 5, join us for an Interreligious Prayer Service where we hope to re-establish relationships in our community—Noon at St. George’s Episcopal Church. We will hear from Muslim, Jewish and Christian Leaders and will gather to pray in one another’s presence.

* Mark your calendars: Our PARISH PICNIC will happen at Holy Cross Academy on Sunday, June 12 in the afternoon.

* Click here for Mass, Confession and Devotions Schedules

Express Announcements ~ April 17, 2016

April 16, 2016 St Mary Fred

* Preparations are underway for Holy Cross Academy’s 8th Biennial Benefit Auction and Dinner to be held on April 23, 2016! The goal of this year’s event is to begin the expansion plans of the school, to include a cafeteria, chapel, and rooms dedicated to music, art, science, language and technology. For ticket information please contact hcaauction@holycrossweb.com.

* We are putting the finishing touches on our 2015-2016 Parish Directory and would like to hear from you! If you wish to OPT OUT from having your information listed the Directory, please contact the parish office no later than April 22. We only need to hear from you if you DO NOT want your information published. If you participated in the program, Lifetouch has your information and intention on file.

From Our Pastor ~ April 17, 2016

April 16, 2016 St Mary Fred

Dear Good People of Saint Mary,

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Easter Season. It is right about now that I wake up in the morning and don’t feel tired any more. I’m hoping that’s tomorrow…

Also about this time, after we’ve had a lot of focus on events and reflection, we have written our thank you notes, before we look to the next projects on the horizon it is good to do some housekeeping and respond to some questions and concerns that seem to come up frequently. So, in no particular order of importance, here are some replies.

1. Amoris laetitia, the new apostolic exhortation of the Holy Father on the life of the family and marriage and sexuality is the most recent grist for the mill of popular media. I have been confronted by a number of people who have heard a little of this and a little of that about it, I ask them where they heard it. Well, CNN. MSNBC. FOX. Last I checked none of these had a concern for Church teaching, or even a vested interested in Truth without a spin. I would advise everyone to read the document (if he would only write a short document!) and we can talk. I will probably start a parish discussion group, as we did with Laudato si’ last summer, to sift through it together and get to the bottom of what Pope Francis wants to say. The first thing people want you to think is that “it” is all changing. First we must determine what “it” is, and then evaluate change in the context of Tradition and the Church, removing the many misconceptions that often cloud the conversation from the outset. Not all change is bad, either; it wouldn’t hurt us to try to be more compassionate, loving, welcoming. For now: study, prayer and discernment.

2. Lately when our Eucharistic Ministers go to the hospital to take Communion to the sick, they report back that the list of Catholics is very short. Many suspect that there are more Catholics than we know about. The only way we find out about you or your loved ones in the hospital is if you tell us. Please call our parish office and let us know you would like a visit on Sunday from one of our folks. Apparently, when you register at the hospital, it isn’t enough to say you are Catholic, you must actually request to receive pastoral care. Then your name will be put on a list. But the best advice is just to call us to be sure.

3. A new family, at the New Family Welcome Meeting on one of the fourth Sundays of every month, told me the reason they wanted to join our church is that they heard we were so understanding about babies in church. On the one hand I’m glad to know we are kid friendly but I sure don’t want us to get a reputation that we are promoting bad behavior during Mass! As I thought about it more and more, it isn’t the children who are misbehaving, though: it’s beyond their control. At the risk of sounding like a broken record (I’m dating myself), please use the cry room! It isn’t a play room, it is a quiet place to go when children break out in song at the wrong time. When parents don’t take their children out and it continues, and continues… it is so hard to concentrate (priest and congregation) and truly disrupts the purpose of why we all came. Remember the wise, old adage: “Good intentions are like crying babies. They should be carried out immediately.”

4. Maybe related to #1, but predating the arrival of Amoris laetitia, a number of people have asked about the nature of excommunication, particularly where marriage outside of the Church is concerned. In fact, it was one of the questions in the 8th grade question box the other day. The word “excommunication” conjures up movie scene memories of the Inquisition and people in black hooded robes stamping out the paschal candle upside down in the dirt, declaring somebody a heretic or declaring exile.

That is simply not the case. The word literally means “from Communion“—a situation where an individual’s discipline of life and formation of conscience does not agree with the law of the Church, and therefore separates that individual from the sacraments.

You actually can’t stop being a Catholic, you are always a member. Baptism can never be revoked. You still have your pew. Nobody is ever thrown out of the Church, though active participation may be limited for a time. For now, we must do what we can to stay alive in the sacraments. Priests, deacons and delegated laity are here to do what is necessary to heal and regularize these situations through the spiritual and canonical processes that form a part of the life of the Church. There is no sin too great that the love of God can’t conquer! It is we who must draw near.

God bless all of you.