Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church

Transcription

1 Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church Monsignor Nevin Klinger J.C.L., M.A., Pastor Monsignor Robert Coll, Pastor Emeritus Fr. Benoy Joseph, in residence 4101 Old Bethlehem Pike, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Advent is a season of wonder. And nothing surprises us more than God s extravagant giving of gifts. Without our even asking, God has given us the gift of life, bestowed on us our unique bodies and minds, our families and situations in which we slowly but surely make our way back to the God from whom we have come. But perhaps the biggest surprise of all is the gift that God has given us in Jesus, who is God become human. This most surprising gift is the one we concentrate on during our Advent preparation for Christmas. Of course, we must also note that Christ was not satisfied simply to become human long ago, but found a way to remain with us even after death. Jesus, the living and now risen one, continues to live within us through the power of the Holy Spirit, who unites us to Jesus and to one another as we share the life of God that Jesus brought us. Recapture the wonder of God s surprising presence in our hearts and in our lives today. MASS SCHEDULE Saturday Evening Vigil: 5:00 p.m. Sunday Morning: 7:30 a.m. 10:00 a.m. 11:30 a.m. Monday Friday 8:15 a.m. Holy Days: Vigil: 6:30 p.m. Holy Day: 9:00 a.m. & 6:30 p.m. CONFESSIONS Every Saturday: 4:00-4:45 p.m. and by appointment. DIOCESAN VICTIM ASSISTANCE COORDINATOR Wendy S. Krisak, M.A., NCC, LPC: Direct telephone: DIOCESAN SAFE ENVIRONMENT COORDINATOR Sr. Meg Cole, S.S.J.: Telephone: x 2019

2 YOUR STEWARDSHIP IS THE SOURCE OF OUR GROWTH November 17-18, 2018: $13, November 24-25, 2018: $12, Thank you for your support and generosity. The statement printed above expresses the gratitude felt in response to the generosity of the people of Assumption parish. For it is your weekly contributions that make much of what is done here possible. Thanks are extended to those who use envelopes and those who contribute through our Online Giving. PARISH CALENDAR FOR THE WEEK Monday, December 3, :00 a.m. Bible Study Finnegan Room 12:00 p.m. Sewing Sisters Finnegan Room 6:30 p.m. Bible Study Finnegan Room 7:00 p.m. Prayer Shawl Group Fritz Room 7:00 p.m. Contemp. Ensb. Rehearsal Church Tuesday, December 4, :00 a.m. Women s Bible Study Jubilee Center 1:00 p.m. Yarns of Love Group Finnegan Room 6:30 p.m. We The Living Grief Group-Finnegan Rm. Wednesday, December 5, :00 a.m. Bible Study Finnegan Room 6:00 p.m. PREP 7:00 p.m. Choir Rehearsal Church 7:00 p.m. RCIA Finnegan Room Thursday, December 6, :00 p.m. Young at Heart Group Coll Room 4:00 p.m. Youth Choir Rehearsal Church 7:30 p.m. CODA Fritz Room 8:00 p.m. Co-Ed Volleyball Hanlon Center Friday, December 7, :00 a.m. Top Gun Mtg. Finnegan Room 10:15 a.m. Tiny Tots Group Church Basement 6:30 p.m. Holy Day Vigil Mass Church Saturday, December 8, :00 a.m. Holy Day Mass Church 4:00 p.m. Confessions Church Sunday, December 9, :30 a.m. PREP 8:30 a.m. Adult Ed. Series Finnegan Room 8:30 11:30a.m. Breakfast with Santa Hanlon Center Immaculate Conception Holy Day Masses will be held this Friday, December 7 at 6:30 p.m. and Saturday, December 8 at 9:00 a.m. BREAKFAST Next Sunday, December 9 Hanlon Center sponsored by the Knights of Columbus See the insert in today s bulletin for more information! In anticipation of Christmas, Monsignor Klinger invites you to come and enjoy good food and warm friendship in a beautiful setting at the Church of the Assumption B.V.M. Annual Adult Christmas Party. Sunday, December 16, :00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Hanlon Center If you d like to help out with our annual Christmas party or would like to donate finger food, please call Mary Thompson at Come for the Christmas Party and stay for the annual Gaudete Concert in the church at 6:00 p.m. Can you deliver a Christmas flower to one of our homebound parishioners? We ll supply the flower, just Sharon at slencheski@mac.com or call or text her at and she ll contact you with more details. Flowers should be delivered starting December 16. Mission Statement The Church of the Assumption B.V.M. is dedicated to becoming a community of disciples of Jesus Christ. As disciples we make Jesus Christ a living reality in the lives of the members of our parish family. By guiding and encouraging our people to discipleship through a heightened awareness of our Lord s presence in their lives, the parish community becomes a visible and active expression of the living Christ in our world today.

3 Assumption Parish Staff Parish Office: ext. 10 Rev. Msgr. Nevin Klinger J.C.L., M.A., Pastor Deacon Don Elliott - ext 18, Deacon Stu Herman - ext. 19 Saint Michael the Archangel School: Mrs. Colleen Weiss, Principal; Mrs. Erin Faust, Vice Principal Assumption Preschool, Mrs. Andrea Powell, Director: powellandrea725@gmail.com Christina Durback, DRE: Parish & St. Michael Middle School: Dr. Dennis Varley: Director of Music: dennis.varley@desales.edu Mary Williams/Parish Office x10, abvmrect@ptd.net Kate Varley Room Scheduling/Bulletin x11, abvmkate@ptd.net audete: The Assumption Music Ministry will present their annual Advent candlelight concert after the parish Christmas Party on Sunday, December 16 at 6:00 p.m. The Gaudete concert will feature the Assumption Choir, the Youth Choir, The Contemporary Ensemble and soloists. Plan on attending this spiritual and uplifting concert. Volunteers are still needed for setting up, handing out programs and candles, decorating the concert space, and cleaning up after the performance. If you are able to help, please Dr. Varley at dennis.varley@desales.edu. Enclosed in your monthly envelope packet, is Christmas Flower Offering Envelope. Mass intentions for the names listed will be remembered at our Christmas Masses. Return this envelope by this Monday, Dec. 10 in order to have your loved ones listed in the Christmas bulletin. (Please remember to write legibly). MARCH FOR LIFE FRIDAY JANUARY 18, 2018 Join Assumption B.V.M. and St. Joseph s Church as we March for Life in Washington D.C. The cost is $25/person OR $75/ family. To reserve a spot, Lisa Temple at: lisa_temple3@yahoo.com or call Payment is due Jan. 11, Make check payable to: Assumption BVM. Send check to: Lisa Temple, 5850 Woodcrest Drive Coopersburg, PA Please join the parish Y oung At Heart group this Thursday, December 6th at 1:00 p.m. in the Coll Room. Join us for Is Your Family Aware of Your Final Wishes? The following content will be discussed: The importance of prearranging and preplanning funerals Making your wishes known Benefits available to Veterans and spouse of a Veteran The Catholic Church view on cremation Questions and Answers by parishioner and funeral director, Lou James. The Assumption Christmas Angel program provides gift cards for those families in our parish who are struggling financially. If you would like to be an angel this Christmas, contact the parish office by ing abvmrect@ptd.net or calling to sponsor a child in our parish. JC Penney and grocery gift cards will be provided to those in need. Please make checks out to the Hanlon Center which is our gift card account. Drop your donation in the collection basket in an enveloped marked Christmas Angels or drop it off at the parish office. Please come and say the Rosary on Thursday, Dec. 13 We will recite the rosary at 3:00 p.m. in the church. Please note the time change for the winter months.

4 Mrs. Colleen Weiss, Principal Mrs. Erin Faust, Assistant Principal YOU ARE INVITED TO JOIN US! We invite our parish families to join our students and families of St. Michael the Archangel School as we kick off the holidays and spread our own Christmas joy. Please join us on Dec. 11 th for our Elementary School Christmas Concert at St. Joseph church. What a wonderful way to start your holiday filled with the voices of our children! REGISTRATION: We have opened up registration for the school year. If you have a child of Pre-K or Kindergarten age and will be enrolling them at St. Michael the Archangel School, we encourage you to register them as soon as possible. Applications are in the offices of both buildings, or call Marianne Gano, Director of Advancement at Please don t delay! Friends of St. Mike's please bookmark this AMAZON link so all your eligible holiday shopping will benefit St Michael the Archangel School: BARNES and NOBLE NIGHT Save the date! Our 4 th annual Barnes & Noble night! Our school choir will be performing at 7pm. Purchase Christmas gifts and generate funds for our school at the same time. St. Michael the Archangel School Tuesday, December 4, 2018 The Promenade Shops Events: 6:00-8:00PM Shop in stores, nationwide, for Three Days (Tuesday 12/4/18 - Thursday 12/6/18), using the Bookfair ID # , at our registers, and a percentage of the sale will go towards the Fundraiser (even sales in the café count). In these beginning weeks of the new liturgical year, please remember in your prayers: Our 45 First Reconciliation candidates who will celebrate God s forgiving love in this Sacrament for the first time on 9 March. Our 54 Confirmation candidates who will celebrate the Holy Spirit in this Sacrament on 26 March. Our 43 First Eucharist candidates who will come to the Lord s table for the first time on 11 May. Reminder to PREP families: If inclement weather should cause the cancellation of a Sunday PREP session, we will send an notice of cancellation. We will have no phone chain this year. On Wednesdays note that if Southern Lehigh Schools dismiss early or cancel for the day, we will automatically cancel PREP that evening. Youth Outreach: St. Michael Middle School and Assumption PREP are collecting coffee, tea, hot chocolate mix and candy canes for the St. Paul Food Bank in Allentown and Betty Lou s Food Bank in Coopersburg during the month of December. Please drop off your donations in the boxes in the hallway of St. Michael Middle School. Children/Youth Needed for the Christmas Eve 4:00 p.m. Mass: Children in grades 1 8 may participate in the presentation of the Gospel as shepherds, angels, wise men, Mary or Joseph. Youth in grades 5 8 may participate as lectors (readers of God s Word, or the petitions). To volunteer, please contact Mrs. Durback at the Religious Education Office by Dec.12. Attendance at a practice on Dec. 17, 3:30 4:30 p.m. is required. Children accepted on a first-come, firstserved basis.

5 The Sanctuary Lamp burns this week in memory of Kathryn M. Orlando. Monday, December 3: St. Francis Xavier 8:15 a.m. Kathleen Jani Tuesday, December 4: St. John Damascene 8:15 a.m. Florinda Ramirez Ferrer and Fifa Pabor Ferrer Wednesday, December 5: Advent Weekday 8:15 a.m. Special Intention for Evanthia Zengion Challas Thursday, December 6: St. Nicholas 8:15 a.m. Joseph Andreucci, Jr. Friday, December 7: St. Ambrose 8:15 a.m. Joseph Topper, Sr. 6:30 p.m. Robert Johnston Saturday, December 8: Immaculate Conception 9:00 a.m. Anthony Bas Vigil 5:00pm Janine Grap Sunday, December 9: 2nd Sunday of Advent 7:30 a.m. Living & Deceased Parishioners 10:00 a.m. Pat Gill 11:30 a.m. Thomas K. Barber READINGS FOR THE WEEK Monday: Is 2:1-5; Ps 122:1-9; Mt 8:5-11 Tuesday: Is 11:1-10; Ps 72:1-2, 7-8, 12-13, 17; Lk 10:21-24 Wednesday: Is 25:6-10a; Ps 23:1-6; Mt 15:29-37 Thursday: Is 26:1-6; Ps 118:1, 8-9, 19-21, 25-27a; Mt 7:21, Friday: Is 29:17-24; Ps 27:1, 4, 13-14; Mt 9:27-31 Saturday: Gn 3:9-15, 20; Ps 98:1-4; Eph 1:3-6, 11-12; Lk 1:26-38 Sunday: Bar 5:1-9; Ps 126:1-6; Phil 1:4-6, 8-11; Lk 3: RELIGIOUS CALENDARS are available at the entrances of church. Please feel free to take one home. MANY THANKS to parishioner Louis James and the James Funeral Home & Cremation Service, Inc. for providing the calendars to our parishioners again this year. Weekly Sales: Nov : $3, Please use gift cards for your holiday shopping. Our parish receives a profit from all of the stores we purchase from: 20% profit from Red Robin for holiday gift cards 10% profit from Macy s for gift cards 8% profit if you buy Copperhead Grille gift cards 5% profit from the following grocery stores: Giant, Weis, Valley Farm and Fresh Market. 7% profit from Bell Hall Restaurant Allentown If you need specific gift cards for the holidays, please call Kate at x11 to preorder. Advent Giving Tree: At the front entrance of the church, tags are available for you to pick up then donate an item for the Mary s Shelter of the Lehigh Valley. Mary s Shelter provides residential and non-residential services for pregnant women and women and their newborns who are in need of a supportive environment because of lack of suitable housing or favorable family relationships. The Mary s Shelter is also involved in outreach to 180 families. Tagged items are household items, as well as baby items. Place your unwrapped gift in that area near the front entrance of the church (near Old Bethlehem Pk.) SOAP PROJECT (Save Our Adolescents from Prostitution) With generous donations from parishioners, we were able to purchase 5 cases of soap. Soap will be distributed to motels with labels offering help to identify and report sex trafficking. We will label the soap on Monday, December 10, at 1:00 p.m. in the parish office. Call the office at if you can help! The altar flowers for this weekend were given in loving memory of: Audrey Rafferty and Pat Gill by: The Women s Advent Breakfast Committee

6 First Sunday of Advent Today s Readings: Jer 33:14 16; Ps 25:4 5, 8 9, 10, 14; 1 Thes 3:12 4:2; Lk 21:25 28, We the Church enter into Advent and the new liturgical year with a call for a watchful confidence. Our readings were originally addressed to communities undergoing great loss and confusion. Jeremiah speaks confidently of God fulfilling the ancient promises to Israel, even during a time of foreign invasion. Paul speaks of God leading the Church into holiness, while the community longs for the coming of Jesus. In the Gospel passage from Luke, Jesus speaks of powerful signs and of great confusion to come, but emphasizes that we may look forward knowing that God brings not cause for despair, but hope. We celebrate Advent to remind each other of God s faithfulness. We are to be watchful, to see how God is stirring up our world. God both disturbs our pride and complacency, and brings us healing and justice. We prepare ourselves to welcome Jesus, confident that God indeed fulfills all these divine promises. WIDENING OUR VISION In daily life, it s easy to simply focus on the here and now. Life can be complex and rapidly changing. It s often plenty for us just to get through the day. Yet it seems that in Luke s Gospel today, Jesus is asking his followers, and us too, to widen our focus and see a larger reality. We are asked to observe not only the routines of daily life, not only the large forces of history acting upon us, but also God bringing forth the birth of a new creation. Jesus asks us to see beyond today s troubles and watch God stirring up hope. We are to more truly see persons in need, those who experience violence, loss, or injustice. We are asked to see beyond the superficial during the Christmas shopping season, and to see Christ as ultimate Gift and gift-giver. WAITING WELL Today we begin Lectionary Year C, when the Gospel readings are frequently from the Gospel of Luke. Luke wrote for a community that wrestled with questions about what had happened and what had not (yet) happened. Some in the community had anticipated the promised return of Jesus during their lifetimes. In today s Gospel, Jesus does not offer a timetable for his coming, but asks us to watch and wait. We can learn to wait faithfully, not knowing what will happen next, but living in trust. Advent is a time to learn again about waiting well. Many of the events we most cherish in life involve waiting: the birth of a child, graduation, a new job, retirement. How we receive these events often depends on how well we have waited and prepared. Waiting well is not passive. We often work hard to prepare for life s big events, both externally and in our hearts. We ready ourselves, but allow for surprises. Advent s preparation for Christmas mirrors our many waitings, knowing that God may come into our lives by surprise, without a timetable.

7 INTRODUCING Our parish is hosting a new playgroup for infants and toddlers every Friday from 10:15 to 11:30 a.m. in the church basement. Catherine Beck, Assumption Preschool Teacher, will guide the playgroup. Moms, dads and grandparents can get to know each another and enjoy watching the kids play. For more information, call Adult Religious Education Series Catholic Spirituality, Lives of the Saints and the Sunday Gospel, featuring Bishop Robert Barron on DVD, will be offered at the following times: Sunday Mornings, 8:30-9:50 a.m. in the Finnegan Room Join anytime. If you are interested or have any questions, contact Larry Durback at x12 or ldurback@gmail.com. Let the men and women on our parish prayer chain help pray for your intention! What does the new year have in store for us on the pro life frontier? All are welcome to attend the next Respect Life Ministry meeting on Thursday December 13 at 9:00am in the Finnegan Room. Can t make the meeting but would like to receive updates on parish pro life events? Please Lisa Temple at lisa_temple3@yahoo.com NEW PARISHIONERS Welcome! Our parish family invites all of its members to participate fully in our spiritual and social life. Please contact the parish office to register. BAPTISMS Baptisms are scheduled in the parish office after receipt of sponsor certificates. Baptisms take place immediately following the 11:30 a.m. Sunday Mass. Contact the parish office at x10 at least six weeks in advance. Parents must attend a Baptismal Preparation Class. WEDDINGS Couples must contact the pastor at least 6 months prior to the wedding. BULLETIN All copy must be received in writing two Fridays prior to the intended Sunday publication. We reserve the right to edit all copy. All inserts must be received at least two weeks in advance. PRAYER CHAIN Call Carol Herman at or her at prayer@ealvinc.com and give her your name and intention. She will contact other parishioners participating in our Prayer Chain on your behalf. PARISH PASTORAL COUNCIL The Council welcomes any comments or suggestions by parishioners. Please contact Jeanine Faust at faust2@epix.net this month. Advent Day of Reflection A Women s Day of Reflection will be held at the Jesuit Center, Wernersville, on Saturday, December 15, from 9:30am to 2:15pm. The theme Advent: New Church Year, New Me. Deacon James Russo will discuss a Catholic perspective on the Charles Dickens classic, A Christmas Carol. Cost for the day is $20, includes a light breakfast, Mass, Rosary, Liturgy of the Hours as well as lunch and time for fellowship. If you would like to register, please go to cfw-spirituality. For questions, please contact Joanie Norelli at or Susan Teaford at or cfw@allentowndiocese.org. PARISH MEMORIALS Following the death of a relative or friend, offerings may be made to the Church in loving memory of the deceased. The offerings may specify a particular request or placed in the Parish Memorial Endowment, The Parish Education Endowment, or the Health Ministry Endowment. Our website: