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1 2001 Ardmore Boulevard, Pittsburgh, PA Parish Website: Fr. Kenneth W. Marlovits Administrator stmauriceparish-office@comcast.net Fr. Daniel A. Adjei In Residence East Catholic School Sr. Judith Stojhovic, Principal ; FAX: principal@eastcatholicschool.org Norman E. Chapman Music Ministry SaintMauriceMusic@gmail.com Joyce Gillooly Adult & Family Life stmauriceparish-adulted@comcast.net Cheryl Kirkland Director of Religious Education stmauriceparish-ccd@comcast.net Jo Ann McLaughlin-Klemencic Director of Evangelization stmauriceparish-youth@comcast.net Kelley Rodgers Business Manager stmauriceparish-busmgr@comcast.net Parish Office Secretaries Judy Kosar, LaVerne Caprara Fax: stmauriceparish-office@comcast.net Liturgies Saturday Evening 5:00 PM Sunday 8:00 AM; 10:00 AM; 12:00 Noon Monday 9:00 AM; 7:00 PM (with Novena) Tuesday - Friday 7:00 AM; 9:00 AM Saturday 9:00 AM Sacraments RECONCILIATION: Saturday 11:00 AM to 12:00 Noon INFANT BAPTISM: Seminar - First Sunday of every month at 1:00 PM in the Parish Center. Call the Parish Center Office to pre-register. Sacrament - Administered third Sunday of the month at 1:00 PM. Call the Parish Center Office to register. SPONSOR CERTIFICATES FOR BAPTISM AND CONFIRMATION: Anyone needing a sponsor certificate must be registered in the Parish for at least 3 months, have all of their Sacraments (if married, be a Catholic Marriage), attend Mass regularly and support the Church. INITIATION FOR ADULTS (RCIA PROCESS): Contact the Parish Center Office. MARRIAGE: Contact the Pastor at least six months in advance. ANOINTING OF THE SICK: By appointment or on scheduled Sundays. COMMUNION CALLS: If you are unable to attend Mass, contact the Parish Center Office to arrange for Communion to be brought to your home. REGISTRATION: New parishioners are welcome. Call the Parish Center Office to register. OFFICE HOURS: Monday - Friday 9:00 AM -12:00 PM; 1:00 PM -4:30 PM BULLETIN DEADLINE: Monday 2:00 PM Keane Hall Kitchen: DIOCESE SEXUAL ABUSE VICTIM ASSISTANCE HOTLINE: December 3, 2017 First Sunday of Advent

2 FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT December 3, 2017 Be watchful! Be alert! You do not know when the time will come. Mark 13:33 A Call To Re-ignite The Fervor Of Our Faith By Praying, Serving & Learning Programming for youth in Middle School (Grades 7-8) High School (Grades 9-12) Please contact Jo Ann McLaughlin-Klemencic: stmauriceparish-youth@comcast.net; MS: Advent Family Event Help, Sunday, December 3, 11:00 AM-12:30 PM, Lawrence Room. The Adult Education committee is hosting an Advent Family Event, and needs the help of our middle school youth with crafts and serving snacks. Please sign up on the youth website. HS: Advent Hangout before Holy Hour, Sunday, December 3, 6:00 PM, Parlor. High School youth are invited to hang out as we reflect on all the Advent season has to offer spiritually on the first Sunday of the season. Food will be provided. Please sign up on the youth website. MS & HS: Volunteering at the Packing Party, Thursday, December 14, 6:00 PM, Keane Hall. We will be assisting with the packing and sorting of the Giving Tree presents. We will meet at 6:00 PM in Keane Hall. Please bring a snack or drink to share with all the volunteers, which we will have after all the presents have been sorted. Please sign up on the youth website. FOOD FOR THE NEEDY: Next weekend, food for the needy will be collected at all Masses. We ask that you be generous in responding to this collection. Please make sure the food is nonperishable, in good condition, and has NOT EXPIRED. CRÈCHE SET UP: The Knights of Columbus and the Ushers are setting up the Crèche for the holiday season on Sunday, December 3, at 1:30 PM at the Church entrance. Any and all are welcome. Many hands make light work! WALKING TOURS: Is your child ready to start Preschool or Kindergarten? Please join us at East Catholic School for a tour and see firsthand what we have to offer from pre-k through 8 th grade. Registration is required for the walking tours. Call the school office at to register for a tour today! Current scheduled tours: Thursday, December 7, 9:30 AM Wednesday, January 10, 9:30 AM Catholic Schools Week Open House: Sunday, January 28, 2018 from 1:00 PM 3:00 PM No registration is required for open house. ST. NICHOLAS DAY FREE STORY TIME SESSIONS AT EAST CATHOLIC SCHOOL LIBRARY: Wednesday, December 6, is the next Perfect for Preschoolers Story Time at East Catholic School at 2001 Ardmore Boulevard, Forest Hills, PA. This is a free story, rhyme, song and craft program designed to entertain and engage young children. The program is for children 2-1/2 to 5 years old and is designed to give them a positive introduction to books and the habit of reading. Each program features appealing books, favorite stories, and lively activities. The theme of this Story Time is: St. Nicholas Day. There will be one session from 12:30 to 1:30 PM. We invite all children along with their parent or guardian to come and visit Story Time at East Catholic Library. Registration is required by calling East Catholic School Office ( ) during school hours (8:30 AM until 2:00 PM). Final date for registration is Monday, December 4. Join us for some St. Nicholas fun! THE LIGHT IS ON FOR YOU: Rediscover the Sacrament of Reconciliation when the Light Is On for You! Every church in the Diocese of Pittsburgh will be open on Wednesday, December 13, from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM and Priests will be available for Confession. Experience the unending love and mercy of God!

3 GOD HAS A DIFFERENT PLAN: We begin the season of Advent with a heartfelt call for our own repentance. We remember God s faithful love for us, and call upon God to help us to turn back. For behold, you are angry, and we are sinful (Isaiah 64:4). In the first reading and in the psalm, we recall God s promises and lament our unfaithfulness and our guilt. We call upon God s might and power in order to save us. With Isaiah, we ask God to rend the heavens and come down, / with the mountains quaking before you (Isaiah 63:19). Yes, God is faithful to us, because we are the work of God s hands. God is the potter, we are the clay. And yet, our concept of how God will come to save us is rooted in our own expectations of a warrior God who crushes mountains and thunders into our lives with great noise and glory. But God has a different plan: the Incarnation. Proper Planning needed to make it to Mass on the 24 th and 25 th : With Christmas being on a Monday this year, it will be important to properly plan your attendance for the 4 th Sunday of Advent and then the Christmas Mass. Please note the schedule! Please share this information as it involves several changes. 4 th Sunday of Advent Masses are Saturday, December 23, at 5:00 PM and Sunday, December 24, at 9:00 AM and 12:00 Noon. (There will be no 8:00 AM or 10:00 AM Mass this Sunday.) Christmas Masses are Sunday, December 24, at 5:00 PM, 7:30 PM and Midnight. Then there is a Mass at 9:00 AM on Christmas day. There are three (3) opportunities to make your Sunday obligation and four (4) to meet your Christmas day obligation. Please plan ahead to ensure that you and your family will meet both your Sunday and Christmas obligation to attend Mass. Seeing that this year January 1, Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, is not a holy day of obligation, there will be no change in the weekend schedule. However, on January 1 the only Mass celebrated will be the 7:00 PM Mass. Confessions will be: Wednesday, December 13, from 6:00-9:00 PM (The Light Is On For You), and Saturday, December 23, from 11:00 AM-12:00 Noon. LIGHTING OF THE ADVENT WREATH: This Advent season, as our St. Maurice Parish family gathers together for our weekend Masses, we would like to invite individuals and/or families to light the candles on the Advent wreath. We hope that you will consider volunteering to be a part of this Advent ritual as we prepare to celebrate the birth of Christ. There are sign-up sheets for each of the Masses at the Welcome Desk. In addition, if you or one of your family members would like to read an Advent Wreath Prayer as you light the candles, you will also have that optional opportunity. Copies of the prayers will be available at the Welcome Desk. Booklets containing daily reflections for Advent are available at the back of the Church. GIVING TREE: As the season of Advent begins, parishioners are being asked to take a tag from the Giving Tree that represents a suggested gift item for someone in need. The program helps local individuals and families as well as LGAR Home, Genesis, and Steel Valley Family Center. Gifts should be returned wrapped by Tuesday, December 12, with the tag visible. For gifts associated with LGAR, the organization has requested items be wrapped in a gift bag; these will contain a red star sticker on the tag. Thank you for your generosity. BREAKFAST WITH SANTA! Saturday, December 9, 8:00 AM-10:30 AM, held at East Catholic School Cafeteria: Keane Hall. Presale: $6 Child OR adult! Tickets will be on sale at the Welcome Desk after all Masses on December 2 & 3. (Tickets at the door: Children $7, Adult $8). CHECKS should be made payable to Knights of Columbus. All you can eat! Pancakes, sausage patties, hash brown potatoes, coffee, tea, orange drink & bottled water. Santa Claus arrives at 9:15! Good Knight Fudge from Copper Kettle on sale! Sponsored by: The Forest Hills K of C.

4 Saturday - (2nd) Weekday 5:00 PM - Elizabeth Marko (Regis Marko) Sunday - (3rd) First Sunday of Advent 8:00 AM - People of St. Maurice 10:00 AM - Dec. & Living Mem. Doyle & Bentz Families (Ron & Mary Jane) 12:00 PM - Jennie Kosar (Judy Kosar) Monday - (4th) Advent Weekday 9:00 AM - Patrick Brennan (Flivver Organization) 7:00 PM - Ann Strank (Karen - daughter) Tuesday - (5th) Advent Weekday 7:00 AM - Helen Winters (Carol Bailey) 9:00 AM - Rose Traficante (Mary Franzetta) Wednesday - (6th) Advent Weekday 7:00 AM - Dora Hedfors (Family) 9:00 AM - George Vichinsky (Lorraine Amorelli) Thursday - (7th) St. Ambrose, Bishop & Dr. 7:00 AM - Patrick Brennan (Family) 9:00 AM - Zeina Boulos (Courtright Family) Friday - (8th)The Immaculate Conception of the BVM 7:00 AM - Rick Malogne (Ida Hardin & Janet Weber) 9:00 AM - Bertha & Frank Brozek (Janet & Dennis Baran) 7:00 PM - Joanne Kosar (Family) Saturday - (9th) Advent Weekday 9:00 AM - Agnes Burns (Demkee Family) 5:00 PM - Chuck Qualey (Family) Sunday - (10th) Second Sunday of Advent 8:00 AM - People of St. Maurice 10:00 AM - Darlene Dinkfelt (Sheila & Isaac Garcia) 12:00 PM - John Roscher (Dorothy Gross) ST. MAURICE TODAY S READINGS First Reading We are the clay and you, O Lord, are the potter: we are the work of your hands (Isaiah 63:16b-17, 19b; 64:2-7). Psalm Lord, make us turn to you; let us see your face and we shall be saved (Psalm 80). Second Reading God is faithful; by God you were called to fellowship with the Son (1 Corinthians 1:3-9). Gospel Be watchful! Be alert! You do not know when the time will come. (Mark 13:33-37). 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: Gn 3:9-15, 20; Ps 98:1-4; Eph 1:3-6, 11-12; Lk 1:26-38 Saturday: Is 30:19-21, 23-26; Ps 147:1-6; Mt 9:35 10:1, 5a, 6-8 Sunday: Is 40:1-5, 9-11; Ps 85:9-14; 2 Pt 3:8-14; Mk 1:1-8 The Offertory Collection for: (11/19/17) $10, (11/26/17) $10, MEMORIAL FUND In memory of Peggy Kearns from Marge Homze. Dominik Gerald Kaefer, son of Kurt & Nicole Kaefer. Congratulations. Tamara Wells, former parishioner. May her soul be without pain and rest in peace in God s loving MEMORIAL and most FUND holy hands. We In memory express of our condolences from to the family members and friends of the deceased. ANOINTING OF THE SICK: will be administered after the 12:00 Noon Mass on December 3, Prayer Line or SCHEDULE OF EVENTS Sunday, December 3, :00 AM - Advent Family Event - Parish Center 1:00 PM - Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick - Church 1:00 PM - Baptism Seminar - Parish Center 1:30 PM - Crèche Set-up 7:00 PM - Holy Hour - Church Tuesday, December 5, :00 PM - RCIA - Parish Center Parlor 7:30 PM - Knights of Columbus - Lawrence Room Thursday, December 7, :00 PM - Bible Study - Parish Center Saturday, December 9, :00 AM - Breakfast With Santa - Keane Hall Sunday, December 10, 2017 Food Collection

5 Today we begin the new liturgical year of the Church with the first Sunday of Advent. Today is a day of hope, inspiration, love and joy! As we light our Advent candle and anticipate the coming of our Savior, remember the past year and look forward to the upcoming new year with hope, love and joy! Each New Year s Day, do you make resolutions? This Advent, consider making a resolution to focus on giving to others. A friend shared with me a thought her daughter is resolving to do for Christmas. She writes, This Christmas, I m going to help someone in need. Giving is the new getting. Love is at our doorstep and I m going to let love in! This Sunday, the children in Religious Education went to confession in anticipation of Christmas. Many thanks to Fathers Ken, Daniel and Lazarus for hearing their confessions. When was the last time you went to confession? If it has been longer than you can count, go this Saturday at 11:00 AM. God loves you very much and wants to help you with your burdens let Him! ADVENT EUCHARISTIC HOLY HOUR: On Sunday, December 3, beginning at 7:00 PM in the Church, there will be a holy hour with time to pray in front of the Blessed Sacrament. This time will also include music, a reflection, and silence. It s a beautiful opportunity to reflect on the joyful hope of the Advent season and how God is truly present in our midst. Please consider joining us in prayer and adoration. GRIEF SUPPORT GROUP: will not be held in December. However, you are invited to attend our Christmas Service of Remembrance to be held on Wednesday, December 6, at 7:00 PM at Olympia Hall. For more information and reservations, please call Patrick Lanigan Funeral Home at The next Grief Support Meeting will be held on Wednesday, January 3, A NEW WAY TO ACCESS NEIGHBORING PARISH INFORMATION: Ever wonder what the other parishes in our cluster are up to? Maybe you can t make a Mass at St. Maurice and want to see other Mass times nearby? Well now you can easily access all that information on the St. Maurice website. When you go to the parish homepage, you will see a tab near the top called Neighbor Parishes. There is a drop-down menu for the Mass Schedules and Bulletins for the parishes in our On Mission parish grouping. The Mass Schedules page is a PDF document that includes all the Mass times as well as contact information for all parishes. Hopefully, this will be a convenient way to access information and visit our neighbors! ADVENT FAMILY ACTIVITY: The annual Family Activity for Advent will take place on Sunday, December 3, following the 10:00 AM Mass. Come and learn new Advent traditions and refresh your understanding of your treasured traditions. A 25- minute Advent movie, Martin the Cobbler, will be shown at 11:35 AM in the front parlor of the Parish Center. Please call the Parish Center Office ( ) to reserve your place. This activity is open to all CHRISTMAS WAFERS (OPLATKI): The sharing of the Christmas Wafer dates back to the early Christians and is still practiced in many homes during Advent prayers and before the Christmas dinner. This family tradition is a beautiful practice symbolizing charity, unity, and friendship. The traditional Christmas wafers are available in the vestibule of the Church and also at the Parish Center Office. Donations are welcome. CHRISTMAS FLOWERS: Each year parishioners become involved with the Christmas altar decorations by donating toward the cost of poinsettias. We ask those interested to make use of the Christmas Flowers envelope in your monthly packet. All parishioners who make monthly offerings can donate for the flowers by placing an envelope marked Christmas Flowers in the collection basket. Please be sure to list the names of the persons being remembered or honored by your donation. Please be as generous as possible so that we can continue to decorate our Church for the beautiful holiday season. Your donation will be greatly appreciated.