Father Joe FROM THE PASTOR S DESK. Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

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2 FROM THE PASTOR S DESK Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ, As you know, Father Michael and I had a chance to get away for a few days this past week. Traveling to midtown Manhattan, we had a wonderful time to visit the city, catch up with old friends, and simply enjoy the city. On Monday night, we chanced upon a delightful little Italian restaurant in Little Italy, dining al fresco, and enjoying the sights and sounds of the city. After a little walk, we stopped for a bit of gelato and a cappuccino and overheard a very disturbing conversation. A group of four young people were philosophizing about life and religion and expounding on every misconception about religion. Two of the people were from Orthodox Judaism and the other two were from a fundamentalist Christian background. As the conversation continued, it was clear both couples had attended some form of religious education but apparently only as a formality. We heard so many wrong things about their own faith that we knew were inaccurate, but wanted to hear how badly formed they were. Then the fundamentalist Christians started talking, and while they quoted chapter and verse, there was no way that they understood what the sacred texts meant. Fortunately they finished their gelato just at the point they began to mock the existence of God and the perceived uselessness of a divine presence. As they left the table, they nodded to us and Father Michael kindly said to them, Don t give up on God until you really get to know Him. Politely they smiled and walked away. We then got into the conversation about our own people and how easily we could believe that this same conversation is undoubtedly taking place among our own Catholic people. How easy it is to dismiss the notion of the importance of Sunday Mass because sports or family obligations or the beach is just as important. It s convenient for any one of us to dismiss the Church s teachings on artificial contraception as archaic or suggest that abortion is a choice, or that human sexuality should be more flexible. We can say such things in ignorance because, like the two couples, we haven t grown in our knowledge of the faith or because such knowledge is too difficult to accept. Walking back home, we talked at length about those two couples and how sad we were for their ignorance. Even sadder were we for our own parishioners who believe that Sunday Mass (for some, when it s convenient,) is sufficient. As we celebrate this feast of the Transfiguration, we are praying that the Lord will reveal His glory to those who fail to recognize Him, to acknowledge Him, or to know Him. We pray, with all of you, that none of our own will give up on God so we will come to know Him so much better. Until next week...god bless! Father Joe 2

3 AUGUST 6, 2017 Saturday, August 5 Vigil (The Transfiguration of the Lord) 4:00PM +Michael Palaski, by his mother, Elaine Palaski Sunday, August 6 (The Transfiguration of the Lord) 8:30AM Anniversary Blessings for Amanda and Jason Seavey, by Dan and Denise Freeman 10:30AM For the People of the Parish 6:30PM +Michael Militello, by Carole Quinn Monday, August 7 (Saint Sixtus II and Companions; Saint Cajetan) 8:30AM +Grace Connolly, by the People of the Parish Tuesday, August 8 (Saint Dominic) 7:00PM +Henry Chojnowski, by Janet Estes Wednesday, August 9 (Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross) 8:30AM +Diane Belanger, by Cecile Desrochers Thursday, August 10 (Saint Lawrence) 7:00PM +Robert O Keefe, by the McKenna family Friday, August 11 (Saint Clare) 8:30AM +Matthew Vincent Madden (3 rd Anniversary), by his loving parents Saturday, August 12 (Saint Jane Frances de Chantal) 8:30AM +Robin Swanson, by Karen Swanson Vigil (Anniversary of the Dedication of the Church) 4:00PM +Vincent Griesel, by his wife, Jane Sunday, August 13 (Anniversary of the Dedication of the Church) 8:30AM +Elaine Russell, by the Dotchins 10:30AM For the People of the Parish 6:30PM +Russell Saucier, by Denny and Bob Maffia VOCATION ROSARY This week, Claire St. George will be praying the traveling rosary. Thank you to all who are part of this ongoing spiritual support for our men in formation for t h e p r i e s t h o o d a n d diaconate and for our religious in formation. To take part in this prayer campaign, please contact Deacon Ray at , ext Sunday, August 6 th Baptism Catechesis/RM 1 (12:00N) Tuesday, August 8 th Staff Meeting/Parish Office (8:30A) Crafters/Craft Room (1:00-8:30P) Wednesday, August 9 th Adoration/Chapel (5:30-8:15A and 1:00-7:00P) Evening Prayer and Benediction/Chapel (7:00P) Saturday, August 12 th Men of Saint Joseph/RM 1 (7:00-8:30A) Secular Carmelites/RM 2 (8:00A-12:00N) ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION Bishop Peter A. Libasci invites all couples who are celebrating their 25 th, 30 th, 35 th, 40 th, 45 th, 50 th or beyond Wedding Anniversary (anytime during the year 2017), to attend a Special Anniversary Mass. This celebration will be held on October 15, 2017 at 2:00 p.m., at Saint Joseph Cathedral, Manchester. If you are celebrating your 25 th, 30 th, 35 th, 40 th, 45 th, 50 th or beyond anniversary, please contact the parish office by September 22, We will need your last names, first names and mailing address. Please also indicate your special anniversary year. By providing your name to your Parish Office you will be registered and receive an invitation. There is no need for the couple to RSVP to the diocese or the Cathedral. SANCTUARY CANDLES +Matthew Vincent Madden by his loving parents CAN YOU HELP? We have received a request from our friend, Jaretta, for families in need. Can you possibly help us with any of the following? 1 twin bed 2 pack n play portable cribs Toys for a 2-year-old girl Toys for two 3-year-old girls Girls clothing sizes 4T and 5T If you are able to donate an item, please bring it to the parish office and we will make sure Jaretta gets it to the family. Thank you for your generosity!

4 THE TRANSFIGURATION OF THE LORD PLEASE PRAY FOR: Our men and women in formation for religious life: Elena Ainley Sister Faustina Kolbe Burda, DMN Sister Roxane Day Sister Diane Dube, p.m. Sister Athanasius Munroe, OP Brother John Mark Solitario, OP Brother Marius Strom, TOR Our Parishioners in the Armed Services: Frank Cunniff Clare Handy Zack Hurley David Jarry Joshua Keller Zach Keller Thomas Laste Our Deacon-Candidates: Joseph Dion Randy O Neill Jared Auclair Our Beloved Dead: Lorraine Simoneau Robert Almont Tate JESUS ACROSS THE BORDER What: 1 st Annual Beach Day with JESUS across the Border When: Friday, August 18, 2017, 8:00 a.m.-midnight Where: Star of the Sea Beach Chapel, Salisbury MA Join JESUS across the Border, the umbrella organization which unites over 17 different young adult Catholic groups, for an entire day at the beach! The church is providing free parking, access to the beach, and facilities starting at 8:00 a.m. Our usual evening event begins at 7:30 p.m. with Eucharistic Adoration and Praise and Worship lead by Soulfest musician, Kyle Erickson and Angelique Bolduc of LIFT Ministries. Father Chris Wallace joins us again as the main celebrant of Holy Mass at 9:00 p.m. Following Mass, we will have a beach pizza social. This is a fantastic opportunity for the over 17 Catholic young adult groups to network with one another! Please Billy Beauchesne at JESUSaCROSStheBorder@gmail.com or visit our Facebook Page ath t t p s : / / w w w. f a c e b o o k. c o m / JESUSaCROSStheBorder for more information. FORMED Have you learned anything new about your faith this summer? Why not challenge yourself to learn just one thing new? Register with FORMED for lectures, films, podcasts, and interesting reading. Sign up today at Our code is You ll be glad you did! REFLECTING GOD S GENEROSITY TO US Offertory: $ 8, Online Giving: $ 2, Total: $10, Society of African Missions: $ 3, We re officially into summer, which means camps are open and folks are traveling for the weekend. If you are making your weekly contributions electronically, thank you! You are helping us to meet our weekly budget. If you use the envelope system or put in cash or a check, we would be very grateful if you could continue to get your offering to us. We tend to run a little tight during the summer because of vacations and travel. Thank you for whatever you are able to do to help us keep up to date with our bills! Be safe in all your travels! THAT S ABOUT RIGHT... Believe it or not, our church will celebrate seventeen years on this holy hill on August 12 th. Now we re starting to feel the effects of seventeen years of constant use. Our lights have been upgraded (including the control panels), the fire suppression system and roof replaced, the heating system is pretty much in good order. We re now told that we re working with 75% of our air conditioning system for the church. (We took care of the chapel a few years ago.) We re finally operating the system where it s comfortable for most people on Saturdays and Sundays, but we might not have that luxury much longer. If you happen to see men working around the condenser or if you hear banging while you re trying to pray during the week, it s because they will be replacing a whole section of the unit at a cost of $8,000.00! Nothing comes cheaply in a building this size! Please be patient with us and we ll try to keep everything comfortable for you through the rest of the summer. We re going to have to acknowledge that our new church isn t so new anymore. When the original parts break down and need to be repaired, we re just not new any more! 4

5 AUGUST 6, 2017 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION REGISTRATION In church circles, we often talk about a Sunday evening Mass as the last call Mass. Well, we re getting close to the last call for registration for the academic year for religious education classes. If you haven t yet registered your children for religious ed, the fee is $50.00/child or $100.00/family. Some classes in both groups 1 and 2 are filled, so we are limited by not only class size but also in our ability to place your child in what may have been your preferred group. As a follow-up to the announcement of the restored order for the sacraments of initiation, remember that the sacraments will be celebrated this year as in the past. First Penance and First Communion will take place in the second grade and Confirmation will be celebrated in the tenth grade. There will not be any changes to the order of the sacraments this year! BAZAAR, 2017 It s never too early to begin thinking about our annual parish bazaar and penny sale! Although it s still four months away, there can be some great ideas for penny sale gifts and some great sales to match the ideas! If you happen to be shopping and see a great deal on a potential penny sale item, please pick it up and hold onto it until October. It s the creativity of our parishioners that helps to make our penny sale so great. Your generosity has been a huge help in the past we know we can continue to count on you! Our Crafters have been hard at work for months. If you do arts and crafts, why not join them some Tuesday. Someone is in the Craft Room located on the lower level of the parish offices from 1:00-8:30 p.m. each Tuesday. SUMMER FOOD DRIVE Our summer Brown Bag drive for the Food Pantry continues this weekend and ends at the end of the month. Some of the needs of the Food Pantry are diapers, detergents, personal hygiene items, and, of course, food. Brown bags with an attached flyer listing the needed items are in the church vestibule. Please take home a bag, fill it, and return it by July 31. SUMMER REMINDERS God is everywhere, but He s waiting for you in the Eucharist and He watches for you at Holy Mass! As beautiful as this summer is, don t forget to offer your thanks each week and receive the greatest gift of all the Lord Himself in the Eucharist. We are also very blessed with an air-conditioned church that we re trying to keep comfortable for you while at Mass. If you tend to be cold, you may want to bring a sweater. If you tend to be warmer, remember modesty! Please dress appropriately for Holy Mass. ADULT FAITH FORMATION We ve had a lot of questions about the adult faith formation opportunities for the fall and spring. It looks like we ll be jumping into two wonderful studies one on Evangelization, looking at the mission and ministry of the Church through the Acts of the Apostles, and then in the spring an opportunity to study the Bible and Our Blessed Mother. We expect that we will continue to record the discussions and the video presentations will be available on FORMED. You ll want to sign up early. Although there s no limit to the class size, we do want to ensure that we have sufficient materials for all present. COUNTERS MINISTRY Thank you to all who recently stepped forward to join our offertory counting ministry. The teams have filled up quickly, but we are still in need of three more people to complete the last team slots for Sunday mornings and one more person for Mondays. Counting on Sundays takes place after the 8:30 a.m. Mass and on Mondays it is at 9:00 a.m. The process is usually no longer than 90 minutes. If interested, please contact our parish secretary Charlene Maniotis at Charlene.maniotis@stkathryns.org. PARISH PICNIC We have scheduled our annual parish picnic for Sunday, September 10 th from 1:00-3:00 p.m. Plan to join us for some great food and fellowship, a bounce house (the safe kind!), games, and, of course, the dunk tank! Tickets will go on sale in mid-august. 5

6 THE TRANSFIGURATION OF THE LORD SPIRITED THEOLOGY CATHOLIC TEACHING, FOOD AND DRINK HAVE FUN AND LEARN! Mr. Paul Murano will lead a discussion on Humanae Vitae and the Modern World: 49 th Anniversary of the Most Important Document of Modern Times on Tuesday, August 8 th, at the Shade Bar and Grill, Radisson Hotel, Nashua, NH. The gathering begins at 6:00 p.m. for food and fellowship with the speaker beginning at 7:00 p.m. Use the side entrance to the hotel and look for the Shade signs to point the way. Food and drink is pay-as-you-go. All are welcome! SEVENTEEN AND GOING STRONG! Next weekend, we will celebrate the seventeenth anniversary of the dedication of the new Saint Kathryn Church. For seventeen years, we have prayed, socialized, laughed and cried together. Join us for any one of the Masses next weekend as we mark this important date in the life of our community. Now in our forty-ninth year as a parish and seventeen years in this church, we continue to proclaim the message of Jesus from this holy hill! SOLEMNITY OF THE ASSUMPTION August 15th is the solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary a holy day of obligation. Masses will be celebrated on Monday, August 14 th at 7:00 p.m. (the morning Mass will be celebrated as usual on Monday morning) and on Tuesday, August 15 th at 8:30 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. All Masses will be celebrated in the main church. If you know what Mass you will be attending and are a lector, extraordinary minister of Holy Communion, altar server or Master of Ceremonies, please sign up in the vestry after Mass this weekend. VIANNEY RETURNS! Leonardo Defilippis and Saint Luke Productions will return to Saint Kathryn s for a performance of Vianney at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, October 30, This acclaimed production of the life of Saint John Vianney is one that you will not want to miss! Tickets will be available in September from the office and after Masses. Some tickets will also be available at the door. Mark your calendars now! This memorable performance is one that you will not want to miss. ADULT FAITH FORMATION SERIES Our fall adult faith formation series will be based on the Acts of the Apostles, with Dr. Mary Healy as the instructor. Using the Lectio: Evangelization series from Augustine Institute, we will delve into the evangelization efforts found in the early Church. Mark your calendars today to participate in this series. September 28 Why Study Acts? October 5 Clothed with Power October 12 Proclaiming the Kerygma October 19 Signs and Wonders October 26 How Jesus Makes an Evangelist November 2* Sacraments and the Spirit November 16 Leadership in the Church November 30 Charisms in the Spirit December 7* Joy in Persecution December 14 The Belly of the Beast Sessions will be held from 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 noon and again from 7:30-9:00 p.m. with identical presentations. (Please note that on November 2 and December 7, sessions will run from 8:00-9:30 p.m.) Don t miss this wonderful series and the opportunity to become more comfortable with your role as an evangelizer! We will continue in the winter/spring with a presentation on The Bible and the Blessed Virgin Mary from the Saint Paul Center. Join us in studying: January 18 A Biblical Introduction to Mary January 25 Handmaid of the Lord February 1 Wedding at Cana, Garden in Eden February 15 The New Eve February 22 The Ark of the New Covenant March 1 Born of a Virgin March 8 The Promised Mother March 15 Mother Crowned in Glory March 22 Full of Grace April 12 All Holy April 19 The Assumption April 26 Always a Mother As in the fall, the sessions will be run from 10:30 a.m. until 12:00 noon and again from 7:30-9:00 p.m. in Hall B. Remember that faith formation is ongoing! We can never say that we have learned everything there is to know about our faith even the greatest scholars and doctors of the Church would not presume to say that! Why not commit yourself to one or both of these series as we continue to grow in our knowledge and love of the Lord, of the Catholic faith, and of our Church? 6

7 JULY 30, 2017 Saint Kathryn Parish 4 Dracut Road, Hudson, New Hampshire Telephone: Fax: Website: Facebook: Saint Kathryn s Church PARISH STAFF Rev. Joseph M. Cooper, Pastor Deacon Raymond V. Marcotte, Permanent Deacon Sister Janice Rooney, SNDdeN, Catechetical Leader Jeanette Cassidy, Religious Education Secretary Charlene Maniotis, Parish Secretary Peter Krauss, Bookkeeper Larry Franchitto, Music Director Robert Oliver, Facilities Technician Rick Wickham, Business Manager Rick Balboni, Religious Goods Store Manager frjoe@stkathryns.org deacon.ray@stkathryns.org sr.janice@stkathryns.org jeanette.cassidy@stkathryns.org charlene.maniotis@stkathryns.org peter.krauss@stkathryns.org lfranchitto@panam.com bob.oliver@stkathryns.org rick.wickham@stkathryns.org rick.balboni@stkathryns.org PARISH OFFICE Monday - Thursday 8:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. and 1:00-4:00 p.m. Closed Friday/Weekends PARISH RELIGIOUS GOODS STORE Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday Saturday 9:00 a.m. 1:00 p.m. 9:00 a.m. 12:00 p.m. SCHEDULE OF MASSES Saturday Vigil Mass: 4:00 p.m. Sunday Masses: 8:30 a.m.; 10:30 a.m.; 6:30 p.m. Daily Mass: Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday: 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, Thursday: 7:00 p.m. SACRAMENT OF PENANCE Tuesday, Thursday: 6:30-6:50 p.m.; Saturday: 9:15-10:00 a.m. and 3:00-3:45 p.m. Also by appointment. SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM Catechesis takes place with the parents prior to scheduling a date for the baptism. For more information, please contact Deacon Ray in the parish office. SACRAMENT OF MARRIAGE Engaged couples should contact the parish office at least six months in advance of the proposed date of the wedding. Please refer to the marriage policy as found on the parish website. SACRAMENT OF THE ANOINTING OF THE SICK/COMMUNION TO THE HOMEBOUND Arrangements may be made for Communion to the Homebound or for the Sacrament of the Sick by calling the parish office. The Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick should be celebrated at the outset of an illness or when there is a change in the person s condition. The Sacrament should also be received prior to surgery. PROTECTION OF CHILDREN POLICIES AND PROCEDURES The diocesan policies are available by calling the parish office or by consulting the diocesan website at OPEN FOR YOU! The main door of the Church is open daily from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.; the Emmaus Chapel, in the office building, is open 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. daily. Welcome! If you are new to our community, we hope you have felt welcome! If you are a visitor - occasional or frequent - we re glad you joined us! If you re considering parish membership introduce yourself to the pastor after Holy Mass to get the process underway! 7

8 ST. KATHRYN PARISH HUDSON, NEW HAMPSHIRE August 6, 2017 Week 37 8