Historic St. James at Sag Bridge Church

Transcription

1 Historic St. James at Sag Bridge Church S. Archer Avenue Lemont, Illinois (Ph) (Fx) Website: Facebook: James At Sag Bridge September 11, 2016 Twenty-Third Ordinary Sunday Founded in 1833, St. James at Sag Bridge is the sole country parish of the Archdiocese of Chicago, serving a growing community of Catholics who come together to worship God through the celebration of the Eucharist and traditional devotional activities within truly unique and beautiful surroundings. Our faith-filled community strives to bear witness to Jesus Christ by loving and serving one another to bring about the Kingdom of God. Listen to The Winds of Change 12:00 noon to 1:00 pm on WNDZ AM 750. Fr. substitutes every other Wednesday. Visit: windsofchangeshow.com, Fr. unlikeothernations@gmail.com Register on Flocknotes to receive important text messages and s. Text: jamesatsag to MASS SCHEDULE: WEEKENDS: Saturdays: 5:00pm Sundays: 8:00, 9:30 & 11:30am HOLY DAYS: 8:15am & 7:00pm WEEKDAYS: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday: 8:15am Fridays 6:00pm Wednesday: Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament at 5:00-7:00pm, w/confessions at 6:15pm & Mass at 7:00pm. CONFESSION SCHEDULE: Saturdays: 9:30-10:00am Wednesdays: 6:30pm BAPTISMS: Sundays after the 11:30am Mass by appointment. At least one parent must be a registered parishioner. WEDDINGS: Minimum eight months in advance. At least one spouse must be a registered parishioner. Marriage preparation by appointment only. FUNERALS: For families of registered parishioners, or for non-parishioners to be buried in our own cemetery. SICK & HOMEBOUND PASTORAL CARE: Please notify rectory RECTORY OFFICE HOURS: Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu & Fri: 9:30am to 1:00pm APOSTOLIC DISCIPLES: Fr. Thomas, M.A.,S.T.L., Pastor Fr. Ed Gleeson, Pastor Emeritus Deacon John M. Wilkinson, CKM, Minister of Care/RCIA Deacon Doug Szarzynski, Mike Dillenburg, Parish Council Chair Doug Witter, Finance Council Chair Mrs. Pamela Mikrut, Organist Rodney Poynter, Holy Name Society, President Margaret Ryan, Altar & Rosary Mrs. Giovanna Imbarrato, CCD Teacher Mrs. Mary Coughlin Lenzen CCD Teacher Mr. Steve Hagen CCD Teacher Mrs. Joyce McNamara-Coughlin, CCD Director.

2 Page Two September 11, 2016 From the Desk of Fr. Thomas, M.A., S.T.L., Pastor Burden of History History hit us with a freight train, Whittaker Chambers once wrote. When you are hit by a freight train, the freight train wins. If you are lucky, you are left dazed at the side of the tracks. If you are not so lucky, there is not much of you left at all. History can be a crushing force, and for many it is a burden one they never are able to get off their shoulders. What they are is what their ancestors lived through; their lives are inseparable from lives lived decades or centuries ago. This came home to me in a double way recently. I was asked to speak to a Jewish group about Pope Pius XII. We sat in a large circle, the two dozen or so of us who met in the community room at a mall, and I spoke at first about Eugenio Pacelli s life, particularly his years as papal nuncio to Germany. Then I went through a long chronological list of his anti-nazi comments and activities prior to his accession to the papal throne how, for instance, as early as 1922 he was terming Hitler obsessed (this was a year before the attempted Nazi putsch in Bavaria). I noted that Cardinal Pacelli drafted Mit Brennender Sorge, the anti-nazi encyclical issued by Pius XI in Then to the war years. I went month by month, showing how Pius XII he became pope six months before hostilities broke out was ceaseless in his solicitude for persecuted Jews. I reviewed the plaudits he received during and after the war from Jewish leaders, such as future Israeli prime minister Golda Meir, and from Jewish scholars, such as historian Pinchas Lapide, who credited the Pope with saving 860,000 Jewish lives. Then I discussed Rolf Hochhuth s 1963 play The Deputy. Produced five years after Pius XII s death, it was the first major blast against him. It has been followed up recently by John Cornwell s book, Hitler s Pope, a truly dishonest work of sham scholarship. After my remarks came a discussion period. Several people said, in essence, Yes, I can accept all you say, and I am pleased to learn what Pius XII did, but I remain wary of the Catholic Church because of what happened by my people in the middle ages. There it was, the burden of history, even when it is a history of actions that the Church, in those very times, opposed. There was an intellectual willingness to distinguish between the Church s teachings and the actions of some of her wayward members, but there was an affective incapacity to do so. This point was reiterated later when I was reading Notes from the Underground, letters written between Whittaker Chambers and journalist Ralph de Toledano. Toward the end of the book, de Toledano, who is of Spanish and Jewish extraction, referred to Chambers s failure to come to terms with the Roman church a failure shared by me for I could never forget what the Church and state had done to my ancestor, Daniel de Toledo... and to his family. Nothing further is said of Daniel, who seems to have lived centuries ago. Whatever injustice was done to him has remained a historical burden on Ralph de Toledano s shoulders. That burden has kept him from the Church, as similar burdens have kept others from the Church. I wish I knew how to lighten the weight for them. by Karl Keating; founder & senior fellow at Catholic Answers HEALING MASS AT ST JAMES, MONDAY, OCT 3, 2016, 7:00PM WITH FR. UBALD. Fr. Ubald Rugirangoga has been sharing the story of his parish in Rwanda. We have prepared for our parish s 50 th anniversary for three years. One of our goals was to work intensely to help more people to forgive and beg pardon after the horror of the genocide committed against people from Tutsi ethnicity in Rwanda in 1994, some members of our own parish. In order that these Christians are not considered hypocrites and liars, they had to ask or beg for forgiveness in order to reintegrate back into the church. The traditional court in Rwanda has judged those who committed genocide against Tutsi ethnicity in Rwanda. It was really horrific, how Christians were able to kill their brothers and sisters in faith! To hate somebody, because of who he is, to kill him, is to be against God who created people. It was an abomination. The church must be the first to arise and be against that. So, as pastor of the parish, I rose up. After a meeting with the Parish council, it was concluded that Christians who were involved in the genocide against the Tutsi tribe had to stop receiving Holy Communion. They then had to receive catechesis instructions once a week for six months. With this decision Christians involved in the genocide against those of Tutsi ethnicity became more aware of their guilt. During their six months of study after three months of catechesis, they took a break to go beg pardon from the families where they have killed during the genocide. Mike Hally = 2 Adult Cairs Bob Pouliot = 3 Children s Chairs Witter Family = Bear s Tent

3 Twenty-Fourth Ordinary Sunday Page Three GOD BLESS AMERICA by Michelle Watkins This summer I read an article from a columnist advocating the removal of the song "God Bless America" from all baseball games. To push his agenda he quoted various opinion polls. Those surveyed allegedly agreed it was time for the song to be retired. Now any person with a sound mind and any level of comprehension knows opinion polls can easily be manipulated and are highly biased. This happens all the time when so-called results are announced in preelection polls. So I don't give much merit to surveys in general that are supposed to somehow impress a viewpoint upon me. The author also condemns the song as being self-righteous. I truly fail to see how a song about love of country and asking for God's blessing is self-righteous. If anything, it's a song of humility...being grateful and acknowledging that we continue to need God's protection. The weakest part of the entire article is the bitter end. The author writes "If you want to thank God for blessing America, you can do it on Sunday in the other church." Hmm. All credibility of the author was lost for me in that closing statement. The author alludes to being atheist (which is no surprise since he's attempting to banish a faith-based tradition). If this is the case it truly explains the naivety of his closing statement. For as people of faith, we do not limit our prayers for this great land (or anything else) to one hour in a church pew on Sunday morning. Any true person of faith knows that we carry that faith with us everyday, everywhere. We live it at work, at play, at celebrations and at times of mourning. Our prayers extend to the home, the work place, the restaurant, the ball park, the daily commute, the hospital bed, the voting box, the doctor's office, the plane ride, etc. We are called to be a light to the world. In our violent, anti-faith society of today can people---strangers or loved ones--look at you and see Christ at work? I know personally I need to strive more to live my faith every minute of every day. I'm truly a work in progress. But once when a total stranger called me a "Jesus freak" online I knew at least I was headed in the right direction. Please join me in trying to live our great faith May your example shine in a world filled with darkness. May your example be an inspiration for conversion of hearts everywhere. And in the process, may we continue to ask God to bless America. Our country truly needs prayers---everyday and everywhere. ALL LADIES OF ST. JAMES ARE INVITED TO our ALTAR ROSARY SOCIETY S MEMBERSHIP DRIVE & BAKE SALE SEPT., 17TH & 18TH We ll be selling baked goods at the church door before & after all the weekend Masses. Please drop-off your homebaked goods Saturday before the 5:00 pm Mass. or Sunday morning. THANK YOU! & GOD BLESS! WAITING IN THE BREAD LINE By Caroline Godin I was quietly watching the Consecration at Mass, my arm holding my seven-year-old as though his exhaustion was causing him to melt into the floor. Seven is so very exhausting! <sigh> My daughter was half paying attention, which was an improvement from last year when she was preparing for First Communion. I hardly think we can expect our kids to get what s happening in this beautiful moment when we ourselves don t fully understand it and, for many of us, don t give Him half the attention and adoration we should. The silence was broken by a young boy in the pew behind me. We all have moments or stories of hearing a perfectly hilarious moment of silence broken by a child in Mass. For me, when it was my kid, it was perfectly embarrassing, but that s perhaps for another time, or never. The priest was about to hold the Host above his head when the little boy shouted, It s almost time for the Bread line! There were some muffled chuckles and his mother graciously reacted without anger. I commend her and strive for the same. God bless her! I also commended the congregation for maintaining the quietness needed in the moment. (Oh the stories priests have!) He was quiet after that but the line repeated itself in my mind. This was also the day Mother Teresa was being officially canonized a saint. Her life, which you can read about here, was about helping those in greatest need, those who had nothing. Remember hearing about breadlines as a child? I used to have an image of people in a poor, dusty, remote place I ve never seen, looking dirty, wearing rags, and desperately waiting in a mile long line for a loaf of bread for their families. The bread would be unwrapped, plain, and very homemade, which was nothing like the bread my mother bought at the local Purity Supreme. The Gospel (Luke 14:25-33) was about putting God first, even above your family. The wording seemed harsh to read, as though Jesus wanted us to hate our parents when we d been told to honor them, but our priest cleared that up quite well. Fr. Augustin explained that Jesus wants us to love everyone, and not to treat our family members special by avoiding what is right. Perfect example: helicopter parenting. If a child is wrong, a helicopter parent will want to defend him anyway, but a parent who is righteous will accept that his child is in the wrong and look for justice in the situation, in a loving way if the parent puts God first. I could do a whole article just on that, but you get the idea. Mother Teresa, now St. Teresa, always put God first above all else. In doing so, she loved all and helped all in all that she did. She was devout to Christ; because of that very state of devoutness, she became a saint for her works of mercy. How would our lives change if we could put God first in all things? Would we realize we favor certain things or people too much? Would we change our actions, our words, our very nature? Okay, here s where the Bread line comes in. I didn t go off track promise! The world, as a whole, is starving for Christ, whether or not everyone acknowledges it. We need Him; there is no nourishment the world can offer that can compare. Just so, we stand in line at Communion waiting our turn to receive Him in the form of the Bread of Life. We are a people who is in a remote (from Heaven), desolate, dusty place called Earth. We are dressed in the rags of life, the things the world has sold us that are worthless in the next life. We are starving, our souls in need of Christ whether we know it or not. We need Him, His Love, His Grace, His Mercy, His Forgiveness. We need Christ. We need the Bread line.

4 The Sunday collection for the weekend of September 4th was $3, The number of envelopes was 117. OUR MANY THANKS TO OUR REGISTERED FAMILIES USING ENVELOPES AND THE CASH-AND-CARRY FOLKS. Our CHURCH CLEANERS FOR FRIDAY 9/16/16 Are Dottie, Margaret, Bronislawa & Volunteer. If you are interested in volunteering, please contact the rectory office VOTIVE OFFERINGS FOR THE WEEK OF 9/11/16 St. James Ladies Guild In memory of Lillian Simanavicius Our beautiful bouquets of flowers surrounding our altar were made available by the generosity of Christine Suddreth THANK YOU! Please keep NICK IMGRUND in your prayers as he continues his service in the United States Navy. Please keep LUCAS GOUGH in your prayers as he continues his service in the United States Air Force. Please keep STEPHANIE REMAR in your prayers as she continues her service in the Diplomatic Corps in Africa.

5 Monday September 12th-Most Holy Name of Mary 8:15 AM Carole Valvoda Tuesday September 13th-St. John Chrysostom 8:15 AM Blessings & Thanksgiving-Raj Family Wednesday September 14th-Exaltation of the Cross 7:00 PM Mary Therese Solkowski Thursday September 15th-Our Lady of Sorrows 8:15 AM For Health & Healing of Bob Czaja Friday 6:00 PM September 16th-Sts. Cornelius & Cyprian TWENTY-FIFTH ORDINARY SUNDAY Saturday September 17th-St. Robert Bellarmine 5:00 PM Anthony Dick Sario, Lena DiSalle & Edward & Virginia Yorke Sunday September 18th 8:00 AM Dauksas & Hanlon Families 9:30 AM Michael & Elizabeth Nelson 11:30 AM Jozef Dziaba th Ordinary Sunday 9/17/ & 9/18/16 Celebrant 5:00 PM Fr. Tom 8:00 AM Legionaire? 9:30 AM Fr. Tom 11:30 AM Fr. Tom Altar Servers Dooley A. Ramirez J.P. Ramirez J. Beecher J. Beecher Dillenburg N. Akroush J. LaSota J. LaSota J.P. Colarelli M. Colarelli A. Gallager Lectors C. Zarzycki C. Stach- Pearman Podkowski M. Fleckenstein