Church of the Immaculate Conception

Transcription

1 Church of the Immaculate Conception We at Immaculate Conception are a group of people bound together by our belief in Jesus Christ as our Savior. When we were baptized, we were called to share in His work. Therefore we pledge ourselves to build a community where all are welcomed, loved, needed and appreciated. Armed with the faith in the Immaculate Conception of Mary, we will celebrate the gift of life together in word and sacrament. December 17 & 18, th Sunday of Advent Church of the Immaculate Conception 1180 State Highway 206, Greene, New York Rev. Msgr. John P. Putano, Administrator Website: iccgreene.wordpress.com immcongreene@syrdio.org Facebook: Church of the Immaculate Conception Parish Office: Tue. thru Thurs. 10:30 am to 4:30 pm Mary Wentlent, Parish Manager Audrée Beach, Admin. Asst Fax Baptism & RCIA ICC Parish Office Youth Ministry: ICC Parish Council: Nancy Amell, Eileen Browning, Kelly Erickson, Robert Hanrahan, Donna Heisler, Joanne Moxley, Francis Feldpausch - President. ICC Trustees: Jackie Henninge ; jackiehenninge@frontier.com Robert Larkin ; robertmlarkin@gmail.com Feel free to contact the Trustees or Council Members with any concerns you have about our parish. Knights of Columbus Council Grand Knight Charles Browning Meetings the 1st Thursday of each month. Gluten free hosts are available. Notify the Sacristy before Mass if you need one. Weekend Mass Schedule Pastoral Care Area South: Saturday Vigil Mass: 4:00 pm Immaculate Conception, Greene 5:45 pm St. Joseph, Oxford Sunday: 8:45 am St. Joseph, Oxford 10:15 am Immaculate Conception, Greene 4:00 pm St. Paul, Norwich Opportunities for Confession during Advent "The Light is on for You" A special Diocesan wide Penance Service, Monday, December 19th. Fr. Lupa will hear confession: ICC from 3:30-5:30 pm St. Joseph from 6-7:30 pm. Please take advantage of the early start time & beat the rush hour traffic. Examination of Conscience literature is available in the vestibule. Also in Norwich, N. Y.: St. Bart s 4-5 pm & St. Paul s 6-7 pm. St. Paul s Advent Penance Service Friday, December 16 at 7 pm.

2 Mass Schedule SATURDAY 12/17/16 4:00 pm For Parishioners SUNDAY 12/18/16 10:15 am Mulvey & Lusuriello Family by Tom & Janice Mulvey Fr. Dellos, Birthday Intention, by Parish Family TUESDAY 12/20/16 8:30 am Communion Service THURSDAY 12/22/16 6:00 pm Communion Service SATURDAY 12/24/16 Christmas Eve 4:00 pm For Parishioners SUNDAY 12/25/16 The Nativity of the Lord 10:30 am John S. Trepa, Birthday Remembrance, by Trepa Family LAY PERSONS SCHEDULE This Week Church of the Immaculate Conception, Greene, New York Page 2 Next Week Saturday 4:00 pm Saturday 4:00 pm December 17, 2016 December 24, 2016 E. M. s: H. Connelly J. Moxley S. Northrup D. Barden Lector: M. Delaney H. Barker Servers: Adult Volunteer C. Leonard, J. & K. Browning Sunday 10:15 am Sunday 10:15 am December 18, 2016 December 25, 2016 E. M. s: Z. Urda B. Doughty C. Gibbons Z. Urda E. Browning L. Detweiler Lector: B. Norton Adult Volunteer Servers: D. Furman Adult Volunteer N. Brown E. Kiehle Counters: D. Maginsky E. Browning T. Mulvey B. Norton ICC WEEK AT A GLANCE SUNDAY 12/18 4th Sunday of Advent 9 a Christmas Pageant Practice 11:30 a Confession 11:30 a Chime Choir Practice Following Mass......Decorate the Church The Hanging of the Greens...Young Family Group, caroling, pot luck & crafts NO Confirmation Class MONDAY 12/19 3:30-5:30 pm Penance Service Service AC TUESDAY 12/20 8 a Rosary & Communion Service WEDNESDAY 12/21 THURSDAY 12/22 8 a Rosary & Communion Service FRIDAY 12/23 SATURDAY 12/24 Christmas Eve 3:30 p Carols With the Choir 4:00 pm Family Mass Following Mass: Christmas Pageant Parish Family Reception in the Hall SUNDAY 12/25 Merry Christmas 10:30 am Christmas Day Mass Location Codes: S Sanctuary; H Parish Hall; K Kitchen; CR Cry Room; L Library; P Pavilion; AC All Church; OF-Out Front; OB-Out Back; SJ St. Joseph s, DT Downtown. The Parish Office will be closed for vacation December 26-January 2. New Server Schedule is due out the end of December. If you have any changes to your availability, please, contact Audrée before Christmas. Thank you. ICC Bible Challenge! Each week a different verse from the Bible. Try to memorize it over the week. Use it as a family contest each week or just as a personal challenge. Sacrificial Giving and Expenses for the month of November 2016: Total Income: $ 15, Total Expense: $ 14, Income includes: St. Pauly Shed, votive candles, Garden donations, Lasagna Dinner profit, funeral donation Expense includes: New hymnals, Missionary appeal, monthly Diocese fees, garden tags, plumbing repairs in Rectory, Young family & college age outreach. Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice; let the sea and what fills it resound; let the plains be joyful and all that is in them. Then let all the trees of the forest rejoice before the LORD who comes... Psalm 96:11-13

3 December 18, 2016 Church of the Immaculate Conception, Greene, NY Page 5 Cookies! Need volunteers to bring in treats for our Christmas Eve reception. Please keep us in mind when you are baking your Christmas Holiday treats. Deck the Halls with Our Confirmation Class! All are invited to come decorate the church for Christmas on Sunday, December 18 following the morning Mass. The Confirmation students will be helping and their teacher would like them to help the adults with making our church spectacular again this Christmas season. Cider and doughnuts will be served in the hall. All Young Families are invited to make a gingerbread house after Mass, Sunday, December 18. Bring a dish to pass. Contact Kelly Browning at kbrownin@greenecsd.org Calling all Angels, Shepherds, Holy Family members and Wise Men! If your child would like to participate in this years pageant at the end of the Christmas Eve Mass, please sign up in the vestibule. This has become a favorite of many parishioners and they look forward to seeing the children of our parish dressed up for this important dramatization. There will be a mandatory rehearsal at 9 am on Sunday December 18. We will assemble in the social hall for instruction and practice. Save the date! The Catholic Men s Conference is Saturday March 25 from 8-5 pm. Winter Fundraiser: ICC will again offer a Football Pool as well as a March Madness Pool for all of our sports enthusiasts. Tickets will go on sale in early January. Volunteer Opportunities Greene Food Pantry - We collect non-perishable foods for our local food pantry. May & November we cover the hours at the Pantry. Meals On Wheels Our volunteers make the deliveries for August & February: Mon, Wed, Fri, 11:15am. Call the Parish Office to join our team! Bottle & Can Drive - drop off your refundable items n the bin next to the Rectory garage. St. Pauly Textile collection shed in our parking lot. Donate your unwanted clothes & fabric items & ICC receives 4 cents per pound collected. Christmas Mass will air on the following stations at the following times and will also be available on our YouTube channel - syrdio: Time Warner Syracuse CH.98 12/24 at 9am, 10am and 8pm 12/25 at 7:30am, 11am & 3pm 9 WSYR Syracuse 12/25 6am-7am WBNG Binghamton 12/25 6am-7am WKTV Utica 12/25 6am - 7am Many may remember Steve Lewis who grew up in this parish. He is now a seminarian in the Diocese of Rochester where he has lived for the past 20 years. He wrote a letter to the parish and it is posted in the vestibule if anyone would like to read it. Steve is the grandson of Beverly Doughty. Please sign-up in the vestibule to take on a two week commitment to keep our sidewalks clear this winter. If you are so kind to shovel and/or salt the sidewalks, please note it on the Snow Removal Log conveniently located on the bulletin board in the hall vestibule, right next to the closet door where shovels, brooms & salt are kept. Gluten Free Hosts are now available. Stop in the Sacristy & let them know you will need one for Mass that day.

4 Continuing Our Tradition of Service Since 1914 NEVILLE LAW OFFICE Chris P. Neville, Esq. Robert M. Larkin, Of Counsel P. O. Box 570 * 36 Genesee St. Greene, New York Molly S. Nolan Licensed R.E. Salesperson Cell Bartles Pharmacy 10 Lafayette Park. Oxford, NY After hours - Brian Bartle KENNEDY FUNERAL HOME, INC. 21 North Chenango St., Greene, NY kennedyfuneral@frontiernet.net kennedyfuneralhome.net Your Ad Here! $ small; $ medium; $ large; for one year. The ad is shared with St. Joseph s bulletin. Call Mimi s Italian Cuisine Genesee Street, Greene, NY Mon-Sat: 11 am - 9 pm, Sun: 12 pm - 8 pm Facebook: MimisItalianCuisine Twi*er: MimisGreene We Deliver! Free within Village of Greene, $1/mile outside ($20 minimum order) Root Funeral Home Greene s Oldest Funeral Home Member New York State Funeral Director Assoc. Serving Greene, Oxford and the surrounding communities. Charles C. Dietrich North Chenango Street Greene, New York Construction Lawn Mowing/Brush Hogging Home Improvement Excavating Gerry Reiss Mike Reiss Oxford, New York St. Joseph Catholic Cemetery Oxford, New York A beautiful, peaceful resting place Double Plot $700 1 casket & 1 urn or 2 urns Name: Address: Parish Registration Form City: State: Zip Code: Phone: I am new to the parish and wish to register. I am previously registered. I want offering envelopes. I am interested in learning more about the Catholic Faith. Mail to: Immaculate Conception Church, 1180 State Hwy. 206, Greene, NY or place in collection basket

5 December 18, 2016 Church of the Immaculate Conception, Greene, New York Page 3 Father s Notes Jesus in Roman Literature Jesus Christ is surely one of the greatest figures in history. Is He mentioned anywhere other than in the Bible? I assume you are asking about early Christian history, around the time the New Testament was being formed. For us Christians, who believe that the coming of Jesus was the pivotal point in human history, it s difficult to imagine how little interest He aroused apart from His own small community of followers. From any viewpoint other than faith, He was after all, merely the leader of a tiny offshoot group of Jews in a spectacularly insignificant corner of the Roman Empire. The first historical mention of Jesus outside of the circle of Christians apparently was by Flavius Josephus, a Jewish historian who eventually won the close friendship of Vespasian & other Roman emperors. This historian s works, especially The Antiquities of the Jews, completed about the year 94, were highly prized resources by St. Jerome & other early Church Fathers. Toward the end of the book, Josephus describes how, under the procurator Albinus, there was brought before a group of judges the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was James (Book XX 9.1) This would have been James the apostle, one of the three disciples closest to our Lord, who died as a martyr in the year 44. An earlier mention of Jesus in the Antiquities, as a miracle worker who rose three days after dying, was almost certainly added later by a Christian copy editor. The first mention of Jesus by a pagan writer seems to be that of the Roman historian Tacitus, about 110 A. D., who speaks of Christians whose founder, one Christus, was put to death by the procurator Pontius Pilate when Tiberius was emperor (Annals XV, 44). Another historian, Gaius Suetonius, in his Life of Claudius (perhaps about 120 A. D.) writes, Since the Jews made continual disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus, he (Claudius) expelled them from Rome. This is generally accepted as referring to the early Christians & to Christ, though the timing is rather faulty. Claudius was emperor some years after Christ. From Catholic Q & A by Fr. John J. Dietzen A Christmas Reflection from a 4th Century Catholic. Today the darkness begins to grow shorter and the light to lengthen, as the hours of night become fewer. Nor is it an accident that this change occurs on the solemn day when divine life is manifested. Rather, to those who are attentive, nature manifests through visible things a hidden reality. I seem to hear her saying: Realize as you observe these phenomena, that the invisible is being manifested to you through the visible. You see, do you not, that night has reached its greatest length, and since it can advance no farther, comes to a halt and withdraws? Do you see that the beams of light are more intense and the sun higher than it has been? Realize that the true light is now here and, through the rays of the gospel, is illumining the whole earth. St. Gregory of Nyssa This is our Catholic Faith Know It! 89. How dos the Church set forth the Mystery of the Incarnation? The Church confesses that Jesus Christ is true God and true man with two natures, a divine nature and a human nature, not confused with each other but united in the Person of the Word. Therefore, in the humanity of Jesus all things his miracle, his suffering, and his death must be attributed to his divine Person which acts by means of his assumed human nature. O Only-begotten Son and Word of God you who are immortal, you who deigned for our salvation to become incarnate of the holy Mother of God and ever Virgin Mary ( ) You who are one of the Holy Trinity, glorified with the Father and the Holy Spirit, save us! (Byzantine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom) 96. Did the Incarnate Son of God have a soul with human knowledge? The Son of God assumed a body animated by a rational human soul. With his human intellect Jesus learned many things by way of experience; but also as man the Son of God had an intimate and immediate knowledge of God his Father. He likewise understood people s secret thoughts and he knw fully the eternal plans which he had come to reveal. 92. Did Christ have a true human body? Christ assumed a true human body by means of which the invisible God became visible. This is the reason why Christ can be represented and venerated in sacred images. 98. What does the virginal conception of Jesus mean? The virginal conception of Jesus means that Jesus was conceived in the womb of the Virgin solely by the power of the Holy Spirit without the intervention of a man. He is the Son of the heavenly Father according to his divine nature and the Son of Mary according to his human nature. He is, however, truly the Son of God in both natures since there is in him only one Person, who is divine. from the Compendium of The Catechism of the Catholic Church

6 Religious Instruction No class until January 8, 2017 Dec. 18: 9 am Christmas Pageant rehearsal. Following Mass ~ Decorate the Church Young Family Pot-luck and Build a Gingerbread House T Go f A Ae 4th Sunday of Advent, December 18, 2016 Sunday Readings: Isaiah ; Romans 1.1-7; Matthew REFLECTION Sunday s Gospel appears to be a simple story, but it tells us a lot about Jesus. In a dream an angel tells Joseph to take Mary as his wife, for her pregnancy is an act of God. The angel also tells Joseph the name to give Mary s child and his stepson. In ancient Israel the man who names a child becomes the child s legal father. Since Joseph belongs to the family of David, so will his son. This is Matthew s way of telling us Jesus is the Messiah, who was to come from David s royal line. The angel tells Joseph he should name the child Jesus. This name means he will save. Jesus name tells us his purpose among us. Matthew also connects Jesus birth with the words of the prophet Isaiah, A woman is with child and will give birth to a son, and call him Emmanuel. The name Emmanuel means God with us, another way of expressing Jesus mission. Question from Life: What life choices are you glad that you slept on and weighed prayerfully? Question from the Gospel: What ideal qualities of a husband and father does Joseph embody? Parents and Grandparents, try using this information as a basis for discussion at home. Would you like to give a donation to our Marian Garden as a gift to someone this Christmas? Donna Heisler has created some lovely cards with a collage of pictures for this very use. These cards are available from the Parish Office. We will remember these people in a special way at our Christmas Masses during the Prayer of the Faithful. This is a special Christmas Gift opportunity. Church of the Immaculate Conception, Greene, New York Page 4 Dear friends, It was very exciting having Msgr. Putano here to celebrate Mass on our feast day. We had over 60 people in attendance at Mass and most stayed for the reception afterwards. When Msgr. was walking in, he stopped at the Memorial Garden and just took it all in. He hadn t seen it yet, and he was very impressed. He was all smiles as he told me what a wonderful addition it was to our parish. He said that even if the sight of the garden makes someone stop and think about their faith in some way, it has served its purpose. During Mass, his homily was about the meaning of our feast day and then he tied it to how well our parish is doing. He couldn t be happier with the many opportunities for fellowship, CCD, Bible study and Mass attendance, as well as the financial stability. Many thanks to Mary Lademan for making sure there were beautiful flowers at the Blessed Mothers statue inside, and also to Jean Stevens and Mary for being our greeters for Mass. Stephanie, Maureen and Paul did a great job with the reception, Audrey Egan had the Sacristy well organized, and altar servers Dylan Furman, Savanna Straniero and Nadia Brown were excellent. As usual Anita Urda and the choir provided beautiful music and over 10 people provided an intergenerational chime song as a meditation. Once again, great team work! Because of the Heritage Grant, we were able to offer care packages from the parish to 13 college age students. Last week college exams started, and parishioner Rebecca Hanrahan sent out care packages to offer a little treat during the stress! She and mom Margaret, gathered snack items, gift cards for coffee and doughnuts as well as a prayer card and mailed them out. Check out the thank you note from Kristy Haskell in the vestibule. That s a thank you to all of you for supporting this parish in its outreach! It s great to know people read the bulletin and act on its many invitations. Bunny Delaney saw the need for drivers for Christian Caring Services and has joined their group. Thanks Bunny! I hope you have a wonderful week. Peace!~Mary Wentlent