Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Transcription

1 January 29, 2017 Page 1 Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time T h i s We e k ' s Mass Intentions 8:00AM 9:30AM 11:00AM 12:30PM Sunday, January 29, 2017 Dana Forster (Joseph McMahon) Antonio Allo (M/M Mario Faulisi) Rita & John Spano (Carolyn & Family) Gussie Caratozzolo (Denise DeRiso) For The Parishioners Monday, January 30, 2017 Karl Albrecht (Ann Vezza) Tuesday, January 31, 2017 St. John Bosco Anne Sciame (Phyllis Zanghi) Wednesday, February 1, 2017 Frank Fogliano (Loving Wife & Children) Thursday, February 2, 2017 Presentation of the Lord Intention for John Gotti, Jr. (Wanda & Michael Lucci II) Friday, February 3, 2017 Sts. Blaise & Ansgar Michael Ladone (Frank Ladone) Saturday, February 4, 2017 Lucy & Ronnie Ametrano (Loving Family) Barbara Fletcher (Jodi & Steven Genovese) Salvatore LaMonica (Purificato Familyn) Phyllis Ambrosecchio, Joan K. Egan, Frances LaMarca, Timothy Liello, Regina Paciga Sunday, February 5, :00AM 9:30AM 11:00AM 12:30PM Mary Camelo (Loving Daughter) Charles Sangirardi (Denise DeRiso) Vincent Macagnone (Joanne Cutugno) Karl Albrecht (Theresa Laudicina) For The Parishioners While The Church Is Undergoing Renovation Visiting the Church under any circumstances is prohibited during the renovation due to safety concerns. Please check the parish Facebook for updates on the work. In the unexpected event that a funeral should need to take place, the option of use of Fr. Dooley Hall or Our Lady of Grace will be presented to the family. All Funeral Masses at Our Lady of Grace for St. Helen s parishioners will be celebrated by priests from St. Helen. We apologize in advance for the inconvenience construction will present to all of our lives in the next few months. Miriam Americo, Lisa B., Baby Alexandra Bachert, Caroline Bachert, Frances Baio, Dolores Barbieri, Al Barton, Catherine Capato, Sally Capoziello, Shang Cheng, Antoinette & Catherine Chiarelli, Marge D Auria, Mary Ann D Angelo, Baby Christopher Brian Demmerle, Domenica DeVito, Virginia DiGangi, Francesca Gaudino, Ian Genovese-Williams, Joseph Gentile, Anthony Giampietro, John Joseph Gleeson, John Pierce Gleeson, Christine Healy, Aurea Hernandez, Maria Hernandez, Rosemary Hogan, Elizabeth Isolano, Jennie Iuggiano, Keri & Baby Tristan, Amelia Kalb, Pam Karwan, Baby T.J. Krieg, Kathleen Krieg, Klavdia Krieg, Anthony Lamantia, James Leung, Valerie Librizzo, Thomas & Patricia Lipari, William J. Litt, Cindy Maione, Maryann Maione, Ralph Maresco, Mary Mastrangelo, Camillo Mazella, Rosemary Menechella, Jordan Miller, John Myers, Salvatore Noto, Angela Ottomanelli-Hubbs, Michael Palermo, Gina Palya, Santo Pantina, Ann Parsell, Anna Petito, Doris, Carlo, Philip & Frank Pecchillo, Vivian Puglissi, Joseph Questore, Mary Romano, Jake Rothman, Louise Ruggiero, Anthony Russo, Bill Sangirardi, Felice Scimeca, Fred Sepulveda, Rosalia Sindone, Michael Tamburo, Chrissie Tremblay, Paul Tremblay, Paul John Tremblay, Ann Marie Vayda, Sr. Joanne Walters, Elizabeth Weimer. Deceased: Franco Cerretani, Martina Laura GOOD SHEPHERD STATUE We would like to thank Mary Ann Kellen, who kept the statue this past week. Anyone interested in keeping the statue in their home and praying for vocations for one week should contact the Rectory. St. Helen s Purgatorial Society Mass All parishioners have the opportunity to enroll the names of loved ones in the Purgatorial Society. The Purgatorial Society Mass will be held on the last Friday of each month. The offering to be enrolled in the Purgatorial Society is $120 per name (a total of 12 Masses for one year will be said for your loved one). Aside from listing one name, a husband and wife together, or a family name is also acceptable. Having a Purgatorial Society is wonderful way of living out the Scriptures and will be a relief for those who desire to have their loved ones remembered with prayers all year long at God s Altar. Please stop in at the Rectory if you are interested in having a loved one enrolled in the Purgatorial Society. The next Purgatorial Society Mass will be held Friday, February 24, 2017! ATTENTION! The Christmas Trees surrounding the parish property are scheduled to be removed starting Monday. If you wish to keep your family sign that was placed on the tree, please feel free to take it this weekend before the trees are removed. Once the trees are taken down, there will not be an opportunity to retrieve your sign! The Order of Franciscans Secular m eet on the 3rd Saturday of every month in St. Helen s Rectory after the 9AM Mass. Come and learn more about the Franciscan way of life.

2 January 29, 2017 Page 2 UPDATE ON CHURCH RENOVATION #4 DANGER EVERYWHERE! So this past week, an unexpected discovery occurred in the Church. Whilst preparations were taking place for floors and new drop ceilings, one of the contractors discovered something terrible. The electrical panel in the Church, refused to trip when shorted. This is probably the worst case scenario for any Church, it is the reason so many Churches catch fire. As you know, in your own homes, if a circuit were to overload or be inundated by water, a short circuit would immediately cause the circuit breaker to cut the power to that circuit, preventing any further damage or electrocution. Such is not the case inside the Church. An immediate change work order has occurred and that situation will be rectified. This malfunction must be addressed. I have approved that the electricians replace the panel, and they have already applied for a permit. If the Church had been flooded during Sandy this would have proven to be disastrous. (Breezy Point fires comes to mind). Fortunately this will not effect the completion of the project, but does add to the cost...but I find it not only necessary but an absolute imperative. I have also approved emergency lighting to be installed in the Church. The previous Certificate of Occupancy permitted the church structure to stand without emergency lighting by exemption. I find this ludicrous! In the event of a loss of power at any of our evening Masses in the winter months...exiting safely would be challenging for those inside. I stand with safety first! The saga of the permits continues. As of last week, the City of NY approved the work, but the expeditor had a difficulty obtaining the actual permit. First, due to a certain individual who was not present in the permit office on the day he was to obtain the permits. Second, get this, the FEMA maps depicting the flood zone were unclear...meaning blurry! If I had any hair on my head I think I would have starting pulling it out! The delay is minimal to the overall scope of the project, but nevertheless frustrating! The architect has been expressed this frustration in s with the expeditor. If you have checked out the Facebook page, you will have seen the factory cutting the very marble that will be used in the Church... its exquisite! I also met with sound company this past week, who will need to install additional speakers in the new seating areas and in the new organ location. This is the same company the parish has used throughout the years. They installed the new system in the hall, and are extremely reputable. A roof drain was discovered going through the old shrine area inside the church and I am meeting with a roofer and plumber to see if it can be capped and rerouted. I never in a million years understood why roof drains are created to drain into buildings via pipes. In all my experience of being around churches, these pipes leak, and they leak inside the Church, as was the case with a pipe in the Sacristy. Keep rain water outside, don't flush it through the building! In my last parish this was the case in the school, and it always flooded the cafeteria. The garage was built the same way, and that always backed up into the rectory! I need a plumber to explain the rationale of allowing rain water to travel from outside a building, through a building sorry for the rant! Gutters and roof drains that allow water to flow away from a building just seem more logical! Do you agree? No other major incidents or problems have arose. The plan at this point is we wait for the permit. As soon as the permit arrives, a concrete dumpster will arrive at the Church, and the wall separating the meeting room will be removed as well as the wall at the usher closet. This is the key to the entire project, facilitating additional seating for 160+ souls! This week I will be meeting with the terrazzo company to look over samples for the floors. As soon as the samples are approved, they will be put up on the Facebook page of the parish. I have also requested the art teacher of Saint Helen Academy to design a project with the children to "create" stained glass windows in Father Dooley Hall... using construction paper or another artistic form. I look forward to their creations which will add to the ambience of the Hall. So we forge ahead, albeit slowly and securely! Fr. Colamaria

3 January 29, 2017 Page 3 Policies Regarding Infant Baptism at St. Helen Parish Parents seeking Baptism for their children who live within the territory of St. Helen Parish are asked to register as members of the parish before requesting an initial interview for Baptism. Registration is easily done at the parish office anytime during business hours. Parents seeking Baptism for their children who live outside the territory of St. Helen Parish are asked to obtain a letter from the parish in which they live authorizing the Baptism to take place at St. Helen. Initial meetings with parents seeking Baptism for their children will normally take place on the second Wednesday of each month from 7:00 9:00PM and on the fourth Saturday of each month from 10:30AM 12:30PM. Please realize that the Church building of Saint Helen will undergo a renovation January April The Church will be closed and Fr. Dooley Hall will be used as a worship space in the interim. Baptisms will still be offered in this time period in the Hall. Some may choose to wait for Baptism until the construction is completed and this is fully understandable. If there are any questions please contact the Deacons who can give more details as to the renovation period. Please call for more information and/or to schedule an appointment. Catholic Charities Senior Center The Howard Beach Senior Center, located across from Stop & Shop on Crossbay Blvd., invites seniors aged 60 and older to become members. Activities and services are offered Monday-Friday from to 4:00PM. Daily delicious and nutritional hot lunches catered by Russo s on the Bay ($2 donation requested), as well as educational and recreational activities, case assistance, entitlement counseling and advocacy are also available. The Center also offers health promotional classes such as stay-well fitness, chair aerobics, yoga, Tai Chi, and walking groups. Dances are held weekly, as well as card games, Wii bowling, bridge lessons and, of course, Bingo. On the following Tuesdays, February 7, 14, & 21 at 10:30am, the Center will be having a seminar on Estate Planning. This informative seminar will be given by Brady & Marshak, Attorneys at Law. Please join us for this important subject. Every Friday from 1:00-3:00PM the Center hosts Karaoke by Fernando. We will be singing all popular songs selected by the seniors. Come and enjoy the fun! The Catholic Charities neighborhood Services Howard Beach Senior Center is located at Crossbay Blvd., across from Stop N Shop. For further information please contact Rosalie at ST. HELEN SCHOOL ALUMNAE 50 th Anniversary of St. Helen School Help us make our 50 th Anniversary one to remember! St. Helen Catholic Academy is in the process of updating our contact information for all graduates of St. Helen School. If you are a graduate or a family member, we are asking for your help by providing us with your name, , address, and phone number. Please fill out the form below and return it to the rectory or your information to mariaford216@gmail.com. Thank you. ST. HELEN SCHOOL ALUMNAE Name: Maiden Name if Married: Graduation Year: Address: Phone Number:

4 January 29, 2017 Page 4 St. Helen Catholic Academy is celebrating Catholic Schools' Week Starting This Weekend, January 29! All in our Community are cordially invited to attend an Open House, visit our Book Fair, and view our Pre-K through 8th Grade Scripture Fair. Hands-On Learning at St. Helen Catholic Academy is Christ-Centered, Results-Driven & Always Engaging OPEN HOUSE & TOURS Sunday, January 29th, 10:30AM-12:30PM Tuesday, January 31st, 3:00-4:00PM; & Thursday, February 2nd, 6:30-7:30PM St. Helen Catholic Academy is in partnership with: Fordham University, St. Francis College, St. John s University, and Yale University. Ready to get started? St. Helen sthelencatholicacademy.org Catholic Academy th Avenue., Howard Beach, NY (718)

5 January 29, 2017 Page 5 Homiletic starters and scriptural reflection points for each day of the month Mon., Jan. 30: Heb 11:32-40; Mk 5:1-20 Then they began to beg [Jesus] to leave their district. After Jesus spent the night calming the storm and his disciples he finally comes ashore and encounters a possessed man who is an object of both pity and terror to the surrounding community. Jesus delivers this unfortunate from his many demons, demolishing a herd of swine in the process, and the villagers, upon hearing of this miracle, beg Jesus to leave. Why? Maybe they can t afford to lose more sheep? Whatever the reason, the only one apparently converted by the action of Jesus is the demoniac himself. Why are we so slow to accept the good news and so quick to embrace the bad? What the Letter to the Hebrews says about the faithful good ones seems to be true today: The world is not worthy of them. Dear God, may I embrace the good and calmly, fearlessly reject what is not of you. Tues., Jan. 31: Heb 12:1-4; Mk 5:21-43 Daughter, your faith has saved you. Today s Gospel is rich in detail. It is the story of two daughters. There is a twelve-year-old child at the point of death, the daughter of Jairus, the synagogue official, whose love for her is so great that he humbles himself to come to Jesus. And the woman who has suffered from an issuance of blood for twelve years, a state that renders her unclean. We don t know for sure, but it could be that one of the duties of Jairus was to prevent this woman from entering the synagogue; this woman whom Jesus calls, daughter. (It s the only place in Scripture where Jesus addresses a woman as such.) I like to imagine that Jairus, so moved by the healing of both daughters, would relax his standards just a bit. But who knows? Would I? Lord Jesus, give me the grace to greet all whom I encounter as worthy brothers and sisters. Wed., Feb. 1: Heb 12:4-7, 11-15; Mk 6:1-6 He was not able to perform any mighty deed there... We limit Jesus by our willingness to buy into what he can do. If we doubt his power or motive, we create our own stumbling block. Our resistance is not unlike that which Jesus encountered returning home. Accepting Jesus as someone other than Mary s son would force his old neighbors out of their familiar roles. Acknowledging Jesus potential to truly shake things up would necessitate accepting that they must expand their thinking. If we validate that Jesus is not just a carpenter, then we must also take another look at others we ve conveniently labeled. This necessitates being more understanding and welcoming. Until we move out of our comfort zone, we ll always restrict who Jesus is and what he can do. Help me to know you, Lord.... a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel... Commonly called Candlemas, today s feast celebrates Christ, the Light of the World, entering the Temple of Jerusalem. Simeon and Anna, two devout and elderly believers, wait in patient expectation. Their tireless practice of prayer and fasting gives light to recognition. Time spent in contemplation affords them the ability to see the Messiah in these humble circumstances. Simeon s words shed light both on the child s importance and on the sacrifice to come. This proclamation illuminates our ability to see the Lord in unexpected and paradoxical ways. May we meet the Christ Child in the poor, lowly and small. FOURTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME Fri., Feb. 3: Heb 13:1-8; Mk 6:14-29 Do not neglect hospitality, for through it some have unknowingly entertained angels. One of the simplest and most effective forms of evangelization is kindness. When we are pleasant, generous and attentive, we share the love of God in our lives and extend it to others. Christian hospitality recognizes the value of everyone we encounter as a precious child of God. Being too busy to greet others or inquire about their wellbeing devalues them and us. Haste makes us self-absorbed. We may be the only one to pause and validate that person s existence and dignity. Such moments make it hard to determine who the angel is. Both parties truly benefit from the grace of such encounters. Lord, help me to greet others with your love and hospitality. Sat., Feb. 4: Heb 13:15-17; Mk 6: and they had no opportunity even to eat. We re constantly bombarded with needs some extremely urgent but neglecting ourselves benefits no one. Jesus and the apostles make time to get away for some quiet time, even though their respite is brief. If we go nonstop without renewing, reflecting and praying about how and why we serve, our actions become robotic and empty. We may still reach out in duty, but we risk becoming gruff or resentful. That attitude serves no one. Our unmet basic needs distract us from fully engaging in genuine acts of love and compassion. There will always be those who seek our aid; we should be moved to respond like Jesus, but we must also show some care and respect for ourselves. Only then can our hearts guide our actions. Thank you, Lord, for times of refreshment and relaxation. Thurs., Feb. 2: Mal 3:1-4; Heb 2:14-18; Lk 2:22-40 or 2:22-32