Seasons of Praise. February 19 Making Eucharistic Adoration the Foundation of Your Spiritual Life. February 26 What to do to Have a Fruitful Lent

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1 L E N T E N February 19 Making Eucharistic Adoration the Foundation of Your Spiritual Life Fr. Brendan Fitzgerald, Pastor St. Barnabas, Bronx, NY February 26 What to do to Have a Fruitful Lent Fr. Szymon Kurpios, Pastoral Vicar St. James, Carmel, NY March 5 The Importance of Confession and How to Prepare S E R I E S Seasons of Praise Fr. John Lagiovane, Pastor St. Joseph s, Somers, NY March 12 Praying and Doing Penance: Interceding for Others Fr. John Palatucci, Administrator St. John the Evangelist, Pawling, NY March 19 How to Live Holy Week the Best Way Possible Fr.Vincent Druding, Parochial Vicar Assumption Church, Peekskill, NY March 26 The Love of Christ in His Passion and Death Deacon Mark Shrkeli St. Lawrence O Toole Church, Brewster, NY st. lawrence o toole church 31 prospect street, brewster, ny Feb. 19, Feb. 26, March 5, March 12, March 19, March 26

2 The Rite of the Sacrament of Reconciliation Rite of Reconciliation Reconciliation may be face-to-face or anonymous, with a screen between you and the priest. Choose the option that is the most comfortable for you. 1. The priest gives you a blessing or greeting. He may share a brief Scripture passage. Seasons of Praise St. Lawrence and Sacred Heart Parishes Join us for an evening of praise and worship with local guest priests. 4-7 Confession available 7:00 Worship Music 7:10 Spiritual Talk by an area priest 7:30 Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament 7:45 Divine Mercy Chaplet 8:00 Praise and Worship Music and Adoration 8:30 Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament Music led by Sheila Valastro and the Praise and Worship Band of St. Lawrence 2. Make the Sign of the Cross and say: Bless me father, for I have sinned. My last confession was (give the number of weeks, months or years). 3. Confess all of your sins to the priest. The priest will help you to make a good confession. If you are unsure about how to confess or you feel uneasy, just ask him to help you. Answer his questions without hiding anything out of fear or shame. Place your trust in God, a merciful Father who wants to forgive you. 4. Following your confession of sins, say: I am sorry for these and all of my sins. 5. The priest assigns you a penance and offers advice to help you be a better Catholic. 6. Say an Act of Contrition, expressing your sorrow for your sins. The priest, acting in the person of Christ, then absolves you from your sins. Act of Contrition God, I am heartily sorry for having offended you, and I detest all my sins because I dread the loss of heaven and the pains of hell; but most of all because they offend you, my God, who are all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve with the help of your grace to confess my sins, do penance, and to amend my life. Amen. 1 10

3 March 26 The Love of Christ in His Passion and Death Deacon Mark Shrkeli St. Lawrence O Toole Church, Brewster, NY Deacon Mark has served St. Lawrence for over 20 years in a variety of ministries. February 19 Making Eucharistic Adoration the Foundation of your Spiritual Life Fr. Brendan Fitzgerald, Pastor St. Barnabas, Bronx, NY Fr. Fitzgerald was born in Rockaway, NY to parents who were natives of County Kerry, Ireland. They shared that affection for Ireland with their sons and made the decision to give their children the advantage of growing up in both worlds by going to school in Ireland and spending summers back in Rockaway. He graduated from Maynooth Seminary, County Kildare with a B.A. honors in history. He spent a pastoral year which included living and working with Mother Theresa in Calcutta. Fr. Fitzgerald continue his academic formation in Rome, Italy and graduated with a Masters in Theology. He continued studies at Fordham University, NY and received a Masters and an A.P.D. in Education. Ordained in September 2000, in St. John s Cathedral, Limerick. He spent his first year of the priesthood in Meelick, County Clare. Fr. Fitzgerald returned to his native NY as a Parochial Vicar in Saint Barnabas Parish, Bronx, NY from 2006 to He was Parochial Vicar at St. Margaret of Cortona, Riverdale. In 2012, became pastor of Regina Coeli, Hyde Park, NY. In 2016, he was appointed as Pastor of Saint Barnabas, Bronx, NY. Named Dean of the North East Bronx by Cardinal Dolan in

4 February 26 What to do to have a Fruitful Lent Fr. Szymon Kurpios, Pastoral Vicar St. James, Carmel, NY Father Szymon Kurpios was ordained a Priest on May 18, 2001, in Cracow, Poland. He was born in Poland and now resides in Carmel, NY. He is a graduate of the Pontificial University of John Paul II in Cracow, Poland and Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Poland. He worked as a teacher in various types of schools in Poland. Father Szymon speak Polish, English, Russian and Spanish. March 19 How to Live Holy Week the Best way Possible Fr. Vincent Druding, Parochial Vicar Assumption Church, Peekskill, NY Born in Arlington Heights, IL, a northern suburb of Chicago, and the youngest of six children. Fr. Vince went to Wabash College, Indiana, where he majored in religion. After college, he worked for a year, eventually as a head hunter, and then went to University of Chicago for a graduate program in Humanities. After UC, he applied for a Fellowship in Public Affairs with the CORO Foundation, and got assigned to New York City. His first full day of work at his first assignment was 9/11/2001. He worked as a civilian volunteer at Ground Zero from the 12 th 17 th, and had two encounters with Our Lord through two priests there. One of whom gave him Communion on Sunday, and the Lord gave him a palpable peace amidst the horror. Fr. Vince worked for First Things Magazine for two years before entering St. Joseph s Seminary, and was ordained in He is awed by Jesus Christ and the mystery of this vocation, and he is grateful that after serving at Our Lady of Angels and St. Rita s in the Bronx, the Lord called him to Assumption Church in Peekskill. 3 8

5 March 12 Praying and Doing Penance: Intercedeing for Others Fr. John Palatucci, Administrator St. John the Evangilist, Pawling, NY Fr. John was born in the Bronx, NY. His calling to the priesthood came while living in the Los Angeles area. He completed his philosophy studies at St. John s Seminary in Camarillo, CA, graduating in He was accepted by the Archdiocese of New York. After completing his studies at St. Joseph s Seminary, Dunwoodie, Fr. Palatucci was ordatained to the priesthood 2004 by the late Edward Cardinal Egan, Archbishop of NY. His first assignment was at St. Helena, Parkchester, Bronx. In 2007, he was assigned to St. Joseph-St. Thomas in Staten Island, until returning to St. Helena for a brief stopover in In 2011, he was assigned to St. Paul s in Congers, NY. In 2015, both Msgr Nevin and Fr. Palatucci, together, were reassigned to St. Aedan in Pearl River, NY. Then in 2017, he applied for the administrator position for St. John the Evangelist, Pawling and St. Charles Borromeo, Dover Plains. He s been happily serving both since September of that year. March 5: The Importance of Confession and How To Prepare Fr. John Lagiovane, Pastor St. Joseph s Church, Somers, NY Born in the Bronx, Father Lagiovane studied for the priesthood at St. Joseph s Seminary, where he received a Master of Divinity and Bachelor s degree in Sacred Theology. He was ordained in 1992 by Cardinal O Connor. He served as Parochial Vicar at Sacred Heart Church in Newburgh from 1992 to 1996 and at St. Aedan s Parish in Pearl River, NY from 1996 to Father Lagiovane was assigned to Monsignor Farrell High School in 1999, where he served as a religion teacher and freshmen guidance counselor for seven years. Father received his Master of Education in Counseling in 2004 and a Professional Diploma in school administration in 2007 from St. John s University. From September 2007 to June 2014 Father Lagiovane was Principal of Our Lady of Lourdes High School in Poughkeepsie. After one year as administrator, he was appointed Pastor at St. Joseph s Church in Somers in July of

6 6 Ways To Make This Lent Better than Ever If you re like me, you ve only given a fleeting thought about what to give up: Hmmm, maybe chocolate this year. Maybe tv. We watch too much tv. And that is where your Lenten planning begins and ends. Let s get real; if you don t have your Lenten plan in place, you probably won t have one at all. Let e make this the best Lent ever! Here are some concrete suggestions. Choose one or two. Or maybe this list will spark your imagination. Ask God. Find some quiet time in the next day or two; a half an hour would be ideal. In front of the Blessed Sacrament would be perfect! In that quiet time, tell God you want your Lenten journey to please Him, to be for Him. Ask him what He d like you to do. Then: be quiet. Very still. You ll get your answer. Give up something in order to give something. We are all familiar with giving up something for Lent. We give up chocolate, steadfastly making our way around the niece s birthday cake, dinner at Grandma s ( Eat! You look thin! ) until it s Easter Sunday and you can happily munch the ears off all the chocolate bunnies. Noble, but it doesn t really get at the heart of Lent, does it? After all, Lent is not some weight-loss program that had holy water sprinkled over it. We make sacrifices during Lent to remind us that Christ has made the greatest sacrifice of all, and we want to join with him in this terrible beauty. If you re going to give up something for Lent, here are a couple of ideas to make it a mindful Lenten practice. First, every time you find yourself reaching for that treat, pray. Just something simple, like Jesus, I trust in you or Glory be to the Father and the Son. Allow that craving to be redirected to worship. Second, figure out about how much money you spent on your treat. Are you buying a $4 latte every day? Do you stop and get fast food once or twice a week? Take that amount and donate it to a charity of your choice. Double those blessings! Get the family involved. One way you may be called to Lent is to get the whole family involved. SEASONS OF PRAISE, Lenten Mondays has some amazing speakers, holy hour, confession, and time with God for the whole family. 5 Commit to daily prayer. Yes, you re busy. Yup, you ve got work and kids and soccer and ballet and dinner and that big project due in April and. Yup, you are busy. Pray anyway. Finding 30 minutes of silence in your day is invaluable for your relationship with Christ. You call your mom every day, right? Or your best friend? You find 30 minutes a day to tinker in the wood shop downstairs, don t you? Then you ve got the time. And Christ desperately wants to hear from you. Make time for family. Sometimes we feel like we are spending time together simply because we live together. But with 5 people going in 15 directions, you probably aren t truly together that much. Spend Saturday night or Sunday afternoon making some popcorn and pulling out old board games. At the end of the game, tell each of the family members how much you love them and why you appreciate spending time with them. Be grateful. (and the flip side: Don t complain) We take so much for granted from the fact that our spouse brings us coffee in bed every single morning to vast array of things we have to amuse ourselves to the different flavors of ice cream at the local ice cream shop. Yet, we still find ways to be grumpy. To complain. To find fault. This Lent, flip that around. When you find yourself thinking, This coffee isn t very hot; he does this every morning stop yourself. Instead, think, I am so blessed to have such a thoughtful spouse. Thank you, God for this blessing. Lift your thoughts from the negative to the prayerful positive. Our annual Lenten practices are such a blessed opportunity for us to work on shedding our sinful nature and to grow closer to God, especially as we ponder daily the Life, Death, and Resurrection of His Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ. Heavenly Father, bless us as we ponder our Lenten journey. We desire to please you and to grow in faith. We beg that you help us with this good endeavors. We ask this through Christ Our Lord. Amen. ASH WEDNESDAY February 14 7:30 am, 8:30 am, Mass 12:00 pm, 6:30 pm, Liturgy of the Word 7:30 pm (Spanish) Mass HOLY WEEK SCHEDULE Holy Thursday, March 29 9:00 am Liturgy of the Hours 7:30 pm Mass of the Lord s Supper (BiLingual) Good Friday, March 30 9:00 am Liturgy of the Hours 12:00 pm Stations of the Cross 3:00 pm Celebration of the Lord s Passion 7:30 pm Way of the Cross, Spanish Procession Holy Saturday, March 31 9:00 am Liturgy of the Hours 1:00 pm Blessing of the Easter Food 8:00 pm Easter Vigil Easter Sunday, April 1 8:00 am, 11:00 am, 12:30 pm, 1:30 pm (Spanish) 6