Saint Joseph on the Brandywine Founded 1841

Transcription

1 Saint Joseph on the Brandywine Founded 1841 Rectory 10 Old Church Road Greenville, DE Office (302) Fax (302) Rev. Msgr. Joseph F. Rebman, V.G., PASTOR F. Edmund Lynch, DEACON, RCIA PROGRAM Parish & Pastoral Secretary: Francine A. Harkins; (302) ; Bulletin Editor: Bookkeeper: Laura G. Gibson ; DIRECTOR OF LITURGY & MUSIC Michael Marinelli (302) DIRECTOR OF ADULT & YOUTH CHOIRS Mary Ellen Schauber (302) ALTAR SERVER COORDINATOR Steve Carroll (302) COMMUNION MINISTER COORDINATOR Carolyn Mostyn (610) LECTOR COORDINATOR Harry Gordon (302) PARISH COUNCIL EXECUTIVE OFFICER Joseph Yacyshyn (302) FINANCE COUNCIL EXECUTIVE OFFICER Eugene Julian (302) BUILDING & GROUNDS MANAGER Robert W. Spittle (302) ; ST. JOSEPH CEMETERIES (302) Family Center Director of Religious Education: Eva Marie Lyons (302) ; Religious Education Secretary: Linda T. Mondzelewski (302) ; Schedule of Liturgies SATURDAY VIGIL 5:00 PM SUNDAY EUCHARISTS: 7:30 AM; 9:00 AM; 10:30 AM DAILY EUCHARISTS: 7 AM; 12:05 (Mon. - Fri.) 8:00 AM (Saturday) HOLY DAY EUCHARIST: As announced SICK CALLS: Anytime RECONCILIATION SERVICES: Saturdays: 4 to 4:45 PM; Anytime by appointment BAPTISMS: By appointment with at least one preparation session for new parents. WEDDINGS: Engaged couples wishing to marry in the church should contact a Parish Priest at least one year prior to the planned wedding date to begin the marriage preparation process. The year-long process includes diocesan pre-marriage classes and meetings with clergy. COUNCIL #15436: Council meets on the third Tuesday of the month at 7:00 p.m., Archives Building. Membership in the Knights of Columbus is open to men 18 years of age or older who are practicing Catholics. Contact Paul Thorson, , LTCThorson@gmail.com or John Strusowski, , johnstru@comcast.net. FIRST SATURDAY DEVOTIONS: All are welcome to join the Knights of Columbus Council #15436 at the First Saturday of the month devotions to Our Lady of Fatima at 8 a.m. in the church. My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country. -John F. Kennedy

2 The Ascension of the Lord May 28, 2017 He was lifted up, and a cloud took him from their sight. Acts 1:9 Religious Education Dear Friends, Classes are over for the spring and we are already working hard to get ready for a wonderful new year in September. Calendars and registration forms will be up on the parish website very soon. If there are any jr. high or high school students who need summer service hours, or who just want to help, we will be cleaning out and updating/decorating classrooms over the summer. Please send me an diredstjosephbrandywine1@verizon.net if your son or daughter would like to help. All help is needed and welcomed. More summer service for students 16 and older is available through the diocesan Helping Hands, Washing Feet program. Go to the diocesan youth ministry website for more information: The life of Jesus is a life for others. It is a life of service. Pope Francis Many Blessings, Eva Always in Good Taste! Dress and attire show our reverence and respect for the special presence of the Lord found in our Church. A gentle reminder is needed at this time of the year that dress and attire should not reflect that we re headed to the beach, gym or pool. TREASURES FROM OUR TRADITION If you could somehow transport a third-century Christian into your twenty-first-century Sunday Mass, once the initial shock wore off he or she would be more or less at home with the structure of the first part of the liturgy, the Word. The second part might be more difficult to comprehend. The stumbling block would be the book. We have a book, a missal that is set down on the altar with a very precisely prescribed set of words for the priest to say and the people to sing at the Eucharistic Prayer. In the early days of the church, there were no set formulas for this prayer. The ancients would have raised eyebrows at our bookishness since they preferred to let the prayers roll forth from a gifted leader of prayer. There was a basic shape to the prayer of thanksgiving, and almost general agreement that the words of Christ at the Last Supper ought to be included. By the second century, Justin Martyr wrote that the presider gives thanks at some length... and when he has finished the prayers and the thanksgiving, all the people present give their assent by saying Amen. In the world before books, people could memorize long passages of prose and poetry, and so it is easy to see how particular phrases or expressions passed from church to church. Pastor s Notes Share the Hope The readings for today s celebration of the Ascension of the Lord once again remind us that as Christians we are people of hope. In the second reading Saint Paul eloquently exhorts the Ephesians to enlighten their hearts so that they will know the hope and glory that come from being people who place their trust in the Lord Jesus. In the story of the Ascension, recounted in the first reading, the Lord Jesus assures the disciples that the Holy Spirit s power will come upon them. Finally, in the Gospel, the Lord lets the disciples know that their mission is to spread the hope of the gospel to all the nations. This wonderful feast keeps our eyes focused on the hope in which we were grounded on the day of our baptism. Knowledgeable and caring adults who are committed to protecting children can also protect our Church. Learn how to report child abuse. ( scroll to For the Sake of God s Children link; scroll to Section Four Resources) DE hotline ; MD hotline: Survivors Assistance Program Coordinator Questions call: Coordinator for Safe Environments Let us take time to remember our brave military personnel living and dead who placed their lives on the line to keep us free. As we pause to pray and thank them for their sacrifices, please be aware that flags in our cemeteries at St. Joseph honor those who have served in the military. If a flag has not been placed on the grave of your loved one and you would like one, please call the office at with his or her name and location. This event is sponsored by the Knights of Columbus, local Cub Scout Pack 959 and a donation by one of our parishioners, Anne Wattman, Old Cemetery Consultant. Thank you for your dedication, your duty, your unwavering loyalty and most importantly your unbelievable sacrifice. Memorial Day Field Mass - May 29th Bishop Malooly will be the celebrant and homilist at Annual Memorial Day Field Mass celebrated at 10:00 a.m., All Saints Cemetery. Immediately before Mass, there will be a brief military tribute. Protection from the weather and seating will be provided; however, those wishing to do so may bring their own folding lawn chairs. Remembering those who have died defending our freedom and praying for the safety of those now serving our country is a most appropriate way to begin the summer season.

3 10 THINGS YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT THE VATICAN Explore 10 things you may not know about the seat of the Catholic Church 1. Vatican City is the smallest country in the world. Encircled by a 2-mile border with Italy, Vatican City is an independent city-state that covers just over 100 acres, making it one-eighth the size of New York s Central Park. Vatican City is governed as an absolute monarchy with the pope at its head. The Vatican mints its own euros, prints its own stamps, issues passports and license plates, operates media outlets and has its own flag and anthem. One government function it lacks: taxation. Museum admission fees, stamp and souvenir sales, and contributions generate the Vatican s revenue. 2. St. Peter s Basilica sits atop a city of the dead, including its namesake s tomb. A Roman necropolis stood on Vatican Hill in pagan times. When a great fire leveled much of Rome in A.D. 64, Emperor Nero, seeking to shift blame from himself, accused the Christians of starting the blaze. He executed them by burning them at the stake, tearing them apart with wild beasts and crucifying them. Among those crucified was St. Peter disciple of Jesus Christ, leader of the Apostles and the first bishop of Rome who was supposedly buried in a shallow grave on Vatican Hill. By the fourth century and official recognition of the Christian religion in Rome, Emperor Constantine began construction of the original basilica atop the ancient burial ground with what was believed to be the tomb of St. Peter at its center. The present basilica, built starting in the 1500s, sits over a maze of catacombs and St. Peter s suspected grave. Obelisk in St. Peter s Square. (KevinAlexanderGeorge/iStockphoto.co m) 3. Caligula captured the obelisk that stands in St. Peter s Square. Roman Emperor Caligula built a small circus in his mother s gardens at the base of Vatican Hill where charioteers trained and where Nero is thought to have martyred the Christians. To crown the center of the amphitheater, Caligula had his forces transport from Egypt a pylon that had originally stood in Heliopolis. The obelisk, made of a single piece of red granite weighing more than 350 tons, was erected for an Egyptian pharaoh more than 3,000 years ago. In 1586 it was moved to its present location in St. Peter s Square, where it does double duty as a giant sundial. 4. For nearly 60 years in the 1800s and 1900s, popes refused to leave the Vatican. Popes ruled over a collection of sovereign Papal States throughout central Italy until the country was unified in The new secular government had seized all the land of the Papal States with the exception of the small patch of the Vatican, and a cold war of sorts then broke out between the church and the Italian government. Popes refused to recognize the authority of the Kingdom of Italy, and the Vatican remained beyond Italian national control. Pope Pius IX proclaimed himself a prisoner of the Vatican, and for almost 60 years popes refused to leave the Vatican and submit to the authority of the Italian government. When Italian troops were present in St. Peter s Square, popes even refused to give blessings or appear from the balcony overlooking the public space. 5. Benito Mussolini signed Vatican City into existence. The dispute between the Italian government and the Catholic Church ended in 1929 with the signing of the Lateran Pacts, which allowed the Vatican to exist as its own sovereign state and compensated the church $92 million (more than $1 billion in

4 today s money) for the Papal States. The Vatican used the payment as seed money to re-grow its coffers. Mussolini, the head of the Italian government, signed the treaty on behalf of King Victor Emmanuel III. 6. Popes did not live at the Vatican until the 14th century. Even after the construction of the original St. Peter s Basilica, popes lived principally at the Lateran Palace across Rome. They even left the city altogether in 1309 when the papal court moved to Avignon, France, after King Philip IV arranged for a French cardinal to be elected pope. Seven popes, all French, ruled from Avignon, and the papacy did not return to Rome until 1377, by which time the Lateran Palace had burned and the Vatican started to be used as a papal residence. Much repair work needed to be done, however, because the Vatican had fallen into such disrepair that wolves dug for bodies in the cemetery and cows even wandered the basilica. Members of the Swiss Guard in Vatican City. (apomares/istockphoto.com) 7. The Swiss Guard was hired as a mercenary force. The Swiss Guard, recognizable by its armor and colorful Renaissance-era uniforms, has been protecting the pontiff since That s when Pope Julius II, following in the footsteps of many European courts of the time, hired one of the Swiss mercenary forces for his personal protection. The Swiss Guard s role in Vatican City is strictly to protect the safety of the pope. Although the world s smallest standing army appears to be strictly ceremonial, its soldiers are extensively trained and highly skilled marksmen. And, yes, the force is entirely comprised of Swiss citizens. 8. At several times during the Vatican s history, popes escaped through a secret passageway. In 1277, a half-milelong elevated covered passageway, the Passetto di Borgo, was constructed to link the Vatican with the fortified Castel Sant Angelo on the banks of the Tiber River. It served as an escape route for popes, most notably in 1527 when it likely saved the life of Pope Clement VII during the sack of Rome. As the forces of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V rampaged through the city and murdered priests and nuns, the Swiss Guard held back the enemy long enough to allow Clement to safely reach the Castel Sant Angelo, although 147 of the pope s forces lost their lives in the battle. 9. The majority of Vatican City s 600 citizens live abroad. As of 2011, the number of people with Vatican citizenship totaled 594. That number included 71 cardinals, 109 members of the Swiss Guard, 51 members of the clergy and one nun inside the Vatican walls. The largest group of citizens, however, was the 307 members of the clergy in diplomatic positions around the world. With Benedict XVI residing as a pope emeritus in the Vatican, the population will increase by one when a new pope is named. 10. The Vatican Observatory owns a telescope in Arizona. As Rome expanded, light pollution from the city made it increasingly difficult for astronomers at the Vatican Observatory located 15 miles from the city at the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo to view the night skies, so in 1981 the observatory opened a second research center in Tucson, Arizona. The Vatican conducts astronomical research with a state-of-the-art telescope that sits atop Mount Graham in southeast Arizona. Author: Christopher Klein

5 Adult Formation Corner The Jesuits The Jesuits seek to find God in all things. They journey as companions of Jesus in our contemporary world. Alberto Hurtado, born in Chile in 1901, was a Jesuit priest, lawyer, social worker, and writer. Of Basque origins, he was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI in In his youth, he lived with relatives and was often moved from one family to another. Thus, from an early age, he experienced what it meant to be poor and without a home and being at the mercy of others. In October 1944, while giving a retreat, Alberto appealed to his audience to consider the many poor people of the city, especially the numerous homeless children who were roaming the streets of Santiago. This was the beginning of the initiative, a form of charitable activity that provided not simply housing, but a home-like milieu for the homeless. He once wrote, I hold that every poor man, every vagrant, every beggar is Christ carrying his cross. And as Christ, we must love and help him. We must treat him as a brother, a human being like ourselves. If we were to start a campaign of love for the poor and homeless, we would, in a short time, do away with depressing scenes of begging, children sleeping in doorways and women with babies in their arms fainting in our streets.... Christ stumbles through our streets in the person of so many poor who are hungry, thrown out of their miserable lodgings because of sickness and destitution. Christ has no home! And we who have the good fortune to have one and have food to satisfy our hunger, what are we doing about it? Alberto s optimistic and joyful attitudes attracted people of all kinds young, old, intellectuals, and workers alike. After his death in 1952 from pancreatic cancer, he was hailed as a national hero. Emmanuel Dining Room Friday, June 9th St. Joseph s provides 350 servings of food for the hungry in Wilmington each month. Volunteers purchase, cook, and donate 24 chicken thighs. We cook 350 servings of stuffing and add green beans and desserts. Our next date to cook and deliver food for the Emmanuel Dining Room is Tuesday, May 9. Please have your cooked chicken and desserts at the Family Center by 9 A.M. on that day. If you would like to assist in making the stuffing, we meet at the Family Center at 8 A.M. We can always use more chicken cookers. Call Peg Janes (302) Food Pantry Collection- Last Sunday of May The next collection will be May 27 th and 28 th. We are seeking donations of: whole grain breakfast cereals, old fashioned oats, add water pancake mix, coffee, tea, low fat evaporated milk, flour, protein bars, dried fruits, nuts, peanut butter, jelly, low sodium hearty soups, canned meats and fish, rice and beans, pasta and crushed or diced tomatoes, canned lite fruit, natural low sugar applesauce, canned low sodium vegetables, olive oil or canola oil, bar soap, shampoo, toilet paper and toothpaste. Thank you for your support! Mass Intentions Saturday, May 27 5:30 p.m. James & Helen Grant & Jim & Diane Grant requested by his family Sunday, May 28 7:30 a.m. Sonny Ventresca by Marge & family 9:00 a.m. M/M John C. Janes & Margaret T. Janes by Joseph Janes 10:30 a.m. Parishioners Monday, May 29 (One mass) 9:00 a.m. For all deceased men & women who served in our country s armed forces Tuesday, May 30 th 7:00 a.m. Joseph (Beau) Biden by the Biden family 12:05 p.m. Carmine B. Tomaine by Margaret T. Speicher Wednesday, May 31 7:00 a.m. Betty Jo Grier by Aline & Ed Lynch 12:05 p.m. Peter Curtin by Kathy Neylan Thursday, June 1 7:00 a.m. Elizabeth Colmorgen by Martha Zazzarino 12:05 p.m. Charles Thomas Carr, Jr. by Kathy Neylan Friday, June 2 7:00 a.m. Vince McCorkle by family 12:05 p.m. Sister Elizabeth Malloy SSJ by Anne Wattman Saturday, June 3 8:00 a.m. Donald Brady by Michael & Margaret Reilly 5:00 p.m. Daniel Hurley by Leslie Baskets for Babies A program sponsored by the Pro-Life Committee and the Knights of Columbus, will welcome gifts during the month of June. As a reminder, every 4 months a beautiful gift basket will be personally presented to an unwed mother to show our affirmation and support to her and her new baby. All are invited to contribute and fill this Basket for Babies with gifts to welcome a precious new child into the world. A basket in the back of church will receive your baby gifts. Please contact Lynelle Robuck or Annie Jordan All offices will be closed Monday, May 29 th in observance of Memorial Day. In case of emergency, please contact Congratulations Graduates! May the gift of joy and the blessing of peace be with you always!