Fourth Sunday of Advent & Christmas. December 22 & 25, Lord, bless all who look upon this manger. - from the blessing of the Nativity scene

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1 Fourth Sunday of Advent & Christmas December 22 & 25, 2013 Lord, bless all who look upon this manger. - from the blessing of the Nativity scene St. Veronica Established Alida Way, South San Francisco, CA Fax: Phone:

2 St. Veronica Parish Parish Office Hours Monday to Friday 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Closed for lunch from 12:30-1:30 p.m. (unless otherwise posted) Phone: Fax: Parish Staff Fr. Charles Puthota, Ph.D., Pastor Fr. Rafael de Avila, Parochial Vicar Deacon Roger Beaudry Deacon Joseph LeBlanc Ms. Patricia Spiteri, Parish Secretary Mrs. Karen Guglielmoni, Faith Formation & Wedding Coordinator Ext.305 Mr. Christopher Lindstrom, Music Director Ext. 308 St. Veronica Catholic School Phone: Mrs. Kathryn Lucchesi Principal Mrs. Geninne Ruegg Vice Principal SACRAMENTAL PREPARATION Sacrament of Baptism Baptismal Preparation classes are held once a month. Call the Parish Office Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA) Call the Parish Office to register Ext.309 Faith Formation: Ext. 305 Catechetical instructions (1st to 8th grades) Confirmation Classes: Mass Intentions WEEK of December 22, 2013 Parish Office churchoffice@stveronicassf.com Sun 12/22 6:45 Teresa del Rosario 8:00 Ramona Blagg 9:30 Richard Battaglia 11:00 Mike & Kevin Folan 12:30 People of St. Veronica 6:00 Armando Garcia Mon 12/23 6:30 Risso Family 8:30 Patrick Kerrigan Tue 12/24 Wed 12/25 6:30 Mickey Hart 8:30 Mary Isonio No Mass Intentions Thu 12/26 6:30 Jun Alcantara 8:30 Mike & Kevin Folan Fri Sat Sun 12/27 6:30 Angelita Minerales 8:30 Elsie DeSalvo 12/28 8:30 Dan Flynn 5:00 Lee Heise 12/29 6:45 Margaret Davoren 8:00 Steven Dub 9:30 Vicente David 11:00 Lee Heise 12:30 People of St. Veronica 6:00 Angelina Serra Gomez CHRISTMAS LITURGY SCHEDULE TUESDAY, DEC. 24, 2013 CHRISTMAS EVE MASSES 4:00 p.m. (Children s Mass) & 9:00 p.m. 8:15 p.m. - Christmas Cantata * * * * * WEDNESDAY, DEC. 25, 2013 CHRISTMAS DAY 6:45, 8:00, 9:30, 11:00 a.m. & 12:30 p.m. 6:00 p.m. (Spanish) * * * * * TUESDAY, DEC. 31, :30 a.m. * * * * * WEDNESDAY, JAN. 1, 2014 (A HOLY DAY OF OBLIGATION) 8:30 a.m. & 11:00 a.m.

3 Mass Schedule Saturdays: 8:30AM & 5:00PM Sundays: 6:45, 8:00, 9:30, 11:00AM, and 12:30PM Spanish Mass: Sundays at 6:00PM Holy Days: 6:30, 8:30AM, & 6:30PM Monday - Friday: 6:30 & 8:30AM Confessions Saturdays: 4:00 5:00PM Liturgy of the Hours Monday - Friday: Morning Prayer at 6:00AM Eucharistic Adoration Monday - Friday: 9:00AM - 9:00PM UPCOMING EVENTS December 20-22: Archbishop Cordileone s visit to St. Veronica December 22-23: Final Simbang Gabi Advent Masses with dinner following Dec. 23 Mass December 24 & 25: Christmas Eve (parish office closes at noon); Christmas Day (office closed) December 31: New Year s Eve (parish office closed, one Mass at 8:30 a.m.) January 1: New Year s Day, a Holy Day of Obligation with Masses at 8:30 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. (parish office closed) Welcome New Parishioners! Parish Registration Please complete and return form to the parish office, or simply drop it in the collection basket. Kindly print all information Name(s) Name(s) Address City & Zip Phone Primary language spoken at home: Updating Current Parish Registration Moving / Please remove from mailing list. This is a new registration Please call me. In a special way during this Christmas season, please remember the sick and the care-givers in our community. Pray that they may find comfort and healing in our Lord, Jesus Christ. Kindly contact the Parish office if Homebound Eucharistic services are needed. Our parish continues to be blessed and enriched by the presence of new parishioners: Loeb Fernandezees Elizalde & Ma. Conchita Macayan May St. Veronica offer you a place where you can bring your sorrow and joys, your pain and triumphs. and peace for your soul. Reflecting on the Word: Fourth Sunday of Advent We tend to think that with careful planning we can know ahead of time what the right, the proper, course of action is. In today s Gospel, Joseph is faced with a situation that he thinks he understands: his fiancée has become pregnant by another man. He prepares to do the proper thing and quietly break off the betrothal. This is not only proper but, given the situation as Joseph understands it, it is even merciful, since it will spare Mary some measure of shame. But the situation is not what he thinks it is, and when the angel of the Lord appears to him in a dream and tells him that Mary has not been unfaithful, but rather has conceived her child through the Holy Spirit, Joseph has to rethink what the proper course of action is. He realizes that he has been playing according to the wrong rulebook. Part of what makes Joseph a truly honorable man is his willingness to rethink how an honorable man acts once God enters the picture in an unexpected way. Our faith tells us that God is always entering the picture, and not only when angels appear to us in dreams. In every situation we have to be open to rethinking our notions of what is proper. It is of course a good thing to develop a sense of what is the fitting thing to do in a given situation, but as Advent moves toward Christmas we are reminded of God s capacity to surprise us, forcing us in turn to act in surprising ways. Due to holiday printing schedules, our collection numbers for the weekend of December will be reflected in a future bulletin. Thank you for your continued support of St. Veronica Parish & its works.

4 From the Pastor s Desk Dear Parishioners, As we open our hearts to welcome another enchanting Christmas season, suddenly, we sense a new spirit in the air. There is magic! Everything seems infused with lightness and sweetness. Viewing the world through the eyes of innocence, we discover wonder and splendor. Our ordinary lives assume extraordinary significance, touched by spontaneous grace and overflowing joy. All this incredible transformation happens because of the divine baby Jesus. He is born! We are reborn! Noel, Noel, Noel! No hell, no hell, no hell! There are three P s we could think about as related to this exquisite season. Christmas & Presents / Presence: As we give presents to each other, all we say is: I love you. I want to give you my time, talents, resources---and myself to you. God gives us his most precious present: Jesus Christ. A lifetime will not be enough to keep unwrapping this present, discovering the mind and heart of Jesus---and attuning our lives to him. God s resplendent presence fills our lives through Jesus. At Christmas time, we see more clearly that God s presence is dynamic, meeting us where we are at present. Jesus is coming into our lives here and now, and encounters and graces us in our present day reality. Christmas & Poverty: In the midst of our glittering Christmas, the divine baby is born in poverty. He gives up his position with God, empties himself, and becomes one with us. Pope Francis has called us to become a church for the poor. Christmas is a time to think and act in favor of the poor because Jesus himself is poor and identifies with the poor. If we are filled with ourselves, how can we let anyone else into our lives? Emptying of ourselves, we can make room within us for God and others, especially those who are in need. Christmas & Peace: Christmas ushers in peace. Angels herald the message: Glory to God in the highest and peace to his people on earth. The Prince of Peace is born all over again in our strife-torn world. As we face the slings and arrows of life, buffeted by fears and anxieties, scandalized by violence and hatred, Jesus offers peace for us as individuals and families, communities and the world. If we are with the divine baby Jesus, how can we not become channels of his peace to others? This holy season, may God shower his blessings on St. Veronica parish community. I want to thank you for your faith and joy, your spirit of community and friendship, and for your generosity in supporting the parish ministries. May the blessings of Christmas linger and overflow into the New Year, filling each day of 2014 with the charm and grace of the newborn baby. Merry Christmas! Happy New Year! Devotedly yours in Christ, Father Charles Puthota

5 St. Veronica Welcomes Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone! Archbishop Salvatore Joseph Cordileone was born in San Diego, California, on June 5, 1956, the second of Leon and Mary Cordileone s two sons and third of their four children. His paternal grandfather was a fisherman in Sicily; his maternal grandfather, Salvatore, came from a farming family in Sicily. The family grew up in Blessed Sacrament Parish in San Diego. Cordileone attended public grammar and high school and was an active participant in parish after-school religion classes and his high school music program, playing in three different bands. He graduated from Crawford High School in June The following December, during his first year of college and with encouragement from a young parish priest he respected, Cordileone attended a seminary vocation retreat. It was during this first year at San Diego State University that Cordileone discerned his call to the Priesthood and entered St. Francis Seminary, transferring as a sophomore to the University of San Diego. On July 9, 1982, Bishop Leo T. Maher ordained the Reverend Salvatore Cordileone. Following ordination, Cordileone has been assigned as an associate pastor at St. Martin of Tours Parish in La Mesa, has lived in Rome where he studied the new Code of Canon Law and completed his doctoral degree at the Gregorian University, been secretary and adjutant judicial vicar to Coadjutor Bishop Robert Brom in San Diego, served as pastor of Calexico s Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish, and served in Rome as assistant at the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signature, the s highest canonical court. Following appointments as Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of San Diego in 2002, and bishop of the Diocese of Oakland in 2009, Cordileone was appointed and installed as the ninth Archbishop of San Francisco in Archbishop Cordileone s avocations include a life-long interest in jazz music. He also enjoys swimming, hiking and badminton, as well as spectator sports, especially professional baseball and football. From the Dec. 15 bulletin, Father Charles wrote: Since the announcement at the Archdiocese that Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone would be making pastoral visits to parishes, I took the opportunity to invite him on your behalf to come visit our parish. The purpose of his visit would be for him to get to know us, and the people and parishes in the Archdiocese. As the shepherd of the Archdiocese, he is called to love, serve, lead, and guide the flock. He will be celebrating the Eucharist with the school (8:30 a.m. Dec. 20 th ) and the parish (Saturday 5:00 p.m. & 9:30 a.m. Sunday) and visiting with the school and Faith Formation, and the organizations and ministries. He will also be blessing the Pastoral Center after the 9:30 a.m. Sunday Mass. We welcome our Archbishop to our parish with deep joy and St. Veronica s proverbial hospitality! Final Masses: Saturday, Dec. 21 at 5:00 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 22 at 4:00 p.m. Monday, Dec. 23 at 6:30 p.m. with dinner in the Parish Center following the Dec. 23 Mass Don t miss the final performance of the cantata on Tuesday, Dec. 24 at 8:15 p.m. (preceding the 9:00 p.m. Mass)

6 St. Vincent de Paul Advent Food Drive As is our tradition at St. Veronica, parishioners are invited to donate to those in need during the Advent season. The funds and non-perishable food items support more than two dozen clients our St. Vincent de Paul Conference volunteers visit every month. New volunteers are welcome to contact the Pastoral Center for further information about entering this worthwhile ministry. Give the unique gift of a St. Veronica Legacy Item this Christmas What to Donate: money, non-perishable foods, canned goods (especially tuna, pasta, cereal, rice, mac & cheese, canned fruits and vegetables) Duration of Food Drive: through Dec. 24 Drop Off Locations:* The Vestibule food bin Pastoral Center during business hours *Note: Please do not bring any donations to the Rectory as it is a private residence. Save the Date! February 8, 2014 is the date for the annual St. Veronica Crab Feed, sponsored by the Men s Club. Cost of the event will be $65.00 per person. Reservations may be made by downloading the Crab Feed reservation flyer from the St. Veronica web site, or picking up a flyer from the Pastoral Center. Stay tuned to the bulletin for more details! The Legacy Courtyard is slated for Phase II of our St. Veronica Capital Campaign Leave a lasting legacy by gifting a brick to commemorate a life event or loved one For complete details and to download the order form, visit or and click on information in the Capital Campaign box.

7 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 - RCIA Rite of Acceptance, 9:30 a.m. Mass 8 - Santa s Breakfast, Parish Center Book Fair, Falcon Hall 9:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m Adult Choir Cantata, 3:00 p.m., Simbang Gabi Mass & Procession 4:00 p.m., 22 - Simbang Gabi Mass 4:00 p.m., December Senior Luncheon, Noon, Parish Center 9 - Feast of the Immaculate Conception, NOT a Holy Day of Obligation 16 - Simbang Gabi 23 - Final Simbang Gabi Mass 6:30 p.m., followed by Dinner, Parish Center 10 - Baptism Prep Class 7:30 p.m., Pastoral Center 17 - Movie Club, 1:00 p.m., Pastoral Center Simbang Gabi 24 - St. Veronica Parish Children s Mass, 4:00 p.m. Cantata, 8:15 p.m. Midnight Mass, 9:00 p.m New Year s Eve Pastoral Center closed Our Lady of Guadalupe Mass, 6:00 p.m., 18 - Simbang Gabi School Christmas Program, 4:00 p.m Christmas Day Regular Schedule of Masses NO Bingo Jan. 1 - Holy Day of Obligation, masses at 8:30 a.m. & 11 a.m. NO Bingo 19 - Simbang Gabi Advent Anointing of the Sick, 8:30 a.m. Mass 20 - Simbang Gabi Simbang Gabi Mass, 5:00 p.m.