20 SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME August 19, 2012

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1 th 20 SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME August 19, 2012 M I S S I O N S T A T E M E N T Saint Michael the Archangel Parish, located in the heart of Downtown Portland s University District, is a welcoming community of all Roman Catholic faithful. This Italian National Parish sacramentally proclaims the Gospel of Jesus Christ through a commitment to Evangelization, Education and the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy. SAINT MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL CHURCH 424 SW Mill Street + Portland, OR Office Fax Newman Center dal 1894,la parrocchia nazionale italiana di Portland...nel cuore della città. P A R I S H S T A F F FATHER JAMES MAYO, PASTOR DEACON CHUCK AMSBERRY, PASTORAL ASSOCIATE FATHER MAXIMO STOCK, CAMPUS MINISTER Pastor@stmichaelportland.org PastoralAssociate@stmichaelportland.org CampusMinister@stmichaelportland.org MEGHAN JACKSON, MUSIC COORDINATOR JERRI SCHULTZ, OFFICE MANAGER JACOLYN WHEATLEY, BOOKKEEPER MusicCoordinator@stmichaelportland.org OfficeManager@stmichaelportland.org Bookkeeper@stmichaelportland.org ROSEMARY RETTIG, SOCIAL SERVICES CONNOR P. SAVAGE, DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR DAN BENEDICT, MAINTENANCE SocialServices@stmichaelportland.org CampaignDirector@stmichaelportland.org Janitor@stmichaelportland.org E U C H A R I S T Monday through Friday at 12:05 p.m. Saturday Vigil at 4:30 p.m Sunday at 8:30 and 10:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. Indonesian Mass on the Third Sunday at 2:00 p.m. S A C R A M E N T O F R E C O N C I L I A T I O N Monday through Friday at 11:30 a.m. Saturday 3:45 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. S A C R A M E N T S O F B A P T I S M, M A T I M O N Y & T H E S I C K Please contact Father Mayo or Deacon Chuck Amsberry for assistance with these Sacraments.

2 THIS WEEK IN THE PARISH SUNDAY th TH AUGUST SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME 8:30 A.M Sunday Mass 10:00 A.M. Sunday Mass 12:00 P.M. Sunday Mass th MONDAY AUGUST 20 SAINT BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX 11:30 A.M. Confessions and Daily Mass Readings Ezekiel 24:15-24 & Matthew 19:16-22 st TUESDAY AUGUST 21 SAINT PIUS THE 10 TH 11:30 A.M. Confessions & Daily Mass Readings Ezekiel 28:1-10 & Matthew 19:23-30 nd WEDNESDAY AUGUST 22 THE QUEENSHIP OF MARY 11:30 A.M. Confessions & Daily Mass Readings Ezekiel 34:1-11 & Matthew 20:1-16 THURSDAY rd AUGUST 23 SAINT ROSE OF LIMA 11:30 A.M. Confessions & Mass Readings Ezekiel 36:23-28 & Matthew 22:1-14 th FRIDAY AUGUST 24 SAINT BARTHOLOMEW 11:30 A.M. Confessions & Mass Readings th SATURDAY AUGUST 25 KING SAINT LOUIS 3:45 P.M. Confessions 4:30 P.M. Sunday Vigil Mass Readings Ezekiel 43:1-7a & Matthew 23:1-12 th st SUNDAY AUGUST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME Readings Joshua 24:1-2a, b, Ephesians 5:21-32 & John 6:60-69 NORA SCHRECK, PRAYER MINISTRY Parish Website Summer Office Hours 9:00 A.M. to Noon & 1:00-3:00 P.M. MASS INTENTIONS Day Presider Mass Intention Sunday P. Mayo Pro Populo Sunday P. Mayo + Juana Lagasca Sunday P. Maximo + Socorro Damgo Monday P. Ignatius +Redentor Cabauatan Tuesday P. Mayo Pius Duk Ki Kim Wednesday P. Mayo Montserrat Espadale Thursday P. Mayo Rosa Yoen-Hee Lee Friday P. Maximo +Tran Ngoc Chien Saturday P. Mayo +Anthony D Angelo Sunday P. Ignatius Sunday P. Mayo Sunday P. Mayo Call if you would like a Mass celebrated for your or someone else s intentions like a birthday, anniversary, for favors received, etc. VOTIVE CANDLES +Joanne Bastian +Ada Dunn +Thomas Gianelli +Orlin Roth +Maybelle Clark Macdonald +Frances Shimel +Ekhard Ursin +Walter Wilson +Marian Louise Johnson +Joseph Leskovec Margaret Leonetti Jean Rutherford Nicole Ellis Employment Success James Joseph Danielson Financial Success Dan Baker Louis Iorio Altar Guild Members Living & Deceased +Frank & +Margerite Terraglio Murty Family - Living and Deceased Call if you would like a 6 day Votive Candle lighted for your or someone else s intentions.

3 FINANCE NEWS th th th Weekend of August 11 & Sunday in Ordinary Time Received Budgeted Last Sunday $3, $5, Last Week $ $ Year to date $35, $42, For the Poor $ $ Candles $ $ Flowers $30.00 $66.35 Please remember to keep your financial commitments expenses continue even while you are gone! We are so grateful for our faithful generous parishioners! OUR PARISH OFFERS AUTOMATED GIVING We can transfer the amount you designate from your checking or savings account once or twice a month. All you need to do is complete an authorization form, available in the back shelves. With automated giving, we receive your offering even when you re away. That s one less thing to worry about on vacation! If you re ready to leave check writing &/or envelope stuffing behind, this free & secure process is for you! Donations will be indicated on your bank statements & you ll receive a year-end contribution notice from us. If you have questions, or would like an authorization form mailed or ed to you, contact our Office Manager, Jerri Schultz, at officemanager@stmichaelportland.org SOCIAL CONCERNS DRIVE? MAKE SANDWICHES? STOCK SHELVES? New volunteers are needed to drive the van, pick up groceries, stock shelves, make sandwiches, welcome our guests at the door, etc. If you could spare one morning (9:00-ish) or an afternoon (1:00-ish) please call Rosemary and let her know. Thank you! WISHING GODSPEED TO THOSE WHO SERVE. Lately, a number of our long-time volunteers have stepped down from our ministry teams due to health reasons or because they have moved out of Portland. Missed and remembered with great affection are Cindy Oster, Jean Rutherford, George Fracasso, Dan Baker, Marjorie Newman, and Margaret Tobin. God willing they will return!

4 PARISH NEWS RCIA: For any interested in becoming Catholic, confirmed, or learning more about our Catholic faith, our RCIA classes will begin again next September. Please contact Deacon Chuck for more information. nd FIRST RECONCILIATION AND FIRST COMMUNION: This class for 2 Grade age will begin next Fall. Contact Deacon Chuck for more information. DECEASED CLERGY MONDAY Father Othmar Mueller, OSB 1918 TUESDAY Father Odilo Orthman, OSB 1931 Father Leo Linahen 1968 Father Dennis Michael Dwyer 1999 WEDNESDAY Father Alphonse Steder, OSB 1955 Father Bernard Arnheim, OP 1989 FRIDAY Father Brendan Shea, OSB 1968 SATURDAY Father Regis Lewis, OP 1938 Father Joseph Scherbring 1955 Father John T. O Callaghan 1972 NEWMAN NEWS TUESDAY MEETINGS AT NEWMAN CENTER: Campus Ministry Tuesday meetings at 6 P.M. continue through the Summer. This week s topic is Faith, and Preparing for The Year of Faith.

5 WHERE THERE S A WILL, THERE S A WAY Please remember your parish in your will. The wording should read: To the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Portland in Oregon and Successors, for the benefit of St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church, Portland, Oregon. FROM THE ARCHBISHOP On July 23rd I will be sending a postcard to those parishioners who have not yet responded to the 2012 ACA letting them know that a representative will soon be contacting them via telephone to speak with them about the Archbishop s Catholic Appeal. ACA phone calls will begin July 30th and run throughout August. I ask that you include an announcement in your bulletin about these follow up calls for the entire month of August and encourage your parishioners to answer the call and give generously. HOMILY BY CARDINAL COLLINS OF TORONTO The Rulers of This Age, Who Shape Popular Culture, Are Effectively De-evangelizing Many of the Christian People A Homily given on August 8, 2012, Knights of Columbus Convention Our mission, like that of each generation of Christians, is to make Christ known in the age in which we live, and we should celebrate the fact that the mysteries of faith are being proclaimed by word and witness to the ends of the earth. But we should not be surprised at the storms that occur when the divine wisdom of the Gospel confronts the human wisdom of this age. We can learn from the readings today, and from the example of St. Dominic, whose feast we celebrate, how to engage effectively in the struggle to evangelize the world of this age, which so often is not attentive to the wisdom of the cross. St. Paul says to the Corinthians: I came to you in weakness and fear and much trembling, and my message and my proclamation were not with persuasive words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of spirit and of power, so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God. Yet we do speak a wisdom to those who are mature, but not a wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age who are passing away. We proclaim the supernatural wisdom of the Gospel, which is in harmony with natural human wisdom, whether it be in affirming the sanctity of life, or of marriage as a covenant between a man and a woman, faithful in love and open to the gift of life, or of other fundamental realities that are clearly evident by the light of faith and reason. But we do so in a social environment that is shaped by the false wisdom of this age that is increasingly antagonistic to Christian faith, and even blind to what human reason itself reveals. More than that, public opinion polls indicate a disturbing phenomenon that personal experience confirms. While we are trying to evangelize this age, the rulers of this age, who shape popular culture, are effectively de-evangelizing many of the Christian people. Often the misguided ideas against which we speak are increasingly attractive, and the principles we affirm are unattractive, to Catholics as much as to any others, who are unconsciously absorbing the false wisdom of the age. One effect of this is that any political or judicial action which the Church may take to counter the challenge of militant secularism, and the threat to religious freedom, is undermined when it is clear that the Christian people themselves are not united in their affirmation of the wisdom of the Gospel.

6 Popular culture is the sea in which we swim; it is the air we breathe. It is so omnipresent that it is unnoticed as it shapes the unspoken assumptions of our society. Sometimes it is harmless, or even beneficial, but too often it is unwholesome. The false wisdom of the age is communicated with extraordinary effectiveness, through touching personal stories that convey a message of moral relativism, and through the skilful promotion of an individualism that corrodes the bonds of love, and ultimately leads to a discordant society of lonely people, without purpose and without peace. While the rulers of this age persuasively tell stories, we tend to issue documents, full of truth, but unread. But in the human heart there is a yearning for truth, especially since a diet of illusion eventually robs us of inner peace, and causes misery in society. It is spiritual and intellectual junk food, delicious but incapable of sustaining life. Long ago St. Augustine spoke of the deep human reality that is as true today as it was in his age: You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you. Our mission is to offer to our age the life giving Gospel alternative to the superficially attractive wisdom of this age, and we need to do so persuasively, to get through to people, including Catholics, who are bewitched by the wisdom of this age. On today s feast, we look to the example of St. Dominic, who in the early 13th century was sent by God to the rescue the Church at a time when it faced a challenge superficially different but fundamentally similar to the one we face today. Large numbers of Catholics had left the Church, attracted by an alluring alternative to the orthodox Gospel. It was sweeping through southern France, and was immensely popular. Orthodox Christianity was on the defensive, with diminishing impact on the popular culture of the land. St. Dominic saw the problem clearly, and was guided by the Holy Spirit to see the solution, one which addressed not the symptoms of the problem, but its cause. His approach of prayer, of personal and communal example, and of the effective preaching of Christ, can guide us today. First, prayer. We need to attend to the fundamentals. As we busily design strategies to advance the new evangelization, we need to build upon the bedrock of prayer, and not just give it lip service. As St. Benedict says in the Prologue of his Rule: whatever good work you begin to do, beg of Him with most earnest prayer to perfect it. This is not just pious icing on the cake; in many ways, it is the cake. The sacramental encounter with Christ in the Eucharist, continued contemplatively through Eucharistic adoration, is essential to our life of faith. St. Dominic spent countless hours in prayer before the Lord. Bishop Sheen reminds us that the effective ministry of conversion flows from the Eucharist. What does that mean for you, and for me, in the days that lie ahead? Another gateway to divine wisdom is the Rosary, a prayer deeply connected to the Dominican tradition. It immerses us in the mysteries of salvation and helps us to reach out for the intercession of Our Lady. In any great and seemingly overwhelming crisis, whether in St. Dominic s time, or today, we need to pray the Rosary. And we need to build our efforts upon the foundation of a prayerful meditation on the sacred scriptures. St. Dominic carried the words of St. Paul and the Gospels with him always. The ancient practice of Lectio Divina, the praying of the Word of God, should inform all that we do, day by day, for we proclaim not the wisdom of this age, but holy wisdom, manifest in sacred scripture and most fully in the person of Our Lord Jesus himself, whom we encounter in Word and Sacrament. The second point that St. Dominic emphasized was personal and communal example. This obviously means cleaning up corruption in the Church. We can see how our scandals, sexual and financial, especially among the clergy, speed the process of de-evangelization. St. Dominic insisted that the preachers live with manifest austerity and Christian integrity, obeying the invitation of the Lord in today s Gospel to leave all behind to follow him.

7 But we can also cause scandal in other ways, less obvious, that hinder the conversion of this world by blocking the effect of the divine wisdom which we offer. In the Apocalypse, the Risen Lord says in the Letter to the Christian community at Ephesus: "I know your works, your labor, and your endurance, and that you cannot tolerate the wicked. Yet I hold this against you: you have lost the love you had at first. (Apocalypse 2: 1-4) St. Dominic and his companions gave a witness of joyful, loving orthodoxy, and so must we, if we are to proclaim the Good News effectively both to this secular society, so cynical about religion, and to those who once were practicing Catholics but have left us. An old priest at the seminary at which I studied used to say: the faith that is sad, or mad, and not glad is bad. The power of the rulers of this world will only be conquered by the example of joyful, practical love. Finally, St. Dominic and his companions sought to communicate effectively and persuasively. They were attentive to the questions that were actually troubling the confused Catholics to whom they preached. First they listened, and then they used all their gifts of intellect and imagination to counter the false wisdom of their age, so as to communicate the real wisdom that comes from God, the wisdom of the cross of Christ. But first they had to understand the false wisdom, so as to counteract it. We have to do that as well. St. Thomas Aquinas, that great disciple of St. Dominic, always expresses accurately the ideas of those with whom he disagrees before he replies. First we need to listen, to understand why people leave the Church, why people so willingly accept misguided ideas about life or marriage or other matters of profound importance. First we must listen, before we can effectively preach the Good News of Jesus to our troubled world. We owe it to Our Lord, and to all whom we are called to bring to his Gospel, to listen and to understand the pain and confusion that makes good people so susceptible to the false wisdom of our age. As we celebrate this Feast of St. Dominic, he guides us as we confront the challenges of these days by laying before us three keys to evangelization: prayer, personal example, and a resolve to communicate the Gospel effectively to the people of our age. May Saint Dominic come to the help of your Church, O Lord, and may he, who was an outstanding preacher of your truth, be a devoted intercessor on our behalf. GARDENING NEED Are there a few people who would be willing to come to our parish and do some spading and weeding and transplanting of shrubs, perennials, etc? We could use a waterer on Saturday also. If you can help us out for a few weeks, please let Father Mayo know. We have worked hard to try to keep our parish grounds up and your hours volunteered will help that public witness to visitors, those who live in our area and our parishioners to be even more powerful. Thank you for considering this need!