29 Rockaway Avenue San Francisco CA Tel. No. (415) Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time August 27, 2017

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1 ST. BRENDAN CHURCH 29 Rockaway Avenue San Francisco CA Tel. No. (415) Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time August 27, 2017 The Keys Unlock Everything The first reading this Sunday may seem like an obscure passage written by an archaic prophet, but at the time it was steeped in real economic and political concerns that threatened the northern and southern kingdoms of Israel. A constant worry among the ancient Jews was the real danger posed by neighboring nation-states and imperial powers. For most of their history, the Israelite kingdoms had to contend with small, rival nations who competed for control of the commercial and agricultural resources in the eastern Mediterranean region. The principal enemies of the northern kingdom were Aram and Moab, while the southern kingdom of Judah principally competed with the Philistine city -states and Edom. However, it was the rise of the Assyrian and Babylonian empires to the north that were of the most concern because of their aggressively expansionist policies. The Israelite kingdoms were sandwiched between Egypt and these two empires, whose joint goal was the conquest of Egypt to the south, as well as control over the trade routes between them. Egypt of course resisted, and the Israelite kingdoms were caught in the middle. To stave off war, Egypt tried to convince several vassal states of Assyria to revolt, forcing the political giant to focus its attention elsewhere. Fr. Roger Gustafson, Pastor the poor would result in God s judgment. In particular, Isaiah blamed the king s chief of staff, Shebna, and predicted his fall from power and replacement by another royal steward named Eliakim. The royal steward traditionally held the keys of the kingdom because he had the most powerful governmental position in Israel under the king. In the gospel reading today, Jesus borrows this ancient feature of royal power when he says that Peter will be installed as the chief steward of God s kingdom. He and his successors will possess the keys, so that when he opens, no one will shut, what he shuts, no one will open (Is. 22:22). His teaching and juridical authority and ability to forgive or retain sins will allow him to loose and bind on earth with authority. Throughout its history, the Church has derived its understanding of the papacy from this passage. The dogmatic constitution, Pastor Aeternus on the Church of Christ from the First Vatican Council in 1870 teaches and declares, according to the testimony of the Gospel, that the primacy of jurisdiction over the whole Church was immediately and directly promised to and conferred upon the blessed apostle Peter by Christ the Lord. The prophet Isaiah insists that Judah refuse such political machinations and instead trust God to protect the nation. Although Judah ultimately did not join the conspiracy against Assyria, which spared the city of Jerusalem, the ensuing revelry among its inhabitants angered Isaiah, who said their conspicuous consumption and disregard for In our postmodern, anti-institutional culture, power and authority are immediately suspect. In a confusing and relativistic world, however it is not a clear abdication of the power of free thinking to trust in the solid foundation of the authority of Peter and his successor popes on which Christ himself founded his Church.

2 Featured News & Events WINTER COAT DRIVE September 2-10 Give the gift of warmth. Donate your good, used coats to St. Vincent de Paul. Collection bins will be placed in the Church vestibule Labor Day weekend and the following weekend. MOTHER S DAY FOR MARY October 7 at 7 p.m. After the Rosary Rally and consecration of the Archdiocese to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, celebrate Blessed Mother Mary with Mass, dinner, and a concert at St. Brendan produced by Billboard Magazine s top ten record producer of all time, Narada Michael Walden, who has produced 57 #1 hit singles. SABBATH REST MASS AND TALK September 16 at 2 p.m. the Marian Servers and Saint Brendan Homebound Ministry are planning an afternoon of food and discussion, followed by Holy Mass. Join Father Paul Warren in the church hall at 2 p.m. on Saturday, September 16 for refreshments and a talk on Sabbath Rest. Mass will follow at 3:45. YEAR OF PRAYER TALK October 11 at 7 p.m. St. Brendan s year of prayer kicks off next month with Jesuit Father Joe Spieler speaking on the Contemporary Experience of Contemplative Prayer. Join us on Sunday morning after the 9:30 a.m. Mass for a short talk on the how you can grow closer to God with just a few minutes a day of contemplative prayer. Experience an interactive session the following Wednesday, when Father Spieler will guide us in practicing this new style of prayer. BOYS SOCCER SIGN UPS All boys in the parish (Grades 3-8) interested in joining our St. Brendan CYO soccer teams should contact Dave Lopez at (415) or dgl94127@yahoo.com by Tuesday, August 29. The season runs from early September to November.

3 The Good News Without Youth Church Has No Future On August 18-20, Manolito Jaldon, Director of Evangelization & Faith Formation at St. Brendan Parish, and Ben Gerigk, Catechist and Aspirant to the Priesthood, attended the annual Life Teen Training Conference held in Boerne, Texas. Life Teen is a Catholic ministry in over 1,800 parishes and 31 countries with a mission of leading teens closer to Christ. Here is the story of their trip. Ben Gerigk: It was amazing to see more than 300 youth ministers from across the country come together with a common purpose: to learn new ideas on how to involve teens in the liturgy, teach them to be missionaries for Christ, and reach the youth through social media. Not only did this training give us general lessons on how to kick off or strengthen youth ministry programs in our respective parishes, Bay Area Youth Ministers from the Diocese of Oakland and San Francisco but also helped us to remember that we must be authentic to teens as good role models and remember that we are serving them and serving Christ. We returned home equipped with resources and lessons on how to serve our youth. As this Life Teen program is formed here at Saint Brendan, I pray that we remember the teens who need a place here, in our cozy and welcoming parish, to connect with Christ and with other teens. Manolito Jaldon: At the core of Life Teen s mission is relational ministry. Through this ministry, the Church is reaching out to a new generation of Catholics, known as Generation Z. These are teenagers born after 9/11, who belong to a screenbased culture so advanced that they collectively post 6000 Tweets and 800 Instagram posts, and view 70,000 videos on YouTube, in one second! Our teenagers are digital natives, who will define our culture by the year In order to reach them with the immense joy of the Gospel that this world cannot give, we must meet them in the digital domain. Yet, despite their obsessions with electronics, these teenagers still long for mentors who are authentically real and can lead them to Jesus. I was convicted once again of this need, as I worshipped God among 300 youth leaders and fifty teenagers. We Epiphany in San Francisco, and Manolito Jaldon). From the official Life Teen website (L-R: Ben Gerigk from Saint Brendan; Christian Vargas, Youth Minister from Saint John Vianney Parish in Walnut Creek; Leanne DeGuzman, Youth Minister at sang with our whole hearts and with full voice during Eucharistic Adoration. I saw their longing manifested. I witnessed the authentic joy they expressed in being with the Lord. There is a spirit of opportunity that is among us! I ask for your help to launch a Life Teen Ministry in our parish for our post-confirmation and high school teens. I have a specific need to form a core team that is representative of our parish demographic. I need a team who can make a weekly commitment for six months beginning in November, in order to launch Life Teen Ministry in January You may say that you re not qualified, but if you love Jesus and love teens, you are qualified. I ll accompany you in doing the rest. We need to attend to this need, for without youth our Church has no future. Let s do it together!

4 The Good News An Offering For The Hungry Greek Orthodox Cleric Joins Rectory At the request of Archbishop Cordileone and His Eminence Metropolitan Gerasimos, the Greek Orthodox Archbishop for approximately 70 Greek Orthodox Churches here on the West Coast, Saint Brendan Parish is pleased to welcome to our rectory Father Evlogios Champas, who will be living with us for one year. His letter of introduction is below: I wish to sincerely thank all of you for allowing me the opportunity to be a guest in your community this year. Father Roger and Lisa Rosenlund, along with everyone that resides at St. Brendan s, have welcomed me so warmly and have made my transition to San Francisco a very easy one. I was born in Cyprus and grew up in the Church. Cyprus is an Orthodox Christian country where all of the Churches are Greek Orthodox. After graduating high school, I performed my mandatory military service. I then entered an ecclesiastical school to begin my seminary training and later studied theology at the University of Thessaloniki in Greece. Upon my graduation, I went to Jerusalem on a pilgrimage to thank God for everything He had given me in life, and to pray about my future path in the Church. During my visit I had the blessing of meeting the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, His Beatitude Theophilos, who asked me if I would like to be ordained in Jerusalem and become a member of the Brotherhood of the Holy Tomb. I was very honored by this and immediately accepted His Beatitude s invitation. Shortly after my ordination I was elected by the Synod to be the Archdeacon of the Patriarch. In this capacity, I have been blessed with meeting Orthodox Christians from all over the world. I was blessed to participate in the peace prayer in the Vatican gardens in June 2014, which brought together the then-israeli President Shimon Peres and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. On that particular occasion, as well as in Jerusalem and during the missionary travels when I accompanied high church officials, I was faced with the challenge of interacting with Orthodox Christians from all over the world. This interaction, invariably, requires a mastery of English. I feel very much connected, in my heart and my soul, to theology both as a field of studies and as an embodied practice, in the service of God and of the faithful. I am also refining my understanding of the social issues faced by the Church, so I will be able to take part in the ecumenical dialogues that aim to bring peace and spiritual prosperity to the world. In order to improve my English, last year I began a master s program at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Boston. I am now pleased to attend advanced English classes here in San Francisco and to serve as a deacon to His Eminence Metropolitan Gerasimos. It is a great honor for me to stay here in the United States for another year, and to be able to live in such a beautiful community like Saint Brendan s together with all of you. I look forward to meeting all of you.

5 Stewardship Stewardship is the grateful response of a Christian disciple who recognizes and receives God s gifts and shares them generously in love of God and neighbor. Stewardship is not about money or fundraising. It is a spirituality. It is a way of life. A steward recognizes that God is the source of all life and every blessing and that all gifts of time, talent, and treasure come from God. A steward is grateful for those gifts. A steward takes care of and increases those gifts, and then freely gives back the first and best portion of those gifts to God. A man named Eliakim was chosen by God in the first reading to replace Shebna as the royal steward of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, who reigned at the turn of the seventh century B.C. Shebna had failed in his duties as a royal official to protect the people from their own self-destruction. The royal steward was the highest ranking official in the kingdom. To him were entrusted the keys of the kingdom. The monarchy did not belong to him, but he was given the honor of preserving and taking care of the royal court and all the subjects of the king. Jesus uses this symbol of sovereign government in the gospel reading to describe the authority that he will entrust to Peter. You are Peter, he says, and upon this rock I will build my church.... I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. It did not belong to Peter, but he was entrusted with it as a royal steward. The kingdom of heaven is not about power and wealth but people. Jesus once said that it was God s will that he should not lose even one of all those he has given me, but raise them all up on the last day (John 6:39). Each of us has been entrusted with that same mission not to lose a single person of all the people that God has placed in our lives. We are stewards of the God s royal household, and it is our sacred duty to use all of our resources to work faithfully for the kingdom. This duty is less about protecting the Church and defending doctrine and more about propping up people and defending their dignity, sense of self worth, and love for God. In the second reading, Saint Paul wonders who has given the Lord anything that he may be repaid? As he rightly points out, God has provided everything for our good pleasure and our need, [f]or from him and through him and for him are all things. We invite you to make a planned, proportionate, and sacrificial financial commitment to this parish and to the poor. The biblical standard is a tenth of our income, before taxes or anything else is taken out, half to the Church and half to the poor. It s a huge step and takes trust, but we can never outgive God. NO SECOND COLLECTION NEXT WEEK SUNDAY COLLECTION August 20, 2017 GOAL $ 9,500 TOTAL $ 8,891 Under $ 609

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8 SAINT BRENDAN CATHOLIC CHURCH Church School Convent 29 Rockaway Avenue San Francisco CA Rectory Phone: (415) Mon - Thurs: 8:30 am - Noon, 1 p.m. - 4 p.m. Sun: 9:00 am - 1:00 pm Laguna Honda Blvd. San Francisco CA Tel. (415) Canossian Sisters 234 Ulloa Street San Francisco CA Tel. (415) MASSES Sunday: 7:00, 8:00, 9:30,11:30 AM Mon-Fri: 6:30 & 8:00 AM Saturday: 8:00 AM 5:00 PM Holy Days: 6:30 AM, 8:00 AM and 6:00 PM CONFESSIONS Saturday: 4:00-4:45 PM Wednesday: 7:15-7:45 PM EUCHARISTIC ADORATION Wednesday: 7:00-8:00 PM Saturday: 4:00-4:45 PM BAPTISMS & WEDDINGS For information, please see our website at or call us at (415) Monday Tuesday MASS INTENTIONS (August 28-September 3, 2017) 6:30 a.m. 8:00 a.m. Raymund Aguirre (L) Roy Lippi (B- Day) Wednesday Ann & Gary Skopp Teresita Endino Barbara Dollard David L. Alvers Thursday Luis Vega Robert O Brien Friday SAT 8 a.m. SAT 5 p.m. SUN 7 a.m. SUN 8 a.m. SUN 9:30 a.m. SUN 11:30 a.m. Weekday Baltazar Aguirre Jr. Weekend Carmen Aguirre Loretta Smith Rafael Gallardo Albert & Madeline Brandi Eileen Kiernan Sadie Tainter The People of St. Brendan Parish STAFF Pastor Fr. Roger Gustafson fatherrogergustafson@gmail.com Parochial Vicar Fr. Peterson Tieng frpete@stbrendanparish.org Ext.220 Ext.214 In Residence Fr. Paul Warren Ext. 208 Pastoral Associate Sr. Angela Furia, FdCC Ext. 201 srangela@stbrendanparish.org Director of Evangelization & Faith Formation Manolito Jaldon manolito@stbrendanparish.org Ext. 205 Music Director Mario Balestrieri (415) School Principal Dianne Lakatta (415) dlakatta@stbrendansf.com Parish Manager Lisa Rosenlund (415) lisa@stbrendanparish.org Finance Manager Venetia Hui Gatus Ext. 202 venetia@stbrendanparish.org Administrative Assistant Ext. 101 Maeve O Reilly maeve@stbrendanparish.org Parish Leadership Advisory Board : Mike Modesti Finance Committee : Eoin O Connor Children and Youth Under Five Ministry: Kendra Perlitz Devon Klinefelter Girl Scouts: Lisa Shaskan Kirstin McFarlane Boy Scouts: Boy Scouts: Maureen Hurley Cub Scouts: Robert Rees (rdrees@gmail.com) Youth Ministry: Stacey Simpson Gus Del Puerto Religious Education & Sacramental Preparation Infant Baptism & RCIA for Children Sr. Angela Furia (415) , Ext. 201 Adult Faith Formation/Rite of Christian Initiation (RCIA): Manolito S. Jaldon, Jr. (415) , Ext. 205 Sunday Children s Liturgy: Marco & Karen Donaldson Preparation for Reconciliation & First Holy Communion Grade 2: Stephanie Stanko Faith Formation: Grade 3: Tara Donohue Grades 4 & 5: Christina Bui Preparation for Confirmation: Grade 6: Manolito S. Jaldon, Jr. & Ben Gerigk Grade 7: Liza Bonpin Grade 8: Mary Zell Spellman Youth of St. Brendan: A Life Teen Ministry (Post Confirmation & High School): Manolito S. Jaldon, Jr. & Ben Gericgk Liturgical Ministries Lectors: Richard Pinto Eucharistic Ministers: Charlotte Bautista Ushers: Mike Casazza Sacristan: Jack Mona Liturgy Committee: Anne Kearney Parish Life Welcome Committee Kathleen Bost Jeremy Straus (sbwelcomecommittee@gmail.com) Hospitality Committee Maria Evangelista Mothers Club Lori Doyle Men s Club Joshua Shaskan Respect Life Mary Ann Schwab Knitting Ministry Marie Jean Longa Experienced Navigators: Tony Fernandez Married Couples Club: Angela Riordan & Elia Gonzalez sbmarriedcouplesclub@gmail.com Outreach Ministries Consolation Ministry Merry Jean Chan mjchanstb@gmail.com Detention Ministry (San Dimas) Julio Escobar (415) Marian Servers Dr. Lou Scheerer St. Vincent de Paul Society Tad Tassone (415)

9 Bulletin Church of St. Brendan 29 ROCKAWAY AVE San Francisco, CA (415) (Lisa) Fax: Modem: Printer & Driver Used:HPLJIII Notes: