YOUR STEWARDSHIP IS THE SOURCE OF OUR GROWTH November 3-4, 2018: $12,703.50 Thank you for your support and generosity. The statement printed above expresses the gratitude felt in response to the generosity of the people of Assumption parish. For it is your weekly contributions that make much of what is done here possible. Thanks are extended to those who use envelopes and those who contribute through our Online Giving. PARISH CALENDAR FOR THE WEEK Monday, November 12, 2018 10:00 a.m. Bible Study Finnegan Room 12:00 p.m. Sewing Sisters Finnegan Room 6:30 p.m. Bible Study Finnegan Room 7:00 p.m. Prayer Shawl Group Fritz Room 7:00 p.m. Contemp. Ensb. Rehearsal Church Tuesday, November 13, 2018 3:30 p.m. Girl Scouts Finnegan Room 6:30 p.m. We the Living Grief Group Finnegan Rm. 6:30 p.m. 1st Eucharist Gathering Coll Room Wednesday, November 14, 2018 10:00 a.m. Bible Study Finnegan Room 6:00 p.m. PREP 7:00 p.m. Choir Rehearsal Church 7:00 p.m. R.C.I.A. Finnegan Room Thursday, November 15, 2018 4:00 p.m. Youth Choir Rehearsal Church 7:00 p.m. Boy Scouts Church Basement 7:30 p.m. CoDa Fritz Room 8:00 p.m. Co-Ed Adult Volleyball Hanlon Center Friday, November 16, 2018 6:00 a.m. Top Gun Finnegan Room 10:15 a.m. Tiny Tots Group-Church Basement Saturday, November 17, 2018 4:00 p.m. Confessions in Church Sunday, November 18, 2018 8:30 a.m. PREP 8:30 a.m. Adult Ed. Series Finnegan Room You are invited to write the names of your family members and friends who have died in our Book of Remembrance which is placed near the tabernacle during the month of November. Grocery Gift Cards will be purchased for parishioners in need this Thanksgiving. Anyone wishing to make a monetary donation for Thanksgiving meals for these families can do so by donating cash or check (payable to the Hanlon Center). Put your donation in an envelope marked Thanksgiving Donation and drop it in the collection basket. Save the Date for the next Young At Heart meeting on Thursday, December 6th 1:00pm In the Coll Room Join us for Is Your Family Aware of Your Final Wishes? The following content will be discussed: The importance of prearranging and preplanning funerals Making your wishes known Benefits available to Veterans and spouse of a Veteran The Catholic Church view on cremation Questions and Answers Mission Statement The Church of the Assumption B.V.M. is dedicated to becoming a community of disciples of Jesus Christ. As disciples we make Jesus Christ a living reality in the lives of the members of our parish family. By guiding and encouraging our people to discipleship through a heightened awareness of our Lord s presence in their lives, the parish community becomes a visible and active expression of the living Christ in our world today.
Assumption Parish Staff Parish Office: 610-867-7424 - ext. 10 Rev. Msgr. Nevin Klinger J.C.L., M.A., Pastor Deacon Don Elliott - ext 18, Deacon Stu Herman - ext. 19 Saint Michael the Archangel School: 610-867-8422 Mrs. Colleen Weiss, Principal; Mrs. Erin Faust, Vice Principal Assumption Preschool, Mrs. Andrea Powell, Director: powellandrea725@gmail.com Christina Durback, DRE: Parish & St. Michael Middle School: 610-814-0712 Dr. Dennis Varley: Director of Music: dennis.varley@desales.edu Mary Williams/Parish Office x10, Email: abvmrect@ptd.net Kate Varley Room Scheduling/Bulletin x11, Email: abvmkate@ptd.net Disability Inclusion Awareness Sunday Let us take to heart the words of the United States Catholic Bishops. All persons with disabilities have gifts to contribute to the whole Church. When persons with disabilities are embraced and welcomed, and invited to participate fully in all aspects of parish community life, the body of Christ is more complete. The Church owes persons with disabilities her best efforts in order to ensure that they are able to hear the Gospel of Christ, receive the sacraments, and grow in their faith in the fullest and richest manner possible. INTRODUCING Our parish will host a new playgroup for infants and toddlers every Friday from 10:15 to 11:30 a.m. in the church basement. Catherine Beck, Assumption Preschool Teacher, will guide the playgroup. Moms, dads and grandparents can get to know each another and enjoy watching the kids play. For more information, call 610-867-7424. The Assumption Christmas Angel program has provided gifts or gift cards for those families in our parish who are struggling financially. If you would like to be an angel this Christmas, contact the parish office by emailing abvmrect@ptd.net or calling 610-867-7424 to sponsor a child in our parish. Gift cards will be provided to those in need. Thank you to those who attended our annual Spaghetti Supper last Sunday. Special thanks to the Knights of Columbus for coordinating this successful event, headed by Grand Knight, Darrin Lenhart. Kudos to those parishioners who gave their time for the annual spaghetti supper. Thanks to the pasta team, adult volunteers, youth servers, and all who baked! COLLEGE CONNECTION LAST CHANCE: Our parish wants to stay in touch with our college students or those in the military. We will be sending out a Care Package to these parishioners before their final exams. Call the parish office at 610-867-7424 as soon as possible so we can include your college student in this mailing! Please update addresses of upper class students! We don t keep college addresses from year to year. An important activity during Advent is the lighting of the Advent Wreath. The Advent Wreath is very symbolic. The evergreens used for the wreath itself are a reminder of continuous life. The shaping of them into a circle reinforces that meaning. The circle is also a sign of everlasting life as well as the eternity of God. The four candles used, three purple and one pink, mark the Sundays of Advent before Christmas. We would like to invite you and your family to participate in the lighting. The lighting of the wreath will occur immediately prior to the commencement of Mass. If you would like to participate, please contact Barbara Paluszek at 610-366-9818 or paluszbj@airproducts.com.
www.st-mikes.com Mrs. Colleen Weiss, Principal Mrs. Erin Faust, Assistant Principal First Eucharist Parents: Your first gathering is this Tuesday, November 13 at 6:30 p.m. in the Coll Room in the Jubilee Center. Childcare is available. To all our Veterans -Elmer Davis "This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave." A LOOK AHEAD. St. Michael School will embark on our 2018-19 development initiative in November, with the St. Michael the Archangel Annual Fund Appeal. The first mailing will go out to Alumni in November. The mailing to Parishioners of both Parishes will go out during Catholic Schools Week, which is January 27-February 2nd. Please consider a donation to St. Michael the Archangel School to aid us in continuing our mission of nurturing our students, challenging their minds, inspiring their faith and empowering them to be future leaders. Save the Date Save the date! Our 4th annual Barnes & Noble night will be Tuesday, December 4 from 6-8pm. Our choir will be performing at 7pm.This event is a wonderful way to get some Christmas gifts and generate funds for our school at the same time. Thanks to our ABVM Sewing Circle who graciously made the banners our First Eucharist children. The children will decorate these banners and display them to add to the parish s celebrations of First Eucharist. Ladies, we are grateful for your support of our children. Confirmation Candidates: The Confirmation retreat, a major event in the preparation process for Confirmation, is on Saturday, December 1 from 1:00 6:00 p.m. in the church social hall. The retreat will conclude with the 5:00 Mass. Teens and Adults Needed for the Confirmation retreat on Sat., Dec. 1, 1 6:00 p.m. We need high school youth and adult parishioners to help our candidates grow in understanding of the gift of Confirmation. No prior experience necessary; just have a willing, supportive attitude. You will gain as much as you give. Please contact the Religious Education Office by November 20 (610-814-0712 or Durback@ ptd.net) if you can assist. Time offered can apply to required community service hours for high school students. Youth Missionaries: We are proud of our Assumption PREP children and youth for their generous participation in mission collections last month for the Missionary Childhood Association. The children saved dimes during October, then laid them out in dime lines in the Hanlon Center. This fun activity gathered over $850. in dimes for the Missionary Childhood Association and for the Sassy Massey Smiles Foundation. Our young parishioners learned that A tiny dime goes a long way for Sassy Massey and MCA!
Monday, November 12: St. Josaphat 8:15 a.m. Andrew & Gabriela Sefranek Tuesday, Nov. 13: St. Frances Xavier Cabrini 8:15 a.m. David Rouland Wednesday, November 14: Weekday 8:15 a.m. Alice Jeanette Williams Thursday, November 15: St. Albert the Great 8:15 a.m. Purgatorial Society Members Friday, November 16: St. Margaret of Scotland 8:15 a.m. Ana Silva & Maria Rebelo Saturday, Nov. 17: St. Elizabeth of Hungry No Morning Mass Vigil 5:00pm Jeanie Clouse Sun., Nov. 18: 33rd Sunday of the Church Year 7:30 a.m. Sister Robert Clare 10:00 a.m. Living & Deceased Parishioners 11:30 a.m. Margot J. Barber READINGS FOR THE WEEK Monday: Ti 1:1-9; Ps 24:1b-4ab, 5-6; Lk 17:1-6 Tuesday: Ti 2:1-8, 11-14; Ps 37:3-4, 18, 23, 27, 29; Lk 17:7-10 Wednesday: Ti 3:1-7; Ps 23:1b-6; Lk 17:11-19 Thursday: Phlm 7-20; Ps 146:7-10; Lk 17:20-25 Friday: 2 Jn 4-9; Ps 119:1-2, 10-11, 17-18; Lk 17:26-37 Saturday: 3 Jn 5-8; Ps 112:1-6; Lk 18:1-8 Sunday: Dn 12:1-3; Ps 16:5, 8-11; Heb 10:11-14, 18; Mk 13:24-32 Our best wishes go to Josephine Collins Fuller and Caroline Ruth McKittrick, baptized on November 4. May they carry their newly acquired Christian dignity through this life and into the next. In honor of Veteran s Day which is celebrated this year on Monday, November 12, our newest Eagle Scout, Matthew Miller, will bear the flag at the Memorial Garden immediately after the 11:30a.m. Mass and we will sing God Bless America. Grocery gift cards are on sale every weekend after all Masses and in the parish office Mon.-Fri. from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Assumption Church receives 5% of every dollar sold. On sale now: Giant, Weis, Valley Farm, Fresh Market, Macy s, Red Robin, Copperhead Grille, and Bell Hall Restaurant, Allentown, PA Please remember to use grocery gift cards for your Thanksgiving groceries! If you need specific gift cards for the holidays, please call Kate at 610-867-7424 x11 to preorder. WOMAN S BIBLE STUDY All women are invited to join the next Women s Bible Study: David: Seeking A Heart Like His by Beth Moore. An introductory session will be held on Tuesday, December 4 in the Finnegan Room from 9:00 11:30 a.m. then continue every 2 weeks beginning Tuesday, January 8, 2019. Please join us! Contact Cynthia Zulli at 610-554-9363 or Joanne Goglia at 610-730-7849 for more information. 2019 RELIGIOUS CALENDARS are available at the entrances of church. Please feel free to take one home. MANY THANKS to the James Funeral Home & Cremation Service, Inc. for providing the calendars to our parishioners again this year. The Altar flowers this weekend were given in thanksgiving for Philip Maas s vocation by Jim and Sandy Maas.
The Spirituality of Stewardship Stewardship is living out a commitment to be Christ-centered rather than selfcentered. This conversion is the result of our total focus on God as the Creator and giver of all good gifts. Profound gratitude, justice and love become the fundamental motives for giving back to God. We wish to thank all of our parishioners who make a commitment to our parish offertory. Through Stewardship, we have an opportunity to express our own faith in God in a way more meaningful than words. Through our offerings, we help ourselves as well as our brothers and sisters in the mission of the church, thus doing the Lord s will. As Christians Stewards, we receive God s gifts gratefully; cultivate them responsibly; share them in love and justice with others; return them with increase; and stand before the Lord in a spirit of accountability. Good Stewards have an Attitude of Gratitude! Servants of Church and Country Each year on November 11, we observe Veterans Day and remember all those who have served our country in times of war. Among those veterans are our military chaplains. Five military chaplains, all of them Catholics, have received the Medal of Honor since the Civil War. Two of them are on the path to sainthood as their stories of bravery have touched people the world over. Their example inspires a new generation of men to be chaplains as well. Four Catholic military chaplains have also been recognized for bravery in the line of duty with United States navy ships named in their honor. The annual observance of Veterans Day in the United States on November 11th has its roots in the armistice that ended World War I hostilities in 1918. The armistice between the Allied nations and Germany went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed thereafter that November 11 be observed as "Armistice Day." In 1954, Congress passed legislation that renamed the federal holiday "Veterans Day," in recognition of the service of veterans of all U.S. Wars. Military and Veteran Resource Information Center (MAVRIC) at Lehigh Valley Hospital (17th Street, Allentown) acts as a bridge from federal and state agencies to service men and women by offering referral assistance with employment, financial assistance, legal assistance, peer support and housing. All U.S. veterans, guard and reservists, active military members and their families can obtain personal and professional support including clothing, food, and personal items use computer technology to search for employment, receive personalized, coordinated health-related services or assistance obtaining insurance, attend support groups, participate in writing workshops, learn yoga, and socialize with other veterans. Do you know a Veteran that could use this type of assistance? Pass along this contact information: 610-969-2082 Veteran.Health.Program@lvhn.org
You can express your commitment to your church by making a bequest to your parish. Simply have the following statement included in your will: I leave to Assumption B.V.M. Church, 4101 Old Bethlehem Pk., Bethlehem, PA 18015, the sum of $ (or % of the residue of my estate) for its religious, educational, and charitable work. THE 177 PROJECT: Adoration Across The Nation - 190+ nights of Eucharist Adoration in 177 dioceses in 95 days. Join The 177 Project in our Diocese by attending on Friday, Nov. 16 at St. John the Baptist Slovak Church, 924 N. Front St., Allentown, PA. 6:15 p.m. Rosary, 7:00 p.m. Adoration and 8:15 p.m. Contemporary Christian concert will be included in the evening. Free tickets are available at www.the177project.com. THE CALL TO DISCIPLESHIP The core vocation in the Gospel of Mark is the vocation, or call, to discipleship. Today s Gospel passage provides us with one last example of what the vocation to discipleship means, and one example of what it doesn t mean. A destitute widow shows us that discipleship means following Jesus way of service, even if it requires giving one s livelihood (or life). The scribes show us by their bad example that discipleship should entail a vocation to extend God s care to those who are most in need. In our reading from the book of Kings another widow and her son are close to death. They too give what little they have, but they are rewarded by Elijah with food enough for a year. And the reading from the Letter to the Hebrews reminds us that Jesus sacrificed his life to bring salvation to those who eagerly await him (Hebrews 9:28). The LORD keeps faith forever, secures justice for the oppressed, gives food to the hungry. Psalm 146:7 NEW PARISHIONERS Welcome! Our parish family invites all of its members to participate fully in our spiritual and social life. Please contact the parish office to register. BAPTISMS Baptisms are scheduled in the parish office after receipt of sponsor certificates. Baptisms take place immediately following the 11:30 a.m. Sunday Mass. Contact the parish office at 610-867-7424 x10 at least six weeks in advance. Parents must attend a Baptismal Preparation Class. WEDDINGS Couples must contact the pastor at least 6 months prior to the wedding. BULLETIN All copy must be received in writing two Fridays prior to the intended Sunday publication. We reserve the right to edit all copy. All inserts must be received at least two weeks in advance. PRAYER CHAIN Call Carol Herman at 610-838-1048 or email her at prayer@ealvinc.com and give her your name and intention. She will contact other parishioners participating in our Prayer Chain on your behalf. PARISH PASTORAL COUNCIL The Council welcomes any comments or suggestions by parishioners. Please contact Jeanine Faust at faust2@epix.net this month. PARISH MEMORIALS Following the death of a relative or friend, offerings may be made to the Church in loving memory of the deceased. The offerings may specify a particular request or placed in the Parish Memorial Endowment, The Parish Education Endowment, or the Health Ministry Endowment. Our website: www.assumptionbethlehem.com