Historic St. James at Sag Bridge Church 10600 S. Archer Avenue Lemont, Illinois 60439-9344 (Ph) 630.257.7000 (Fx) 630.257.7912 E-mail: stjames1833@att.net Website: www.historicstjames.org Listen to The Winds of Change 12:00 noon to 1:00 pm on WNDZ AM 750. Fr. substitutes every other Wednesday. Visit: windsofchangeshow.com. Fr. e-mail: unlikeothernations@gmail.com Register on Flocknotes to receive important text messages and emails. Text: jamesatsag to 84576 September 27, 2015 26th Ordinary Sunday Founded in 1833, St. James at Sag Bridge is the sole country parish of the Archdiocese of Chicago, serving a growing community of Catholics who come together to worship God through the celebration of the Eucharist and traditional devotional activities within truly unique and beautiful surroundings. Our faithfilled community strives to bear witness to Jesus Christ by loving and serving one another to bring about the Kingdom of God. Mass Schedule: Weekends: Saturdays: 5:00pm Sundays: 8:00, 9:30 & 11:30am Holy Days: 8:15am & 7:00pm Weekdays: Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays 8:15am, Fridays: 8:15am & 6:00pm Wednesdays: 7:00pm Confession Schedule: Saturdays: 9:30-10:00am Wednesdays: 6:30pm Baptisms: Sundays after the 11:30am Mass by appointment. At least one parent must be a registered parishioner. Weddings: Minimum eight months in advance. At least one spouse must be a registered parishioner. Marriage preparation by appointment only. Funerals: For families of registered parishioners, or for non-parishioners to be buried in our own cemetery. Sick & Homebound Pastoral Care: Please notify rectory Rectory Office Hours: Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu & Fri: 9:30am to 1:00pm Apostolic Disciples: Fr. Thomas, M.A.,S.T.L., Pastor Fr. Ed Gleeson, Pastor Emeritus Deacon John M.Wilkinson, CKM, Minister of Care/RCIA Mike Dillenburg Parish Council Chair Mike Wall, Finance Council Chair Mrs. Pamela Stafford, Cantor Mrs. Pamela Mikrut, Organist Rodney Poynter, Holy Name Society, President JoAnn Starha, Altar & Rosary Mrs. Giovanna Imbarrato, CCD Teacher Mr. Seamus Coughlin CCD Teacher Mrs. Mary Coughlin Lenzen CCD Teacher Mr. Steve Hagen CCD Teacher Mrs. Joyce McNamara-Coughlin, CCD Director.
Page Two September 27, 2015 From the Desk of the Pastor Faith Matters Peter Infanger, will be with us this weekend as we pray for priestly vocations. Please give Peter a warm St. James welcome. St. James Youth group s year kicks off with prayer, testimonies, food and fun. Plan to come to Sag hall, Sunday, Oct 4, 6:30pm for our next gathering. Hopefully you have had a chance to digest one of the big political stories of the week regarding the simple and straight forward response that Dr. Ben Carson gave to the reporter who played his roll as gottcha journalist. I do not like to talk about particular political personalities nor do I wish to endorse any particular candidate, but the question and response is so full of theology and philosophy that a few thoughts are in order. In case you didn t hear, a reporter asked Carson if a president s faith should matter. This was one of those question and answer sessions that keeps playing over and over in my mind. A bunch of good answers come to my mind that I wish Dr. Carson could have used. His answer was very good and hit the bulls eye, but of course the questioner wasn t interested in his answer, he was interested in making Dr. Carson, or more precisely any faith-filled Christian, look un-enlightened and dangerous to America. If Dr. Carson was a Chesterton scholar he could have simply repeated Chesterton s words about the relationship between faith in God and going to a store to buy a loaf of bread. Chesterton warns that it is of the utmost importance to know a man s thoughts about God before you buy that loaf of bread. A store owner s faith in God has everything to do with how that man considers money, his obligations to be truthful to his fellowman and his sense of obligation to be just. If that man s faith in God leads him to be an apostle of the destruction of all people with red hair, or women who have more than 2.1 children than you better believe that faith matters. Faith matters for people selling bread and for people guiding the laws of a nation. If Dr.Carson could have responded to the journalist s question with a question of his own he may have escaped some of the political fall out that ensued. If I could have coached him I would have told him to respond: Let me ask you a question first, then if you answer my question, I will answer yours. Mr. reporter, you are aware, of course that the Federal government is suing the Little Sisters of the Poor because of their faith. Do you think that faith matters to the Federal government? I d love to see the reporter s response. On the one hand, he would most likely want to say, No, their faith doesn t matter. They need to be sued and pay up. But on the other hand, he would want to say, Yes, of course their faith matters. That is what the case is all about. They cannot be allowed to let their faith shield them from the important matter of paying for other people s contraceptives. The reporter would end up saying, I can t answer that. Then Dr. Carson could have said, Then neither can I answer your question. But putting all this aside, the idea that there can be no religious agenda that is in contradiction to the constitution is an extreme example of naïveté. The idea that the constitution is so well written that it renders every kind of faith subordinate to it or leaves people of every kind of faith bowing down before it in patriotic submission is ludicrous. But we live in a pretty messed up world today, so such suicidal politics is par for the course. Unlike Other Nations, Fr. Thomas, M.A.,S.T.L., Pastor Woman s Guild Corner We would like to thank everyone who participated in helping us last Sunday. The membership drive, cake raffle & donations helped us reach our goal for a weekly votive intention by the Blessed Mother shrine for the year. Additional funds collected will be used to defray the cost of transportation for the Pro -Life March next year in Washington D.C. I will also like to express my sincere appreciation to Fr. & all the ladies who helped to make the day a success. I am looking forward to meeting, praying and working with the new members who have chosen to join us. Blessed are those among Woman, Jo Ann Starha, WG President The big winner of the homemade cake was the Carver Family.
26th Ordinary Sunday Page Three WHY WE MUST VOTE PRO-LIFE By Trish Stukbauer There are so many pressing issues impacting our country today, from the economy, healthcare and religious freedom to national defense, immigration and jobs for Americans here at home. How candidates for political office stand on each of these issues can vary greatly, even within the same party. So how do you prioritize issues and decide who deserves your vote? If you re Catholic, how a candidate stands on life issues should be at the very top of your list. Why? First of all, our faith demands it. In 1999, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a statement titled Faithful Citizenship that sums up the responsibility of every Catholic to prioritize human life issues. Catholics are called to be a community of conscience within the larger society and to test public life by the moral wisdom anchored in Scripture and consistent with the best of our nation s founding ideals. Our moral framework does not easily fit into the categories of right or left, Democrat or Republican. Our responsibility is to measure every party and platform by how its agenda touches human life and dignity. As Americans and Catholics, we need to grasp and embrace the concept that the protection of human life is not an afterthought - it is essential to every other right. Our founders thought is was so vital that they spelled it out in our Declaration of Independence: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. There can be no true liberty, no pursuit of happiness or anything else of lasting value for that matter, in a society that does not value life. As Pope Benedict XVI elaborated in an Austrian address on September 7, 2007, The fundamental human right, the presupposition of every other human right, is the right to life itself. This is true of life from the moment of conception to its natural end. Abortion, consequently, cannot be a human right it is the very opposite. As Catholics and Americans, it is duty to champion the right to life in our everyday lives, and we must not leave that moral compass at the door when it comes time to exercise our most important civil right by voting. Sometimes it s easy to vote pro-life. You may naturally gravitate toward a presidential, senatorial or congressional candidate who espouses pro-life views. But what if you don t? What if your political views in other areas align more closely with a pro-choice opponent? What if the race in question is your state rep, your state s governor, a judge or a local councilman or school board member? Should their stance on life issues have an impact on these much more local campaign? As faithful Catholics, our answer should be yes. How a candidate stands on life is a fundamental issue you simply can t overlook. You might not think it s a relevant for a local official, who deals more with roads and zoning than life issues. But it can be. Think of all the state legislators who stepped up to the plate to defund Planned Parenthood in their own backyards, while our federal officials still struggle to do so. Consider local officials who are called to decide whether peaceful prayer vigils outside abortion clinics infringe on patient rights. Think of the county, state and district judges who had to rule on various aspects of the infamous Terri Schiavo case. Even if an elected official never has to make a judgment call on an issue that touches their views on life, this most fundamental right is a key indicator of their moral character. How can you possibly trust someone to look after your children s education, your right to free speech, your religious freedoms or anything else if they don t believe in your most basic rights? As you listen to the candidates who will soon be asking for your vote for every office from president to dog catcher and everything in between, consider the words of Pope Francis in an audience with Italian Movement for Life in 2014: Human life is sacred and inviolable. Every civil right is based on the recognition of the first, fundamental right, the right to life, which is not subject to any condition, of a qualitative, economic and certainly not of an ideological nature. IT'S A BLUNDERFUL CHURCH By Bill Dunn A few weeks ago during Sunday Mass, the intercessory prayers we say right after the Creed were proceeding as usual. But then the Lector said, And for all those who are sick of this parish, we pray to the Lord. I started the rote response, but then realized what he had said. My response came out like this: Lord, hear our what?! I had to work hard to suppress giggles. I m sure he meant to say something like, all those who are sick IN this parish. Or, all those in our parish who are sick. Although, when you think about it, I m sure there are people who are sick OF the parish, and in that case, they definitely need our prayers. However, I m pretty sure that s not what he meant to say. Quite often verbal blunders are made during Mass. I can remember one time hearing the Lector read from one of St. Paul s letters, and instead of saying, you were made for immortality, the Lector said, you were made for immorality. Oops. A reading from the Old Testament refers to a burning brazier. But a Lector once called it a burning brassiere. Those Old Testament folks must ve been the first feminists. In case you re not sure, Moses in fact did not go up Mount Cyanide to receive the Ten Amendments. And one of the commandments is not, Thou shall humor thy father and mother. I m a Lector in my parish, and I ve blundered plenty of times. Once I was reading from the 23rd Psalm, and those darn o-u-g-h letters got me again. I proclaimed, And thru I walk tho the valley of the shadow of death Ugh, I soon as I said it, I realized my mistake. I m not sure which is worse, the valley of the shadow of death or the valley of the shadow of embarrassed public speaking. Some of the most classic church blunders occur in the bulletins. These were actually printed and handed out to the congregation: Potluck supper: prayer and medication to follow. Weight Watchers will meet at 7 p.m. Please use large double doors at the side entrance. Tuesday at 4 p.m. there will be an ice cream social. All ladies giving milk will please come early. The choir invites any member of the parish who enjoys sinning to join the choir. Low Self-Esteem Support Group will meet Thursday at 7 p.m. Please use the back door. Don t let worry kill you off let the church help. Due to the pastor s illness, Wednesday s healing services will be discontinued until further notice. The eighth-graders will be presenting Shakespeare s Hamlet in the church basement on Friday at 7 p.m. The congregation is invited to attend this tragedy. Irving Benson and Jessie Carter were married on October 24th in the church. So ends a friendship that began in their school days. The pastor will preach his farewell message, after which the choir will sing, Break Forth Into Joy. Bertha Belch, a missionary from Africa, will be speaking tonight at Calvary Methodist. Come hear Bertha Belch all the way from Africa. Maybe one of the most shocking church blunders occurred many centuries ago, when a publishing house in England printed a new edition of the Bible. One of the commandments was printed as, Thou shalt commit adultery. Not only was the printer embarrassed, but he was fined 3,000 British pounds by the government for his mistake, which is probably more than a million dollars in today s money. As Christians, we understand that only God is perfect. Whenever there s a blunder at church, we should relax and just laugh. And we should remember to pray for all those who are sick of the parish.
The Sunday collection for the weekend of September 20h was $3,728.00. The number of envelopes was 118. Our many thanks to our Registered Families using envelopes and the cash-and-carry folks. MAY GOD BLESS YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED AND VALUED SUPPORT! Our Church Cleaners for Friday, 10/ 02/15 are Cherie, Julie, Bronislawa & Volunteer. If you are interested in volunteering, please contact the rectory office 630.257.7000. VOTIVE OFFERINGS FOR THE WEEK OF 9/27/15 St. James Ladies Guild Special int. of Donna Lutwyche Special int. for Anne & Baby Slowik Special int. for Joseph T. Wilkinson The two beautiful bouquets of flowers surrounding our altar were made available in Praise & Thanksgiving by the Swigon Family THANK YOU! We pray for all those in the service of our country in all capacities, both at home and across the seas, especially in the Middle East. Please keep Nick Imgrund in your prayers as he continues his service in the United States Navy. Please keep Lucas Gough in your prayers as he continues his service in the United States Air Force. Please keep Kelsey Smith in your prayers as she continues her service in the Peace Corps in Africa.
Monday September 28th 8:15 AM Special int. for Adam Juzba Special int. for Joseph T. Wilkinson Tuesday September 29th 8:15 AM Special int. for Marion McSweeny Wednesday September 30th 7:00 PM Special int. for Judith Ellen Carlson Thursday October 1st 8:15 AM Special int. for Tony Sabick Friday October 2nd 8:15 AM Michael O Shea 6:00 PM Stefan Pabin 27th Ordinary Sunday Saturday October 3rd 5:00 PM Special int. for Barbara Pieprzyca Sunday October 4th 8:00 AM Fr. Andrew Greeley 9:30 AM baby, Vivian Summers 11:30 AM Deceased Members of the Florence Guards & Charles J. Esterhammer 27th Ordinary Sunday 10/3/ & 10/4/15 Celebrant Altar Servers Lectors 5:00 PM E. Dooley M. Dooley M.C. Witter Witter 8:00 AM J. Beecher J. Beecher Dillenburg C. Slowik 9:30 AM Fr. Ed Gleeson A. Bertucci J.P. Colarelli J. Zabilka D. LaSota 11:30 AM A. Fugiel G. Estrada J. Jacobek S. Hagen