December 18, 2016 St. Patrick Catholic Church 140 Church St., Portland, MI 48875 Phone: 517-647-6505 Fax: 517-647-7807 parishof#ice@portlandstpats.com www.stpatrickportland.com Rev. Larry J. King, Pastor Dcn. Don Sobolewski, Pastoral Associate The Mission of St. Patrick Parish is: To celebrate the Eucharist, To proclaim the Good News, To encourage Stewardship as a way of life and To grow in Faith, Justice, Love and Service to all. Mass Schedule: Reconciliaon: Eucharisc Adoraon: Saturday 4:30 pm Saturday 3:00 pm Monday, Noon 5:00 pm Sunday 7:30 am, 9:30 am, 11:30 am or by appointment Wednesday, Noon 7:00 pm & Weekdays: Tuesday 6:00 pm 9:00 pm-12:00 am Wednesday 7:30 am Parish Office Hours Thursday 9:30 am Mon.-Fri.: 8:00 am-4:30 pm Friday 7:30 am Closed 12:30 pm-1:00 pm for lunch Wed. evening: 6:00 pm-9:00 pm
ST. PATRICK CHURCH Page 2 PORTLAND, MICHIGAN Masses for the Week of December 18, 2016 Mon. 12/19 Tue. 12/20 Wed. 12/21 Thu. 12/22 Sat. 12/24 Jgs 13:2-7, 24-25a; Ps 71:3-4a, 5-6ab, 16-17; Lk 1:5-25 Is 7:10-14; Ps 24:1-2, 3-4ab, 5-6; Lk 1:26-38 6:00 PM For all the People on our Prayer List Sg 2:8-14 or Zep 3:14-18a; Ps 33:2-3, 11-12, 20-21; Lk 1:39-45 7:30 AM For the People 1 Sm 1:24-28; 1 Sm 2:1, 4-5, 6-7, 8abcd; Lk 1:46-56 9:30 AM For Vocations Mal 3:1-4, 23-24; Ps 25:4-5ab, 8-9, 10 and 14; Lk 1:57-66 7:30 AM For the People Vigil of the Nativity of the Lord Morning: 2 Sm 7:1-5, 8b-12, 14a, 16; Ps 89:2-3, 4-5, 27 and 29; Lk 1:67-79 Vigil: Is 62:1-5; Ps 89:4-5, 16-17, 27, 29; Acts 13:16-17, 22-25; Mt 1:1-25 or 1:18-25 SUN MON TUE WED THUR FRI SAT SUN THIS WEEK IN OUR PARISH December 18, 2016-December 25, 2016 Bake Sale Following Masses 8th Grade Faith Formation, 12:45 PM, CIA HQ HS Youth Ministry, 6:00 PM, CIA HQ Church Closed-Waxing the Floor, 6:00 AM Eucharistic Adoration, 12:00 PM, Chapel Adult Formation-Ignite, 6:30 PM, Parish Hall Children s Faith Formation Class, 6:30 PM Church Closed-Waxing the Floor, 6:00 AM Small Prayer Group, 9:00 AM, LLCR Parish Office closed-noon Hall Walking, 4:00 PM, school Pastoral Council Meeting, 6:45 PM, Parish Hall Eucharistic Adoration, 12:00 PM, Chapel Advent Reconcialiation, 5:00 PM, Church Devotions to Our Mother of Perpetual Help, 7:00 PM, Church Adult Choir Practice, 7:00 PM, Church Basement Eucharistic Adoration, 9:00 PM, Chapel Christmas Choir Rehearsal, 10:00 AM, Church or music room 304 Advent Reconciliation, 5:00 PM, Church Parish Office Closed Christmas Set up Church, 9:00 AM Rosary, 7:30 AM, Chapel No 7:30 AM Mass Sun. 12/25 The Nativity of the Lord Night: Is 9:1-6; Ps 96:1-2, 2-3, 11-12, 13; Ti 2:11-14; Lk 2:1-14 Dawn: Is 62:11-12; Ps 97:1, 6, 11-12; Ti 3:4-7; Lk 2:15-20 Day: Is 52:7-10; Ps 98:1, 2-3, 3-4, 5-6; Heb 1:1-6; Jn 1:1-18 or 1:1-5, 9-14 Parish Staff (517) 647-6505 Congratulations to the following who were baptized recently at St. Patrick Church Wyatt Edward Dixon Son of Kyle & Sara Dixon Baptized by Fr. Larry Gavin Daniel Lenneman Son of Brad & Jade Lenneman Baptized by Fr. Larry Sponsor of the Week: Young Chrysler Dodge Jeep
ST. PATRICK CHURCH Page 3 PORTLAND, MICHIGAN God s Signs Isaiah 7:10-14 For Christians, the most famous prophecy of Isaiah is this: The virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel. Isaiah spoke these words to a king worried about the future of his dominion. God invited Ahaz to ask for a sign of favor, but Ahaz refused. In so many words, Ahaz did not want to put God to any trouble. Isaiah, exasperated, tells the king that God will give him a sign anyway. Whether or not Ahaz wants one, God will give a sign. The sign Isaiah promises is a child born to a young woman. The child will be given a name that carried a message to the king and his people: Emmanuel. God is with us. When Matthew wrote about the birth of Jesus in the first chapter of his gospel, he said it fulfilled this prophecy from Isaiah. Jesus is the sign that God is with us. The young woman, his mother Mary, conceived the child while remaining a virgin. Where in the world do people not want to trouble God? How can you bring them a sign of comfort? No matter how impossible the situation might be, God is with us. ALTAR APPOINTMENTS December 24th & 25th 4:30 PM Volunteer Fr. Larry King 7:30 PM Volunteer Fr. Larry King Fr. Larry King 9:30 AM Volunteer Fr. Larry King 11:30 AM Volunteer Fr. Larry King 4:30 PM Courtney Pohl, Bret Weller, Emmerson Dibean, Brice Cook 7:30 PM Jacob Pung, Volunteer, Volunteer, Volunteer 10:30 PM Emma Gunderman, Annalise Gunderman, Nathan Lehnert, Brett Price, Emma Scheurer 9:30 AM Timothy Pohl, Rhiannon Pohl, Colette Pohl, Volunteer 11:30 AM Madelyn Meredith, Lydia Meredith, Marian Pearson, Joshua Snitgen Written by Paul Turner. Copyright 2009, Resource Publications, Inc., 888-273-7782, www.rpinet.com. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission from Lectionary Bulletin Inserts, Year C: First and Second Readings. Financial Activities Collection the week beginning 11/29 12/5 STEWARDSHIP REFLECTIONS When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home. MATTHEW 1:24 Miscellaneous Quotes by Pope Francis The family has a divine identity card. Do you see what I mean? God gave the family an identity card, so that families could be places in our world where his truth, love and beauty could continue to take root and grow. September 26, 2015 Parish office will be closing at 11:45 on Tuesday December 20th and all day on December 23 & 26 as well as December 30 & January 2. Putting our complete trust in the Lord without expecting anything in return. Striving to put God first in all things and follow Him wherever He may led us. As we prepare for the birth of our Lord, pray for the strength and courage to be a model of discipleship, just as Joseph was. Prayer of the Faithful That we can put our complete trust in God and become a model of discipleship like Joseph. Family Perspective By Bud Ozar The child born to Jesus and Mary was named Emmanuel, which means God is with us. Every child is EMMANUEL, reminding us God is with us. Children are signs of God s continuing presence in our lives. Bulletin deadline for January 1st Sunday Bulletin is 10:00 AM Thursday December 22.
ST. PATRICK CHURCH Page 4 PORTLAND, MICHIGAN Christmas Cards for Our Homebound Here are the names of our St. Patrick Parish family who are not able to always get to church. If you would like to give Christmas cards to them, there will be boxes at each church entrance from November 26 to December 18. No stamps needed. The cards will be hand delivered. If you would like to help deliver the cards or have any questions, please call Karen Stevens at 517-627-7699. Bernie Witgen Donna Fedewa Betty Cook Doug Dutcher Betty Honsowitz Esmerelda Zoll E.J.Berry Joyce Dutcher Freda Bauer Bob Cathcart Fritz Steed Bud (Harry) Gert Manning Hattis Grace Fedewa Catherine Greg Bailey Fedewa Helen Cook Cecelia Smith Cil Gross Hillary Martin Diana Rivera Irene Jensen Dick Pline Jeanette Pohl Dick Lawless John Moyer Dick Smith Judy Martin Don May Kathleen Gross Elaine Thrasher Maybelle Thelen Laura Stegenga Linda Schanski Mae Lehman Mary Kloeckner Mary Martin Monica Bailey Patricia Klein Rita Miros Rita Sonday Rosie Baker Rosie Schmitz Ruth Huhn Sandra Bayne Sandra Odom Sue Brown Theresa Gerkman Donna Martin Knights News 12/19/16 Social meeting at 8:00 P.M. at Knights hall 12/20/16 Blood Drive at Knights hall 11:30 A.M. to 5:30 P.M. 12/21/16 Quarterly Letter stuffing at Knights hall at 7:00 P.M. FireKeepers Casino Trip: The Portland Knights of Columbus Council 2168 will be sponsoring a bus trip to Firekeepers Casino on Wednesday Feb. 8, 2017. The cost is $30.00 with each par2cipant receiving $20 in casino play and a $5 food voucher. The bus will leave the KC Hall parking lot located at 690 Maynard Road Portland at 9 a.m. and arrive at the casino at 10:00 am. The bus will depart the casino at 3 pm and arrive back in Portland at 4 p.m. Par2cipants must register in advance for this trip. For more informa2on or to register, contact Rich Schneider at (517) 647-4567, or John Vallier at (517) 647-6409. Christmas Masses and concert to be broadcast live from the cathedral on FOX 17 and online Midnight Mass and the Prelude of Carols with Brass, Strings and Choirs on Christmas Eve will be broadcast live from the Cathedral of Saint Andrew on FOX 17 (check your local listings) and online on the diocesan website, dioceseofgrandrapids.org. The concert begins at 11 p.m. and Mass begins at Midnight. The live broadcast of Mass from the cathedral is a ministry provided by our diocese to the homebound and imprisoned for more than 60 years. Christmas Day Mass will also air live on FOX 17 and on the diocesan website at 10 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 25 with a recording of the prelude concert to follow at 11 a.m. Video of the Masses will be able to be viewed in their entirety on the diocesan website Christmas Day. Don t let the holiday s get the best of your Marriage Next Retrouvaille Weekend Announced Do you feel lost, alone or bored in your marriage? Are you frustrated, hurt or angry with your spouse? Are you constantly fighting? Or, do you simply shut down? Have you thought about separation or divorce? Does talking only make it worse? Rediscover healing and love and find hope by attending Retrouvaille (pronounced re-tro-vi with a long i). The program offers tools needed to rediscover a loving marriage relationship. The next Retrouvaille weekend is Feb. 24-26, 2017. For more information, to register or to sponsor a couple, call 616.752.7004, emailretrograndrapids@gmail.com or visit retrouvaille.org. Bell Choir Music Ministry The Bell Choir will be doing the Music Ministry for the following masses: Sunday, January 1, 2017-11:30 mass Sunday, January 7, 2017-4:30 mass Congratulations to the October Athletic Association Sports Raffle Winners Lisa Lehnert James Bower Kyle Lay Bryan Scheurer Thank you for your continued support of St. Patrick Athletic programs.
Fourth Sunday of Advent Page 5 December 18, 2016 Youth Corner Junior High: No Youth Ministry. High School: Next Sunday, Dec 18 at 6:00 pm Join in Christmas Caroling to those who can not get out and about! Hot chocolate afterward. ichallenge: Coming Events: Mon. December 19 th : One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic - Why Catholic is not just Christian Mon. Dec 26 th & Mon. Jan. 2 nd - No Ignite Spread the fire! Carolyn Kwiecinski Director of Evangelization and Adult Faith Formation carolynkwiecinski@portlandstpats.com In Memoriam St. Patrick Parish is a recognized charity through AmazonSmile. Amazon will donate 0.5% of your AmazonSmile purchase price to St. Patrick Parish, just click on search for your favorite local charity and type St. Patrick Parish, Portland, MI and help support the parish with no extra expense to you. Thank you Volunteers needed- St. Patrick Church on the 2nd Monday of each month prepares the Monday Night Dinner at the First Congregational Church. We have been asked if we could also help by providing 2 servers on our night from about 4-6 PM. If you are interested in helping either serve or preparing the meal please contact Darlene Schrauben at 517-512- 4058. Make Charitable Donations from your IRA IRA owners and beneficiaries who have reached age 70 ½ are permitted to make cash donations totaling up to $100,000 per individual IRA owner per year - $200,000 per year maximum on a joint return if both spouses make QCDs of $100,000 - to IRS-approved public charities directly out of their IRAs. These so-called Qualified Charitable Distributions, or QCDs, are federal-income-tax-free to you, but you get no itemized charitable write off on your Form 1040. That s okay because tax-free treatment of QCDs equates to an immediate 100% federal income tax deduction without having to worry about restrictions that can delay or reduce itemized charitable write-offs. It also reduces your adjusted gross income. QCDs have other tax advantages, too. Be careful to qualify for this special tax break, the funds must be transferred directly from your IRA to the charity. Please consult your tax advisor for details. Faith Formation New News Up Coming Dates December 26th- NO CLASSES (CHRISTMAS BREAK) January 2nd- NO CLASSES (CHRISTMAS BREAK) Up Coming Events December 28th- Movie Night (6-8 pm in Parish Hall) January 9th Meals at First Congregational Church (4-6 pm) End of the year contributions need to be submitted by Dec. 29th at 4:30 PM. To access your tax statements see page 7 for instruction. If school is canceled due to weather conditions Mass, Adoration, the parish offices and all Parish activities are closed as well.
Fourth Sunday of Advent Page 6 December 18, 2016 St. Patrick students help those in need this Christmas also some fun items that a middle school boy or girl would love. Ideas included gum, candy, cologne or perfume, art supplies, sports cards, nail polish, etc. One of the committees of our school board is the Mission Effectiveness Committee. Their major function is to suggest ideas that can help the students and staff of St. Patrick School continue to not only grow in their faith, but to experience it first-hand. This Advent season, they decided that it would be great to help in the community-wide Christmas Giving Program, which includes filling shoeboxes full of items for those in need. The plan was for Big Rocks and Little Rocks to team up to donate items that will bring joy to a local middle school boy or girl. The final gift would be a shoebox filled with hygiene products along with winter gloves and a few fun items. Once completed, the shoeboxes are distributed to children around the Portland area. Big Rocks were in charge of bringing in an empty shoebox while gifts were provided by both Big and Little Rocks. Following Mass on Thursday, Dec. 1, Big Rocks and Little Rocks paired up with another group of Big Rocks and Little Rocks (four people total) to wrap and fill a box. The goal was for each box to contain some essentials such as shampoo, toothpaste, deodorant, and winter gloves, but After the students wrapped and filled the shoeboxes, they were all collected. Earlier this week, before being taken to the collection place, all of the shoeboxes were brought to the school gym and placed around our Advent Wreath. Our students gathered around the shoeboxes while our pastor, Fr. Larry King, led us in a prayer service. While all of our students extended their hands in prayer over them, Fr. Larry blessed the shoeboxes. Ultimately, our schoolwide goal was to collect enough items to complete and fill 80 shoeboxes. We were blessed to have our school families donate enough items to fill 148! A big thank you also goes to a few local dentists who provided toothbrushes and other items for the boxes, Dr. Jami Schneider, Dr. Michael Mauren and Dr. Travis Harshman. There are many other businesses who donated to the project as well outside of St. Patrick School. We are very blessed here at St. Pat s and we hope that we can pass on some of those blessings to children living right here in our own community. The Shoebox project helped us to spread Christmas joy by sharing in the true meaning of this wonderful day! May God bless you and your family this Advent and Christmas. Stay connected with our mobile app-download now at myparishapp.com
Fourth Sunday of Advent Page 7 December 18, 2016 My Own Church My Own Church is your online connection to your family and individual members Church records. In My Own Church you are able to keep your records updated (phone numbers, e-mail address, address changes), you are also able to review your contributions and obtain end of the year tax statements. The first step is to make sure the parish office has your e-mail address on file, the next step would be to register creating a user name and password. The My Own Church website is available from any web browser. Links are available from the St. Patrick Website, www.stpatrickportalnd.com or https://connectnow.parishsoft.com/grandrapids/. Click the new user button, complete the fields on the new user registration form. Read the terms and conditions and check the I Agree Box. Once you have submitted your registration, a St. Patrick Administrator will approve your registration and you will receive an e -mail. Please contact the parish office (517-647-6505 x 410) if you need assistance or have any questions.