St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church www.xavierbrunswick.org, 912-265-3249 March 3, 2019
Let s Go on Retreat! This Wednesday we will head off for a forty day retreat with one billion other Catholics and millions of other Christians. We will receive our ashes, make our commitments and begin our journey. Our Scriptural basis for this is the forty days Jesus spent in the desert. We imitate our Lord as we too go into the desert, not in a literal sense but a figurative one. The desert is a place of simplicity and cleansing. Many of the early monks chose the desert for their hermitages because it was far from civilization and called for a simple life. What is the destiny to which we have been called? It is to be a child of God! You were created as a son or daughter of God. Today we will receive ashes. They remind us that we were created from dust as a child of God but they also remind us that we have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Traditionally the Church has asked us to make commitments in three areas: prayer, fasting and almsgiving. As you discern your plan pray about these three areas. Here are a few tips for making your commitments: Pray about them. It is not what I want to do, it is what God asks of me. Make it challenging. Your commitments should call you deeper. Jesus calls us to put out into the deep! Lent hard! (But remember it is a marathon-not a one hundred yard dash. Find a prayer partner to keep you accountable to your commitments. Your central commitment should focus on prayer. When it is all said and done, Lent is about drawing closer to our Lord. Use the Black Books (available in the lobby). These daily devotionals are very helpful to guide us on the journey. Need some ideas? There are some flyers in the back of church with ideas. We are about to enter into a spiritual window in which there is an abundance of grace. Lent is a time for God to transform our lives. I encourage you to enter into Lent with a sense of expectation of what God can do. We want God to touch our very souls this season. Even now, says the Lord, return to me with your whole heart, with fasting, and weeping, and mourning; rend your hearts, not your garments, and return to the Lord, your God. (Joel 2:12) -Fr. Tim McKeown We are blessed to be able to enjoy the beauty of our new Narthex and our newly renovated windows! Both of these additions enhance the beauty and attractiveness of our campus and will give us many years of service. Looking at our church building we have new pews, newly repaired and enhanced windows and a new church addition. Each of these elements should serve us well for the next 75 years! We have been good stewards of that with which we have been entrusted. As good stewards we also need to be faithful to pay for these things! Our window project was not a budgeted item but it seemed necessary for repairs and to match the church with the new Narthex. Please see our website or Facebook page to see how essential and timely these repairs were. The project cost was over $80,000. If you did not make a gift to the Forward With Faith Campaign I would ask you to consider a gift toward SFX Church to help pay our window bill. Our most common pledge during our campaign was $5,000. Please consider a gift of $5,000, $3,000 or $1,000 to help pay this bill and to help our campus shine brightly!
Mass Schedule Saturday 5:00 p.m. SFX 7:00 p.m. (on Jekyll) Sunday (SFX) 8:30 a.m. 11:00 a.m. 6:00 p.m. in Spanish Weekday Masses Mon. - Noon (Chapel) Tues., Wed. & Thurs. 7:00 a.m. (Chapel) Wed. 7:00 p.m. (Church) Fri. 8 a.m. (Church) Reconciliation: Church Saturdays 4:00-4:30 p.m. Sunday 7:45-8:15 a.m. (Or by appointment) St. Joseph Chapel (Please go to the main office for code) Monday - Friday 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. St Joseph Chapel First Friday Adoration 2:00-8:00 p.m. First Saturday 8:45 a.m. Ash Wednesday Schedule 8:00 a.m. SFX School Mass (open to all) Please sit in the back half the Church. If you have completed Discovering Christ from the Christ Life series we will be offering Level II which is Following Christ. We will offer a Wed morning session and a Wed evening session. Here are the topics for the sessions. We will start on March 13 since March 6 is Ash Wednesday. Following Christ includes ten talks spread out over seven weekly sessions and a day retreat. The topics each week are as follows: -Introduction and Daily Personal Prayer -Hearing God in Scripture -The Power of the Sacraments -Forgiving One Another -The Spirit-Empowered Life -We Are At War Retreat -The World -The Flesh -The Devil -The Heart of a Disciple -Going On with the Lord Sessions are at 11 a.m. or 6 p.m. Noon at SFX 2:00 pm Jekyll Island (at JIUMC) Scripture and Ashes 7:00 pm at SFX (bi-lingual) We will take up a single collection on Ash Wed for the church and the Black Books. If you have an envelope for Aid for Eastern Europe please place that in the main collection. Thank you. There are Black Books available at all the entrances. These are daily meditation guides for Lent. Also on the front table are some flyers with Lenten resources. Donations to pay for the Black Books can be placed in the collection. Please mark black books in the memo line.
Save the date: Ordination to the Priesthood for Deacon Patrick May will be June 1 at the Cathedral in Savannah. Here is our first report for the Bishop s Annual Appeal (Who is my neighbor?) SFX Target is $58,467 Total given thus far: $17,423 (30% of target) 66 families have made their pledge If you have not made a pledge please take an envelope from the pew today. Thank you as we seek to serve Jesus in the neighbor around us! Men s Discernment Groups: Deacon Robert will be leading The Melchizedek Project during the Lenten Season, for young single men. There will be two groups: (1) High School, grades 9th-12th and (2) Young Men, ages 18-40. We will meet for 7 weeks throughout Lent. The High School group will meet on Sundays following the 8:30am Mass (approx. 9:45pm) in the St. Joseph Room (Parish Hall). The Young Men s group will meet on Wednesdays at 5:30pm in St. Anne Room (Parish Hall). Food will be provided for each group. What s free? Food and Discernment Materials (To Save A Thousand Souls). What is it? It is a time for Catholic men to pray about their lives, listen for God s voice, and get serious about answering His personal call to follow Him, in whatever vocation that He is calling you too. What would we do? Share a meal together, read Fr. Brett Brannen s book on discernment, and discuss the vocation / call to the Priesthood. Who is it for? Young, single men who are interested in discerning God s will for them, whatever it may be. Dates: Group #1: (Sundays) March 3, 10, 17, 24, 31 & April 7, 14 Group #2: (Wednesdays) March 13, 20, 27 & April 3, 10, 17, 24 Collections for: February 23 & 24 $ 8,121.36 Knights of Columbus 100 th Anniversa ry This year our local Knights of Columbus are celebrating their 100 th anniversa ry as a council! In honor of this Bishop Boland will come and celebrate the 11:00 Mass on Sunday May 5 and a reception will follow in Xavier Hall. K of C March Yard Sale -March 9th from 8 a.m.-2 p.m.- coming soon we could use some items you no longer want or need like tools, electronics, furniture, lamps, appliances kids toys, art work, books cd s and dvd s. Please no clothes. Proceeds to benefit our pro-life initiative. Pickup available for Large items or heavy items contact any Knight for assistance. Thank You.
School and Youth News Save the dates! First Communion is Sat. May 4 at the 5:00 pm Mass. Confirmation is Monday May 13 at 6:00 pm. School News We re excited to share that our school is part of the Coca-Cola Give program. This opens up St. Francis Xavier to new funding opportunities to help improve learning environments for students. The best part? Donations don t come out of your own pocket. When you make Coca-Cola purchases, you simply enter the product codes at https://us.cocacola.com/give/schools/under ST FRAN- CIS XAVIER SCHOOL BRUNSWICK Congratulations to our students who competed in the recent College of Coastal Georgia Math/Science Bowl - -- L to R Gary Larkins, Middle School Math Instructor; Henry Thompson, Ivan Barr, Ryan Walsh, and Sam Norris Save the Date for the 4th Annual Community Seder Thursday, April 11, 2019 6:00 p.m. $10/person or $25/family St. Francis Catholic Church Parish Hall 1120 Newcastle St., Brunswick Reservation information will be available soon! Operation Rice Bowls will be available on the tables starting Ash Wednesday. If you are interested in participating, please pick one up. These will need to be returned the weekend after Easter. O God, hear our prayer and let our cry come unto You. Bless our Diocese of Savannah with many vocations to the priesthood, diaconate, and religious life. Give the men and women You call the light to understand Your gift and the love to follow always in the footsteps of Your priestly Son. Amen.
PRAYER LIST Timothy Tindall, Jack & Jan Mistisshen, Jerry Ehlman, Joyce McPhee, Carol Papia, Jacky Free, Michael L. Mleko, Ric Carr, Shirley Reilly, Hazel Woody, Betty Blouin, Lidia Gorman, Martha Burroughs, Georgia Burgess-Erwin, Jackie Maassen, Linda Forsyth, Dan Hickey, Jim Layman, Dianna Rutledge, Manuel & Derek Canas, Glenn Cornwell, Yvonne Lott, Tedi LaMere, Todd Donovan, Denny Silva, Helen Berry, Emory Young, Clay Dial, David Higbee, Pat Radenhausen, Wanda Hand, Kitty Shemeld, Rose Browning, Sr Andrea Curran, Sr Kathleen McMenamin, Bro Robert Sokolowski, Helen Berry, Emory Young, Linda Royster, Patricia Clark, Janice Guyer, Norma Ireland, Joan Schwartz, Mary Chapman, Dusty Sloan, Ruthie Aspinwall, Denny Silva, Kayla Jones, Paisley Minchew, Aadyn Jones, Katherine Haven, Bebe Browning, Alexandra Bergman, Eric Meiring, Helen Drawdy March 3, 2019 Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time Mass Intentions Saturday, March 2 5:00 p.m. t Manuela Rocha 7 p.m. Our Parish Family (At Jekyll United Methodist Church) Sunday, March 3 8:30 a.m. t Glynn Taylor 11 a.m. Special Intentions 6 p.m. Dalver Ortiz Hernandez (Intentions) Monday, March 4 Noon Special Intentions Tuesday, March 5 7 a.m. t Jerry Hayward Wednesday, March 6 8 a.m. t William Phillips Noon Our Parish Family 7 p.m. Special Intentions The Knights of Columbus will host a blood drive on Sunday, March 17th from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. in Xavier Hall. Please consider giving a pint of your precious gift of life to others. Your donation will remain in the local community. Scheduling an appointment will ensure your time is respected. The Knights of Columbus will provide the volunteers needed for service. For questions, please call Bill Schuster 912-266-6779. Fr Tim will leave for the Holy Land on March 6 and return on March 16. Please contact the office if you are in need of a priest. Thursday, March 7 7 a.m. t Shirley Wall Friday, March 8 8 a.m. t Margaret & Jim Lewandowski Saturday, March 9 5:00 p.m. t Jack & Jeanne O Donnell 7 p.m. t Rudy Zocchi (At Jekyll United Methodist Church) Sunday, March 10 8:30 a.m. Our Parish Family 11 a.m. L & D SFX Council of Catholic Women 6 p.m. t Souls in Purgatory Prayer List will be updated on March 28. Please email or call the office the week of the 25th to keep names on the list.
Parish Activity Contacts Adult Bible Study, Joe & Linda Kirby.267-9359 Altar and Environmental Care, Diane Lott.223-1261 Bereavement, Ann Buebel..265-3249 CCW, Marisol Soler 264-6805 ext. 12 Culture of Life, Rose Lodise....264-4121 Greeters, Ginger Dorcas.....275-8492 Knights of Columbus, Bill Schuster.266-6779 Religious Ed., Larry Guyer.. 265-3249 ext. 14 St. Monica Society, Peggie Cash....264-5458 St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store......262-6027 SFX School/Dr. Mermann.....912-265-9470 Parish Council, Alan Borst Most Rev. Gregory John Hartmayer, OFM Conv. Bishop of Savannah Church Office 405 Howe St., Brunswick, GA 31520 912-265-3249 Ann (Office Manager) ext.0 Fr. Tim ext. 11 Fr. Chris ext. 12 Deacon Larry ext. 14 Deacon Robert ext. 15 Maggie (Finance) ext. 16 CFC Building 912-264-6805 Juan ext. 11 Marisol ext. 12