MAY 20, 2018 Welcome to St. Joseph s Parish... 807 West Lake Street Friendship, WI 608-339-3485 stjosephcc@frontier.com RECTORY PO Box 310 166 N Main St Adams, WI 53910 Office Hours: Tuesday and Wednesday 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Weekend Mass Schedule Saturday: 5:30 p.m. Sunday: 9:30 a.m. Daily Mass Schedule Tuesday - 5:30 p.m. Wednesday-Friday 8:00 a.m. Confession: Tuesday 5:00 p.m. Saturday Following Mass Parish Staff Fr. Francis X. Dias Deacon Dave Kennedy Deacon Kevin Ray Parish Secretary Beth Griffith (608)547-1729
Dear Parishioners and Friends in Christ, Today we come to the high point of our Easter celebration, the Feast of Pentecost. Pentecost, meaning fifty days after the Passover was the feast day in which the Jewish people celebrated the Giving of the Law on Mount Sinai. On Mt Sinai, the different tribes of Israel entered into covenant with God and with one another and so became the people of God. God gave them the Ten Commandments as a guide to show them how to be a people, because being people of God means relating to God and to one another in a way that God Himself has mapped out, not in the way that we think is right. Whenever human beings forget how limited we are and try to take the initiative in our dealings with God, what inevitably follows is disaster. An example is the story of the Tower of Babel that we are told in Gen 11 where human beings decided to build a tower that would reach to heaven. In this way they would have access to God whenever they wanted, in this way they could manipulate God. But in the process of building the human bridge to heaven God came and confused their languages. They began to speak different languages, there was no more communication, no more understanding among them, and they could no longer work together. The result was the proliferation of languages and human misunderstanding. Does the story of Babel remind us of the story we read today from the Acts of the Apostles, the disciples of Jesus speaking in other languages? Actually, the two stories are related. But Pentecost is not a repeat of Babel, Pentecost is a reversal of Babel for three reasons: 1) At Babel human beings decided to build a tower to God by their own effort; at Pentecost it is now God who decides to build a bridge by sending the Holy Spirit. Babel was a human initiative, a human effort; Pentecost is a divine initiative, a divine activity through the Holy Spirit. Imagine this: Jesus ascends to heaven and mandates the disciples to spread the Good News from Jerusalem to all Judea, to Samaria and to the ends of the earth. But the task is too much for them. How could these twelve, uneducated, rural fishermen from Galilee go out and address the learned world of Greek philosophers and Roman poets. Moreover, even their fellow Jews are hostile to them. So, what do they do? They go in and pray, and wait and pray, and wait for God s initiative. And as soon as God gives the sign of the Holy Spirit, there they go, all out on the streets boldly and fearlessly proclaiming the Good News. What God asks of us always seems impossible; and it is indeed impossible, if we rely on our own initiatives and will power alone. But if, like the disciples, we realize that godliness is above us, and so commit ourselves to waiting daily on God in prayer, God will not be found wanting. At the opportune time God will send the flame of the Holy Spirit to invigorate us, and change us from lukewarm to zealous, fervent, enthusiastic believers. 2) The miracle of Pentecost is very different from the miracle of Babel. At Babel, the people came together with one language, understanding themselves. After God s intervention they dispersed no longer understanding each other. At Pentecost, on the other hand, people of different ethnic backgrounds (Persians, Asians, Romans, Egyptians, Libyans, Arabs, etc.) came together unable to communicate, but after the miracle of Pentecost, they said, Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? How is it that we hear them, each of us in our own language? (Acts 2:7-8). 3) Babel resulted in the disintegration of the human family into different races and nationalities. Pentecost, on the other hand, brings all peoples together and reunifies them under one universal family. This universal family embracing all races and nationalities is called church. Catholic means universal. On Pentecost we celebrate the birthday of the Church. Today is, therefore, an opportunity to rededicate ourselves to be active and faithful members of this family of God we call Church. Fulton J. Sheen once said about the church that even though we are God s chosen people, we often behave more like God s frozen people. God s frozen people indeed: frozen in our prayer life, frozen in the way we relate with one another, frozen in the way we celebrate our faith. We don t seem to be happy to be in God s house; we are always in a hurry to get it over and done with as soon as possible. Today is a great day to ask the Holy Spirit to rekindle in us the spirit of new life and enthusiasm, the fire of God s love. Father Francis X. Dias
Monday, May 21 st : Saint Christopher Magallanes, Priest an Companions, Martyrs 7:30 a.m. Rosary Blessed Virgin Mary +Jan Panszczyk Tuesday, May 22 nd : Saint Rita of Cascia, Religious 5:00 p.m. Rosary Confessions before Mass 5:30 p.m. MASS +Fred Schanen by Schanen Family Wednesday, May 23 rd : 7:30 a.m. Rosary +Joan Swobda by Jack Bischel Thursday, May 24 th : 7:30 a.m. Rosary +Dianne Bischel by Jack Bischel 10:30 a.m. MASS at Villa Pines For the People Friday, May 25 th : Saint Bede the Venerable, Priest, Doctor of the Church; Saint Gregory VII, Pope; Saint Mary Magdalene de Pazzi, Virgin 7:30 a.m. Divine Mercy Chaplet Casey Marek s Health by KC s Saturday, May 26 th : Saint Philip Neri Priest 10:30 a.m. MASS at Villa Pines For the People 5:30 p.m. MASS Confessions following Mass +Thomas Mootz - 3rd Anniversary of Death by Doris Mootz Sunday, May 27 th : THE MOST HOLY TRINITY Our President, Our Country & Our Congress by Gloria Pfister 10:00 a.m. MASS +Leo Bassetto by Pat Gervais Family Please remember to turn in your AF County Market Receipts. There is a box located on the table in the Narthex. We usually receive over $1000 from AF County Market, just by turning in your receipts. Saturday, May 26 th : 5:30 p.m. Mass Lector: Paul Beyer Eucharistic Ministers: Patty Kobs, Sandy beyer, Larry Yunck Servers: Jack Bischel, Matt Burke Sunday, May 27 th : 8:00 a.m. Mass Lector: Ann Rasmussen Eucharistic Ministers: Maggie Janiszewski, Harold & Denise Chamberlin Servers: Rick Semrow, Paul Kaster, Jerry Beaulieu 10:00 a.m. Mass Lector: Beth Griffith Eucharistic Ministers: Deacon Kevin, Jane Ray, Ted Griffith Servers: Volunteers Parish Contributions from May 12 th & 13 th, 2018 Offertory: $651.30 Adult Envelopes: 2933.00 Catholic Life Magazine: 11.00 Funeral: 100.00 Total: $3695.30 Building Fund: $430.00 There will be Mass on Monday, May 21st at 8:00 a.m., with rosary at 7:30 a.m. May is the Month of Mary Please pray the rosary CORPUS CHRISTI FEAST June 3rd After the 10:00 a.m. Mass on June 3rd, we will have a procession in the Church and Benediction for the Corpus Christi Feast.
ST ANN ORATORY - BROOKS, WI Pastor: Rev. Francis X. Dias Saturday, May 19 th 4:00 p.m. MASS +Anita & Eileen Huber by Urban Huber Saturday, May 26 th 4:00 p.m. MASS +Steve Markiewicz By Sharon Mizia ST. ANN ORATORY STEWARDSHIP TREASURE: OFFERTORY: 5-5-18 = $194.75 5-12-18 = $197.00 Thank you! PCCW Salad Luncheon Appreciation! St. Joseph Parish Council of Catholic Women wish to extend a sincere appreciation to all whose support helped make this year s Salad Luncheon a success. Thank you to all who attended the Luncheon, bought Garden Basket or 50/50 Raffle tickets, generously provided their special homemade soups and salads, donated basket items, and brought it all to a lovely, delicious conclusion through their hard work. Over $1300 was raised to continue the work of the PCCW on behalf of the parish. A special thank you is to Twin Creeks Nursery and Lancour s Greenhouse for a generous donations of plants for the Garden Basket Raffle. It is Spring Cleaning Time and we need to clean up our files!! We would appreciate it if everyone could please submit their mailing addresses and phone numbers including cell phone numbers so we have accurate files. Name: Address: Phone #: KC FOOD PANTRY FOR MONTH OF MAY 42# of food $146.00 in monetary donation Please place in the collection basket. Thanking you in advance!! Meatloaf Dinner Friday, May 25 3:00-6:30 St. Joseph Parish Center Fundraiser to replenish Charity Fund for Knights of Columbus Meatloaf Mashed Potatoes & Gravy Beans Corn Dinner Roll Milk/Coffee Dessert Beer & Wine sold separately Dinner tickets; $10.00 at the door Presale $9.00 Children 4-10 $4.00, under 4 Free Carryout's available COME ONE, COME ALL TO A FAITH SHARING GROUP Theresa David is offering a Faith Sharing Group, which will meet on the four Wednesday evenings in June from 6:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. She will be using Mary a Biblical Walk with the Blessed Mother by Edward Sri as the guide to explore our faith. All are invited to attend this session which will be at the parish center. Please bring your bible. Any questions, call Theresa David at 339-0645. Diocese or LaCrosse Celebrating it s 150 th Anniversary. Discover the Catholic Faith of the people of West Central Wisconsin through the stories shared by its many parish communities in this first-ever coffee table book, with pullouts. This is a unique gift, and a richly illustrated publication telling our 150 year story. It is hard covered, with more than 350 pages, with full color throughout. This is available for purchase, only $33.00 per copy.