CHURCH NAME AND ADDRESS Immaculate Conception 353 Grove Street Worcester, MA 01605-3907 PHONE NUMBER 508-754-8419 CONTACT PERSON Sharon Rainville CHURCH NUMBER 005046 SOFTWARE Microsoft Office Publisher 2007 Adobe Acrobat 8 Standard Windows XP Home Edition, Version 5.1, Service Pack 3 PRINTER Canon MX860 NUMBER OF PAGES 6 SUNDAY DATE OF PUBLICATION October 21, 2012 TRANSMISSION TIME Tuesday, 10:00 AM SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS
Immaculate Conception Parish SUNDAY MASSES SATURDAY VIGIL: 4:00 PM SUNDAY: 7:30 AM, 10:00 AM RECTORY ADDRESS 353 Grove Street, Worcester, MA 01605 Phone: 508-754-8419 Fax: 508-754-8508 Religious Education Phone: 508-791-5887 Rev. Walter J. Riley, PASTOR SACRAMENT OF RECONCILIATION Saturday 3:00-4:00 PM (or by appointment) KEVIN DEIGNAN, PERMANENT DEACON MARY SYCKS, ADMINISTRATOR OF RELIGIOUS EDUCATION AND YOUTH MINISTER C. Henry Mason, MUSIC DIRECTOR Sharon Rainville, PARISH SECRETARY Matthew Foster, PASTORAL COUNCIL CHAIRMAN LYNDA MONAHAN, SAFE ENVIRONMENT COORDINATOR Please visit our website at www.icworc.com WEEKDAY MASSES MONDAY, TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY 9:00 AM THURSDAY 8:00 AM SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM Parents and godparents of infants to be baptized are expected to participate in a preparation session. Call the Rectory to register for this process and set a date for the actual Baptism. For Baptism of adults please contact the Rectory. SACRAMENT OF MARRIAGE Please contact the rectory one year prior to your desired wedding date SACRAMENT OF ANOINTING OF THE SICK Father Walter can be called whenever someone can benefit from this sacrament of healing. NEW PARISHIONERS Anyone is welcome to join the Parish Community. Please contact the Rectory and introduce yourself.
TWENTY-NINTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME October 21, 2012 MASS INTENTIONS Sat. Oct. 20 4:00 PM Anna Gallagher by Jim & Marie Riedel & family Sun. Oct. 21 7:30 AM Peter Brothers, 1st Anniversary by family 10:00 AM Msgr. Thomas J. Needham, 10th Anniversary by family Mon. Oct. 22 9:00 AM Tues. Oct. 23 9:00 AM Donald Letendre by family (St. John of Capistrano) Wed. Oct. 24 9:00 AM (St. Anthony Mary Claret) Thurs. Oct. 25 8:00 AM Sat. Oct. 27 4:00 PM James & Lorraine Hester by family Sun. Oct. 28 7:30 AM 10:00 AM Virginia Kuruna by family THIS WEEK the text for the Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time may be found at #1033 in the Journeysongs hymnal. A SPIRITUAL CONSIDERATION Thank you to the 15-20 parishioners cooperating every week in spiritual fasting and abstaining for the purpose of each week s intention. Please know that every Friday others here at Immaculate Conception and elsewhere are sacrificing for intentions directed at parish, worldwide, national, and local petitions connected to our common Catholic faith. Any others who wish to join our spiritual fasting, please feel free to speak with Fr. Riley. This Friday s intention is for members of our families and our friends who have stopped practicing their Catholic faith, that they will rediscover their relationship with Jesus in this Year of Faith. SCRIPTURE SERIES FOR OCTOBER On the first four Tuesdays of October (2,9,16,23), Fr. Walter Riley and Dr. Frank McGuire will host a brown bag lunch Scripture series. Our topic for reflection and discussion is: The Gospel of John. This will take place in the Coffee Shop starting at 12:00 noon and ending promptly at 1:00 p.m. Bring your lunch along with your appetite for the word of God. Beverages and dessert will be available. Our final gathering will be on October 23rd. Hope to see you there! WORLD MISSION SUNDAY This Sunday is World Mission Sunday in the Church. This collection assists the many missionaries in the Church to continue to spread the Good News of Jesus throughout the world. Envelopes for this mission will be collected at all Masses. YEAR OF FAITH As part of this special year, Pope Benedict XVI calls on all Catholics to renew their faith in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, in the teachings of Christ and in the doctrines of the Church. From the Book The Year of Faith, by Fr. Mitch Pacwa RELIGIOUS EDUCATION NEWS Classes take place this week for K-6th grade on Sunday, October 21st at 8:45 a.m. and grades 7-11 on Monday, October 22nd at 7:00 p.m. RCIA CLASSES There will be no RCIA classes this week on Monday, October 22nd. Class resumes the following week. WEDNESDAY SCRIPTURE STUDY There will be no Scripture study class this week on Wednesday, October 24th. Scripture study class will resume the following week. CHILDREN S LITURGY AT 10:00 AM Beginning this week at the 10:00 a.m. Mass, we will invite the children in the Church to a children s version of the readings. Hannah Sycks of our parish has volunteered to coordinate this program, to which we are very grateful. The children will be invited to leave prior to the first reading, go to the church Basement, and return at the end of the Prayers of the Faithful. For the parents who wish to, you are invited to either join and participate, or observe. RECENTLY MARRIED Congratulations to Kerry May O Neil of our parish, who married Peter Christopher Scomis in a ceremony here at Immaculate conception on October 6th. All of God s blessings to Peter and Kerry as they begin their life together as husband and wife. The ceremony was performed by Fr. John Kelley, a Worcester priest related to the bride. RECENTLY BAPTIZED Congratulations to recently baptized Emma Elizabeth Pasanello, daughter of Evan and Caroline Pasanello. May God bless both the parents and their daughter as Emma begins her lifelong journey with Jesus in and through God s Church.
IMMACULATE CONCEPTION PARISH HOPE FOR HOUSING FOOD CARDS Thank you to our parishioners who continue to purchase food cards on behalf of Hope for Housing. 5% of the purchase of food cards goes directly toward preventing homelessness in Central Massachusetts. We invite others to consider using this ministry for your food purchases. The cards are sold after each weekend Mass. Last week this program sold $525.00 worth of cards in our parish. Thank you for supporting this ministry. PARISH APPRECIATION DINNER We will hold our annual Parish Appreciation Dinner on Saturday, November 3rd, at 5:30 p.m. This dinner is open for all in the parish who volunteer their services in any way. From altar servers (and parents), to collectors, lectors, Eucharistic Ministers, and so on. If you perform any type of volunteering at any time during the year, you are invited. Please call the rectory by October 30th so an accurate number of persons can be given for the purchase of food. Thank you for all you do to build up our parish. HOLY HOUR FOR LIFE Our parish will hold a Holy Hour for Life on Tuesday, October 30th, from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. in the Church. This is an opportunity to come together in prayer, benediction, and humble service on behalf of the many issues affecting our community on a local, state, national, and worldwide level. With the grave threat of assisted suicide present before us in the upcoming Massachusetts election, we beg our loving and saving God to open the eyes and hearts of all Catholics and people of good will to reject this latest attempt at destroying human life. God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all. (John, 1:5) THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT October 13th & 14th Sunday Ordinary Income $3304.00 Various Envelopes 15.00 On-line donations $ 525.00 RELIGIOUS QOUTE OF THE WEEK Do not take the world to be more profound than God! (The perfect argument against Physician-assisted suicide.). Hans Urs Von Balthasar (1905-1988) RELIGIOUS READING A reminder that there are a number of books in a small bookcase located in the candle and prayer room in the back of the Church. These books are from Fr. Riley s personal library. Any one is invited to take one or two, or more, for spiritual reading, with the expectation of returning them when finished. There are many excellent topics on the shelves connected to our faith. WORCESTER, MA DOCTOR PRESCRIBED SUICIDE IS SUICIDE The idea that assisting suicide shows compassion and eliminates suffering is equally misguided. It eliminates the person, and results in suffering for those left behind grieving family and friends, and other vulnerable people who may be influenced by this event to see death as an escape. USCCB (To Live each Day With Dignity) RELIGIOUS LIBERTY IN AMERICA If religious liberty is eroded here at home, American defense of religious liberty abroad is less credible. And one common threat, spanning both the international and domestic arenas, is the tendency to reduce the freedom of religion to the mere freedom of worship. Therefore, it is our task to strengthen religious liberty at home, in this and other respects, so that we might defend it more vigorously abroad. To that end, American foreign policy, as well as the vast international network of Catholic agencies, should make the promotion of religious liberty an ongoing and urgent priority. USCCB on Religious Liberty VICE-PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE (From the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops) During the recent Vice-Presidential debate, the following statement was made regarding the Department of Health and Human Services mandate that forces all employers to include sterilization, contraception, and abortion inducing drugs in the health insurance coverage they provide their employee: With regard to the assault on the Catholic Church, let me make it absolutely clear. No religious institution- Catholic or otherwise, including Catholic social services, Georgetown Hospital, Mercy Hospital, any hospital-none has to either refer contraception, none has to pay for contraception, none has to be a vehicle to get contraception in any insurance policy they provide. This is a fact. This is a fact. This is not a fact. The HHS mandate contains a narrow, four-part exemption for certain religious employers. That exemption was made final in February and does not extend to Catholic social services, Georgetown Hospital, Mercy Hospital, any hospital, or any other religious charity that offers its services to all, regardless of the faith of those served. The above message is to clarify the accuracy of this present situation, and the reasons why the Catholic bishops in the United States continue their efforts through the court system to overturn our government s attempt at forcing religious institutions to cooperate with practices that are in direct contradiction to our teachings, without exception. Please see the insert in this week s bulletin for upcoming events from the new Parish Activities Committee.
FROM THE PASTOR One of the struggles we face in our faith addresses the issue of experiencing the closeness of God s presence. We all want to know without question that God is close, that our concerns are His concerns, and what s important to us is important to heaven. And, whether justified or not, the struggle is real at different times for most every one of us. Even Blessed Mother Teresa struggled with the knowledge of God s closeness for years on end. Addressing Question 2 again on the Massachusetts ballot this coming election, there are many folks in the latter stages of life who struggle on a deeply personal level with the theological issue of God s closeness. This has been present in every age. Even when God manifested His presence in clear and obvious signs, such as with the Israelites, they still doubted the abiding presence of the God who called them out of Egypt. I ve witnessed those whose faith in God s promise of closeness and eternity has been off the charts. They ve been examples for me on how to die gracefully and with total trust that our Lord has overcome whatever has brought them to the end of their lives. And I ve witnessed those who struggle with such trust, where fear for the moment appears to get the better of them. For the sick and the elderly, and for adult men and women who have parents or children who are sick and/or elderly, and anyone who is affected by Question 2, it s at these moments where we are to step up to the plate and provide the care and dignity that our families deserve. And it s incredibly important to trust that we are not alone. That, as the Letter to the Hebrews reveals this week, We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has similarly been tested in every way, yet without sin. In Jesus similar testing, therein lies spiritual closeness we don t always see with the naked eye. The case for Physician-assisted suicide is a case for God s absence in the midst of suffering. This is one of many reasons why our Church rejects this act. If God, His Blessed Mother, and all His angels and saints, went on vacation the last five years of my mother s life as she suffered from Alzheimer s, then assisting her in ending her life unnaturally would have been somewhat natural. But God s absence in the midst of great suffering is impossible. It takes a certain set of eyes, eyes that see Jesus passion in the suffering of our loved ones, that provides a true sense of comfort in our personal struggle of witnessing their deteriorating condition. I pray Question 2 is rejected once and for all in our state. Compassion is realized in our providing comfort and presence, combined with the advances of medical science, and not in lethal drugs. Medical science has made Physician-assisted suicide outdated already. It s time for our faith to do the same. Peace, Fr. Riley
THIS WEEK AT IMMACULATE CONCEPTION Sat. Oct. 20 3:00 PM Confessions 4:00 PM Mass Sun. Oct. 21 7:30 AM Mass 8:45 AM Religious Ed 10:00 AM Mass Mon. Oct. 22 8:30 AM Rosary 9:00 AM Mass 6:30 PM No RCIA 7:00 PM Religious Ed Tues. Oct. 23 8:30 AM Rosary 9:00 AM Mass Noon Scripture Series 7:00 PM Boy Scouts Wed. Oct. 24 8:30 AM Rosary 9:00 AM Mass 6:00 PM Girl Scouts 6:30 PM No Scripture Study Thurs. Oct. 25 7:30 AM Rosary 8:00 AM Mass Fri. Oct. 26 Sat. Oct. 27 3:00 PM Confessions 4:00 PM Mass Sun. Oct. 28 7:30 AM Mass 8:45 AM Religious Ed 10:00 AM Mass YES, WE WOULD LIKE TO REGISTER AT IMMACULATE CONCEPTION!! Name Address: City &Zip Phone Number of People in Household PLEASE, TEAR THIS OFF AND PLACE IN THE COLLECTION BASKET!