St. Francis Xavier Parish 25 th Sunday In Ordinary Time 24 Sept 2017
Income: St. Francis Xavier, Acushnet Diocese of Fall River Mass Schedule (September 23 - October 1) Sat. Sept 23 25 th Sunday (Vigil) (Gr) 4:00pm Michael Tremblay Sun. Sept 24 25 th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Gr) 8:00am Jon-Joseph LaFlamme 10:30am Pro Populo Mon. Sept 25 Feria (Gr) 9:00am Living & Deceased Family of Elsie Rebello Tues. Sept 26 Ss. Cosmas & Damian (Rd) 9:00am Jennifer Lawrence Wed. Sept 27 St. Vincent de Paul; Priest (Wh) 9:00am Irene Bergeron Thurs. Sept 28 St. Wenceslaus; Martyr (Rd) 9:00am Rene Benoit Fri. Sept 29 Feast of the Archangels (Wh) 9:00am Maria Belo Esteves Sat. Sept 30 St. Jerome; Priest (Wh) 9:00am Paulino and Ana Vieira & daughter Anna Rocha Sat. Sept 30 26 th Sunday (Vigil) (Gr) 4:00pm Pro Populo Sun. Oct 01 26 th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Gr) 8:00am Mary & Anibal Medeiros 10:30am Paulino and Ana Vieira & Daughter Financial Report 24 th Sunday in Ordinary Time.....$4,678.76 Diocesan Assessment..$2,086.50 Recent Expenses: Computer Repair,....$341.97 Prayers Please...for all the sick of our parish especially for those who are homebound, in the hospital and in nursing facilities. Sanctuary Lamp If you are interested in this weekly memorial, please contact the parish office. During Eucharistic Adoration please pray for the following person/s for whose intention the Sanctuary Candle burns: CONFESSIONS Monday: 5:30 to 6:30pm Saturday: 9:30 to 10:30am Saturday: 3:00 to 3:45pm F F. W ANNUAL PARISH APPEAL I have been impressed again and again by your generosity to the needs of our parish, our nation, and our world, especially given the many appeals these last few weeks. I would also like to thank those of you who have already responded to our Annual Appeal to support our parish. This appeal goes directly toward parish operations; therefore your contributions are essential to maintaining and developing our current levels of service. Thank you for doing your part to support our mission! FILM ON ST. JOHN PAUL II This Sunday evening we kick off our adult education series, which focuses on the legacy of St. John Paul II. Nine Days that Changed the World recounts the events of his historic first journey back to his homeland of Poland in 1979. This movie will be shown this Sunday, 24 September, at 4 p.m. in the school gym; it lasts about 90 minutes. I hope you can join us as we begin our year of reflection on the life & legacy of this great man and saint. RELIGIOUS EDUCATION Our new year of Faith Formation began last Sunday. I am grateful to our Religious Education Coordinator, Janine Hammarquist, who has been hard at work throughout the Summer to prepare for the start of classes; as well as to our volunteer catechists who offer their time and talent to help. Each of us has a role in the formation of our youth. The parents are the primary teachers of the Faith in the lives of their children, which is why incorporating the practice of the Faith into home life is so crucial. Beyond that, all of us grandparents, aunts and uncles, teachers and coaches are called to lead lives and give examples that, whether implicit or explicit, help our young to develop into the people God created them to be. FROM ST. JOHN PAUL II At the end of his first trip to Poland, during Holy Mass in Krakow, St. John Paul II offered the following words of hope: When we are strong with the Spirit of God, we are also strong with faith in man, strong with faith, hope and charity which are inseparable, and ready to give witness to the cause of man before the person who really has this cause at heart. I hope you ll be able to make it Sunday evening, as we enter together into this wonderful year in which we will open wide the doors of our hearts, our souls, and our families to Christ! rjw@sfxparish.com
PARISH INFORMATION PARISH OFFICE HOURS Mon-Fri: 9:30am 4:00pm Please make an appointment to meet with Father Williams to schedule a Baptism or Wedding. HELPFUL CONTACTS Religious Education: 508-998-7445 School: 508-995-4313 School Fax: 508-995-0456 ACCESSIBILITY Open for Prayer Every Day Wheelchair Lift Cry-room St. Francis Xavier Parish 125 Main Street Acushnet, MA 02743 tel: (508)-995-7600 fax: (508) -995-1794 email: info@sfxparish.com Fr. Riley J. Williams, Administrator [rjw@sfxparish.com] Deacon David Pepin [dbp@sfxparish.com] Mr. Steven Guillotte, Director of Pastoral Services [sng@sfxparish.com] Mrs. Michelle Russo, Principal [mrusso@sfxacushnet.com] Mrs. Anabela Shaughnessy, Asst. Principal [ashaughnessy@sfxacushnet.com] Mrs. Janine Hammarquist, Rel. Ed. Coordinator [jlh@sfxparish.com] HOLY MASS Monday-Sat 9:00am Third Thursday (Latin/Extraordinary Form) 5:30pm First Friday 9:00am & 6:00pm Saturday Vigil 4:00pm Sunday 8:00am & 10:30am CONFESSIONS Monday 5:30-6:30pm Saturday 9:30-10:30am Saturday 3:00-3:45pm First Fridays 5:15-5:40pm Any Time by Appointment ADORATION Mon, Tues & Wed 9:30am-9:00pm Thurs 7:00am-5:30pm Friday 9:30am-9:00pm Saturday 8:00am-2:45pm EVENING PRAYER Vespers : Mon, Tues, & Wed at 6:30pm Benediction: Mon & Wed O C Jesus told his disciples this parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with them for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. (Mt 20:1-2) We begin today s meditation on Sacred Scripture with an observation of God s justice: we see God treating with man by coming to an agreement with him on a basic wage for his labor. Man accepts this without showing any particular gratitude, seeing it simply as something he deserves. This is how Jesus begins His parable in today s gospel reading for this 25 th Sunday in Ordinary Time. We should not get bogged down over the issue herein of the usual daily wage since it is meant to serve only as a starting point for God s generosity. In fact, the same wage the landowner pays to his laborers regardless of their hours of work is only the first installment of what God intends to offer; for it is the laborer s response to the starting wage that matters. Whether he accepts it with thankfulness or with jealousy will be the predominant factor in determining what is received next; for as in all such matters Jesus is concerned with the life of His abundant grace. In order to facilitate our meditation on today s Sacred Scripture we place on our bulletin cover a work entitled A Laborer at Celeyran (1882), by the French Post- Impressionist, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Interestingly, Celeyran is the maiden name of Toulouse-Lautrec s mother; his poor saintly mother as he once called her. It probably recalls the name of a family estate, and since the peasant laborer in our artwork is found at Celeyran we can surmise that it was a country estate. Our laborer sits alone in a beautiful scene of contrasting verdant grasses imbued with light: the impression of Impressionism on this Post-Impressionist artist is glaring. Here the laborer sits under the span of a shade tree as a small hill defines the background. He may appear idle, yet he is sitting and waiting in his Sunday best. Perhaps it is Sunday and he is taking in some Sunday rest; or perhaps it is a weekday and he is all dressed up to impress prospective employers. In any event, he is upright, vigilant, and ready-to-go into the vineyard when the landowner passes by. He is a reminder to us of Christian steadfastness the readiness to work in God s vineyard when call forward by the Lord. In actuality this earlier work of Toulouse-Lautrec s belies his later works: bawdy drawings and paintings of Parisian bohemianism associated with his long residence in Montmartre, France. His fascination with the life and ladies of the Moulin Rouge is what consumed his later work. It is said that when younger he was mistreated by the noble class of his parents because of stunted growth due to a congenital illness: he grew to four-foot eight with shortened legs and a normal torso. He found solace in the imperfections and carnality of Parisian night life, taking to alcohol and prostitutes. He caught syphilis. Not long after, he died at the age of thirty-six in the arms of his poor saintly mother. Let us pray for his soul.
25 th Sunday in Ordinary Time September 24, 2017 First Reconciliation Parent Meeting Sun. Oct. 1st 9:15am in hospitality room at least one parent of the Level 2 student, from SFX school & Rel. Ed., should attend if their child will be receiving their sacraments here with us. 2 nd Graders from SFX School receiving the Sacraments here at St. Francis will attend classes with us on Sun Oct. 15, 22, 29 & Nov. 5 & 19. Rosary Party for Level 2 students and their families: Join us in praying the Rosary as we kick off our Traveling Statue of Our Lady of Fatima in our Level 2 class on Sun. 15th Oct. @ 6pm. Open to all parishioners and especially our Level 2 students preparing to receive the sacraments this coming year. EUCHARISTIC ADORATION: On all Monday evenings 7:30-8:30pm. Every grade level will have a scheduled hour of Adoration from October-May. October is Level 9 (Confirmation II). All students in that grade level should make every attempt to join us for this hour starting on Mon. Oct. 2nd. Find important dates on Master Calendar @ www.sfxparish.com I cannot thank you, the parishioners of St. Francis, enough for your continued support of our parish school. Your consistent prayers and extreme generosity with our annual school collection are greatly appreciated. Please know that ALL that we do, just a quarter of a mile down the road at 223 Main Street, is for the greater glory of Our Lord! We put Him first, and all else falls beautifully into place! Our school continues to look toward the future, as we begin the process of goal setting for our school year. The faculty has established updated classroom procedures and expectations, and has also hosted our parents at Welcome Back Parent Night with professionalism and poise! With only a month in, we are in great shape! God Bless, Michelle Russo/Principal T F A : is this Friday, 29 September, and at 6pm in the parish church our pastoral services director, Steven Guillotte, will lead a Chaplet to St. Michael. This is a prayer similar to the Holy Rosary, only shorter and focused on Nine Salutations imploring the intercession of St. Michael and the hosts of heaven. Each year we practice this devotion on the feast day in gratitude of the angelic order and to honor our own guardian angels. Please join us before the Blessed Sacrament. T C S : to be have been first presented by our Men of St. Joseph on Wed 20 Sept was moved to a new date due to the recent tropical storm warnings. The new date for the opening of this ten-part video series is Wed 27 September from 7pm to 8:30pm. All men of the parish are invited to attend this informative series developed by Bishop Robert Barron. Tribute Money (1782) John Singleton Copley "He said to one of them in reply, 'My friend, I am not cheating you. Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what is yours and go. What if I wish to give this last one the same as you? Or am I not free to do as I wish with my own money? Are you envious because I am generous?' Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last." (Mt 20:13-16) SFX P C Sunday September 24 Rel. Ed Levels 1-6 9:15-10:15am Parish Ctr. Rel. Ed Levels 7-9 11:30-12:30pm Parish Ctr. JP II Movie 4:00pm-6:00pm School Gym Monday September 25 Vespers & Benediction 6:30-7:00pm Church Tuesday September 26 Vespers 6:30-7:00pm Church Wednesday September 27 Vespers & Benediction 6:30-7:00pm Church Catholicism Series 7:00-8:30pm Parish Ctr. U S & S C September 24 th - Cardinal Medeiros Residence October 8 th - Parish Building Fund October 22 nd - World Mission Collection October 29 th - Diocesan Assessment
SFX PRAYER LINE Please call 508-850-6649 between 8am & 8pm Or email your prayer request to: sfxprayerline@gmail.com Women of Grace Please pray to Our Lady of Guadalupe for the protection of all life. Consider lighting a candle ($3) in the Pro-Life room (near elevator) in front of the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe for your intentions, the prayer room is open during the week until 4pm. Every first Tuesday of the month 7:30-8:30pm we spend in front of Blessed Sacrament. Our Holy Hour includes the Rosary, for special intentions and for the intercession of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Bring your Bible and catch up on Holy Scripture or just sit quietly with the Lord. All women of the parish are invited to join in this restful hour on Tues. October 3rd. *Look for upcoming studies in the fall, more information in the coming weeks.* F P : From 8am to 5pm on October 7 th, 2017 the Franciscans of the Immaculate present, The Promise: And Our Part of the Plan, at Stonehill College (Martin Auditorium) in Easton, MA. This is a full day event with an optional evening program. Tickets are available at LivingFatima.com/October7. Speakers include Fr. Elias Mills, F.I., Msgr. Arthur Calkins, author Steve Dawson and Father of Mercy, Bill Casey who will speak in various ways about living the Fatima message: Between the Warning and the Promise! Please note: that there is also bus transportation available to this event. If you need tickets and/or transportation, please call the parish office and we will get you in touch with those providing this service. Join Us: Showing 4:00pm, This Sunday Divine Mercy at our Parish School Holy Hour H L P : During November 2018, Father Phil Hamel, pastor of St. Joseph-St. Therese parish of New Bedford will be leading a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Father Hamel has himself made two visits to the land of Our Lord Jesus, so he will make a well-informed guide and companion for this trip. If you would like more information about this trip or if you would like to make a reservation, please call Father Hamel at 508 995-5235 or email him at PNHamel@aol.com. V H C : In this time when the poison of euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide is in the vein of our society, hospice care is the healthy antidote. Hospice provides comfort and care to the person with a terminal prognosis of 6 months or less. A vital part of hospice care is the volunteer who supports the patient and the caregiver offering companionship and respite. If you are interested in becoming a volunteer please call Erin Hassel of Beacon Hospice at 508 324-1900 ext. 108 for email her at erin.hassell@ amedisys.com. M M L : On Sunday, 1st of October the march to raise funds for pro-life organizations across the state will kick off from Parkman Bandstand, Boston Common at 2:30pm. The Rally begins at 1pm. To reserve a seat on the bus sponsored by the Greater Fall River Chapter, please call no later than September 26 th (Paulette Martinville at 508 673-9757 or Liz Montigny at 781-521-3677). Round Trip fare is just $5.00 for adults and $2.00 for youth 18-and-under (children 5 and under are free). Call for meeting place and departure times. D C S S : is offering assistance to those who have been participants in the DACA program. Please call 508 674-4691 if you know of someone in need of guidance regarding that program. CSS offers free representation for those needing help with renewal or current cases. M R W S 24, 2017 Sunday: Is 55:6-9/Ps 145:2-3, 8-9, 17-18/Phil 1:20c-24, 27a/Mt 20:1-16a Monday: Ezra 1:1-6/Ps 126:1b-6/Lk 8:16-18 Tuesday: Ezr 6:7-8, 12b, 14-20/Ps 122:1-5/Lk 8:19-21 Wednesday: Ezr 9:5-9/Tb 13:2-4befghn, 7-8/Lk 9:1-6 Thursday: Hg 1:1-8/Ps 149:1b-6a, 9b/Lk 9:7-9 Friday: Dn 7:9-10, 13-14 or Rv 12:7-12a/Ps 138:1-5/Jn 1:47-51 Saturday: Zec 2:5-9, 14-15a/Jr 31:10-12ab, 13/Lk 9:43b-45 22 October Sunday 7:30 AM to 12:30 PM Hope to see you all there!
25 th Sunday in Ordinary Time September 24, 2017 IDEAS FOR PRAYER BY DOM HUBERT VAN ZELLER Just as God makes use of the physical sciences to advance his plan for mankind, so he makes use of the science of psychology for the same purpose particularly to advance his plan for individual members of mankind. We may or may not like the idea of saintly souls having to climb back to normality by way of the psychiatrist s couch, but souls have to take whatever means they can get and if God provides a particular wisdom to draw upon in particular cases it would be foolish to turn away from it. It is not only the surgeon, the chemist, the priest who is the chosen instrument of divine providence in bringing health where there was sickness. We of this era are fortunate in having new wisdoms to draw upon. Truth is not confined to theological truth. It is a curious fact that while we readily assent to scriptural, historical, and mathematical truth, we are often slow to accept truth in other fields. Yet what is of God is true, and what is true is of God. We should not be afraid of learning more about the universe in case the knowledge should endanger our faith. Nor should we shy away from the study of the human mind, a world much closer to our own than the world of planets, in the fear that we may be looking in the wrong direction for the solution to our human problem. CORI TRAINING & RENEWAL: We are thankful for everyone who volunteers in our many apostolates. Every volunteer, whose service is potentially with or around children and visiting the homebound - which includes all parish volunteers - MUST submit to a CORI (Criminal Record Information) check and attend a training session. Training will be held on: Tuesday September 12 th @ 10am and again @ 7pm. Volunteers must bring a valid license or passport as personal I.D. and must renew their CORI each year. (If you complete a CORI at another parish or diocesan school and volunteer with us, please put our church name on that Code of Conduct to be covered for all places). If you are not sure if your CORI is up-to-date or you missed the scheduled CO- RI dates please contact Janine at 508-998-7445 or by email at jlh@sfxparish.com. Quotation Corner Senator Diane Feinstein recently stated that dogma and law are two different things. She is correct only in this: that dogma (God s law) is much higher than the mere earthly law she espouses. (Anonymous) S C O T I L : The 1999 film Dogma depicted two fallen angels who, by discovering a gap in God s infallibility, threatened the existence of God and thus existence itself. Dogma was an irreverent comedy which brought objection from many Catholics and Catholic groups since it maligned and mocked the Sacred Mysteries. Advance now to just a few weeks ago when California U.S. Senator Diane Feinstein challenged 7 th Circuit Court of Appeals nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, at her confirmation hearing by stating (disapprovingly) to this law professor from the University of Notre Dame: When [one] reads your speeches, the conclusion one draws is that dogma lives loudly within you. First of all, what is dogma? All dogma is doctrine, while doctrine is any truth taught by the church as necessary for acceptance by all the faithful. But dogma is a special kind of doctrine in that it is a truth taught by the Church as being formally revealed by God. This is to say that it is a truth made known through divine revelation, such as for example the Holy Trinity which was revealed by Jesus when he taught that he was the Son of God the Father, and that he would send us an advocate, the Holy Spirit. Dogma is therefore a special teaching, doctrine, or truth, in that if God had never revealed it, man would never have come to know such truth through the mere use of his observation and reasoning. With this explanation of dogma in mind it is easier to see why the movie Dogma and the words of Senator Feinstein would be of such grave concern to Catholics: for the movie mocks the communication of God to his people, while the statement of Ms. Feinstein treats the reception and retention of God s communication in the human heart as something either polluted or perilous or both. At this point it is customary to proceed to lambast Hollywood and Senator Feinstein and the Washington establishment for its misrepresentation and mistreatment of Church teaching. This is the usual method in present day commentary: inform your readers of some horrible attack on the Church; then take the attack to the attackers. However, in all such situations it is advisable to first take stock of our spiritual life lest dispute become our primary purpose. There is certainly need for apologetics (defending the faith) and one should always be ready to do his or her part in this; but our first defense is a retreat into the interior life to allow dogma, those wonderful revealed mysteries of God, to seep into our minds and wills, lest we be won over by the world. The best way to do this is through the eager and joyful celebration of our public and private worship. The Holy Mass is, of course, the source and summit of our worship and it is there, if you are very attentive, that dogma will show you its living spirit - coming graciously to live loudly within you. Contrary to the opinion of Senator Feinstein, this is actually a good thing; because it means that God and his gospel message lives loudly within you and this, my dear reader, is a very good thing. sngsfx@gmail.com
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