Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time – February 3, 2008
Eucharistic Celebrations February 2, 2008 – February 10, 2008
(including Mass intentions and their benefactors)
Saturday / 2/2 / 4:00 PM / Patricia Eldridge (by her family)Terri Sturn, 1st anniversary (by her family)
Patsy Klein (by her family)
Mary Spath (by Dot Teator and Sherry Dixon)
Sunday / 2/3 / 8:00 AM / Mary and Walt Wheeler (by their family)
Noble Messenger, 1st anniversary (by his family)
10:00 AM / Elbert E. Cooley (by his daughter Joan Gochee)
Francesco DeThomasis (by the family of Pasquale DeThomasis)
William J. Franke (by Yvonne and Bud Konopaski)
Margaret Shook and Helen Pratt (by Jackie Morgan)
Tuesday / 2/5 / 12:10 PM / Virginia Claxton (by Leona Houle and family)
Wednesday / 2/6 / 12:10 PM / Ash Wednesday -- Church of St. John
5:30 PM / Ash Wednesday -- Church of St. Joseph
Thursday / 2/7 / 12:10 PM / John S. O’Brien (by his estate)
Friday / 2/8 / 12:10 PM / Catholic Faith Community of Rensselaer
First Sunday of Lent
Saturday / 2/9 / 4:00 PM / Minnie Luskin (by Jim McDermott and family)
Anne S. Rosenthal (by Grace Smith and family)
Helen Slahtery (by Nancy Kapp)
Edward Bell (by his family)
Deceased members of the Kapp and Duncan family (by their family)
Sunday / 2/10 / 8:00 AM / Rod Douglass (by his family)
John and Clara Caidera,
Celebration of their 50th wedding anniversary (by Rod, Jane and family)
10:00 AM / Madeline Cipollari-Fiacco and Deanna Lebrecht (by Mary Ann Martyn)
Annette Braman (by the Rosary Altar Society)
Christina Lewis, 30th anniversary (by her daughter Anne, Kelli and John)
Serving Next Weekend
First Sunday of Lent
Saturday, February 9, 2008
4:00 PM
Server: Emily Dixon
Lectors: Cheryl Kawola and Fred Pidgeon
Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist:
Dorothy Teator (CH), John White (MC), Mary Ann West (TC), Frankie Motler (MPH), Ken Bloomer (TPH),
Denise Gagnon (gallery)
Altar Care: Norma Finlan and Marge Douglass
Sunday, February 10, 2008
8:00 AM
Servers: Rebecca Gardner and Colin Mellett
Lectors: Tom Greeley and Lynda DeCelle
Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist:
Bill McLoughlin (CH), Tom McMahon (MC),
Mary Ellen Scheibly (TC)
10:00 AM
Servers: Sheryl Lynn Periera, Gianna Cardazzi,
Danielle Simmons
Lectors: John Bennett and Georgeann Greene
Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist:
Jean O’Donnell (TPH), Bill Mahar (MPH), Judy Morris (CH), Marion Barlow (TC), Terry Baird (MC)
Prayers Requested – “To everything there is a season and a time for every purpose under heaven.” A time to heal: please support the following people by remembering them in your prayers: Loretta Dambrose, Harry Fisher, Jr., Ann Fitzgerald, Tom Fremgen, Francoise Lober, June Mahan, John Mullen, Michael Proto, Peggy Puls, and Roger Seymour.
First Year Anniversary of Death – We remember the family of Teresa Sturn, who died on February 6, 2007. May she enter into the fullness of her heavenly inheritance, and may God continue to comfort her family.
Special Collection Next Weekend – The Annual Black, Native American and Latin American Collection will be taken up in our diocese next weekend, February 9-10, 2008. This annual collection advances the church’s mission of evangelization and of compassionate response to the plight of some of the neediest people in our country and Latin America. The purpose of this annual appeal is to assist dioceses unable to support missionaries and Catholic institutions in these mission areas. Thank you for your continued generosity.
Praying for the Bereaved – Your prayers are requested for Marge and Carol Davitt as they grieve the loss of their son and brother Ken.
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Last weekend’s collection: $4,158.
Pastor’s Column -- Lent 2008
For Christians all over the world Lent begins this Wednesday. This year our theme is “On the Road to Emmaus”. As it was for the disappointed disciples returning home from Jerusalem after the death of Jesus, so too, it is a time to have our hearts set afire and make a new beginning in our relationship to God and one another. The success of any such journey is a change in attitude. To illustrate this point, I offer here the story I shared at the 10 a.m. Mass last Sunday.
At the conclusion of the NYS Sons of Italy Winter Plenary session in Levittown, LI last Saturday the 26th, Tony and his wife Pam kindly offered to take me to Albany on their way home to Geneva. While demonstrating my new TomTom GPS system (an Epiphany gift from our parish staff) we missed the Throng's Neck Bridge/Route 295 ramp. Feeling lost, we relied on this device which ultimately took us on a misguided journey through (not sure of the order) Queens, along Manhattan’s East River (FDR Highway), over the Brooklyn Bridge and through the Bronx before we reached the NYS Thruway!
Thoroughly frustrated and disgusted, I was ready to throw the GPS into the East River. Tony and Pam, on the other hand, responded with statements like: “Look how beautiful Manhattan and these bridges are lighted up at night.” “Gee, I never saw let alone crossed overthe Brooklyn Bridge before”.“Wow, what an adventure!"
It was an adventure alright; a four hour adventure I would rather forget! What I do not want to forget, however, is Tony and Pam’s attitude. They chose to make an ill-guided journey an “adventure”. While we had no control over the fact that we were being misdirected by a GPS system through four NYC boroughs we did have, however, the control over how we were going to respond to the situation in which we found ourselves.
May we all be encouraged, in the Lenten Season and throughout our lives, by the promise that Jesus is always with us on the way. His companionship can change how we perceive and respond to the “detours” and other frustrations we encounter in life. It gives us confidence ina Divine GPS who will never misguide us – the Holy Spirit— until we arrive at our final destination, the gift of an eternal Easter.
In the meantime, Lent is a perfect time to come to a new awareness of the wondrous presence of the Risen Lord not just with the unnamed disciples at Emmaus, but with us whenever and wherever 2 or 3 of us do as they did: listen to the Word proclaimed, and gather together for the “breaking of the bread” (the early Church’s term for Eucharist, as we see in the Acts of the Apostles).
You’ll notice some subtle but significant changes in the liturgy. Consonant with the “General Instruction of the Roman Missal” and a document entitled “Sing to the Lord: Music in Divine Worship,” which the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops published last November, there is a renewed emphasis on the difference between singing at mass (2 or 3 hymns) and singing the mass itself (Kyrie, Holy, Lamb of God). In particular, we are being encouraged to revive the ancient practice of singing a capella (without instrumental accompaniment) those portions of the Mass which are in the form of a dialogue between the presider (or lector, or deacon) and the assembly. As our own parish’s response, we will begin to sing the brief dialogues that follow the first two Readings, and the dialogues both before and after the Gospel Reading. Initially, the cantor will lead us in the dialogues that follow the first two Readings, but the melodies are simple enough that any lector is also welcome to do it if and when he or she so chooses. The Presider will lead us in the brief dialogues before and after the Gospel. Along with the deliberate silences for reflection we observe, may the revival of this ancient practice increase our reverence for the Word of God proclaimed (“elicit from the faithful a sung response of gratitude for the Word of God.”)
This Week in the Life of Our Parish
date / day / event / time/place2/5 / Tues / Choir Rehearsal / 1:00 p.m./McMC
2/6 / Wed / Rensselaer Catholic Youth Ministry Lenten Retreat, Grades 9-10 / 10:30 a.m.
YFF, Grades 1-5 / 3:45 p.m./McMC
2/8 / Fri / Stations of the Cross / Following the 12:10 p.m. Mass/ SJE
“Souper” Bowl of Caring – Our confirmandi will be in the rear of church this weekend for our annual “Souper” Bowl of Caring collection. All proceeds will benefit “CoNSERNS-U. Please be as generous as possible.
A Family Perspective by Bud Ozar of the Diocesan Family Office: It is our family where we learn to be merciful and comforting to others. The Beatitudes of the Kingdom of God begin in the home and depend on you.