On STEWARDSHIP
Have you ever taken a moment to figure our how much time, on the average, you spend per week volunteering in your church or in your community?
"Do not neglect good deeds and generosity. God is pleased by sacrifices of that kind." (Hebrews 13:16).
Have you ever taken some time to figure out what percentage of your income goes to church and other charitable causes?
Stewardship is planned giving and does not leave giving to chance. It challenges us to plan. It asks us to appraise - deliberately - what we are doing with our time, our talent, and our treasure.
COMING THIS FALL - TWO EXCITING
OPPORTUNITIES for FAITH ENRICHMENT!
"At Home in the Catholic Church" - An opportunity to meet weekly with other parishioners in a small group. The weekly topics are intended to help participants grow in awareness and appreciation of various dimensions of our Catholic faith. Sign-Up Sunday is September 8-9th. Mark your calendar and plan to participate.
Scripture Study - The New Testament Epistles and Acts of the Apostles - Using the popular pamphlet, SCRIPTURE from SCRATCH, parishioners have an opportunity to gain a greater understanding of the Acts of the Apostles and the new Testament Epistles. This mini-course will take place in the HTIS Library on four Tuesdays this Fall. Sign-Up Sunday is September 8-9th. (Limit 25 participants)
A VOCATION REFLECTION - Isaiah tells us that God "comes to gather the nations of every language; they shall come and see my glory. I will set a sign among them." Be a sign of the power of God's love and goodness in your life. Bring people together in peace and hope. Follow the Lord's call to the priesthood or religious life. "Inquire within" and call Father Rich Kelly at 973-497-4365 or e-mail him at kellyric@rcan.org. Visit the web-site at www.rcan.org or see one of us, your priests, sisters, deacon.
QUOTABLE QUOTES
Pope John Paul II - "How can nature be effectively defended if justification is claimed for acts which strike at the very heart of creation? Is it really possible to oppose the destruction of the environment while allowing, in the name of comfort and convenience, the slaughter of the unborn and the procured death of the elderly and infirm, and the carrying out, in the name of progress, of unacceptable interventions and forms of experimentation at the very beginning of human life?"
Archbishop Desmond Tutu (of South Africa) - "The world is hungry for goodness and recognizes it when it see it - and has an incredible response to the good. There's something in all of us that hungers after the good and true, and when we glimpse it in people, we applaud them for it. We long to be a little like them."
Nelson Mandella (in his 1994 Inaugural Speech as President of South Africa) - "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves: Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. As we let our own light shine, we consciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."
ST. ROCCO'S "BACKPACK" PROJECT:
AN UPDATE
More than $4,600 in donations, some 147 backpacks!!! And the supplies keep coming in - backpacks, marble notebooks, lined paper, pencils, pens, rulers, crayons, etc. We have until September 9th to give the students at St. Rocco's, Newark a head start on the school year. See the list at the back of the church for supply information. Donations can be dropped off at the Rectory (school items as well as donations for uniforms and sweatsuits). In the name of God's little poor ones, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION - The Religious Education Office will open for business from Monday through Thursday, 9:00 AM until 5:00 PM, starting Monday, August 27th. Any new registrations will be taken on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings from 10:00 AM until 12 Noon. Class lists and schedules will be mailed out the last week of August for all those students who have been registered.
We are still in need of catechists for primary grades (PK thru 5th) on Sunday mornings (10:15 - 11:15 AM) and Monday and Tuesday afternoons (3:30 - 4:30 PM). We also need catechists for our Jr. High program (grades 6,7,8) for Monday or Tuesday evenings (7:15 - 8:30 PM). If you can help us in this very fulfilling ministry, please call 233-7455.
CONFIRMATION 2002 NEWS!! - To all parents and candidates for Level I and Level II confirmation prep: Please note a very important meeting for both parents and candidates to be held on the following days:
Level I Parents & candidates - September 17th, 7-9 PM
Level II Parents & candidates - September 24th, 7-9 PM
These meetings are not interchangeable. Mark your calendars now. The meeting information has been sent home. If you have not received it, please contact the Religious Ed Office as soon as possible.
WALK IN WISDOM AND HOLINESS with God. Through prayer, reflection and study, the Christian Foundations for Ministry program focuses on each one's call to holiness. Classes meet for a two-hour session once a week for a period of eight weeks. Offerings are The Old Testament and Spirituality; The Church: Journeying in Community; Spirituality and Ministry. For information and a brochure, call 973-497-4350 or see Sister Kathy Burton.
"JOURNEY THROUGH GRIEF" SERIES
Center for Hope Hospice & Palliative Care will offer a six-week lecture series titled "Journey Through Grief" each Monday night, September 10th thru October 15th, from 7:30 PM to 9:00 PM. The lecture series will be held at Grace and Peace Fellowship Church, 950 Raritan Road, Cranford. The program is non-denominational and no pre-registration or admission fee is required. Guests are invited to bring family members and friends. For further information, please call 908-486-0700.
Help celebrate the 25th Anniversary of St. Joseph's Home for the Elderly - The Little Sisters of the Poor. The Sisters are planning several events. Bishop Rodimer and priests from the Paterson and Newark Archdiocese will celebrate a Jubilee Mass to mark this special occasion. In addition, a concert followed by refreshments is being planned. The Orchestra of St. Peter by the Sea, conducted by Rev. Alphonse Stephenson, will provide a varied musical program including Broadway favorites, the classics and more. Show time is Saturday, September 8th, 2:00 PM at the Home, 140 Shepherd Lane, Totowa. For tickets, call 973-942-0300, ext. 313. The $25 concert ticket will benefit the work of the Little Sisters.
"ADAM'S PEACE"
The late Father Henri Nouwen was a bestselling author, much sought-after speaker and retreat leader, and honored professor at Harvard University. In the mid-1980s, needing a break from his demanding schedule of travel, lecturing and deadlines, Father Nouwen was invited to spend some time with friends at Toronto's Daybreak community - a "family" of six mentally challenged individuals and the four adults who lived with them. At Daybreak, Father Nouwen met Adam, a resident who had a deep impact on the priest. Father Nouwen wrote:
"Adam is a 25 year old man who cannot speak, cannot dress or undress himself, cannot walk alone, cannot eat without help. He does not cry or laugh...He suffers from severe epilepsy and, despite heavy medication, sees few days without grand mal seizures."
To many people, Adam would be considered a virtual "vegetable," but not to Father Nouwen. "As my fears gradually lessened, a love emerged in me so full of tender affection that most of my other tasks seemed boring and superficial compared with the hours spent with Adam. Out of his broken body and broken mind emerged a most beautiful human being offering me a greater gift than I would ever offer him."
"My career was so marked by rivalry and competition, so pervaded with compulsion and obsession, so spotted with moments of suspicion, jealousy, resentment and revenge." But Adam gave Father Nouwen the gift of peace. "Adam's peace, while rooted more in being than in doing and more in the heart than in the mind, is a peace that calls for community...Adam, in his total vulnerability, calls us together as a family."
MASSES FOR THE WEEK
SATURDAY, August 25th
5:30 pm Sam Fiorino - Family
SUNDAY, August 26th
7:30 am Patrick Carroll - Anna Walshe
9:00 Joseph Simons - Elizabeth & Dave Loland
10:30 People of the Parish
12:00 Noon Joe Szeliga - Szeliga Family
MONDAY, August 27th
9:00 Jenny Rapuano - Madeline & Frank Garofano
TUESDAY, August 28th
7:00 am Noel O'Reilly - Froelich Family
9:00 Joseph Simons - Dorothy & Brad Norris
WEDNESDAY, August 29th
7:00 am Elizabeth Marshall - Anne & Steve Suriano
9:00 Dominick Urciuoli - Josephine Sorrentino
THURSDAY, August 30th
7:00 am Rena Ruffini - Rose Mitchell
9:00 Regina McGinley - Helen Snyder
FRIDAY, August 31st
7:00 am Rena Ruffini - Anna DeMarco
9:00 Flagg Family - Helen Assmann
SATURDAY, September 1st
8:30 am Rose Bracchitta - Helen Snyder
5:30 pm Anthony Manna - Family
SUNDAY, September 2nd
7:30 am Rena Ruffini - Anna DeMarco
9:00 Deceased Members of Grannells Family - Dorothy Demarais
10:30 People of the Parish
12:00 Noon Edgar Boger - Family