4 Dracut Road, Hudson, NH 03051 • Tel (603) 882-7793 • Fax (603) 595-1465
1
FROM THE PASTOR’S DESK Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ, There’s so much happening in our parish this week—with events upon events taking place for literally every age group in the parish! We have the Mom’s Group meeting on Fridays with opportunities for young parents and their children to come together for some social, play, and prayer time, to the homeschool group collaborative meeting and children’s adoration, to religious education classes, youth group activities, and happenings for our adults. Add to this all of the behind-the-scenes happenings with the Be a Star program, Operation Storm Heaven, First Friday devotions, and the transition for the Advent season taking place this week, and it becomes more evident that Saint Kathryn’s is active and vibrant. Why does this even become a source of conversation? Well, we can be doing a lot of things, active to the point of fatigue, and getting the job done, but all of these activities and events are for a much higher purpose than “being busy.” I’m mindful of the words of Saint John Vianney as he was looking for his new church in Ars as he said to a young boy, “Thank you for showing me the way to Ars; I will show you the way to heaven!” That is precisely the point of all of our activities—to find the way to heaven. Whether we do this in our corporal or spiritual works of mercy, in the ways we socialize together and build up our Catholic culture, in the ways we pray together, or in the ways we learn more about Christ—all of these are intended to help us know the Lord better so that we will choose to follow Him more lovingly and faithfully. Today we celebrate the Solemnity of Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. It is a lofty title and can be off-putting for some who think of a monarch as one who is far separated from the human experience. But our King is one who put aside glory to become human; one who was crowned, not with gold, but with thorns; one whose garments were not of royalty but of humanity; one whose throne was a cross. Such is a King who, as we read in the Letter to the Hebrews, “had to become like his brothers in every way, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest before God to expiate the sins of the people. Because he himself was tested through what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested” (2:17-18). Once again, God sets the ways of the world upside down. He gives us a King, not for an earthly reign, but for one that endures forever. He sets Him, not to be distant from us, but to be one like us in all things but sin. He gives Him not privilege, but poverty. He makes Him sinless so as to take upon Himself the sins of the world. In all of our activities, we keep directing ourselves to building up the Kingdom of God in our little corner of the world. But when you think about it, with the number of parishioners we have and the number of people outside of our parish that we can touch in our families and colleagues and friends, that Kingdom of God can be pretty expansive. A kind word can do much to build up God’s Kingdom; an invitation to join you for Holy Mass and possibly connecting with the Coming Home program could be huge for someone’s spiritual life; knowing that Christmas was possible for a family because of your generosity to the Be a Star program may not bring someone to church, but would make them aware that our parishioners care about them. Activity for the sake of activity just makes us busy. Activity for the sake of the Kingdom of God gives us the grace, the impetus, the will to be active for God and the salvation of souls. So for all of the things that we offer and all of the things we do, when given the added dimension of “doing for the glory of God,” we help build up His kingdom here on earth while anticipating our eternal life with Him in heaven.
Father Joe
Until next week...God bless!
2
NOVEMBER 26, 2017
THIS WEEK’S CALENDAR Sunday, November 26th Rite of Welcome/Church (8:30A Mass) Group 2 Religious Education Classes/RMs 1-6 (10:00A-12:00N) Baptism of Azélie Phillips/Church (10:30A Mass) Youth Group/Hall B (7:30-9:00P)
Saturday, November 25 Vigil (Solemnity of Christ the King) 4:00PM—+Mary and Chester Sojka Sunday, November 26 (Solemnity of Christ the King) 8:30AM—+Andrew Dworek (6th Anniversary), by Alina Tobin 10:30AM—For the People of the Parish 6:30PM—+Ciara Casey (1st Anniversary), by the Murguia Family
Monday, November 27th Jubilee Meeting/Office (7:00-8:30P) Tuesday, November 28th RCIC/ RM 3 (4:00-5:00P) Cub Scouts/Hall A, RMs 5 and 6 (6:30-7:30P) Boy Scouts/Hall B and RM 2 (7:00-8:30P)
Monday, November 27 (Weekday) 8:30AM—+Dan Dutil, by the Paquette Family
Wednesday, November 29th Adoration/Chapel (5:30-8:15A and 1:00-7:00P) Homeschool Group/Hall A and Kitchen (6:3010:00P) Evening Prayer and Benediction/Chapel (7:00P) Choir Rehearsal/Church (7:30-9:00P) Schola Rehearsal/Church (9:00-9:30P)
Tuesday, November 28 (Weekday) 7:00PM—+Angelo and Edith DeRosa, by Dick and Diane DeRosa Wednesday, November 29 (Weekday) 8:30AM—+Wanda Wieckowski (2nd Anniversary), by Alina Tobin
Thursday, November 30th Lectio: Evangelization/Hall B (10:30A-12:00N and 7:45-9:15P)
Thursday, November 30 (Saint Andrew) 7:00PM—+Mary Gleason, by her husband, Ed
Friday, December 1 (First Friday) 8:30AM—+Mary Gleason, by Leo and Lauraine Hudon 7:00PM—+Lucille Hebert and William Souza, by their daughter
Friday, December 1st First Friday Masses/Chapel (8:30A and 7:00P) Rosary/Church (9:15A) Homeschool Group/Hall and RMs 2, 3, 4 & 6 (9:30-11:00A) Church Transition for Advent/Church (10:00A) Children’s Adoration/Chapel (10:30A) First Penance/Church (5:00-6:15P) Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament/Chapel (7:30P-12:00M) Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament/Chapel (Midnight)
Saturday, December 2 (Weekday) 8:30AM—+Clement Lajoie, by his daughter, Lena Vigil (The First Sunday of Advent) 4:00PM—+Normand Faucher, by Leo and Lauraine Hudon Sunday, December 3 (The First Sunday of Advent) 8:30AM—+George E. Desrosiers, by his daughter, Jocelyne 10:30AM—For the People of the Parish 6:30PM—+Judy Dubowik, by Gayle and Deacon Ray Marcotte
Saturday, December 2nd Blood Drive/Hall (8:00A-2:00P) First Penance/Church (9:30-11:00A and 1:002:30P)
HELP
WITH
Sunday, December 3rd Religious Education Groups 1 and 2 at Holy Mass/Church (10:30A—Sign in at 10:00A in Hall) Visit from Saint Nicholas/Church (after the 8:30 and 10:30A Masses) Baptismal Catechesis/RM 1 (12:15P) Religious Education Classes Grades 7-10/RMs 1 -3 and Hall B (4:30-6:00P)
ADVENT
We need a few good hands to help us transition from Ordinary Time to Advent. We’ll gather on December 1st, after the Rosary for Operation Storm Heaven, and get everything ready for the First Sunday of Advent. Please see Deacon Ray or Gayle after Mass to sign up. Additional sign-ups will take place later to prepare the church for Christmas. 3
THE SOLEMNITY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, KING OF THE UNIVERSE
SAINT PATRICK’S CHRISTMAS CRAFT FAIR
BE A STAR PROGRAM Thanks to the astounding generosity of our parishioners, 80 families received gifts and food for Christmas last year through our Be A Star program. This effort, co-sponsored with the Food Pantry at Saint John’s, offers “stars” that list the needed gifts for children and adults as well as food items. We invite you to browse through them in the baskets at the Divine Mercy Shrine in the narthex after Mass next weekend. Please be sure to read what you or your children take and only take it if you are able to purchase the items. We are relying on you! There are differently priced items to fit your budget. You will be asked to return the items unwrapped and placed near the sanctuary trees no later than December 12th. We can use some helpers to sort and arrange the items as they come in, especially in the final week before the distribution. Please note that there will be a second white star attached to the yellow one asking for your name and telephone number. Please complete the information on the white card and deposit it in the appropriate basket. Thank you! As a star led seekers to find Christ in their midst, so we pray that our charity will help those we share with to find Christ’s care and presence in our outreach and caring.—Be a Star!
ROLLING
Saint Patrick Parish is hosting its annual Christmas Craft Fair in the parish center at 12 Main Street, Pelham, NH on December 2nd from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. There are many local crafters who continue to amaze every year! There will be food, a homemade Baked Goods Table, coloring contest, and raffles. Get some great gifts for your holiday shopping!
ADVENT RETREAT
FOR
WOMEN
We are pleased to encourage all women of the parish to join the Daughters of Eve for an Advent Morning Retreat in the parish hall on Saturday, December 9th, following the 8:30 a.m. Mass. We are excited to have Sister Ellen Keane, SNDdeN, the Assistant Director of the Notre Dame Spirituality Center in Ipswich, MA, as the speaker. Please register by December 4, 2017 to ensure a place. For more information, please contact Karen Wilder at 603.881.8310.
RETIREMENT FUND
FOR
RELIGIOUS
Heartfelt thanks for your support of the Retirement Fund for Religious. Proceeds from this annual collection help hundreds of religious communities care for aging members and plan for long-term retirement needs. More than 32,000 senior sisters, brothers, and religious order priests benefit. Bishops of the United States launched the collection in 1988 to help address the profound lack of retirement funding among religious institutes. Although Catholics have responded generously, rising health-care costs and decreased income make it a struggle for religious communities to care for aging members. Recognizing the continued need, our bishops have voted to renew the appeal three times—including again last year. One Sister writes, “Thanks to the support from the Retirement Fund for Religious, we are now in a much better position to care for our elders.” Your donation helps her religious community and hundreds of others to provide for aging members and plan for longterm needs. Please give to next week’s Retirement Fund for Religious collection.
SAINT KATHRYN’S JUBILEE YEAR
INTO
Families of the parish—do something Jubilee-ish and fun! Join us for a family night of fun and laughter on November 30th from 6:00-8:30 p.m. at Roller Kingdom, 355 Middlesex Road, Tyngsboro, MA. Cost is $6.00/ person; please make checks payable to Saint Kathryn Parish. There is a $3.00 skate rental fee at Roller Kingdom. Pre-registration was necessary, but if you did register, meet our group at Roller Kingdom at 6:00 p.m.
OPERATION STORM HEAVEN Join us and a million others in reciting the Holy Rosary on Friday, December 1st at 9:15 a.m. in the Church. We take this time on the first of every month to pray for our world and Church. 4
NOVEMBER 26, 2017
ADULT FAITH FORMATION SERIES
COMING HOME
Lectio: Evangelization will resume for the last three sessions beginning on November 30th. It’s been an enriching Bible Study as we delve more deeply into the Acts of the Apostles. The final topics are: November 30 Charisms in the Spirit December 7* Joy in Persecution December 14 The Belly of the Beast Sessions will be held from 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 noon and again from 7:30-9:00 p.m. with identical presentations. (Please note that on December 7, the evening session will run from 8:00-9:30 p.m.) Remember that faith formation is ongoing! We can never say that we have learned everything there is to know about our faith!
TO
CATHOLICISM
Do you know of someone who may have stepped away from the practice of the Catholic faith but is thinking of “coming home” for Christmas? Or maybe you have been away for a while and found that the return is a bit “awkward”? Then perhaps you or your friend would like to catch up with what has happened in the Church during the interim. On Saturday, December 9th, we will run a session for those who are interested in “coming home” from 8:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. in Room 1 of the parish center. Each of the team members has been in the same position of stepping away and has returned to the practice of the faith. Join us for a non-judgmental, noncommittal day to give you the opportunity to share your story, to ask questions, and to have some tools available to help discern if the Lord is calling you back to the practice of the faith. Who? You! What? Coming Home to Catholicism When? December 9, 2017 from 8:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. Where? Saint Kathryn Parish Hall, Room 1 How? Enter near the rear side of our fully handicapped accessible church Why? Because we miss you!
RED CROSS BLOOD DRIVE The need is great especially at this time of year! Please consider taking part in our next blood drive sponsored by Council 5162 of the Knights of Columbus. Please join us on Saturday, December 2nd, from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. in our parish hall. If you’d like to save time, you may pre-register for a certain time slot by calling 800.733.3767. Walk-ins are also welcome!
FORMED Sign up today at https://formed.org. Our code is 748649. (Click “Register: Sign up for free with your parish code.” Then enter the access code.) Share this information with your family and friends. What will you find there? There are plenty of talks and lectures, there are Catholic movies to watch, aids to prayer, the entire Symbolon and Catholicism series, things for parents, for teens, sacramental preparation—you name it—it’s there! Sign up today!
REFLECTING GOD’S GENEROSITY TO US
VOCATION ROSARY
Due to an early publishing deadline, the offertory for November 19th will be printed in the December 3rd bulletin.
Praying the week of November 26: Adam and Marybeth Florczak Thank you to all who are part of this ongoing spiritual support for our men in formation for the priesthood and diaconate and for our religious in formation. To take part in this prayer campaign, please contact Deacon Ray at 603.882.7793, ext. 204.
Thank you for your continued generosity to our parish. Our weekly budget for the parish is $11,900 per week. We are so very grateful to our parishioners, friends, and benefactors who continue to help us “do our part” for the Kingdom of God through your support. We are making up the deficit from the summer and are very grateful to you for your many sacrifices. 5
THE SOLEMNITY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, KING OF THE UNIVERSE
RITE
RELIGIOUS GOODS STORE NEWS As much as we don’t want to admit it, with Thanksgiving Day behind us, we’re thinking a little bit more about Christmas. And, of course, with this Saturday being “Small Business Saturday,” our “small business” would welcome a visit from you! We had the opportunity this past week to inform some of our store customers that we carry the Ignatius Bible Study Guides that work well with this and all of the past Lectio series that we have been sharing. Each guide covers a book of the Bible with the larger study guide that condenses all of the New Testament books into one. We have many of them and can order ones we don’t currently stock. We ordered many items specifically for the Bazaar and displayed them only during the bazaar weekend. All of these items are now part of our store display, so you can see all of the products in one place now! And all of them are still at the special Bazaar prices. One item that surprised us was the finger rosaries we had available. Many people either didn’t know about them or had never seen them. The store carries a variety of them as well as one decade rosaries, car rosaries, rosary rings, and many small booklets to help you learn to pray the rosary. Hours are Monday-Thursday from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and on Saturdays from 9:00 a.m. to noon.
OF
CHRISTIAN INITIATION OF ADULTS
The Catholic Faith is not for the faint of heart! It takes great courage, determination, and faithfulness to be a Catholic in today’s world, and is often a great leap of faith to consider the Catholic Faith as an adult. Has anyone ever asked you questions about the Faith? Have they talked to you about what you believe and expressed an interest in learning more? Perhaps what they’re really asking is if the Catholic Faith that you profess is something they would want to consider. Maybe this is the time that you could encourage them to step forward. Maybe they would like to chat with Deacon Ray about the Catholic Faith, but they don’t even know who Deacon Ray is! Here’s your chance to be an evangelizer. Encourage them to ask the questions, to study a little more, and to discern if the Catholic Faith is for them. We are happy to receive those who may have been discerning but have not yet come forward up through January 1.
SAINT KATHRYN’S YOUTH GROUP GETS LOST The Saint Kathryn’s Youth Group recently participated in yet another fun event. This time we went to the Elwood’s Corn Maze in Londonderry. After endless twists and wrong turns, we finally escaped, never wanting to see a corn stalk again! Afterwards, we went out f;r well-earned pizza and recapped yet another fun youth group event. If you are a middle or high school youth and have not attended a Saint Kathryn’s youth group event, you have missed out! Afraid you won’t know anyone? Well you are always welcome to bring a friend. Stop by our youth group meeting TONIGHT (November 26) downstairs in the parish hall after the 6:30 Mass as we hang out for a fun game night (7:30 – 9:00 p.m.). There will be snacks and drinks for everyone. If you wish to be on our email list so you are the first to know about future youth group events, contact Dave Wilder (
[email protected], 603-566-5873).
BAZAAR WINNERS, 2017 Thank you to all who participated in our 24th annual Christmas Bazaar and Penny Sale. Because of you, it was a tremendous success! We will publish the bazaar’s total profit in a December bulletin. Congratulations to the winners of our grand prize raffle and parish raffles. $1,000.00 cash prize: Guy Demers $500.00 cash prize: Tracy Lee Carroll $250.00 cash prize: Dale Thomas Laptop door prize: Patty Devanna Hampton Beach Weekend: Bernadette Wickham Feast with Fathers: Jake Izzo $500 Gamestop Gift Card: Tarnya Giordano $500 Market Basket Gift Card: Fran Weber 6
THE SOLEMNITY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, KING OF THE UNIVERSE
Saint Kathryn Parish
4 Dracut Road, Hudson, New Hampshire 03051-5006 Telephone: 603.882.7793 Fax: 603.595.1465 Website: www.stkathryns.org Facebook: Saint Kathryn’s Church
PARISH STAFF Rev. Joseph M. Cooper, Pastor Deacon Raymond V. Marcotte, Permanent Deacon Sister Janice Rooney, SNDdeN, Catechetical Leader Charlene Maniotis, Parish Secretary Jennifer LeClair , Religious Education Secretary Peter Krauss, Bookkeeper Larry Franchitto, Music Director Robert Oliver, Facilities Technician Rick Wickham, Business Manager Rick Balboni, Religious Goods Store Manager
[email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]
PARISH OFFICE Monday - Thursday 8:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. and 1:00-4:00 p.m. Closed Friday/Weekends
PARISH RELIGIOUS GOODS STORE Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday Saturday
9:00 a.m.—1:00 p.m. 9:00 a.m.—12:00 p.m.
SCHEDULE OF MASSES Saturday Vigil Mass: 4:00 p.m. Sunday Masses: 8:30 a.m.; 10:30 a.m.; 6:30 p.m. Daily Mass: Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday: 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, Thursday: 7:00 p.m.
SACRAMENT OF PENANCE Tuesday, Thursday: 6:30-6:50 p.m.;
Saturday: 9:15-10:00 a.m. and 3:00-3:45 p.m. Also by appointment.
SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM Catechesis takes place with the parents prior to scheduling a date for the baptism. For more information, please contact Deacon Ray in the parish office.
SACRAMENT OF MARRIAGE Engaged couples should contact the parish office at least six months in advance of the proposed date of the wedding. Please refer to the marriage policy as found on the parish website.
SACRAMENT OF THE ANOINTING OF THE SICK/COMMUNION TO THE HOMEBOUND Arrangements may be made for Communion to the Homebound or for the Sacrament of the Sick by calling the parish office. The Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick should be celebrated at the outset of an illness or when there is a change in the person’s condition. The Sacrament should also be received prior to surgery.
PROTECTION OF CHILDREN POLICIES AND PROCEDURES The diocesan policies are available by calling the parish office or by consulting the diocesan website at www.catholicnh.org.
OPEN FOR YOU! The main door of the Church is open daily from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.; the Emmaus Chapel, in the office building, is open 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. daily.
Welcome!
If you are new to our community, we hope you have felt welcome! If you are a visitor - occasional or frequent - we’re glad you joined us! If you’re considering parish membership introduce yourself to the pastor after Holy Mass to get the process underway! 7
ST. KATHRYN PARISH HUDSON, NEW HAMPSHIRE
03-0779 November 26, 2017 – Week 54
8
