Sacred Heart Parish

MASS INTENTIONS FOR THE WEEK

Tuesday, September 1

7:00 AM George C. Salustro, Sr.

Wednesday, September 2

7:00 AM Arthur Lucier, Jr.

Thursday, September 3

7:00 AM Ana DeMoreno

Saturday, September 5

4:00 PM Peter and Frank Pomponio

Sunday, September 6

9:00 AM Chakum Lee

11:45 AM Parishioners of Sacred Heart

CELEBRANTS FOR NEXT WEEKEND’S MASSES

Saturday, September 5

4:00 PM Fr. Collins, S.J.

Sunday, September 6

9:00 AM Fr. Connelly

10:30 AM Fr. St. Martin

11:45 AM Fr. Imbelli

CONFESSIONS

Saturday, September 5 – 2:00 to 3:30 PM – Fr. Connelly


READINGS FOR THE TWENTY-THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

First Reading: Isaiah 35:4-7a

Second Reading: James 2:1-5

Gospel Reading: Mark 7:31-37

GUILD OF ST. FRANCIS TEA

All women of the parish are invited to the annual Guild of St. Francis Tea. Mark your calendars for Sunday, September 20! Bring friends and enjoy meeting some new ones at a lovely social from 3 to 4:30 PM in the rectory. In addition to the coffee and tea, there will be desserts galore!

PROJECT RACHEL

Project Rachel is the post-abortion ministry of the Catholic Church to help those dealing with the pain of abortion. Project Rachel will offer a “Come to the Waters” post-abortion healing retreat on Saturday, September 19, 2009 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information and registration, contact Project Rachel at 508-651-3100 or email: help@projectrachelboston.com. All calls are confidential.

ADVERTISE IN OUR BULLETIN

Liturgical Publications, Inc. will have a sales representative available this week for those interested in placing a new ad. To place your ad, please contact the sales person listed on the ad page of our bulletin, or the parish office. We would like to thank our present advertisers for renewing their ad.

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION NEWS

The time for registration for CCD has come! Please take a moment to pick up a registration form at one of the church exits and register your child for CCD. We have a Sunday program for grades 1-5 from 10:30-11:45 am and a Tuesday program for grades 1-5 from 4:00-5:15 pm and on Tuesday evening for grades 6-10 from 7-8:30 pm. Please call the Religious Education office if you have any questions. The deadline for registration for Religious Education is Friday, September 4th. CCD classes begin on Sunday, September 20th and Tuesday, September 29th.

As our classrooms fill up, we pray for you to respond to Christ’s love by offering your time and gift of faith to the children of our parish. We are looking for teachers for the Sunday and Tuesday afternoon programs. No experience is necessary. Desire for others to know Christ is all that was needed to hand down the faith from the centuries before us. Won’t you join these noble predecessors?

We are also in need of TAT and KCS instructors for the upcoming year. These individuals are responsible for teaching the catechists how to implement the personal safety/abuse prevention education programs in the classrooms. If you are interested in learning more about this important and necessary part of our CCD program and would like to become a “trainer to train the trainers” please contact the religious education office by phone or email.

Fr. St. Martin would like to make a home visit with families of 2nd year Confirmation students before the end of August 2009. He is available Sundays and Thursdays at 7 PM throughout the summer. Please call 617-997-8025 and leave several options for this visit. This meeting would need to take place before your son/daughter begins this new year of Confirmation preparation.


Calendar of Events for CCD Parents in September:

  • Sunday, September 13, 10:30-1:30 am: – Keeping Children Safe Curriculum being used in grade 1-8 this year will be presented for all CCD parents in MacKenzie Center.

  • Sunday, September 20, 10:30-11:45 am: – CCD begins!

  • Sunday, September 27 at 9 am Mass: – Commissioning of Teachers

  • Tuesday, September 29th: – Tuesday CCD program begins!

Michelle Solomon, Director of R.E.

OFFERTORY INCOME

Weekend of August 22/23 $3,283

ECUMENISM

Chapter 17 in John’s Gospel gives us Jesus’ prayer to his heavenly Father on the night before he died. I will focus for a moment on verse 20 and following. Jesus says – “I pray not only for them (he’s thinking about the apostles) but also for those who will believe in me through their word (the Apostolic Tradition), so that they may all be one as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me. I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to perfection as one, that the world may know that you sent me and that you love them even as you love me.” Jesus in this prayer not only prays for unity among his followers, but he says to us all that this unity of ours is going to be the only valid sign to the world that does not know Jesus, that God has sent the Lord Jesus as savior of the world.”

For the past century, the ecumenical movement began among our Protestant brothers and sisters, especially in their missionary efforts. The “principle of faith alone” and the sort of freedom promoted at the time of the Reformation gloried, we might say, in the multiplication of church groups all over the world. But on the missions, one representative of one of the churches would preach the good news about Jesus and invite his hearers to become members of that church. But the people would say – Somebody came last month and did what you have just done but in terms of a different message and a different church. It is as though the people being evangelized are saying to the evangelizers – Please get your act together. Church disunity is not going to advance the work of the Gospel. This is what we might say, in a popular way, marked the beginning of the contemporary Ecumenical Movement.

The Catholic Church was not officially involved in the Ecumenical movement until the Second Vatican Council, even though a good number of Catholic scholars were heavily involved in the Christian hope that there may be one Shepherd and one flock rather than the sin of Christian disunity. Not only did the Second Vatican Council give us a document on Ecumenism, it made the restoration of unity one of its principle concerns. Reflect for a moment on the opening paragraph of the Vatican Council Degree on Ecumenism:

“The restoration of unity among all Christians is one of the principal concerns of the Second Vatican Council. Christ the Lord founded one Church and one Church only. However, many Christian communions present themselves to men as the true inheritors of Jesus Christ; all indeed profess to be followers of the Lord but differ in mind and go their different ways, as if Christ Himself were divided. Such division openly contradicts the will of Christ, scandalizes the world, and damages the holy cause of preaching the Gospel to every creature.”

Over the past many decades, slow but sure progress has been made in ecumenical relations with the Episcopal Church of the United States, with the Lutheran Church of the United States and with international dialogues between Catholics and Anglicans, and between Catholics and Lutherans. This progress has been in terms of doctrinal matters. Recently ecumenical impetus has been slowed down by directions taken by the Episcopal Church and several of the Lutheran Churches in moral matters. This involves questions on abortion, stem-cell matters, same-sex marriages and opening the door to homosexuals and lesbians with regard to ordination for ministry.

At the same time the teachings on Catholic ecumenism make it clear that the Church’s commitment to ecumenism is sincere and ongoing. For the Church to maintain this commitment, all the members of the Church should know well the principles that govern ecumenical exchange. It could be that various Protestant churches, especially those not committed to any creed, could come to various agreements through various compromises and the like. What is a matter of faith as far as Catholic faith is concerned is not subject to any such compromise. The following paragraph is a very helpful statement on ecumenism expressed by the Second Vatican Council to all Catholics in any kind of ecumenical work. The statement goes as follows:

“Catholics, in their ecumenical work, must assuredly be concerned for their separated brethren, praying for them, keeping them informed about the Church, making the first approaches toward them. But their primary duty is to make a careful and honest appraisal of whatever needs to be done or renewed in the Catholic household itself, in order that its life may bear witness more clearly and faithfully to the teachings and institutions which have come to it from Christ through the Apostles.”

Father Connelly

MASTER OF ARTS IN MINISTRY

Deepen your knowledge of the Catholic faith at the Master of Arts in Ministry Program at St. John’s Seminary. There are many courses to choose from including Spirituality of the Psalms, Pastoral Planning for Dioceses and Parishes, and The Mass. Auditors welcome. Visit the website at www.sjs.edu or www.bostoncatholic.org or call 617-779-4104. Classes begin September 8th.

CALENDAR NOTES

COFFEE HOUR AFTER THE ASL MASS:

Sunday, August 30 – 11:30 AM to 1 PM – Parish Center

PANCAKE BREAKFAST AFTER 9:00 AM MASS

Friday, September 4 – 9:45 AM - Parish Center

LITURGY, ADORATION AND THE ROSARY:

Saturday, Sept. 5 – 9 AM to 12:30 PM – Lower Church

SIGNINGS

Good People,

We want to do good things.  We want to say good things.  We want to think good thoughts.  We want to make good and beautiful things.  We are like a seed that wants to bud forth and grow and flourish.

God made us for goodness.  We are only happy when we bear good fruit.  With Jesus we can always do this.  Without Jesus we cannot.

The world around us tells us we have value if we can play sports well.  The culture supports us in a big way if we can throw a football well or hit the ball out of the park.  The culture supports us very well if we can invest money in such a way that we get a greater benefit out of the system compared to what we put into the system.  The culture around us supports us very well if we are a very attractive singer or handsome and entertaining young actor.  The culture thinks that some things show we are worth a lot.

What about the person who is suffering?  What about the person who is old?  What about the person who is sick? What about the person who is stuck in some way?

Jesus tells us that the way we can know if we are good or bad, worthy or unworthy, is by our good thoughts, our generous love, our eagerness to share and be generous, our thoughtfulness, our goodness, our politeness, our joy for the good in others, our eagerness to share the truth about God, our humility, our wisdom. If you think about the list of what really makes us good it doesn't say anything about physical skill, health, beauty, attractiveness, singing skill, or riches.  

With Christ we can all be good, do good, and so become a gift to God of great value.  The Father will be so pleased with us if we do the things that are of real worth.

If we don't do those things, if we tell lies about God and deny Him, if we are so foolish and arrogant so as to think we don't need God or we are the only source of truth about God and we can make up God's will for ourselves as we go along; if we fail to be generous, we are not good.  We are bad.  

Jesus wants us to be good.  He can make us good again today as he strengthens us with his body and blood.

In Christ,

Fr. St. Martin

VIRTUS TRAINING FOR ADULTS

On Wednesday, September 9, our CAP team will be offering the Protecting God’s Children Program from 6 to 9 PM at the Convent. This is a requirement for all new teachers and aides in the religious education program as well as for adults who regularly come in contact with children here at Sacred Heart. Please register with either Michelle Solomon or Peg Miller at 617-969-2248. A light supper will be served.

ARISE: IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF CHRIST

TIME TO REGISTER FOR SEASON THREE!!

Season Three of the Arise program will focus on the Catholic understanding of discipleship, the social teachings of the Church, active commitment to charity and justice and the communal dimension of life in Christ. Season Three begins the week of October 4th. We will offer sessions on:

Sundays 10:15 AM and 7 PM

Mondays 7:30 PM in Spanish

Tuesdays 12:30 PM and 7 PM

Wednesdays 7:30 PM

Thursdays 10:00 AM and 1:00 PM

Previous participation is not necessary. Letters will be mailed next week; sign up will be from 9/12 to 9/20. Ask others about their experience – pray to be open to the Spirit and the call to grow deeper in relationship with God and with one another.

TIME TO REPLENISH SCHOOL SUPPLIES

Our parish-wide school supplies project for students and teachers at Mother Caroline Academy will run from August 22/23 through September 19/20. Each weekend baskets will be placed at the entrances for collection of “new” items. Please consider buying and donating the following supplies: Items are needed for 64 students and 9 volunteer teachers.

hand-held calculators (only basic keys)

AAA batteries for graphing calculators (4 per calculator)

white board markers (black and other colors)

index cards tri-fold poster boards

Xerox paper zipper binders

3 ring notebook paper glue sticks

highlighters pencils

colored pencils black pens

blue pens markers

rulers graph paper

scissors

You can drop off donations in the collection baskets near church entrances any weekend through September 19/20. Any amount of supplies will be appreciated! Thanks in advance for your generosity!!!

Margaret LeBlanc Jane McGuire