Sacred Heart Parish

MASS INTENTIONS FOR THE WEEK

Monday, June 8

12:05 PM Patrick Fabrizio

Friday, June 12

12:05 PM Luigi Raffaelle

Saturday, June 13

4:00 PM Parishioners of Sacred Heart

Sunday, June 14

9:00 AM Janice Potter

11:45 AM Jeremiah and Nora Whooley and Family

CONFESSIONS

Saturday, June 13 – 2:00 to 3:30 PM – Fr. Connelly

READINGS FOR THE MOST HOLY BODY AND BLOOD OF CHRIST

First Reading: Exodus 24:3-8

Second Reading: Hebrews 9:11-15

Gospel Reading: Mark 14:12-16, 22-26

CLERGY BENEFIT TRUST COLLECTION

June 13 and 14, 2009

Next week’s Clergy Benefit Trust collection supports the retirement, medical and financial needs of priests of the Archdiocese of Boston. On behalf of all our priests, thank you in advance for your generosity.

COFFEE HOURS DURING JUNE

The usual extended Coffee Hour will not be held this Sunday, June 7. The Guild of St. Francis will be celebrating their annual Communion Breakfast in the Parish Center at that time. The last Coffee Hours, immediately after the
9 AM Sunday Mass, will be held on June 14 and 21.

ATTENTION GARDENERS

We all enjoy the lovely plants and flowers in full bloom around our property. Barbara Hatem is our wonderful gardener and keeps the flowers watered and nourished. However, Barbara is asking for help with the watering. If you have the time to help her with this task, will you please call her at 617-969-2567?

2009 CATHOLIC APPEAL

Cardinal Seán wishes to thank everyone from Sacred Heart who has participated in the 2009 Catholic Appeal. Our parish has raised $36,989 from 108 households, reaching 81.3 percent of our parish goal of $45,500. If you have not yet made your pledge, envelopes are available at the back of the Church. For more information please call 617-779-3700 or visit www.BostonCatholicAppeal.com. Every gift matters. Thank you!

REPORT FROM OPEN PARISH MEETING

Thirty-five parishioners attended the Open Parish Meeting held in the Lower Church, Sunday evening at 7 PM. At the meeting, Fr. Connelly identified three areas open for discussion:

  1. The property at St. Philip Neri

  2. The possible sale of the school to the Newton
    Montessori School

  3. An initiative to explore the feasibility of a regional
    Catholic Elementary School

1. Briefly, the Korean Community is waiting for the availability of the rectory at St. Lawrence before moving out of Waban. Unfortunately, the Neo-Catechumens at the St. Lawrence rectory have not yet found another place to their liking. Fr. Connelly has requested a meeting with the Cardinal in the hope of expediting the matter now at a standstill. In the interim we have to make our plans so as to be ready to act as soon as possible.

2. Regarding the sale of the school, the overwhelming sentiment was negative. Main reasons given were loss of revenue, breaking up of the campus, and potential future use of the building by Sacred Heart Parish. This sentiment supports the conclusions reached by the PFC and PPC in their discussions. However, it was felt that we must continue our conversations with the school officials to clarify their specific needs as we are fairly satisfied with the current arrangement. Meanwhile, we need to explore ways of decreasing our reliance on rental income so as to become a self-sufficient parish.

3. Fr. Connelly is on a committee to explore the possibility of a regional Catholic elementary school. He was looking for comments to take back to the committee. Questions were raised regarding the numbers of young families who would take advantage of such a school in this area.

Fr. Connelly welcomes your comments on any of the above issues. Specifically, we hope that a plan for the future of Sacred Heart will emerge with specific ideas regarding potential use of our facilities and resources. The PPC will be renewing its efforts to develop a Pastoral Plan for Sacred Heart. The Building Committee will be undertaking an assessment of all properties. A Planning Committee is envisioned to formulate proposals for prudent use of parish resources. Write us with your comments or email them to parish@sacredheart.ws. Title: A Future Sacred Heart.

Submitted by Winifred Murphy and Peg Miller

OFFERTORY INCOME AND COMMUNICATIONS

COLLECTION

Weekend of May 30/31 $3,915

Communication Collection $721

THE PENTECOST EVENT

St. Luke in the Pentecost Sunday first reading described the Pentecost event. The Holy Spirit appeared to the apostles as tongues of fire and they began to speak in different tongues as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim. Devout Jews who were staying in Jerusalem were astounded and said to one another – Are not all these apostles who are speaking Galileans? Then how does each of us hear them in his own native language? What do you think, dear reader, is going on? Is this a speech miracle being worked out in the hearers of the apostles? In this case, the apostles spoke like Galileans but were heard in the various languages of the hearers. Or is this a speech miracle in the sense that the Galileans unknowingly were speaking foreign languages that they had never studied? For a brief post-Pentecost meditation, I would suggest the following sermon by a 6th Century anonymous African author. He wants to say that the Church in its unity speaks in the language of every nation.

“The disciples spoke in the language of every nation. At Pentecost God chose this means to indicate the presence of the Holy Spirit: whoever had received the Spirit spoke in every kind of tongue. We must realize, dear brothers, that this is the same Holy Spirit by whom love is poured out in our hearts. It was love that was to bring the Church of God together all over the world. And, as individual men who received the Holy Spirit in those days could speak in all kinds of tongues, so today the Church, united by the Holy Spirit, speaks in the language of every people.

Therefore if somebody should say to one of us, “You have received the Holy Spirit, why do you not speak in tongues?” his reply should be, “I do indeed speak in the tongues of all men, because I belong to the body of Christ, that is, the Church, and she speaks all languages. What else did the presence of the Holy Spirit indicate at Pentecost, except that God’s Church was to speak in the language of every people?”

This was the way in which the Lord’s promise was fulfilled: No one puts new wine into old wineskins. New wine is put into fresh skins, and so both are preserved. So when the disciples were heard speaking in all kinds of languages, some people were not far wrong in saying: They have been drinking too much new wine. The truth is that the disciples had now become fresh wineskins, renewed and made holy by grace. The new wine of the Holy Spirit filled them, so that their fervor brimmed over and they spoke in manifold tongues. By this spectacular miracle they became a sign of the Catholic Church, which embraces the language of every nation.

Keep this feast, then, as members of the one body of Christ. It will be no empty festival for you if you really live what you are celebrating. For you are the members of that Church which the Lord acknowledges as his own, being himself acknowledged by her, that same Church which he fills with the Holy Spirit as she spreads throughout the world. He is like a bridegroom who never loses sight of his own bride; no one could ever deceive him by substituting some other woman.

To you men of all nations, then, who make up the Church of Christ, you, the members of Christ, you, the body of Christ, you, the bride of Christ – to all of you the Apostle addresses these words: Bear with one another in love; do all you can to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Notice that when Paul urges us to bear with one another, he bases his argument on love, and when he speaks of our hope of unity, he emphasizes the bond of peace. This Church is the house of God, built up of living stones, whose master is almighty God. It is his delight to dwell here. Take care, then, that he never has the sorrow of seeing it undermined by schism and collapsing in ruins.”

WORLDWIDE MARRIAGE ENCOUNTER

“…if we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought to perfection in us.” Learn to love each other more, so that God will remain in your marriage. The next Worldwide Marriage Encounter Weekends in New England are June 19-21, July 17-19 and September 25-27. For more information call Ralph and Jane Becker at 1-800-710-WWME or visit our webpage at www.wwmeMA.org.

SAVE THE DATES FOR ARISE SEASON THREE!!

October 4 – November 13

The ARISE process applies the spiritual standards of Christ to all areas of life. It emphasizes people living in good relationship with one another, as they make concrete applications of the gospel to their life situations. This past year throughout the Boston Archdiocese, there were around 3,500 participants!! Here at Sacred Heart, there were ten groups with a total of about one hundred members for each season! Through small faith-sharing groups, limited to 12 parishioners each, the goal was to deepen our relationship with God and with each other.  For six weeks, groups met for ninety minutes to read and reflect on Scripture and share how they would put their faith into action.

Please consider joining a group to deepen your faith, develop a closer relationship with Christ, grow in community, and reach out in service to others.  Ask fellow parishioners who attended season one and/or two about their ARISE experience.  Session Three, In the Footsteps of Christ, begins October 4th.  Registration will be September 12 – 20.  Help spread the word!!

Let us all pray: For our parish, that as we prepare for Season Three of ARISE, we may all be open to the movement of the Spirit and the call to grow deeper in relationship with God and with one another.

SIGNINGS

Good People,

Moses reminds us in the first reading that God has, from long ago, been showing himself to be the one and only true powerful and good God.

Paul tells us that God has now shown us more about himself. God is good and powerful and a perfect unity but God is also a God who has a personal concern, interest, and love for each one of us:  He is "Our Father."

Jesus in the Gospel speaks to us today calling us to bring this good news to all.  We need to share the good news with others.  God is Father.  God is Son.  God is Holy Spirit. And God is One.  This good news is shown by the Eternal Son, God, who visited this world of His, as one of us, 2000 years ago.   The Son told us about God the Father and how we can become like Him, the eternal Son, receiving the eternal love of the Father.  How?  It is through the Holy Spirit of God.  This Spirit is God's love.  The Spirit is the love of the Father for the Son and the Son for the Father.  This love is what overshadowed Mary and made the Eternal Son in heaven become the Son of Mary and our brother.  This same Holy Spirit now is sent to us through the sacraments so that we can become, through the Church, God's sons and have the Holy Spirit enable us to be caught up in the life of the Trinity.

We become part of the Trinity now that Jesus has become part of our family and the Holy Spirit empowers our hearts with divine love.

It is more than we could ever hope for or imagine.  It is more than we could ever be thankful for.  It is simply God who is a community overflowing with love that gives us hope beyond hope for being with Him, the Three in One, completely and forever by His mercy on the last day.

In Christ, 

Fr. St. Martin

CALENDAR NOTES

GUILD OF ST. FRANCIS COMMUNION BREAKFAST:

Sunday, June 7 – 10 AM – Parish Center

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION:

Sunday, June 7 – 10:30 AM – Lower Church

BOY SCOUTS

Monday, June 8 – 7:30 PM Parish Center

PRAYER GROUP:

Wednesday, June 10 – 7:30 PM – Convent (Chapel)

PARISH PASTORAL COUNCIL MEETING:

Thursday, June 11 – 7:30 PM – Convent (Library)

COFFEE HOUR

Friday, June 12 – Following 9 AM Mass – Parish Center

LITURGY, ADORATION AND THE ROSARY:

Saturday, June 13 – 9 AM to 12:30 PM – Lower Church

EXTENDED COFFEE HOUR:

Sunday, June 14 – 10 AM to 1 PM – Parish Center

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION NEWS

Today, June 7th is the final day of our Sunday CCD program. Fr. Connelly and parents will visit the classrooms to see what the students have been learning this year! Come and enjoy refreshments while we say good bye to this CCD year! Please remember to thank our CCD teachers for all their hard work and their Catholic witness to our children. Without their desire to pass on the faith, there would be silence. I would like to give a special thank you to our CCD Coordinator, Grace Alexander for her prayerful leadership on Sundays. Her love of Our Lord was evident in all she did for the teachers and students.

In these final days of this year, my conversations with teachers are that they have learned so much about the Catholic faith while teaching, and their devotion has “deepened”. Some have also said that they will never forget the moments they have had, when the students have begun to understand why “Jesus had to die on the cross”. These are the real rewards of making the commitment to teach Religious Education classes. As I now begin to plan for next year, we do need more parishioners to offer to teach CCD next year! Please contact me if you feel the “tug” to teach. Call me now at 617-969-4031 or email: religious.education@sacredheart.ws

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.

CCD registration forms for the fall will be sent out in the next several weeks. Please return them before you forget about them! This helps us plan for how many teachers will be required for next year.

To all our beloved teachers and families: Have a blessed summer! See you in the fall!

Michelle Solomon, Dir. of RE

TO ALL HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

The Steubenville East High School Youth Conference at URI will be held July 31st – August 2nd. Our parish would like to form our own youth contingent to go to this exciting weekend of music, youth speakers and the chance to meet other young people excited about their faith. The cost is $210 which includes housing in the dorms and meals. Fr. St. Martin will be attending this event along with the youth. American Sign Language for the Deaf is available. Anyone wishing more information and/or wishing to chaperone (over 21), please contact Michelle Solomon, Director: 617-969-4031 or email: religious.education@sacredheart.ws as soon as possible!