Sacred Heart Parish
MASS INTENTIONS FOR THE WEEK
Monday, May 25
9:00 AM Margaret Carey
Friday, May 29
9:00 AM Bronislawa Drozdzowska
12:05 PM Maria Bautista
Sunday, May 31
9:00 AM Parishioners of Sacred Heart
10:30 AM Jeanne Brannelly, Helena Cabral and Maria Teresa Burns
11:45 AM Mary and Biagio Morelli
CONFESSIONS
Saturday, May 30 – 2:00 to 3:30 PM – Fr. Connelly
READINGS FOR THE FEAST OF PENTECOST
First Reading: Acts 2:1-11
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13 or Galatians 5:16-25
Gospel Reading: John 20:19-23 or
John 15:26-27; 16:12-15
NO COFFEE HOUR ON SUNDAY, MAY 24TH
The Coffee Hour on May 24th is cancelled because of the reception following Fr. Shawn Carey’s First Mass at 2 p.m.
HOLIDAY MASS SCHEDULE
On Monday, May 25th, we celebrate Memorial Day. Mass will be at 9 AM in the lower Church.
SEMINARY COLLECTION
Next weekend we will have a collection for the support of the seminaries in the Archdiocese of Boston: Saint John’s Seminary and Blessed John XXIII Seminary. Most priests in the Archdiocese have been formed in one of these seminaries. Please be generous in your support of these important institutions for our future in the Archdiocese.
THE PARISH SCHOOL
As faithful bulletin readers, you are aware of the request that has been made of the parish that we consider the possibility of our being willing to sell the school building and its property to the Newton Montessori School – our present tenants. Thus far we have had three different kinds of meetings about the question: the Staff Meeting several weeks ago, the Parish Financial Council a week ago Tuesday and the Parish Pastoral Council a week ago Thursday. Now seems to be a good time to have a parish Open Meeting on the matter. We are scheduling that meeting for Sunday, May 31st, at 7 PM in the Lower Church. This is just a first notice so that interested parishioners can include it on their schedules. Reminders will be included in our next bulletin.
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION NEWS
Last week our 1st Communicants received the Body and Blood of Christ for the first time! As the church overflowed with families and friends, the 1st Communicants became one with Christ and with His Church in the Holy Eucharist. It was both solemn and joyful. We pray they and their families will come to His table always to receive the strength and holiness for living a happy life. Here is a list of our 1st Communicants:
Nicholas Acardi, Nicholas Adam, Daniel Beckett, Isabella Bucci, William Bucci, Adeline Busa, Arlette Caballero, Marie DiNisco, Abigail Dobies, Mark Donato, Lexi Frassica, Abigail Golden, Catherine Granfield, Pierce Haley, Carli Heras, Teddy Hoppe, Chloe and Jonah Jean-Pierre, Maggie Kenslea, Holden Kodish, Danielle LaCamera, Robert Lovett, Thomas Materday, Jack McGrath, Tucker Pappas, Christopher Picard, Ella Poley, Vineet Sreenivasan, Elena Vietra, Genevieve Wagner, Caroline Whalen.
The parish-wide celebration in the MacKenzie Center echoed the joy of this occasion! Thanks to Kathy Winters for her organization and planning of this event with the help of Lisa Green, Diane Roberts and Veronica Hutner which made this event so special for the parish and families of the 1st Communicants. The food was bountiful and delicious!
Group and individual pictures will be delivered to the rectory within a few weeks. You may pick them up at the rectory when they arrive.
Our Tuesday CCD program will be ending on May 26th with a Mass celebrated during 4 PM class time and the 7 PM class time. All parents are invited. Mass will be followed with an open house for parents to view the fruits of our students learning this year with refreshments to follow. Our Sunday CCD program will continue to meet for class on May 31st and June 7th. The Sunday program will also share with parents a prayer service and open house with refreshments. Please come and see!
All our teachers deserve the utmost appreciation for the gift of their time and their witness to Christ to our children. Their enthusiasm and commitment is the reason our young people have had the opportunity to know Christ and His Church. Thank you, students and teachers, for your willingness to learn and grow!
Anyone interested in offering their time and faith with our students for the upcoming 2009/2010 year please contact me as soon as possible by phone: 617-969-4031 or email: religious.education@sacredheart.ws. Our Lord may be calling you!
Michelle Solomon, Director of Religious Education
NIXON ON “THE MOON”
OBAMA ON “THE GRACE OF FAITH”
When a president of the United States, perhaps not particularly well versed in the mysteries of faith, wades into the deep waters of theology, inaccuracies are bound to happen. When the first human being landed on the moon, the then President Nixon exclaimed – “This is the greatest day since the creation of the world”. So much for Christmas, Easter, Pentecost; so much for the paschal mystery of Christ, the coming among us in the flesh of God’s Son and Mary’s son as the Messiah of Israel and the Savior of the world.
Just last Sunday, President Barack Obama gave his much-publicized address at Notre Dame University. According to the Wall Street Journal, “Mr. Obama peppered his remarks with religious references, and he urged more than 2,900 graduates, their families, their friends and faculty to hold firm to their beliefs.” And he said, “The ultimate irony of faith is that it necessarily admits doubt”. “This doubt”, he said, “should temper our passions, cause us to be wary of too much self-righteousness”. Obviously, the President didn’t go to Notre Dame to talk about faith. In this era of widespread unbelief, it might be good to make a comment or two about the meaning of faith.
We should note, to begin with, how we react to some news we have heard. Let us suppose, dear reader, that somebody has just told you that your long lost brother has been found. Your cognitive reaction could involve four states of mind: doubt, opinion, knowledge or faith. If you say to yourself – I do not know if this news is true or false, then you are in a state of doubt. If you say to yourself – The one who told me the news is a reliable person and not inclined to tell a lie, you might then say – The good news seems reasonable to me, and then you would be in a state of opinion. If you have already received a call from your brother, then you are in a state of knowledge and one cannot be in a state of knowledge and a state of faith at the same time and under the same circumstances. If you judge that the news comes from someone who is reliable and has no reason to deceive you, then you could say – I believe that my brother is alive. As you can see, to believe is to accept the testimony of another at a time when you lack personally acquired knowledge. If “the other” is a fallible human being, you have human faith. If “the other” is God, you have divine faith. As St. Thomas Aquinas points out – To rely on faith would be the weakest argument in philosophy, whereas it is the strongest argument in theology, because divine faith rests on the word of God and God, who is the first truth, cannot deceive or be deceived.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us – “By his revelation the invisible God, from the fullness of his love, addresses man as his friends and moves among them in order to invite and receive them into his own company. The adequate response to this invitation is faith. By faith, man completely submits his intellect and will to God. With his whole being man gives his full assent to God the revealer. Sacred Scripture calls this human response to God, the author of revelation, “the obedience of faith”. What are the characteristics of divine faith? Faith is a grace; faith is a human act; faith is certain; faith is free; faith is necessary for salvation; faith is the beginning of eternal life. What does it mean to say that faith is certain? The Catechism tells us – “It is more certain than all human knowledge because it is founded on the very word of God who cannot lie”. To be sure, revealed truths can seem obscure to human reason and experience, but as St. Thomas Aquinas says – “The certainty that divine light gives is greater than that which the light of natural reason gives”. And as Cardinal Newman once remarked – “Ten thousand difficulties do not make one doubt”. Very much present in our culture today, are reflections on faith that arose at the time of the Enlightment in Europe and are still very much alive in our own day. David Hume writes – “Faith is emotional conviction, practical certitude about matters that cannot be justified theoretically”. The philosopher Kant speaks of faith “as the subjectively adequate but objectively inadequate acceptance of something as true”.
Thomas Aquinas reflected on the certitude of faith in comparison with human wisdom, human knowledge and human understanding. Thomas distinguishes between objective certainty and subjective certainty. In terms of objective certainty and proceeding from the cause of certainty which is God, faith is more certain than anything else. However, looking at it subjectively from the point of view of the human person seeking to satisfy his or her intellect, faith could be seen as less certain. Its good to remind ourselves that, when God speaks his word to us and reveals something true about himself, he does not ask us first to understand but to believe. If the believer takes up the Catechism or the work of theology, the believer can seek some measure of understanding through the study of theology. However, we don’t get to heaven through the study of theology. We get to heaven through the grace of faith, the sacraments of faith and the good works of faith.
Dear reader, forgive me if this has not been an easy read. All I want to say is that there are some things in our Catholic faith that are true and certain because God, who is truth and cannot deceive or be deceived, has revealed them. For example, “Jesus is Lord”; “It is immoral to kill an innocent human being”. If this were not so, I never would have continued for fifty-nine years in the priesthood.
Father Connelly
The Deaf Catholic Community
all over the world, in Boston,
those who worship at Sacred Heart,
& other parishes throughout the diocese
rejoice with Easter praise to God for
Fr. Shawn P. Carey
Bishop Seán O’Malley sends him to work with the
Deaf Apostolate here in Boston and to serve
the people of St. John the Evangelist in Hopkinton.
May the Lord Bless the work of your hands & make you a praise of His glory!
TO ALL HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
The LaSalette Missionaries are sponsoring the 13th annual Steubenville East High School Youth Conference at the University of Rhode Island on July 31st-August 2nd. It is so popular with our Catholic Youth that the Conference on the weekend prior is closed! Our parish would like to form our own youth contingent to go to this exciting weekend of music, youth speakers and a chance to meet so many other young people excited about their faith. The cost of the weekend conference 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) this event, please contact Michelle Solomon, Director: 617-969-4031 or email: religious.education@sacredheart.ws as soon as possible!
MEGA 2009 RAFFLE FUNDRAISER
Last month the Archdiocese announced that Hudson Catholic High School would be closing. The St. Michael Parish in Hudson would like to humbly request that you consider partaking in the MEGA 2009, a $30,000 cash raffle fundraiser, to help insure the continuation of St. Michael Elementary School, the sister school to Hudson Catholic. You can purchase a $50 ticket at www.stmikes.org by simply clicking on MEGA Raffle. Please make sure that you indicate your parish in the notes, as there is a seller incentive provided. If over 15 tickets are sold by any entity, that entity would go into another raffle to win $100. The winning ticket for both raffles will be pulled on May 30th at 3 pm; however, on-line sales will close at 1 pm. If you cannot take part in this raffle we ask that you simply keep our schools, their staffs and families in your prayers.
OFFERTORY INCOME
Weekend of May 16/17 $4,807.
GUILD OF SAINT FRANCIS MASS, COMMUNION BREAKFAST AND GENERAL MEETING
The Mass for the living and deceased members of the Guild of Saint Francis will be celebrated at 9 AM on Sunday, June 7, followed by a Communion Breakfast and Annual Meeting at the parish center. The guest speaker at the Breakfast will be Jayne Colino, Director of the Newton Senior Center. The cost is $15 per person and reservations must be in by June 2nd. We will not be able to accept guests at the door without a reservation. Please call Sally Daly at 617-527-4468 or Mary English at 617-332-8656 for questions or reservations. All family members are invited. Please send checks made payable to Guild of St. Francis to Sally Daly at 138 Lincoln Street, Newton Highlands, MA 02461.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR GENEROSITY
Donations for our Arise member have been coming into the rectory and we would like to both acknowledge them and thank those who have given to this fund for their generosity. We will keep you posted on the progress and give an accounting soon. In the meantime, we are grateful for the good that the Arise program is bringing to our parish community. Keep up the good work!
25TH AND 50TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARIES
Seán Cardinal O’Malley, O.F.M. invites all couples of the Archdiocese of Boston who are making their 25th and 50th wedding anniversaries in 2009 to join him for the annual celebration at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, Sunday, June 7, 11:30 AM Mass. Mass will include a renewal of marriage vows by all participating anniversary couples. Family members and friends of participating couples, as well as the general public, are welcome to attend. Please register with the parish office by May 26, 2009 if you would like to attend this celebration. A formal invitation and more information will then be sent to celebrating couples from the Archdiocese. Congratulations on your anniversary!
CALENDAR NOTES
FR. SHAWN CAREY’S FIRST MASS AND RECEPTION:
Sunday, May 24 – 2:00 PM – Upper Church/Parish Center
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION – GRADES 1-5:
Tuesday, May 26 – 4 to 5:15 PM – Lower Church
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION – GRADES 6-10:
Tuesday, May 26 – 7 to 8:30 PM – Lower Church
KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS:
Wednesday, May 27 – 8 PM – Convent (DR)
PRAYER GROUP:
Wednesday, May 27 – 7:30 PM – Convent Chapel
LITURGY, ADORATION AND THE ROSARY:
Saturday, May 30 – 9 AM to 12:30 PM – Lower Church
EXTENDED COFFEE HOUR:
Sunday, May 31 – 10 AM to 1 PM – Parish Center