Sacred Heart Parish
MASS INTENTIONS FOR THE WEEK
Saturday, October 22
4:00 PM Bobby Joe Wilcox
Sunday, October 23
9:00 AM Parishioners of Sacred Heart
10:30 AM Margaret Kearney
11:45 AM Edward Joseph Kiley
Monday, October 24
12:05 PM Gino D’Antonio
Saturday, October 29
9:00 AM Dorothy and “Bud” Fitzgibbon
4:00 PM Pete Daly
Sunday, October 30
9:00 AM Parishioners of Sacred Heart
CELEBRANTS FOR NEXT WEEKEND’S MASSES
Saturday, October 29
4:00 PM Fr. Connelly
Sunday, October 30
9:00 AM Fr. Imbelli
10:30 AM Fr. St. Martin
11:45 AM Fr. Connelly
CONEFESSIONS
Saturday, October 29 – 2:00 to 3:30 PM – Fr. Connelly
READINGS FOR THE THIRTY-FIRST SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME
First Reading: Malachi 1:14b – 2:2b, 8-10
Second Reading: 1 Thessalonians 2:7b-9, 13
Gospel Reading: Matthew 23:1-12
WORLD MISSION SUNDAY
Today’s special collection supports Catholic World Missions. By Baptism, all Catholics are called to participate in the mission of the Church and share their faith as missionaries. World Mission Sunday gathers support for the pastoral and evangelizing programs and needs of more that 1,150 mission dioceses in Africa, Asia, the Pacific Islands and remote regions of Latin America. Please visit www.propfaithboston.org for more information.
PETITION DRIVE FOR ASSISTED SUICIDE
Between now and December 7, supporters of a bill to legalize physician assisted suicide will be gathering signatures. The position of the Church is that all suicide is a tragedy. In a recent homily, Cardinal Seán said, “A vote for assisted suicide is a vote for suicide.” Please consider Church teaching if asked to sign the petition for this suicide initiative.
OFFERTORY INCOME
Weekend of October 15/16 $ 4,481.00
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION NEWS
As our new CCD year is underway, we congratulate our newly Confirmed students as they embark on a mission of witnessing to their Catholic faith in the parish and the world. At this time, under the direction of our Confirmation Coordinator, Roseann Furbush, we are seeking to build a Youth Peer Ministry group of teens to continue to grow in faith, forge friendships and offer service to our parish and beyond. If anyone has an interest in helping to develop this group or to join it, please contact Roseann Furbush by email: roseann.furbush@sacredheart.ws or by phone: 617-969-1530.
ISSUES OF THE CATHOLIC FAITH
Do you want to get the real teachings of the Catholic Church on issues of life, death, marriage, divorce, war and much more? Visit www.catholicscomehome.org. Also, listen to and support: CatholicTV: www.CatholicTV.com; Comcast channel 268 in New England; Verizon channel 296 in New England and Catholic Radio: Station of the Cross, WQOM 1060 AM.
HOLLY HARVEST FAIR
Three weeks to go – Please mark your calendars for November 12th and 13th. Workshops continue from 7-9 PM on Tuesdays on the 2nd floor of the convent. We have a wonderful crew, busily working to make the fair fun and successful. Please feel free to join us.
Remember to plan your bake table donations and mark the major ingredients, including nuts, chocolate, raisins, etc. Requests have been: Irish breads, cupcakes, fudge, all kinds of nut breads, hermits, chocolate chip cookies, pies, and items without nuts. Your generosity and creativity make this table very popular.
Reminder: The deadline for Silent Auction donations is November 5th to facilitate organizing the table.
We will need help transporting items from the convent to the gym and also up from our gym storage area on Thursday, November 10th starting at 10 AM. We would appreciate help setting up the fair and cleaning up afterwards. Please come, enjoy the fair and bring a friend! For more information, please call: Barbara Hatem 617-969-2567
Cindy Raymond 617-527-3722
ITEMS NEEDED FOR PREGNANCY HELP
We are collecting items for Pregnancy Help, the RCAB crisis pregnancy center. Especially needed are: diaper bags, pacifiers, sleep and play sets for boys and girls sizes 0-3 mos., onesies, size 0-3 mos, blanket sleepers 0-6 mos, bibs, bottles, toiletries such as baby wash, soap, shampoo (no powder, please), wash cloths and towels, snow suits (boys, 0-3 & 3-6 mos) and new or used maternity clothes. Thanks!
“TRUE AND FALSE REFORM IN THE CHURCH”
Several things caught my attention this past week. I thought I would pass them on to those who like to read this column. In 1950 a preeminent theologian in the church, Father Yves Congar, (a member of the Dominican Order) published a significant study which was magnificently helpful in his day and has remained so for some time – even though it was not translated into English. The title of the book is what you see at the head of this column. Now, 60 years later, another Dominican Father, Paul Philibert, has translated the second French edition into English and the volume is now in the hands of the booksellers.
There is an old saying from the early Middle Ages to our own day which, translated from the Latin, goes as follows: “The Church is ever needful of reform”. (This expression will be explained in just a moment. Therefore, dear reader, please be patient.) Several of the Medieval and late Medieval Church Councils were specifically Councils of reform. Various religious movements, especially expressing a return to the Gospel, for example Franciscanism under St. Francis of Assisi and the founding of the Dominican Order under St. Dominic, were movements of reform. The calling of the Second Vatican Council also envisioned the needy reforms in religious and priestly life, and in liturgical life. In fact, all sixteen documents of the Vatican Council touch upon many items of reform. Listen to the way the document on Liturgy begins: “This Sacred Council has several aims in view: It desires to impart an ever-increasing vigor in the Christian life of the faithful; to adapt more suitably to the needs of our own times those institutions which are subject to change; to foster whatever can promote union among all who believe in Christ; to strengthen whatever can help to call the whole of mankind into the household of the Church.”
Congar’s book is not a plan of reform; it seeks to answer two very important questions: 1. In what respect may the Church undergo reform? and 2. How should reform proceed? Immediately I must emphasize as does Congar – “What is irreformable is the divinely established constitution of the church and its essential structure.” Because the Church is a divine/human sort of relation, the area of reform refers to the Church’s human face and some of the historical forms and some of its inherited practices.
Fr. Congar lists four conditions for the discernment of genuine reform, and by genuine reform he means a reform that does not result in schism or heresy. What are the four conditions? First of all, reform in the Church must make charity and pastoral care a priority. Second, it must demonstrate an abiding commitment to communion with the entire church. This includes ratification by the Church’s hierarchy. Thirdly, reform must always be patient. And fourthly, reform must operate from a profound fidelity to Catholic tradition. The beginning of a new church, the beginning of a new sect, the rejection of basic Catholic doctrine, are all examples of false reform.
Father Philibert makes this comment. “Congar only briefly considers what has emerged as a conspicuous obstacle of reform: the diversity and even division among Catholics. A quotation that Congar produces from an address in 1946 by Cardinal Suhard to his priests is instructive. ‘Mutual concessions’, not ‘mutual excommunications’, should resolve the strife between proponents and opponents of reform.”
One more little point in this regard. R. R. Reno, editor of First Things, comments in its current edition from a sermon which I hope to refer to in a subsequent column. It has to do with prevailing hypercritical attitudes on the part of all of us with regard to the Church. These attitudes are so different from the love for the Church which has so often been the traditional stance of most Catholic Christians. Reno quotes from the sermon and adds his comment. He writes – “We let ourselves be blown around by winds of worldly opinion, some of us on questions of sexual morality but all of us in some area. The temptation…is to focus on the Church: ‘How could the Church be so stupid, so retrograde, so out of touch?’” Reno comments as follows: “However, St. Paul would have us think differently. ‘Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.’ That shifts the question: ‘Why are we so wayward, so irreformable, so out of touch?’ Doubtless there are specks in the Church’s eye, but item number one on our to-do lists should be removing the beam from our own often worldly eyes.”
Father Connelly
PRAYING THE LITURGY
The Gloria, continued. New translation: Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father, you take away the sins of the world, receive our prayer. This refers to sins in the plural, rather than singular. “The difference indicates that Jesus takes away not just generic sin from the world, but individual sin. He forgives people their personal sins. In Latin, the word for sins is in the plural.” (Understanding the Revised Mass Texts, Paul Turner, p.16).
On Oct. 30, JoJo David, our Music Director, will introduce the revised Gloria (Congregational Mass), which uses the same melody as our current Gloria setting. We will have the worship aids (Mass cards and Antiphon cards) to assist us.
Winifred Murphy, Pastoral Associate
29th SOCIAL JUSTICE FORUM
On Sunday, Nov. 6, 7:30 PM in the lower church, Marjean Perhot and Sr. Marie Prefontaine will present: Immigrant -“Illegal?” Transportation: call Jini Fairley at 617-964-3966.
SIGNINGS
The concert of the first reading and the Gospel make the ends meet. We have something from the beginning of the Bible matched up with something at the end.
The question that emerges is: what is God's message in all this if Christ who speaks the Father's word completely and clearly is saying what was already said so long ago and that any scholar of the law would clearly know already?
At the time it seems that said scholars knew the old laws well but the various Jewish teachers at the time taught differently about how to order them. It was a common thing to ask a rabbouni what was his particular view of law order. Christ's teaching comes forth not as yet another opinion. He plainly states the summary and order in the law.
So we seem to know it right? I have said it before and it may be that before I preach my last homily I will say it again, but in a muddy and informal way and in general: no.
Christ reveals that the laws are not summarized by one law. There are two laws. For some reason we tend to think that. He told us that they all boil down to one: love of neighbor.
The cultural tendency and atmosphere that we currently live in causes youth to boldly rebel with a kind of strange rebellion where they claim to be simultaneously following Christ. One young adult I know could not be persuaded by her good parents from her intention to have nothing to do with the Church because she said she was united with Christ who only taught one thing, love your neighbor and she did that by going on charity walks. She was not O.K. with all that church stuff and that was it.
But Christ never said love your neighbor as yourself and you are all set. He said quite the opposite. He said love God above all things. Look at today's Gospel and see. Christ states that the commandment to love God is not only the first but the greatest commandment.
There are many who wish it wasn't the case. It would be easier to do whatever I want if I didn't need to worship in a community. They might tell me something or expect me to serve. It is true too. The fact is, going to Church on Sunday does exactly that. Worshiping clears our minds and strengthens our hearts and we come to understand the second commandment which is like the first.
We can work hard outside the Church to prove that we don't need the Church and that is fine in a way, because we are still centered on the Church in a reverse worship of God. The plain fact is that churchgoers are all about loving, and people who aren’t churchgoers are often either using the poor to satisfy their need for esteem or as proof for their righteousness; helping the poor the way a hit man “takes care” of his client’s enemies.
I am sure there are probably many atheists who are generous but I know there are many who are not. Even if the atheist is right and our worship is only art, we at least agree on the second summary commandment. Our attempt to outdo each other in good deeds is a good war that might actually be a holy one.
In Christ, Fr. St. Martin
NEWTON CROP ‘WALK’
A huge thank you to all who sponsored team Sacred Heart in the Newton Crop Walk on Sunday. It was a beautiful day to enjoy the brisk air and see some homes sporting Halloween decorations while contemplating helping those in need. Even if you did not pledge, it is not too late to make a donation. Make checks payable to CWS/CROP and send to Peg Miller, 1321 Centre St., Newton, MA 02459. God bless you!
CITY OF NEWTON LOOKING FOR SNOW SHOVEL VOLUNTEERS
Students and interested adults: You can earn money shoveling snow. The City of Newton is preparing a list of those willing to shovel snow for local senior residents for a fee. Sign up and your name and phone number will be listed with Newton Parks and Recreation and made available to residents who need assistance with snow shoveling. You negotiate the price and timing with the resident. Applications are available in the rectory. The deadline for submission is November 1.
CALENDAR NOTES
EXTENDED COFFEE HOUR:
Sunday, October 23 – 10 AM – 1 PM – Parish Center
WOMEN’S DISCUSSION GROUP:
Sunday, October 23, – 10:30 AM – Convent Dining Room
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION – Grades 1-5
Sunday, October 23 – 10:30 – 11:45 AM – Lower Church
BOY SCOUTS:
Monday, October 24 – 7:30 PM - Parish Center
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION – Tuesday, October 25:
Grades 1-5 – 4:00 to 5:15 PM – Lower Church
Grades 6-10 – 7:00 to 8:30 PM – Lower Church
HOLLY HARVEST WORKSHOP:
Tuesday, October 25 – 7:00 PM – Convent Guild Room
KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS:
Wednesday, October 26 – 7:30 PM – Convent Dining Room
PRAYER GROUP:
Wednesday, October 26– 7:30 PM – Convent Chapel
COFFEE HOUR:
Friday, October 28 – Following 9 AM Mass – Parish Center
LITURGY, ADORATION AND THE ROSARY:
Saturday, October 29 – 9 AM to 12:30 PM – Lower Church
EXTENDED COFFEE HOUR:
Sunday, October 30 – 10 AM – 1 PM – Parish Center