Sacred Heart Parish
MASS INTENTIONS
Saturday, January 28
4:00pm, Mary & Pauline Scichilone
Sunday, January 29
9:00am, Parishioners of Sacred Heart
12 Noon, Grace & Louis Antonellis
Friday, February 3
Ligia Hernandez
Saturday, February 4
4:00pm, Henry, Mary & Paul Brissette
Sunday, February 5
9:00am, Suzanne Gan
12 Noon Parishioners of Sacred Heart
CELEBRANTS FOR NEXT WEEKEND
Saturday, February 4, 4:00pm Fr. Connelly
Sunday, February 5, 9:00am, Fr. Imbelli;
11:00am, Fr. Carey; 12Noon, Fr. Connelly
READINGS FOR THE FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
First Reading: Job 7:1-4, 6-7
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 9:16-19, 22-23
Gospel Reading: Mark 1:29-39
OFFERTORY INCOME
Target Weekly Offertory $5,500
Weekend of January 14/15 $5,122
6 MONTH FINANCIAL UPDATE
Total Income, July 1 – December 31 $443,730
Total Expenditures, July 1 – December 31 446,436
Net – $ 2,706
Because all the capital expenses (dormer repair, parking lot paving, rectory painting) occurred in the first half of the year, the PFC is optimistic that we will be able to cover our budget by the end of the fiscal year in June. Thank you to all who have so generously responded to the request last fall for a 20% increase in offertory donations to balance our budget and rebuild our savings account. If you have not yet done so and are able to, please prayerfully consider what you can give to support the parish.
Some parishioners have begun using on-line banking for their offertory contributions. Anyone who would like to take advantage of this option should contact the rectory.
CALENDAR NOTES
Extended Coffee Hour:
Sunday, January 29, 10am to 1pm, Parish Center
Boy Scouts:
Monday, January 30, 7:30pm Parish Center
Prayer Group:
Wednesday, February 1, 7:30pm, Convent
Coffee Hour:
Friday, February 3, Following 9am Mass, Parish Center
Liturgy, Adoration and The Rosary:
Saturday, February 4, 9am to 12:30pm, Lower Church
Extended Coffee Hour:
Sunday, February 5, 10am to 1pm, Parish Center
Grade 2 Parent Workshop:
Sunday, February 5, 10:15-11:45am, Convent
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
All parents of students preparing to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation for the first time are asked to attend a Parent Workshop on Sunday, Feb 5 from 10:15-11:45 AM in the Convent after 9AM Mass. At least one parent must attend. Coffee will be provided! If you are in need of childcare, please notify the Religious Ed. Office as soon as possible.
The students’ First Reconciliation will be celebrated on Saturday, March 3, 2012 at 10:30-11:45am in the lower church.
If you were looking for a way to offer God a thanksgiving prayer for all He has done to love and sustain you, please consider offering just an hour and 15min. of your time to assist our 1st grade teacher on Tuesday’s from 4-5:15 pm. There is no homework and no experience necessary!
Michelle Solomon, Director of RE
THANK YOU FOR THE CHRISTMAS GIFTS
The St. Ambrose Family Shelter would like to thank the parishioners of Sacred Heart Parish for the continued support and incredible generosity not only this year but over the past 10 or so years. With the assistance of your parish and others like you, we have over the years been able to expand our services to provide not only Christmas gifts but very useful items for families in need. This past Christmas we assisted hundreds of individuals and families along with the families who are currently and were previously residents of the St. Ambrose Family Shelter. As we relay to all our volunteers and donors, we cannot do what we do without you; you inspire us to continue our work daily. Thank you from all of us at St. Ambrose and Catholic Charities.
I just wanted to say “thank you” on behalf of all of us at Julie’s Family Learning Program. We are so appreciative of everything you, and those who helped you, did to give the families at JFLP such a wonderful Christmas. We are aware of the time, effort, planning and hard work involved in doing what you do and saying “thanks” just isn’t enough. You are all wonderful, kind, caring individuals and we are truly grateful that you are who you are.
From the New England Home for the Deaf:
I wanted to thank you once again for the enormously generous donation of gifts that you coordinated. They made the residents’ Christmas very special. I hope that you are enjoying your holiday season.
From Walden School as expressed by Linda Sutton, Residential Director, to Winnie Murphy upon delivery of gifts: The support for students at Walden School is awesome and greatly appreciated. It is so important for the students to receive individual, personal gifts. We are deeply grateful to the parishioners of Sacred Heart.
TIME TO REPLENISH SCHOOL SUPPLIES
Our parish-wide project to provide Mother Caroline Academy students and teachers with school supplies ends this weekend. Needed items:
AAA batteries xerox paper
index cards 3-ring notebook paper
tri-fold poster boards markers
glue sticks highlighters
colored pencils graph paper
white board markers (black, colors) and erasers
Drop off donations in the collection baskets January 28/29. Monetary donations also accepted. Any contribution you could make to MCAEC would be profoundly appreciated. Your support makes it possible for much-needed educational opportunities to a disadvantaged community, ultimately helping many families to break free from the cycle of poverty.
If you would like to learn more about the school or make a donation online, the website is: www.mcaec.org. If you prefer to mail in a donation, the address is: Mother Caroline Academy, 515 Blue hill Ave., Dorchester, MA 02121.
Thanks in advance for your generosity!!!!
Margaret LeBlanc and Jane McGuire
WOMEN’S DISCUSSION GROUP
Second semester continues in the convent library on Sunday, February 12 at 10:40am. The new book is Falling Upward by Richard Rohr. New members are encouraged to join and are most welcome.
ST. FRANCIS HOUSE
Thank you for your donations of canned vegetables during the month of January. Requested items for February are hot cereals. You may bring your donations at any time during the month and place them in the receptacles at the Church entrances.
DAYS OF PRAYER FOR PASTORAL VISITORS
The Pastoral Visitor Project and the Office of Worship and Spiritual Life invite all pastoral visitors and Eucharistic Ministers to the sick and homebound to attend a Day of prayer “Ministry in Christ’s Name” to be held in the West Region on Saturday, February 4 from 10am to 12 noon at St. Mary’s in Dedham. There is no fee for the Day. For more information or to register, call the Office of Worship and Spiritual Life at 617-779-3648.
CATHOLIC SCHOOL OPEN HOUSE
Rosary Academy Learning Center, 2 Rosary Drive, Watertown, MA is holding an Open House on Saturday, February 11, from 2-4pm for interested families seeking Child Care in a setting that includes a morning preschool program. Call 617-923-1935 if interested. Go to www.rosaryacademy.net for info.
OUR LADY’S GROTTO UPDATE
As of January 23 we have received donations of $7,475 toward our goal of $7,800. Additional gifts have been given in memory or honor of:
Donald J. Burke Gloria Estefano (name correction)
Gertrude T. Burke Queen of the most Holy Rosary
Marguerite C. Burke
Thomas F. Burke
Esther A. (Burke) Codyer
Anyone who wishes to make an additional donation should contact the rectory as soon as possible because the order for casting the plaque will be going in shortly. Any amount over the construction costs will be used for additional landscaping.
MEETING CHRIST IN PRAYER
Is an 8 week guided prayer experience based on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, “the Eighteenth Annotation”. It calls for a commitment of eight weeks of daily prayer and eight weekly meetings of faith sharing.
The Office of Worship and spiritual Life is offering this program at the Pastoral Center, 66 Brooks Drive, Braintree on Wednesday Evenings, February 29 through April 18, 2012, from 7-8:15pm. For further information and to register call Sister Anne D’Arcy 617-779-3648 or email sdarcy@rcab.org.
PANCAKE BREAKFAST AT CCSB
Corpus Christi-St. Bernard Parish will hold a Pancake Breakfast on Sunday, February 5 from 8:00am to 1:00pm. Admission: $4.00 per person, $10:00 per family. Location: Corpus Christi Parish Hall, 41 Ash Street, Auburndale. For more information contact Claire Palmer 617-332-4913.
THE CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
The year 2012 should be an exciting period of time. We observe the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council. We observe the 30th anniversary of the publication of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Our Holy Father asks us to make this year personally and corporately a year of faith. Of great interest to us who are Catholic is the 500th anniversary of the breaking away from the unity of the Church on the part of those who follow Martin Luther. It is important for all our parishioners to make some plans with regard to these areas of interest. This will give us an opportunity for the staff to make plans for the season of Lent and for what follows.
I would like to reflect with you this week on the Catechism of the Catholic Church. I will do so in this bulletin through the eyes of theologian Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J.. Father Dulles had a long and fruitful theological life. His last assignment was to occupy the Laurence J. McGinley Chair of Theology at Fordham University from 1988 to 2007. This involved among many other things the giving of the McGinley lectures which have now been brought together in a wonderful book from Fordham University Press, edited by the Rev. Robert P. Imbelli under the title “Church and Society”. My interest for this column is lecture number twelve which Dulles entitled “The Challenge of the Catechism”. His opening paragraph reads as follows— “The Catechism of the Catholic Church is the boldest challenge yet offered to the cultural relativism that currently threatens to erode the contents of Catholic faith. According to a widely prevalent view, religious truth consists in an ineffable encounter with the transcendent. This encounter may be expressed in symbols and metaphors, but it cannot be communicated by propositional language since it utterly surpasses the reach of human concepts. All statements about revelation, moreover, are said to be so culturally conditioned that they cannot be transferred from one age or one cultural region to another. Every theological affirmation that comes to us from the past must be examined with suspicion because it was formulated in a situation differing markedly from our own.”
Dulles describes what he is discussing in the above quote as mystical empiricism which inevitably devaluates specific beliefs. It dismisses the efforts of past generations to formulate the faith in creedal and doctrinal forms. Because of this, the traditional view that a dogma of faith is a divinely revealed truth is no longer taken seriously and the struggle to maintain doctrinal consensus in the universal church is viewed as a threat to the creativity of local churches.
If I were offering something on the Catholic Catechism I would have to talk about its background, the early reactions pro and con, the possibility of a universal catechism and the many revisions that the catechism underwent prior to its promulgation. This column doesn’t allow for such a presentation. To whet the readers interest I will cite another paragraph from the Dulles article on the merits of the catechism. He writes—“The catechism sets forth the whole body of Catholic teaching in an organic manner.
It is a serene comprehensive presentation of the authoritative scripture and Catholic tradition, systematically distributed in four parts dealing respectively with the Creed, the sacraments, Christian conduct and prayer. The catechism as a whole is a magnificent panorama, breathtaking in its scope. Where else could one find between two covers a digest of full teaching of the Church, down through the ages about almost any conceivable point from the dogma of the Trinity to the morality of gambling?”
(More on the Catechism next week.)
Father Connelly
STRENGTHENING OUR PARISHES AS PRIMARY COMMUNITIES OF FAITH
Consultation continues upon this initiative for the Archdiocese. On Monday, January 23rd we received proposed parish groupings for the West Region. In Newton, the proposal is for Our Lady Help of Christians and Sacred Heart to be one collaborative and Corpus Christi-St. Bernard’s with Mary Immaculate of Lourdes as a second collaborative. This proposal requires consultation, prayer, reflection by all of us in the city of Newton. The pastoral leadership of the Newton parishes will be meeting shortly. The consultation process across the Archdiocese will be continuing for the next several months. Your comments and observations are important. You may communicate these directly to Sacred Heart or to the Archdiocese at www.planning2012.com.
We wanted to give you this immediate news. Details will follow as they unfold.