TRANSFIGURATION of the LORD
AUGUST 6, 2006
(M - Memorial, A - Anniversary)
SIXTUS II and
COMPANIONS, martyrs
6:45 ANTHONY and ANTOINETTE
ROMITO--M
req. by Ralph Santoliquido
9:00 BERTHE and LOUIS BREUIL--M
req. by the Shields Family
TUESDAY,
AUGUST 8
DOMINIC,
priest
6:45 MARIANNE CARPANETO--M
req. by Brian & Linda Harrington
9:00 DAMIANO FAZIO--M
req. by Maria Ciraco
TERESA BENEDICTA of
the CROSS, martyr
6:45 LEO
RUZZI--M
req. by Concetta Ruzzi
9:00 REV. WILLIAM J. MC PEAK--M
reg. by the McPeak Family
THURSDAY,
AUGUST 10
LAWRENCE, deacon, martyr
6:45 LAURA MARTUCCIO--M
req. by Mr. & Mrs. Antonio Labriola
9:00 CAROL ACOCELLA--M
req. by Jeanne & Matt Peloso
6:45 AGNES
DORAN--M
9:00 LORENZO VALLARIO--A
req. by the Vallario Family
9:00 EDWARD
MARTIN--M
req.
by John E. Cullen & Alison Kelly Cullen
5:30 ROSE SAPORITO--M
req. by Charlotte King
7:30 ROBERT HALL--M
req. by Robert, Michelle & Matthew Kryger
9:00 JAMES and HELEN BRENNAN--M
req.
by the Family
10:30 EDWARD GARBA--M
req. by Martha Garba
12:00 SPECIAL INTENTION for the LIVING:
GEORGE PRITCHARD
Req. by Arlene M. Clingerman
5:00
FOR THE PEOPLE OF THE PARISH
PRAYERFUL REMEMBRANCES
Your prayers are requested for the sick at home,
and in the hospitals, especially: Carmie Mangieri, Gloria Etre, Aileen Rallis,
Steve Schulz, Fr Brian, Dana Infelice, Patrice McAuliffe, Francis “Charlie”
Abrahamsen, Lisa Scholl, Frank Diaz-Balart, Alice Nasta, Mildred Traub, Catherine
Ann Brennan, Mary & Tony Fraioli, Hank Lawlor, William Matthews, Sarah
Butler, Mimi Cosgrove, Kristen Long, Patrick Lamont, Elizabeth Kim, Eloise
Selby, Thomas M. Lamb, for our service men and women at home and abroad; for
the for the faithful departed, and those who have no one to pray for them; and
for the honored dead of the Armed Services.
SUNDAY
COLLECTION
Last week’s collection (07 --30 -- 06): $9,700
Attendance: 855
The parish of Sts. John and Paul thanks you for your support. We are grateful to our parishioners who use our envelope system. If you wish to receive Church support envelopes, please call the Rectory at 834-5458.
BANNS of
MARRIAGE
II – Robert Weeks – Kendra Langelotti
II – David Polizzi – Rosalia Bucaro
TRANSFIGURATION
of the LORD
August
6, 2006July 30, 2006
As Peter, James and John had a “mountaintop experience” with Jesus, so too do those who are faithful to Jesus. Priests and religious experience the presence of Jesus as they follow in His footsteps. If you feel God is calling you to a church vocation, please call Fr. Charles Szivos at 968-1340 (priesthood), Sr. Deanna Sabetta at 212-371-1000 ext. 2803 (religious), and Deacon Anthony Cassaneto at 968-6200 ext. 8269 (deaconate).
BAPTISM PREPARATION for PARENTS of INFANTS
To arrange for a Baptism, please call the rectory and you will be given an appointment with one of the parish priests.
Water in the Word
Baptismal Preparation Session Schedule
All sessions are offered on the following Saturday mornings from 10 AM – 11:30 AM. Please call the rectory to attend. We will begin new sessions in 2006. The dates for the class are as follows: Sept. 2nd, Oct 7th, Nov. 4th and Dec. 2nd.
CALENDAR of
EVENTS for WEEK OF AUGUST 6th:
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 9TH:
11:00 AM SARAH NEUMAN: Mass
FOOD BANK
NEWS…
Our Food Bank is running low on non-perishable food items. We are meeting the needs of many this summer who have made requests for food including the Cap Center. Please remember to bring a food item with you each time you come to Mass.
COMPUTER
NEEDED
We are looking for a computer with an XP operating system on it. If you have one, please call Charlotte in the rectory at 834-5458 and let her know.
CAR RAFFLE
TICKETS
We are presently selling raffle tickets for the Lexus or $30,000 after all the Sunday masses. We need your help both in selling and purchasing the raffles. If you can help sell after the Mass you attend on Sunday, please call Charlotte at the Rectory (834-5458) and let her know which Mass you would be available to sell the tickets. Thank you and with everyone’s assistance, we’ll be very successful!
KNIGHTS of
COLUMBUS NEWS…
Reserve your foursome. Our Annual Golf outing will be held on Monday, September 25th, at the Pelham Split Rock Golf Club, shot gun start at 12:30 pm, dinner at the Davenport, at 7:00 pm. Golf, cart, lunch, beverages, prizes, cocktail hour, buffet dinner with open bar; all for only $150. Bring a foursome if you can or come alone or with a friend and we will make the foursome. Call Craig Skolnick to reserve your spot: 212-319-0871 or 235-2264
We need your support so we can continue the good work of our council; sponsor a golf hole at our golf outing for only $125.00. You can also show your support by sponsoring the golf carts, cocktail hour or golf prize. This is a great way to give to our council or to advertise your business; contact Craig Skolnick to reserve your hole sponsorship or for more information. Thank you
PARISH
SCHOOL: POSITION AVAILABLE
Kindergarten aide – to assist kindergarten teacher
Please contact the school principal art 834-6332.
SUMMER HOURS: Monday – Thursday
July 3 – 25: 9:00 am – 12 noon
School reopens: August 17th.
HALLOWEEKEND FAMILY FESTIVAL
Circle your calendars for the weekend of October 27th, 28th, and 29th. The Halloweekend Family Festival Committee is working very diligently on bring the parish another wonderful event for all ages – a dance for the young people, a 5K Run, pony rides, face painting, games and, of course, a spectacular Cabaret. So plan your weekend now so that you and your family can be part of a memorable Saints John and Paul Parish happening.
MARY’S
WAY
It is the way of the example of the virgin of
Nazareth, a woman of faith, of silence, of attentive listening. It is also the
way of a Marian devotion inspired by knowledge of the inseparable bond between
Christ and his Blessed Mother; the mysteries of Christ are also in some sense
the mysteries of his Mother, even when they do not involve her directly, for
she lives from him and through him. By making our own the words of the Angel
Gabriel and Saint Elizabeth contained in the Hail Mary, we find ourselves
constantly drawn to seek out afresh in Mary, in her arms and in her heart, the
“ blessed fruit of her womb.”
-- Pope John Paul II
THE PASTOR’S
COLUMN
Due to my recent physical maladies, I have spent a greater amount of time in front of the television. It is incredible for me to realize how far we have come in the field of communication. When I was a child, Dave Garroway on a program called Wide Wide World attempted to receive in his studio a live broadcast from Great Britain. This “great experiment” failed three weeks in a row. Today, we view everything from royal weddings to news conferences from space. Recently though we have been eyewitnesses to tragic events as they occur. CNN, Fox, and broadcast stations have shown the violence in the Middle East in great detail. Bombs can be seen landing even as reporters are relating their stories. To Father Joe Nahas, our parochial vicar, the sights of Lebanon are familiar as a native of this land. For me, having been privileged to be part of a priestly pilgrimage to the Holy Land before the present hostilities, the names and places flashed across the screen are filled with memories of people and shared experiences. The visitor to this part of the world cannot leave without taking valued lessons. Truly, they are changed forever.
The first reality one grasps is the geographic complexity of the area. As Americans we are used to the vastness of our country. We can travel for thousands of miles and still be in the “land of the free and the home of the brave.” From Haifa one can see the contours of the Lebanese countryside. From the Carmelite monastery where we had celebrated Mass and eaten lunch, the mountain range could be seen which is ground zero of the present conflict. We had visited a large Catholic orphanage in the city which was run by a French religious community and inhabited by children who were, in some cases, left parentless by prior battles and wars. After taking a boat ride across the Sea of Galilee and a short bus ride on the Golan Heights, we found ourselves at the Syrian border. (As an aside, I might tell a brief but significant story. When our vehicle was moving along at quite a clip, some of us questioned our driver as to his speed since the road was very narrow with many twists and turns with many steep drops on both sides of the highway. He responded with a chuckle that we need not worry since if the bus should become involved in a rollover accident none of us would know it since a few of the land mines surrounding us on the hills would demolish everything.)
Second, we must recognize that generalities are used so often that their validity is rarely questioned. For example, the term is often used “Palestinian” as if it represents a monolithic group. The reality is that this ethnic adjective describes two religious traditions: Christian and Moslem. Both possess many subsets. On one occasion we left our Jerusalem residence to celebrate Mass. We had to pass at least two checkpoints. This was a relatively easy task because all of us were American. However, if His Beatitude, the Latin Patriarch, was with us, we could not have proceeded since this appointee of Pope John Paul II is Palestinian. He would have to apply to governmental authorities for a pass in order to visit the parishes under his jurisdiction, to perform the sacraments, and to say Mass in the holy places in Bethlehem, Nazareth, or Jericho among others. Perhaps, this is one of the reasons that the population of our co-religionists is plummeting. (To meet the needs of those who remain, the Catholic Near East organization and the Knights and Ladies of the Holy Sepulcher among others provide funding for medical, educational, and religious institutions.) As for our trek to the West Bank, we arrived at the town of Bier Zeit and the Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe. There was a warm welcome from everyone. The young priest and his people prepared a wonderful meal for us and spoke of the struggles they had. With great happiness, they looked forward to a future of peace.
The third reality one confronts is the fact that the Holy City itself is sacred to the three traditions of the Book. In an ideal world, this should cause all to reverse every stone and respect every person. The opposite is true. (Might I advance a theory? It seems to me that when the Jewish community approaches the Western Wall to petition the Almighty, the Moslem community enters the Mosque near the Dome of the Rock to pray to Allah five times a day, and the Christian community visits the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher to conclude the Stations of the Cross, the Evil One must be infuriated. His demons have probably been instructed to cause unbridled mayhem in the face of holiness. The same enemy who tempted the Christ seeks to bring forth the basest thoughts and actions in humankind.)
The final reality is one which is antithetical to modern man. In our society, we throw away computers less than five years old, we tear down buildings less than forty years old, and we reject very often the life experience of our seniors in favor of the wisdom of the x-generation. As one lands in any part of the Middle East, the realization comes quickly that we are in a part of the world where time is not measured in years or decades but centuries and millennia. As one draws near to the Holy City the psalms of David come alive. “Jerusalem built as a compact unity.” And again, “Let us go up to the city of Jerusalem.” Over three thousand years ago, the King of Israel anointed by Samuel conquered the inhabitants and established his seat of power and his son built the first temple. When Jesus entered its gates very little had changed save the political realities: the Kingdom had ceased to be independent and was subjected to the whims of many nations. Rome, the latest occupier, with the assistance of collaborators like Herod, ruled the narrow streets and secured civil peace. When Vespasian came to deliver the coup de gras to the inhabitants of this outpost of the Empire, the Church tried to hang on to its identity and remain as an evangelical witness. When the followers of Mohammed arrived conflict was the order of the day. The control of the city and its environs seesawed between the children of Ishmael and the children of Abraham who had followed Jesus as the fulfillment of the Promise. After an ultimately flawed series of Crusades, the city became an Islamic territory. The holy places of our faith were preserved and are cared for even today because of an agreement between the leader of the Moslem populace and St. Francis of Assisi and members of his religious community. The latest period of strife commenced in the aftermath of World War II resulting in the division of the ancient city, the establishment of the nation of Israel, and the refuge crisis which has not abated. Later conflicts reunited the city but did not resolve the many outstanding issues which divide neighboring nations as we can see daily.
The Hebrew word “shalom” sums up our hopes for this area. May God inspire all to live at one with each other.
Jesus vivat,
Fr. Brian