Saturday, 28 October
Vigil of Sunday
4:30 p.m. - ROBERT KEVY (15th anniversary)
by his sisters, Phyllis and Roni

Sunday, 29 October
30th Sunday in Ordinary Time
7:45 a.m. - DANIEL F. HEINBACH
by Jeanette Ciorlanti Chalinsky
10:45 a.m. - ANTHONY J. LUPPINO
by his brother, Michael, and family

Monday, 30 October
Weekday
12:05 p.m. - ANTHONY, ANN and ROSE ANN
by Mary and John

Tuesday, 31 October
Weekday
12:05 p.m. - JESSE J. KRIZNO
by his wife, Betty
Vigil of All Saints (Sol)
7:00 p.m. - MARY ANN ALBO
by Harry and Rosa Lilley

Wednesday, 01 November
All Saints (Sol)
12:05 p.m. - ARTHUR B. WHITNEY
by Michael and Catherine
4:30 p.m. - VITO LaPLACA
by his daughters, Victoria and Louise

Thursday, 02 November
All Souls Day
12:05 p.m. - ANTHONY LASCALA
by his family
7:00 p.m. - A. GLENDON ACKER
(10th anniversary) by his wife, Liz, and family

Friday, 03 November
St. Martin dePorres, religious (OptMem)
12:05 p.m. - JOSEPH and MARIE LAPLACA
by their daughter-in-law, Julia
6:15 p.m. - KATHRYN SELINSKY LUPPINO (anniversary of birth) by John and Tina Smolock

Saturday, 04 November
St. Charles Borromeo, bishop (OblMem)
8:00 a.m. - Intentions: THIRD ORDER CARMELITES
by the TOC community
Vigil of Sunday
4:30 p.m. - ELIZABETH WARNER
by her daughter, Rosita Warner Mulhall

Sunday, 05 November
31st Sunday in Ordinary Time
7:45 a.m. - DANIEL F. HEINBACH
by Frank, Ann Marie and Aaron Tranquillo
10:45 a.m. - FRANK OWENS
(10th anniversary)
by his sister, Kitty Owens DiCello

Saint Joseph Parish
$1,970.00 from the envelopes and $254.00 from the plate. Thank you.
When one deducts from the sum of these two figures, $2,224.00 the parish's weekly financial obligation to the Diocese, i.e. assessments, $358.85 plus the weekly premiums for property and liability insurance, $149.20, the sum of which is $508.05, plus its weekly obligation to All Saints School, $987.21, the sum total of which is $1,495.26, one sees that $728.74 of this collection is available for operating the parish.

Saint Francis deSales Parish
$162.00 from the envelopes and $41.60 from the plate. Thank you.
When one deducts from the sum of these two figures, $203.60 the parish's weekly financial obligation to the Diocese, i.e. assessments, $55.15 plus the weekly premiums for property and liability insurance, $56.72, the sum of which is $111.87, plus its weekly obligation to All Saints School, $197.44, the sum total of which is $309.31, one sees that ($105.71) of this collection is available for operating the parish. This is a deficit!

In Church-bureaucrat jargon - or, at least, in diocesan jargon - one commonly hears and reads the expression "feeder parish(es)".
The term, as it is commonly used, refers to those parishes that jointly own and operate a parochial school. It could also refer to those parishes to which belong the greater number of students who attend a diocesan high school. Another use of the term might have something to do with joint support of CYO programs.
Well, you get the idea.
I have never liked the term "feeder parish". To me, it has a weird and chilly connotation. Especially in regard to children (as in the examples given above), the term "feeder parish" conjures up in my brain the image of pagan priests chucking little children into the mouth of Moloch. Not a family-friendly image, not at all!
Just recently, I saw the term "feeder parish" used in a different context. It was downright macabre! In a memo sent to "pastors supporting diocesan cemeteries", the front office used this chilling phrase: "As a feeder parish for Resurrection Cemetery, etc."
Good grief! That it has come to this! Now our parishes are perceived as providing nourishment for the great gaping mouths of our cemeteries! This is the stuff of horror films!
I hereby propose that we do a requiem on the term "feeder parish". We might want to appoint a committee to select a phrase that is more felicitous that would express the concept of "parish(es) whose members are a likely source of prospective clients for fill-in-the-blank entity".

THE LIFE OF A PARISH PRIEST IS NEVER BORING! Let me tell you about two recent incidents:

Incident #1
Date: Wednesday, 18 October
Time: Towards the end of the 10:00 a.m. Mass
Place: St. Francis deSales Church, Mount Carbon
I had just finished giving Holy Communion to the small congregation and was purifying the chalice and paten. This is for me a meditative time. I try - and usually succeed - in keeping focused on the Mystery I have just received. My peripheral vision picks up someone walking up the middle aisle at a steady pace. I look up. It's a UPS man. He has a package in his hands. He walks right up to the altar, puts the package on the floor and asks me to sign his electronic receipt pad. I am temporarily dumbfounded. I sign it. He looks at it and asks me to pronounce my last name. "Connolly" I say. "Thanks" he says. "You're welcome" I say. He walks down the aisle. My meditation on the Mystery is effectively derailed.
That's it! That's the end of my story. What can I say? This is a man who has packages to deliver and, by God, he is going to see that they get delivered, come hell or high water! He doesn't let anything hinder him. I'm glad I wasn't at the Consecration of the Mass. I hope Jesus has a sense of humor. I thought of the old Blondie cartoons where Dagwood is soaking in the bathtub and Mr. Beasley, the mailman, walks right into the bathroom to collect some postage due.

Incident #2
Date: Monday, 23 October
Time: About 10:00 p.m.
Place: St. Joseph Church, Pottsville
I had gone over to church to lock up. I was standing in the sanctuary. I looked up to the choir loft and noticed that there was a man sitting there. I didn't recognize him. I called to him: "Sir, I'm locking up the church now. I have to ask you to leave." He asked me to repeat. I repeated. He didn't look too happy. He said in a bit of a huff, "I own this church!" This left me in a quandary. I was uncertain. Either (a) the man DOES own the church or (b) he DOES NOT own the church. If it's (a), then this man is God and I'm sure not going to tell God that He has to vacate the church! If it's (b), then this man is not playing with a full deck and it would be out of the question that I would allow him to stay overnight in the church. I asked him to come downstairs from the choir loft so that we could discuss his claim. He did so. It seemed to me that he did not look like God. Then again, I'm not sure exactly what God looks like. I'm sure that God can look like anything He wants to look like to suit His purposes at the time. I was weighing my options, ready to fall down and worship if He should happen to produce some evidence of divinity. He did not produce any such evidence. So, I invited him over to the Rectory kitchen where we discussed where he might suitably spend the night. After a few phone calls, we arrived at a solution that was agreeable to both of us. I'm happy to say that we parted as friends.

Unlike All Saints Day, All Souls Day is not a Holyday of Obligation. No one is obliged to attend Mass on this day.
It is however, highly recommended that a person attend Mass on All Souls Day. Over the centuries, pious Catholics have observed All Souls Day as a day on which to concentrate our memories and our prayers on our beloved dead.
It is a day on which we make special intercession for the dead.

It is a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be released from their sins.
[cf. 2 Maccabees 38-46]

One of the fringe benefits of praying for the dead is that they will reciprocate by praying for us. The Souls in Purgatory cannot help themselves with their prayers, but they can help us.
The Souls in Purgatory comprise that segment of the Mystical Body of Christ known as "The Church Suffering". We on Earth are "The Church Militant". The saints in Heaven are "The Church Triumphant".

Last Sunday's celebration of the 100th anniversary of St. Joseph Parish was beautiful beyond my fondest expectations.
I cannot adequately express to those who "put it all together" how grateful I am to them.
The church was decorated just perfectly.
As far as the upper hall is concerned, I could hardly believe my eyes! I thought I was in a hotel ballroom, not a basketball court!
The celebration was joyful, peaceful, holy, happy, unpretentious - also delicious!
It made me feel proud to know that I am a part of the 100-year history of this parish. I marvel to think that I am the second longest serving (20 years) pastor of St. Joseph parish. Fr. DeStefano (29 years) holds the record for longest serving pastor. Who knows what the future holds? I know the best is yet to come.

[Personal note: My nephew, Mark, is a Bucks County detective. He always has his antennae up for catching bad guys, especially scam artists who specialize in taking advantage of people like his uncle who are getting up in years and tend to be fuzzy in the brain. Mark emailed me the following. I thought it was a rather deucedly clever scam and I pass it on to you. EBC]

This scam has been verified on Snopes.com (link listed below) and by the FBI (their link is also included below).
It is spreading fast. So, be prepared in case you get a call like this.
Most of us take a summons for jury duty seriously. However, there are sufficient persons who skip out on their civic duty, that a new and ominous kind of scam has surfaced. Fall for it and your identity could be stolen, reports CBS.
In this con, someone calls pretending to be a court official who says in a threatening tone of voice that a warrant has been issued for your arrest because you didn't show up for jury duty. The caller claims to be a jury coordinator. If you protest that you never received any summons for jury duty, the scammer asks you for your Social Security number and date of birth, so that he or she can "verify the information and cancel the arrest warrant". Sometimes they even ask for credit card numbers. Give out any of this information and [bingo!] your identity just got stolen.
The scam has been reported (so far) in eleven states, including Oklahoma, Illinois, and Colorado. This scam is particularly insidious because the con artist uses intimidation over the phone to try to bully people into giving information by pretending he is part of the court system.
The FBI and the federal court system have issued nationwide alerts on their web sites, warning consumers about the fraud.
http://www.snopes.com/crime/fraud/juryduty.asp

http://www.fbi.gov/pressrel/pressrel05/092805.htm

ELIZABETH MANZO KRIZNO,
a member of Saint Joseph Parish, died on Monday, 23 October.
Born on 6 October 1927, she was 79 years old.
Elizabeth ["Betty"] is one of the seven children of the late Joseph and Catherine (Tassone) Manzo. She was baptized here at St. Joseph Church on 20 November 1927 by Fr. DeStefano.
On 27 November 1952, at St. Joseph Church, in the presence of Fr. Corcoran, Elizabeth was married to Jesse J. Krizno. On 21 September 2006, after 53 years together, Jesse died.
It is worth noting that Elizabeth approved the selection of Scripture readings for Jesse's funeral. As it turned out, little more than a month later, those same readings were to be used for her funeral. The Lord was at work, preparing His servant for her passover.
Four of Elizabeth's siblings are deceased: Nicholas Manzo (died in infancy); Frank Manzo (died in early childhood); Anthony J. Manzo; Jennie Manzo Miller. Two of her sisters remain: Katherine A. Manzo and Rose Manzo Visalli.
Elizabeth has three children, all of whom live in the area: John J. Krizno; Mary A. Krizno; Joseph J. Krizno.
The Mass of Christian Burial for Elizabeth will be celebrated at St. Joseph Church on Friday, 27 October, at 10:00 a.m., with a viewing in the church for one hour prior to the Mass. The interment will take place in the parish cemetery.
On Sunday evening, 22 October, Elizabeth was still fully aware, able to speak and able to understand. It was clear to her family and to her parish priest that she knew that her earthly life was drawing to a close. She admitted to being somewhat apprehensive about that awesome reality. (And who would not be apprehensive? I certainly would be!) Nevertheless, she explicitly declared that she believed in God, that she loved Jesus Christ and that she was sorry for her sins. Her parish priest gave her absolution together with the Apostolic Blessing reserved to those who are dying. This blessing carries with it a plenary indulgence, viz. the full remission of all temporal punishment due to sin. The circumstances of Elizabeth's final hours make us full of confidence in regard to her eternal destiny.

Eternal rest grant unto Elizabeth, O Lord, and let the perpetual light shine upon her. May her soul and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

WHEREAS: In the year 1905, the Italian Catholic people of Schuylkill County petitioned the Archbishop of Philadelphia, Patrick J. Ryan, to establish an ethnic parish in Schuylkill County; and

WHEREAS: In April 1906, the first Mass was celebrated in the former Saint John the Baptist Church located at Fourth Street and Howard Avenue, for members of the newly constituted Saint Joseph Parish; and

WHEREAS: Saint Joseph Church is the oldest Catholic church in Schuylkill County; and

WHEREAS: Parishioners of Saint Joseph Parish have contributed immensely to the development and growth of the City of Pottsville over the past one hundred years; and

WHEREAS: Saint Joseph Parish is celebrating the 100th year of its founding in this the Bicentennial Year of the City of Pottsville.

NOW THEREFORE, I, JOHN D. W. REILEY, Mayor of the City of Pottsville, Pennsylvania, on behalf of City Council and the citizens of Pottsville, extend heartfelt congratulations to parishioners of Saint Joseph Parish on this auspicious occasion.

GIVEN under my hand and seal of the City of Pottsville, County of Schuylkill, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, this twenty-second day of October, in the year of our Lord, two thousand six.

(signature)
John D. W. Reiley
Mayor