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16 / 17 DECEMBER Saint Joseph Parish Saint Francis deSales Parish |
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6:00 to 7:00 p.m. at St. Joseph's 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. at St. Joseph's 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. at St. Francis deSales' |
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INQUIRING MINDS WANT
TO KNOW Q - Why are Confessions scheduled on Wednesday this week instead of on Tuesday? Tuesday is the norm. A - Because Fr. Connolly will not be here on Tuesday afternoon or evening. He is going to see his family. |
| THE SANCTUARY LAMP at St. Joseph Church is offered, during the week of 24 - 30 December, in loving memory of Lena Tranquillo Piccioni, at the request of Margaret Andescavage and nieces. |
| THE LOURDES GROTTO CANDLE is offered, during the week of 24 - 30 December, in loving memory of Anthony and Jennie Morris, at the request of their daughter, Ugenia. |
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Mary L. Chipriano None, as far as we know. Branden Verhagen Grace Luppino Joy * Mary Jane Butera Reed Amanda C. Brahler Elizabeth Anne Cerullo |
Jacob G. Gerace Raymond E. Hall Victoria E. Modesto Alexis A. Rist Frances DeMatteo Weiss None, as far as we know. Mary N. Prestileo John J. Miller Jr. |
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*THIS
SEEMS TO BE A GOOD YEAR for adding nonagenarians to our
list of members of St. Joseph Parish! Grace Luppino Joy is (will soon be) the newest addition. Born on Holy Innocents Day in 1916, she will arrive at her 90th BD this coming Thursday. May God bless her and keep her in His love! Grace is the widow of John S. Joy Sr. and the mother of John and David. |
PLEASE NOTE The
Tuesday morning Bible Study will not be held this week (26 December).
We are taking a Christmas break. There
is usually a Mass at the Simon Kramer Institute on the last Monday
of each month. However, there will not be a Mass this month because
the last Monday falls on 25 December - and need we say more?
Next Mass at Simon Kramer will be on 29 January.There is usually a Mass at
the Schuylkill Center Nursing Home on the last Friday of the
month. However, there will not be a Mass this coming Friday (29
December) because the nursing home is in "lock down mode"
due to a gastro-intestinal virus that is making the rounds. |
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In memory of" Joseph P. Adams his wife, Lita Olga Sinkovich Seador Margaret Stoppi |
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WHEN YOU COME TO CHURCH, PLEASE
BRING ALONG A GIFT FOR A BABY. We are collecting baby gifts, so that we can give them to BIRTHRIGHT, so that they can be given to unwed mothers who are in distressful circumstances. |
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ANNA HOMOVICH TUCCI, Eternal rest grant unto Anna, O Lord, and let the perpetual light shine upon her. May her soul and the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen. |
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or DOES A WOMAN HAVE THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE? What does the Catholic Church say
about a woman's right to choose? You are interested in the liberation
and empowerment of all women of all times and places, are you
not? |
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ALL SAINTS CATHOLIC SCHOOL NEWS All Saints received recently
an anonymous donation of a brand new computer. We thank the donor
and ask God to bless him and his family. All Saints is currently looking
for a part-time maintenance person. Please contact the school
office if interested. School resumes, after Christmas
break, on 3 January. No school on Monday, 15 January. Mid-term exams are scheduled
for the week of 16 January. |
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The question was this: If I go to the 4:30 p.m. Mass on Sunday, 24 December, does that count for Sunday and for Christmas? AND HERE IS THE ANSWER: No, it does not!! It counts for Christmas, but it does not count for Sunday. So, that means we all have to go to Mass twice this Christmas weekend! Now, if I hear somebody complaining about this, I'm going to have to come back there and slap him (or her, as the case may be)! So, don't make me have to do that! |
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PLEASE NOTE THAT
this coming Monday - 1 January 2007 - will not be a Holyday of
Obligation this year. This is due to the "Saturday / Monday"
mitigation of the rule about attending Mass on Holydays. 01 JANUARY ASCENSION
THURSDAY 15 AUGUST 01 NOVEMBER 08 DECEMBER 25 DECEMBER |
IN ADDITION TO THE 27 PROPOSALS that were passed by the Synod and enacted by the Bishop and are now known as Statutes, there were a great many other proposals that did not become statutes and, in fact, never got out of committee. We were able to rescue some of these before they were placed in the shredder. We have deposited them in a hermetically sealed mayonnaise jar and plan to submit (re-submit) them in due time to the Third Synod of the Diocese of Allentown. Here are two of these non-statutes:
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CLEANLINESS IS NEXT TO YOU
KNOW WHAT Maybe this will not be as funny to the reader as it is to me. Maybe the humor was only in the moment and is not transferable via the printed word. Be that as it may, I'll tell you my funny little story. As most readers know, it is the custom on weekends for the priest who is celebrating the Mass to make "the grand entrance". At St. Joseph's, this means he enters the main body of the church via the baptistery, goes down the side aisle, then up the center aisle to the altar. In the baptistery there is a door that leads into a public bathroom. A couple of Sundays ago, I was all vested and, together with the servers and the lector, was about to start processing down the side aisle. Just as the organ played the opening bars of the processional hymn, the bathroom door opened and out popped a little girl. She was about six years old and very cute. Obviously startled to bump into me, she gave me that deer-in-the-headlights look. I looked at her and, without cracking a smile, said the first thing that came into my head. In my most official voice, I said, "Did you remember to wash your hands?" She inhaled sharply and said, "Oh! I forgot!" and ran right back into the bathroom where, I think it is safe to say, she washed her hands. It would have been entirely imprudent of me to pursue the matter any further, besides which I had to start Mass. It occurred to me that this might have been the first time in the almost-2000 year history of the Catholic Church that a priest, while fully vested, ever sent a little girl back into the bathroom to wash her hands! I leave you with this statistic that I just invented: Did you know that 87.19% of American children between the ages of 4 and 13 do not wash their hands after using the bathroom unless some adult checks up on them? Doesn't that give you pause? Isn't that borderline ghastly? Think about it the next time some little kid offers to share his or her candy with you. |
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MELVIN W. VIDAL Sr. started working for St. Joseph Parish as custodian
/ maintenance man / janitor / sexton on 14 May 1984. Father Leo J. Houseknecht, sixth pastor of
the parish, hired him. When the seventh pastor, yours truly,
arrived on 19 June 1986, Mr. Vidal was already well familiar with the
territory. This was very much to my advantage. I have no mechanical
skills that I'm aware of and was happy that there was a competent
man already on the job to take care of the "infrastructure".
The secretaries who were working for St. Joseph Parish at that
time were Angie Deramo and Debbie McDonald. They told me what
a fine man Mel Vidal was. It didn't take long for me to find
that out for myself. All of this is preface to announcing that Mel Vidal has decided to retire. Friday, 22 December 2006, was his final day on the job at St. Joseph's. He had given me plenty of advance notice about his intention to retire, but I had a banana in my ear. I could have sworn, when I came here in 1986, that Mel was 19 years old. Because I've been here a bit more than 20 years, I figured that Mel was now about 39 years old. He tells me otherwise. He claims that he will be 65 years old on 1 Jan 2007. I find that hard to believe, but he has the papers to prove it! I am still going to try to persuade Mel to come back to work here, at least on a part-time basis. I'll give him a couple of weeks, during which he can get on Marlene's nerves and then I'll suggest that he come back. Maybe I'll offer him a title like "parish engineer" or "physical property consultant". That might do the trick! Meanwhile let me say a few things that I don't often get the opportunity to say: Mel Vidal is one of the finest men I know. He has done more good for St. Joseph Parish than most people will ever know. He is very bright - a practical intelligence that has sometimes amazed me. He is absolutely honest, truthful and loyal, a man of integrity, a man of his word. I would trust him with my money and my life - and even with my wife, if I had one! Mel is semper fidelis - an ex-Marine who is still a Marine. St. Joseph Parish got a bargain when it got Mel Vidal. We hate to see him go, but we wish him well in all his endeavors. The principal love of Mel's life is his wife, Marlene. After Marlene come his five kids and nine grandchildren. We're glad Mel will have more time now to work at being a grandfather. May God bless and protect Mel Vidal and all the members of his family. |
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SAINT FRANCIS deSALES CHURCH Saturday, 23 DecemberVigil of Sunday 6:00 p.m. - DOMINICK J. D'ALESSANDRO Jr. by John and Diana Consugar Sunday, 24 December4th Sunday of Advent 9:15 a.m. - MIKE and CATHERINE DOMBROWNY by their daughter, Nancy 12:15 p.m. - SEVILLE TODD by her friend, Rose M. Matta Vigil of Christmas 6:00 p.m. - PARISHIONERS: StJosPar / StFdSPar by EBC Monday, 25 DecemberChristmas: The Nativity of the Lord 9:15 a.m. - EUGENE J. REHNERT (7th anniversary) by his wife, Rita 12:15 p.m. - WILLIAM J. McGOVERN (45th anniversary) by bequest Friday, 29 DecemberLate Advent Weekday 10:00 a.m. - Rev. JOSEPH ZALOTAY by EBC Saturday, 30 DecemberVigil of Holy Family Sunday 6:00 p.m. - In Thanksgiving to SAINT LUCY by Ron and JoAnne Sunday, 31 DecemberHoly Family Sunday 9:15 a.m. - ESTELLE WEINER PURCELL by John and Susan McCord 12:15 p.m. - FRANCIS and PAULINE CONNOLLY by their son, Edward |