Saturday, 24 November
Vigil of Christ the King
4:30 p.m. - WILLIAM HARMAN
by Mary Harman Luppino

Sunday, 25 November
Christ the King
7:45 a.m. - CONCETTA DiLAZZARO
by Harry and Rosa Lilley
10:45 a.m. - RYAN A. WALTERS
by Julia, Marie and Rose

Monday, 26 November
Weekday
12:05 p.m. - God's Blessings on JULIAN and MARY (Nicastro) CHIPLONIA (47th wedding anniversary)
by their family

Tuesday, 27 November
Weekday
12:05 p.m. - RACHEL ANN SNINSKI
by her family
7:00 p.m. - JESSE and ELIZABETH KRIZNO (55th anniversary of wedding)
by their children: Mary Ann, Joseph and John

Wednesday, 28 November
Weekday
12:05 p.m. - ANDREW J. LUCAS
by Michael and Catherine

Thursday, 29 November
Weekday
12:05 p.m. - MARY TAMBURELLI HILBERT
by Joseph T. Cescon and family
7:00 p.m. - God's Blessings on NORMA MERCADO
by John J. Krizno

Friday, 30 November
St. Andrew, apostle (Fst)
12:05 p.m. - ED and NANCY COOK
by their cousin, Patti Feeley Garland

Saturday, 01 December
Weekday
8:00 a.m. - Intentions of THIRD ORDER CARMELITES
by the TOC community
Vigil of Sunday
4:30 p.m. - SAMUEL J. SPLEEN (10th anniversary)
by his wife, Lee

Sunday, 02 December
First Sunday of Advent
7:45 a.m. - ARTHUR B. WHITNEY
by Michael and Catherine
10:45 a.m. - STEPHEN CHALINSKY
by his family

Saint Joseph Parish
$1,425.00 from the envelopes and $135.00 from the plate. Thank you.
When one deducts from the sum of these two figures, $1,560.00 the parish's weekly financial obligation to the Diocese, i.e. assessments, $410.08 plus the weekly premiums for property and liability insurance, $160.01, the sum of which is $570.09, plus its weekly obligation to All Saints School, $941.06 the sum total of which is $1,511.15, one sees that $48.85 of this collection is available for operating the parish.

Saint Francis deSales Parish
$128.00 from the envelopes and $90.00 from the plate. Thank you.
When one deducts from the sum of these two figures, $218.00 the parish's weekly financial obligation to the Diocese, i.e. assessments, $46.15 plus the weekly premiums for property and liability insurance, $60.67, the sum of which is $106.82, plus its weekly obligation to All Saints School, $188.21, the sum total of which is $295.03, one sees that ($77.03) of this collection is available for operating the parish. This is a defecit!

THE SANCTUARY LAMP at St. Joseph Church is offered, during the week of 25 November - 01 Dec, in loving memoery of Elanore B. Tegano Folino, at the request of her husbanf, Jack.

QUESTION
How many Popes named Benedict have there been in the history of the Catholic Church? Include our present Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, in your calculation.
The first person - and only the first - to call St. Joseph Rectory [622-3081] with the correct answer will win a free December lottery calendar!
Call no later than Monday, 19 November, at 3:00 p.m. If you get the answering machine, leave your name, telephone number and answer.

The above was in last weekend's bulletin. And we are happy to say that WE HAVE A WINNER!
May I have the envelope, please? Thank you very much.
And the winner is: MARY HARMAN LUPPINO!
She was the first one to call in the correct answer.
The correct answer is FIFTEEN (15). This (admittedly) offends one's sense of logic. One is inclined to say, "Well, if Joseph Ratzinger took the name 'Benedict XVI', one would think that he is the sixteenth pope named Benedict! Where am I going wrong?". We're glad you asked! So, here's the story. There was a guy named John Mincius who contrived to get himself elected pope in 1058. John called himself "Pope Benedict X".
However, his election had been fraudulent and invalid. He was deposed in 1059 by the validly elected Pope Nicholas II.
Benedict X is classified as an Antipope. An antipope is to a pope what antimatter is to matter or antifreeze is to freeze (or something like that).
The next pope to take the name "Benedict" was Nicholas Boccasini. He could have saved us all a lot of confusion if he had just called himself "Benedict X", but he didn't. He called himself "Benedict XI". That's how the count of Benedicts got thrown off kilter. This Benedict died only nine months after his election. He reigned from October 1303 to July 1304.
And now you know!
One free December lottery calendar has gone to Mrs. Luppino!

Prisión Provincial. Jaén, 1 de octubre de 1936.

Maruja del alma:

Tu recuerdo me acompañará a la tumba y mientras haya un latido en mi corazón, éste palpitará en cariño hacia ti. Dios ha querido sublimar estos afectos terrenales, ennobleciéndolos cuando los amamos en Él.

Por eso, aunque en mis últimos días Dios es mi lumbrera y mi anhelo, no impide que el recuerdo de la persona más querida me acompañe hasta la hora de la muerte.

Estoy asistido por muchos sacerdotes que, cual bálsamo benéfico, van derramando los tesoros de la Gracia dentro de mi alma, fortificándola; miro la muerte de cara y en verdad te digo que ni me asusta ni la temo.

Mi sentencia en el tribunal de los hombres será mi mayor defensa ante el Tribunal de Dios; ellos, al querer denigrarme, me han ennoblecido; al querer sentenciarme, me han absuelto, y al intentar perderme, me han salvado. ¿Me entiendes? ¡Claro está! Puesto que al matarme me dan la verdadera vida y al condenarme por defender siempre los altos ideales de Religión, Patria y Familia, me abren de para en par las puertas de los cielos.

Mis restos serán inhumados en un nicho de este cementerio de Jaén; cuando me quedan pocas horas para el definitivo reposo, sólo quiero pedirte una cosa: que en recuerdo del amor que nos tuvimos, y que en este instante se acrecienta, atiendas como objetivo principal a la salvación de tu alma, porque de esa manera conseguiremos reunirnos en el cielo para toda la eternidad, donde nada nos separará.

¡Hasta entonces, pues, Maruja de mi alma! No olvides que desde el cielo te miro, y procura ser modelo de mujeres cristianas, pues al final de la partida, de nada sirven los bienes y goces terrenales, si no acertamos a salvar el alma.

Un pensamiento de reconocimiento para toda tu familia, y para ti todo mi amor sublimado en las horas de la muerte. No me olvides, Maruja mía, y que mi recuerdo te sirva siempre para tener presente que existe otra vida mejor, y que el conseguirla debe ser la máxima aspiración.

Sé fuerte y rehace tu vida, eres joven y buena, y tendrás la ayuda de Dios que yo imploraré desde su Reino. Hasta la eternidad, pues, donde continuaremos amándonos por los siglos de los siglos.

Bartolomé

Provincial prison of Jaen, Oct. 1, 1936

My dearest Maruja:

Your memory will remain with me to the grave and, as long as the slightest throb stirs my heart, it will beat for love of you. God has deemed fit to sublimate these worldly affections, ennobling them when we love each other in him.

Though in my final days, God is my light and what I long for, this does not mean that the recollection of the one dearest to me will not accompany me until the hour of my death.

I am assisted by many priests who -- what a sweet comfort -- pour out the treasures of grace into my soul, strengthening it. I look death in the eye and, believe my words, it does not daunt me or make me afraid.

My sentence before the court of mankind will be my soundest defense before God's court; in their effort to revile me, they have ennobled me; in trying to sentence me, they have absolved me, and by attempting to lose me, they have saved me. Do you see what I mean? Why, of course! Because in killing me, they grant me true life and in condemning me for always upholding the highest ideals of religion, country and family, they swing open before me the doors of heaven.

My body will be buried in a grave in this cemetery of Jaen; while I am left with only a few hours before that definitive repose, allow me to ask but one thing of you: that in memory of the love we shared, which at this moment is enhanced, that you would take on as your primary objective the salvation of your soul. In that way, we will procure our reuniting in heaven for all eternity, where nothing will separate us.

Goodbye, until that moment, then, dearest Maruja! Do not forget that I am looking at you from heaven, and try to be a model Christian woman, since, in the end, worldly goods and delights are of no avail if we do not manage to save our souls.

My thoughts of gratitude to all your family and, for you, all my love, sublimated in the hours of death. Do not forget me, my Maruja, and let my memory always remind you there is a better life, and that attaining it should constitute our highest aspiration.

Be strong and make a new life; you are young and kind, and you will have God's help, which I will implore upon you from his kingdom. Goodbye, until eternity, then, when we shall continue to love each other for life everlasting.

Bartolomé

WHO IS BLESSED BARTOLOME?

Bartolome Blanco Marquez was born in Pozoblanco, Cordoba, Spain on 25 November 1914.

Orphaned as a child, he was raised by his aunt and uncle and worked as a chair maker. He was an outstanding student at the Salesian school of Pozoblanco and also helped out as a catechist. At the age of 18 he was elected secretary of a youth division of Catholic Action in Pozoblanco.

He was imprisoned in that city on 18 August 1936, when he was on leave from military service. On 24 September 1936, he was moved to a prison in Jaen, where he was held with fifteen priests and other laymen. There he was judged, condemned to death and shot on 2 October 1936.

During his trial, Bartolome remained true to his faith and his religious convictions. He did not protest his death sentence and told the court that if he lived he would continue being an active Catholic.
The letters he wrote on the eve of his death to his family and to his girlfriend Maruja show his profound faith.

"May this be my last will: forgiveness, forgiveness, forgiveness; but indulgence, which I wish to be accompanied by doing them as much good as possible. Therefore, I ask you to avenge me with the vengeance of a Christian: returning much good to those that have tried to do me evil," he wrote to his relatives.

On the day of his execution he left his cell barefoot, in order to be more conformed to Christ. He kissed his handcuffs, surprising the guards that cuffed him. He refused to be shot from behind. "Whoever dies for Christ should do so facing forward and standing straight."

"Long live Christ the King!" he shouted as he fell to the ground under a shower of bullets.

The following items are taken from
THUNDER / ENLIGHTNING, a call-and-tell-us-what's-on-your-mind feature of the 22 November 07 edition of the Pottsville Republican & Herald. The comments did not appear in the newspaper. They are my responsibility.

To the Catholics of Schuylkill County: Our ancestors did not come here and put all that hard work into building our churches just to have them closed down a hundred years later. The diocese has plenty of money and, as the Saint Clair caller said, there are enough priests in Africa and Poland to help us. There is no reason to close our churches. Write or call the bishop and let him know we care about our parishes and want them open.
Frackville

Comment
There is a certain law of cause and effect that applies here. Call it "karma" if you will. You see, it's like this. (a) It just so happens that there are not sufficient priests available to the Bishop for him to continue to assign to the many small communities (parishes) of the faithful. The Bishop knows that persons must take priority over parishes! (b) There is not enough money to sustain all the buildings that are required in order that the faithful might continue to be served in small communities (parishes).

Let's talk about (a).
While it is true that bishops ordain men priests, bishops do not provide the raw material, viz. the men - to be more specific, the chaste men who have deep Catholic faith and are willing to undertake a lifetime commitment to serve as priests. Where do such men come from? Well, they start out as boys, obviously. They start out as boys who, for the most part, were born to Catholic husbands and wives who live in faithful and permanent marital union, who practice marital chastity (no artificial contraception), who go to Mass every Sunday and holyday of obligation (and other times as well), who are known to pray at home, whose children are their principal treasure and who see to it that the children receive a strong religious education. We don't have enough priests because we don't have enough men of the kind described above because, in the past forty years or so, we haven't had enough boys of the kind described above because we didn't have enough Catholic married couples of the kind described above.
Someone might say that the priests and bishops share the blame for this because so many of the priests and bishops have been afraid to tell the people that artificial contraception is a mortal sin. If Someone were to say this, it is just possible that Someone might be correct.
So, you see how the Karma kicks in here, not to mention the irony.

Now, let's talk about (b):
First of all, it's stupid to say the diocese "has plenty of money". Anyone who says this should be sent to bed without his supper. We must not listen to people who talk stupid. Such people are windbags. Always remember that having "plenty of money" is always relative to one's financial obligations.
The money the diocese has comes from the parishes. The money the parishes have comes from the people. With all due respect and allowing for some individual exceptions, the level of generosity of our Catholic parishioners leaves something to be desired.

Something must be done about the cemeteries in the Heights. Dogs are running all over the place and on the graves. Either the police have to enforce this or the priests have to do something about this. It is getting out of control.
Shenandoah Heights

Comment
I suggest that you call Monsignor Bocian. Like all parish priests, he is always looking for things to do to occupy his time. He will be happy to chase the dogs from the cemetery if you let him know. The optimum time to call him on matters canine would be between 2:00 and 5:00 a.m. If, for any reason, Monsignor is not available for riding out to chase the hounds, maybe you could get some of the previous caller's African or Polish priests to do it. It would be a good way to break them into pastoral ministry.
By the way, why should either the police or the priests have to chase dogs? Is there not some animal-control officer who serves the Heights?

PRAYER OF PETITION IN PREPARATION FOR CHRISTMAS

Hail and blessed be the hour and moment
in which the Son of God was born of the most pure Virgin Mary,
at midnight,
in Bethlehem,
in piercing cold.
In that hour, vouchsafe, O my God,
to hear my prayer and grant my desires,
through the merits of Our Savior, Jesus Christ
and of His Blessed Mother.
Amen.

It is piously believed that whoever recites the above prayer fifteen times a day from the feast of Saint Andrew (30 November) until Christmas will obtain what is asked. With this in mind, I encourage anyone who reads this bulletin to pray this prayer as recommended above and to have some particular intention or intentions in mind. We who know God are not uncomfortable asking Him for favors, while at the same time we are not so superficial as to sit in judgment on God as to whether or not we think He has responded appropriately to our petition. He is God. He will do as He sees fit. At the same time, He is our Father. He will do what is best for us. [EBC]