Saturday, 10 March
Vigil of Sunday
4:30 p.m. - ANTHONY J. LUPPINO
by Mary N. Prestileo

Sunday, 11 March
3rd Sunday of Lent
7:45 a.m. - LUIGI and LYDIA (Giordano) MACCARONE
by their daughter, Nancy Maccarone King, and family
10:45 a.m. - DOMENICO and ANTONIA MERCURI
by M/M Santo Mercuri

Monday, 12 March
Lenten Weekday
12:05 p.m. - SPECIAL INTENTION
(through the intercession of St. Francis Xavier)
by the Weidner family

Tuesday, 13 March
Lenten Weekday
12:05 p.m. - SPECIAL INTENTION
(through the intercession of St. Francis Xavier)
by the Weidner family
7:00 p.m. - JESSE and ELIZABETH KRIZNO
by Mary A. Luppino

Wednesday, 14 March
Lenten Weekday
12:05 p.m. - THOMAS J. FEELEY
by his sister, Patty Feeley Garland

Thursday, 15 March
Lenten Weekday
12:05 p.m. - RITA MONTI CHILLEMI (4th anniversary) by her husband, Pasquale, and family
7:00 p.m. - MARGARET HOBAN O'BRIEN
by her niece, Margaret, and her nephew-in-law, Henry Eckley

Friday, 16 March
Lenten Weekday
12:05 p.m. - SPECIAL INTENTION
(through the intercession of St. Francis Xavier)
by the Weidner family

Saturday, 17 March
St. Patrick, bishop (OptMem)
8:00 a.m. - SPECIAL INTENTION
(through the intercession of St. Francis Xavier)
by the Weidner family
Vigil of Sunday
4:30 p.m. - DENNIS and ANNA WEISS
by their son and their daughter-in-law, John and Frances Weiss

Sunday, 18 March
4th Sunday of Lent
7:45 a.m. - JOSEPH and MARTHA (Mitchell) FLYNN
by Albert and Martha Pascuzzo and family
10:45 a.m. - CATHERINE CARESTIA RINALDO (3rd anniversary)
by Theresa Mete Cuccia

 

Saint Joseph Parish
$1,791.00 from the envelopes and $118.00 from the plate. Thank you.
When one deducts from the sum of these two figures, $1,909.00 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 $413.74 of this collection is available for operating the parish.

Saint Francis deSales Parish
$159.00 from the envelopes and $155.35 from the plate. Thank you.
When one deducts from the sum of these two figures, $314.35 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 $253.25, plus its weekly obligation to All Saints School, $197.44, the sum total of which is $309.31, one sees that $5.04 of this collection is available for operating the parish.

Where?       Immaculate Conception Parish Hall
                    1 E. Caroline Avenue, St. Clair
When?        Sunday, 18 March
Time?         8:00 to 11:30 a.m.
Price?         $5.00 for adults and children 8 years old and older  $2.00 for children under 8
Take-outs? Yes!

HAVE YOU EVER SEEN ADVERTISEMENTS put out by schools in which the pitch is something similar to the following?

If I were a parent, I would deliberately avoid enrolling my child in a school in which the administration claims that each of its students is special.
My reason would be this: My (hypothetical) child would not fit in. Why? Because my (hypothetical) child is NOT special. He or she is an individual member of the species known as homo sapiens sapiens. However, he or she is certainly not the whole species. I want my child to be confident and competent but not egocentric.
Homo sapiens sapiens is certainly special, but the individual members are not special. How could they possibly be special? The concept is absurd.
One of the great problems with the human race - more so today than ever in the history of our species - is that too many individual members of the species consider themselves unique, autonomous, laws unto themselves. In other words, they consider themselves special.
This is an outcome of the self-esteem movement that permeates public education and - I tremble to say it - many private schools as well, not excluding some Catholic schools.
When it comes to being special, angels are special. Thomas Aquinas tells us that each individual angel is a species unto himself. This is one reason why angels don't reproduce their kind. There is no reason for any angel to reproduce, nor is there any mechanism for him to do so. Each individual angel exhausts all the possibilities for its species. Therefore, it is certainly true that angels are special.
But not so human beings.
If you think about it, the homosexual rights movement, the abortion-rights movement, the cohabitation phenomenon, the contraceptive mentality - all of these have something in common with the every-child-a-special-child mindset.
All of them are based on the belief that human beings are exempt from any obligation to conform to any kind of natural law or "law of the species".
We must surrender our illusion of being "special" if we hope to enter the Kingdom of God. Best not to buy into the illusion in the first place!
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N.B. Just for the sake of clarity: The above does not in any way refer to schools that use the term "special education" or "special-needs children". That use of the word "special" is an entirely different matter.

THE FOLLOWING ITEM appeared in a recent edition of the Pottsville Republican, in the Thunder / Enlightening section. I think it deserves a re-run in our parish bulletin.
God knows, we can all use a good laugh:

Here is my (tentative) reply:

Dear Ringtown:
You will never know the depth of my gratitude - and that of my fellow priests - towards you for sending these interesting suggestions our way.
And perhaps it is better that you never know.
If you have any additional suggestions to toss into the hopper, please be certain that we priests will give them the consideration they deserve.
I ask God's blessing on the pastor of Ringtown. Obviously, he has a special cross to carry. I am referring, of course, to you!
EBC

EX ORE INFANTIUM

St. Thomas Aquinas

Aidan Dwyer is a lad of tender years. He has not yet observed his third birthday. Therefore, one could hardly expect that he has meditated often or deeply on John, chapter six.
Nevertheless, he exclaimed to one and all at the 4:30 p.m. Mass at St. Joseph Church, on Saturday, 24 February 2007, the following profundity: "I want to eat Jesus!"
We presume that little Aidan was speaking in the Spirit.
Doctor Thomas Aquinas is quite proud of him!
The exact context of this proclamation of Catholic Faith was this: Aidan's grandmother, Barbara Halcovage, was kneeling at the rail, just about to receive Holy Communion. Aidan was standing next to her. Having given Communion to Barbara, the priest extended his thumb towards the lad in order to trace the sign of the cross on his precocious little skull.
Apparently, Aidan felt that the priest was patronizing him and that he (Aidan) was being made a victim of age discrimination. So, he stomped his foot and uttered the sentence cited above.
Someone said that this incident should be written down, so that it could be included in the portfolio submitted to the Holy See, if and when the Servant of God Aidan Dwyer comes up for canonization.
Please consider this bulletin article to be the official record of the event.

IT WAS INEVITABLE. Nonetheless, it was sad. Mother General lay dying. She was 107 years old and had been Mother General for the past 57 years. She had come to this country from Ireland as a young Sister and had helped to establish the community here in the United States.
She had worked hard and prayed hard all of her life.
Even when she was in her late nineties, she was able to roll up her sleeves, put on her apron and go out into the fields with the younger members of the community in order to pick the potatoes, toss the hay and tend to the livestock.
Now she was dying.
The nuns gathered around her bed trying to make her as comfortable as possible.
The priest had already been there to give her the last rites.
The nuns gave Mother some warm milk to drink but she refused.
"Mother" they said anxiously, "please drink at least a wee bit. You need the nourishment!"
Then one of the nuns had a thought. She took the glass back to the kitchen. Remembering a bottle of Irish whiskey that they kept in the cabinet for medicinal purposes, Sister opened it and poured a generous amount into the warm milk.
Returning to Mother General's bedside, Sister held the glass to her lips. Mother drank a little, then a little more and then a little more and - glory be to St. Patrick! - before they knew it, she had drunk the whole glass down to the last drop.
"Mother," the Sisters asked her, with tears streaming down their faces, "do you have any final instructions or words of wisdom for us before you go back to the dear Lord?"
Mother raised herself up and, with eyes lifted to heaven, said, "Sisters, don't sell that cow!"

There are some Catholic kids (and, God help us, some Catholic adults) who don't have the foggiest idea what is meant by "the Stations of the Cross" or by "Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament".
To be a Catholic and to be unacquainted with the Stations of the Cross and / or with Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament is terribly, terribly sad.
Here is a solution: Please invite some "marginal Catholic" kid or adult to accompany you to Stations of the Cross. The person you invite doesn't even have to be a Catholic. If you can manage to get a Protestant adult or child to attend, more power to you!
Making people aware of God and / or intensifying their awareness is a magnificent good deed!