Saturday, 21 July
Vigil of Sunday
4:30 p.m. - ANTHONY J. LUPPINO
by Joseph and Ann Marie Souchak

Sunday, 22 July
16th Sunday in Ordinary Time
7:45 a.m. - LILLIAN MUNSTER NICOLO
by the StJosPar Women's Guild
10:45 a.m. - RYAN A. WALTERS
by his family

Monday, 23 July
St. Bridget of Sweden, religious (OptMem)
12:05 p.m. - MARCIA MILANES RODRIGUEZ and MIGUEL MERCADO MILANES
by John J. Krizno

Tuesday, 24 July
St. Sharbel Makluf, priest (OptMem)
12:05 p.m. - GLORIA HRIBICK
by Salvatore and Mary Modesto
7:00 p.m. - JOSEPH A. FABIANI
by his wife, Johanne, and family

Wednesday, 25 July
St. James Bar Zebedee, apostle (Fst)
12:05 p.m. - ALEX FANOK, Sr.
by his daughter, Mary, and his grandson, Harry

Thursday,26 July
SS. Joachim and Anne, parents of Mary (OblMem)
12:05 p.m. - ANN DEMYANOVICH
by Salvatore and Mary Modesto
7:00 p.m. - DECEASED: TROILO FAMILY
by Carmella Evolo Palko

Friday, 27 July
Weekday
12:05 p.m. - RONI J. KEVY
by Chester and Maria Bartush

Saturday, 28 July
Weekday
8:00 a.m. - ARTHUR B. WHITNEY
by Michael and Catherine
Vigil of Sunday
4:30 p.m. - MARIE ELAINE LUPPINO
by Roman and Marie Tymczyszyn

Sunday, 29 July
17th Sunday in Ordinary Time
7:45 a.m. - DECEASED: GENOVESE FAMILY
by Mary and family
10:45 a.m. - MARGARET McDONALD DEE
by Kitty Owens DiCello

Saint Joseph Parish
$1,358.00 from the envelopes and $165.00 from the plate. Thank you.
When one deducts from the sum of these two figures, $1,523.00 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 $1,511.25, one sees that ($11.85) of this collection is available for operating the parish.

Saint Francis deSales Parish
$162.00 from the envelopes and $96.75 from the plate. Thank you.
When one deducts from the sum of these two figures, $258.75 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 ($36.28) of this collection is available for operating the parish. This is a deficit!

We received the following information from the Diocese of Cologne, Germany, with the request that we record it in our baptismal register. We have recorded it and are reprinting it here for the information of friends and relatives of Justin. We remember Justin from the time he and his brothers were altar boys here at St. Joseph Church.

Justin Jonathan Joy, baptized at St. Joseph Church, Pottsville, on 20 May 1977, married Dagmara Janina Nietecka on 23 June 2007 in St. Martin Church, Solingen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, in the presence of Fr. Bogdan Renusz.

Congratulations to Justin and Dagmara. May God bless them and keep them in His love!

EXPLANATION OF WHAT FOLLOWS, I.E. ON PAGES 7, 8 AND 9.
On 29 June 07, Pope Benedict ratified a document issued by the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
This document has created quite a stir.
It is important that we understand it.
I have taken the liberty of printing an edited version of the document on pages 7, 8 and 9 of this bulletin. The editing is my own. I take responsibility for it. I edited it simply in order to make it easy for my parishioners to read what I think are the essential points of the document. The full unedited document is easily accessible on the Web. You can find it on the Vatican website, the EWTN website and a good many other sites. I encourage you to read it.
Here is the heart of the matter as I understand it:
The Catholic Church is the Church that was founded by Jesus Christ.
There is one and only one Church.
The Catholic Church is that one and only one Church.
There is no Church other than the Catholic Church.
Within the Catholic Church, there are many individual (particular) churches.
These individual (particular) churches are what are commonly known as "dioceses".
A diocese of the Church is a stable body of Christians with true priesthood and Eucharist, which is headed by a bishop who is in apostolic succession. As such, it is a "particular church".
The Catholic Church recognizes that the various dioceses and synods of Orthodox Christians are particular churches. This is because Orthodox Christians have retained the true priesthood and the true Eucharist and because their bishops are in the apostolic succession. However, the Orthodox particular churches are wounded because they are not in communion with the Bishop of Rome.
The Catholic Church cannot recognize the various Anglican and Protestant congregations of Christians as particular churches, because they lack true priesthood and Eucharist and because they are not headed by bishops who are in apostolic succession. Although they may use the word "church" to refer to themselves, they are not truly "church". More properly, they are "ecclesial communities". This is not to say that the various Anglican and Protestant congregations are devoid of all of the means of salvation. Many, perhaps all, of these groups retain some of the means of salvation - e.g. Baptism, the Scriptures, belief in the Holy Trinity, belief in the Incarnation and Redemption - that are found in their fullness in the Catholic Church. The Spirit of Christ has not refrained from using these means of salvation in order to bring about salvation.

It is true, always has been true and always will be true that the Catholic Church and only the Catholic Church is the One True Church founded by Jesus Christ for the salvation of the human race. It is the will of God that all Orthodox and Protestant Christians should return to Catholic unity.

FIRST QUESTION
Did the Second Vatican Council change the Catholic doctrine on the Church?
RESPONSE
No. The Second Vatican Council neither changed nor intended to change this doctrine. Rather, it developed, deepened and more fully explained it.
What the Church has taught down through the centuries, we also teach. In simple terms that which was assumed, is now explicit; that which was uncertain, is now clarified; that which was meditated upon, discussed and sometimes argued over, is now put together in one clear formulation".
SECOND QUESTION
What is the meaning of the affirmation that the Church of Christ "subsists" in the Catholic Church?
RESPONSE
Christ "established here on earth" only one Church and instituted it as a "visible and spiritual community" that from its beginning and throughout the centuries has always existed and will always exist, and in which alone are found all the elements that Christ himself instituted. This one Church of Christ, which we confess in the Creed as one, holy, catholic and apostolic, this Church, constituted and organized in this world as a society, subsists in the Catholic Church, governed by the successor of Peter and the Bishops in communion with him".
It is possible, according to Catholic doctrine, to affirm correctly that the Church of Christ is present and operative in the churches and ecclesial communities not yet fully in communion with the Catholic Church, because of the elements of sanctification and truth that are present in them.
Nevertheless, the word "subsists" can be attributed only to the Catholic Church and to the Catholic Church alone.

constitutive principles, these venerable Christian communities lack something in their condition as particular churches.
On the other hand, because of the division between Christians, the fullness of universality, which is proper to the Church governed by the Successor of Peter and the Bishops in communion with him, is not fully realized in history.
FIFTH QUESTION
Why do the texts of the Council and those of the Magisterium since the Council not use the title of "Church" with regard to those Christian Communities born out of the Reformation of the sixteenth century?
RESPONSE
According to Catholic doctrine, these communities do not enjoy apostolic succession in the sacrament of Orders, and are, therefore, deprived of a constitutive element of the Church. These ecclesial communities which, specifically because of the absence of the sacramental priesthood, have not preserved the genuine and integral substance of the Eucharistic Mystery, cannot, according to Catholic doctrine, be called "Churches" in the proper sense.

The Supreme Pontiff Benedict XVI, at the Audience granted to the undersigned Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, ratified and confirmed these Responses, adopted in the Plenary Session of the Congregation, and ordered their publication.

Rome, from the Offices of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, June 29, 2007, the Solemnity of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul.

William Cardinal Levada
Prefect

Angelo Amato, S.D.B.
Titular Archbishop of Sila
Secretary

OUR LADY OF THE HINDUS

A few weeks ago - Monday, 2 July, to be exact - I decided to take a couple of hours in the evening, while it was still light, in order to pay a visit to a site in Schuylkill County that I had not previously visited.
I drove down 183S, then out 895W to the site of the VRAJ, the mailing address of which is 15 Manor Road, Schuylkill Haven.
I parked in their parking lot and walked around the facility.
I greeted various and sundry persons, all of whom seemed to be of Indian or South Asian ethnicity. As far as I could see, I was the only non-Hindu there at the time. I did not initiate conversation with anyone, nor did anyone initiate conversation with me. This was fine with me. I was not there for conversation, just for looking and observing.
The following paragraph is taken from the VRAJ website:

VRAJ, an Institute of Indian Heritage, is a prominent Religious-Spiritual-Social-Cultural center for all Hindus in addition to being the foremost bastion of PushtiBhaktiMarg (Hinduism's Path of 'Bliss through Love-Devotion') in the Western World. Hindus of all faiths come to experience not only the spiritual serenity uniquely bestowed over VRAJ, but also to celebrate their cultural and social events.

This VRAJ is a place of gathering for Hindus, in particular for those Hindus who are devoted to the god who is known as Shri Nathji.
Shri Nathji is a manifestation of the god Krishna.
Krishna is a manifestation of Vishnu.
There is an image of Shri Nathji kept in the temple of the VRAJ.
Hindus believe that this image is more than a mere image, that it is the god himself and that devotion to the image is devotion to the god.
After walking around the entire facility, I decided to conclude my visit by sitting on one of the benches that lines the lake that is on the property. I watched the geese for a while and then I said the Rosary. I invented a new title for Mary. I called her "Our Lady of the Hindus". I prayed to her that she would intercede with her divine Son for all the people who worship at the VRAJ and that she would draw them all to Him.

VERBUM SAT
It was not too long ago that Pottsville did not have its own facility for professional tattoos and body piercing.
Residents of Pottsville who wanted tattoos and body piercings had to go elsewhere for these services.
I'm not sure exactly where they went. I presume to some establishment in the Reading area - perhaps closer. I'm not well informed in these matters.
Then, about a year or so ago, one opened up on Centre Street.
I remember thinking at the time that this was a rather ominous event. I was hoping that, like a lot of store-front businesses that open up in Pottsville, it would wither for want of trade and soon close up.
Apparently not! It's still there and I would hazard a guess that it will remain there for a while.
I say that because I notice that another tattoo and body-piercing establishment has opened up on 2nd Street.
Apparently the tattoo / piercing business is picking up, if not booming!

And, of course, here we are in the midst of discussions about closing churches. It's not even a question about whether churches will be closed. It is simply a question of which churches and when.
Some already have it figured out and are just waiting for the obvious to become official.
Jesus told us that we should be able to read the signs of the times.
The exterior tells us a lot about the interior.
Things that can be seen tell us a lot about things that cannot be seen.
When churches decrease and tattoo / body- piercing parlors increase, what does this tell us about ourselves and about Pottsville?

As it was in Noah's day, so will it be when the Son of Man comes. For in those days before the Flood, people were eating, drinking, taking wives, taking husbands, right up to the day Noah went into the ark, and they suspected nothing till the Flood came and swept all away. Mt 24, 37-39 (JB)