Saturday, 28 July
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

Monday, 30 July
St. Peter Chrysologus, bishop, doctor (OptMem)
12:05 p.m. - ANGELINE C. MELOCHICK
by Joseph T. Cescon and family

Tuesday, 31 July
St. Ignatius of Loyola, priest, (OblMem)
12:05 p.m. - H. ROBERT PICCIONI Sr.
by Julian and Mary Chiplonia and family
7:00 p.m. - EVELYN DRUCKER ZIEGLER
by Harry and Rosa Lilley

Wednesday, 01 August
St. Alphonsus Liguori, bishop, doctor (OblMem)
12:05 p.m. - JOHN J. D'ALFONSO Jr. (40th anniversary)
by his family

Thursday,02 August
St. Eusebius of Vercelli, bishop (OptMem)
12:05 p.m. - ARTHUR B. WHITNEY
by Michael and Catherine
7:00 p.m. - GERALDINE M. FREILER
by Henry and Peggy Eckley

Friday, 03 August
St. Peter Julian Eymard, priest (OptMem)
12:05 p.m. - Rev. JOSEPH ZALOTAY
by EBC
6:15 p.m. - KARL A. ZELLER
by Mary ["Mimi"] Piccioni

Saturday, 04 August
St. John Mary Vianney, priest (OblMem)
8:00 a.m. - Intentions: THIRD ORDER CARMELITES
by the TOC community
Vigil of Sunday
4:30 p.m. - ANDREW J. FEELEY (31st anniversary)
by his daughter, Patty Feeley Garland

Sunday, 05 August
18th Sunday in Ordinary Time
7:45 a.m. - CAROL KREMER TAMBURELLI (9th anniversary)
by: her husband, Herb; her daughter, Danette; her grandsons, Ryan and Nicholas
10:45 a.m. - STEPHEN CHALINSKY
by the Cescon family

Saint Joseph Parish
$1,498.00 from the envelopes and $142.00 from the plate. Thank you.
When one deducts from the sum of these two figures, $1,640.00 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 ($128.85) of this collection is available for operating the parish.

Saint Francis deSales Parish
$136.00 from the envelopes and $80.30 from the plate. Thank you.
When one deducts from the sum of these two figures, $216.30 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 ($78.73) of this collection is available for operating the parish. This is a deficit!

Nativity BVM High School's Development Department will be holding a beach bonanza raffle to benefit the school.
The prize for the drawing will be a one-week stay during May, early June, mid-September or October 2008 in a beautiful, five-bedroom, three-bath beach house in a private gated community, one house off the beach with magnificent views of the ocean and bay in Bethany Beach, Delaware.
Tickets cost $20.00 each.
The drawing will be held at Nativity's Back-to-School Night on 10 September 2007.
Tickets are available at the school or you can ssend a request for tickets, together with a check made payable to Nativity High School to Nativity Development Office, One Lawtons hill, Pottsville PA 17901. A ticket stub will be mailed back to you.

My nominee for the Lord High Executioner's "little list" is Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV), the mother lode of moral hypocrisy in the US Senate.
Read the following outburst of oratory from the Senator delivered on the Senate floor on 19 July in response to the dog-fighting charges leveled against Michael Vick of the Atlanta Falcons. The Senator was wiping back tears and flailing his right hand as he orated:

God knows, I am no advocate of dog-fighting.
I wouldn't attend a dog fight if I got paid for it.
I think that dog fighting should be illegal.
Let the people who promote it be thrown into jail.
Let the canines who participate in it be thrown into the pound!
I believe that the promotion of dog-fighting is a sin because it causes needless pain to God's simple creatures, because it violates the duty of human beings to respect animals and, most of all, because it debases human dignity.
Having said all that, I wish to say - quite frankly - that dog-fighting ranks very low on my list of moral concerns, i.e. on my list of things I feel the need to get all hot and bothered about.
I'm much more concerned about human babies.

We would do well to know the following:

Senator Byrd voted NO on maintaining the ban on abortion on military bases.
Senator Byrd voted NO on banning human cloning.
Senator Byrd voted NO on establishing a criminal penalty for harming an unborn baby during other crime.

I wish that Senator Byrd, who weeps for dogs, would manage to squeeze out a tear or two for the human babies who are destroyed every day with his implied consent.
By the way, reporters noted that, when Senator Byrd had finished his emotional speech about dog-fighting, Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA), walked up to him and said, "Great speech, Bob!"

Bob and Ted deserve one another.
Whom the gods would destroy, they first drive insane!

I THOUGHT THIS WAS A BULLETIN-WORTHY ITEM.
This past week, one of the parish secretaries took $442.80 in checks, currency and coin to one of the local banks in order to deposit it in the St. Francis deSales Parish checking account.
There is no question that the amount was $442.80.
It had been counted at least three times before being put into the deposit bag.
When the secretary got back to the Rectory, she looked at the receipt given her by the teller.
The receipt was for $4,428.04.
She showed it to me.
The checking account number on the receipt was, indeed, the number that identifies StFdS Parish.
So, what did we do about it?
Well, what do you think we did about it?
We did what your mommy and daddy and my mommy and daddy would expect you and me to do!
We did the same thing you would have done if the bank had made a huge error in your favor!
We (i.e. the secretary) called the bank and pointed out the error to the teller!
And that, dear reader, is the end of the story!

Here is a prayer that was taught to me (and my fellow seminarians) by Fr. Tom Smith, the spiritual director of the seminary I attended.
It was one of Fr. Smith's favorite prayers.
He was one of the holiest persons I ever knew in my life.
That alone is sufficient recommendation for this prayer.

Dear Lord,
teach me to be generous:
To serve You the way You deserve to be served;
to give and not to count the cost;
to fight and not to heed the wounds;
to toil and not to seek for rest;
to labor and not to ask for any reward,
save that of knowing that I am doing Your Will.
Amen.

IN REGARD TO THE AFGHANS
Some persons don't listen attentively.
Some persons said that St. Joseph Parish is taking orders "from the Afghans".
Please understand: We are not taking orders from the Afghans.
Never did, aren't now and never shall!
We don't take orders from anyone except Pope Benedict and Bishop Cullen and, in matters that pertain to the secular realm, from the federal, state and local governments.
Is that clear?
Now, here is what we did say: We said that St. Joseph Parish is taking orders for the afghans.
These are those pretty afghans that commemorate the 100th anniversary of St. Joseph Parish and that cost forty dollars ($40.00).
Some persons did understand that we were taking orders for the afghans, but they got it into their heads that the proceeds would go to benefit the Taliban.
So, let me make another thing clear: St. Joseph Parish has no connection whatsoever with the Taliban and, in fact, strenuously opposes the Taliban.
We would not give the Taliban the sleeves out of our vest and we certainly are not going to send the Taliban the proceeds from the afghans!
And another thing, just to make matters more complicated, is this: Someone said that the items we are peddling are not really "afghans", but are "throws".
Well, I don't know what "throws" are.
I do know what "throes" are, e.g. "The Phillies were rescued once again from what seemed like the certain throes of defeat."
But I don't know what "throws" are.
However, I can live with "throws" if I have to.
So, let me get this announcement into the bulletin before I forget:

THOSE WHO HAVE ORDERED THROWS NEED TO HAVE THEIR MONEY IN BY TUESDAY, 31 JULY.
THAT'S FORTY DOLLARS ($40.00) PER THROW.
BRING IT TO THE RECTORY OR ELSE GIVE IT TO DARLA FABIANI.