Saint Joseph Parish: $1,702.00 from the Sunday envelopes; $70.00 from the second collection (plate); $194.00 from the Dues envelopes; $118.00 from the loose. Thank you.

Saint Vincent DePaul Parish: $1,074.00 from the Sunday envelopes; $119.00 from the second collection (plate); $47.00 from the Building Maintenance envelopes; $22.00 from the All Saints envelopes; $10.00 from the All Souls envelopes; $101.00 from the loose. Thank you.

“ARE YOU DONE?”
A friend of mine is anticipating the birth of his fourth child this month. (Coincidentally, so is his wife.)
The other day he said to me, “Guess what my sister said to me the other day.”
“What was that” I replied.
“She had the nerve to ask me, ‘Are you done?’ Can you believe that?”
“I can believe that!” I laughed. (When I don’t know what else to do, I laugh. Sometimes I laugh to keep from crying …. or screaming or worse!)
I said to him, “I hope you told her that, not only are you not done, you have hardly even begun!”
This world is filled with anti-life, anti-fertility, anti-baby, anti-human spoilsports and sourpusses who try to intimidate the child-generating / child-bearing portion of the population. Some of these spoilsports and sourpusses might even be members of our own families.
If so, we have a special familial duty to be kind to them — at the very least, not to kick them in the shins or do any kind of physical violence. However, in being civil to them, we mustn’t let them get under our skin. In the words of the old song: They “are more to be pitied than censured”.
The earth belongs to the prolific people. Deep down, the promortic people are well aware of this. They know their days are numbered. That is why they lash out in anger against the life-givers and life-bearers.

If you don’t know the meaning of the word “promortic”, don’t bother looking it up. It’s not in the dictionary. It is a word of my own coinage. It means “pro-death”. I think it is a useful word. It is a sort of companion word to “prolific”. Feel free to use it. No charge.

TWO QUESTIONS:
#1 — WHO SHOULD DISTRIBUTE HOLY COMMUNION?
#2 — SHOULD COMMUNION BE PLACED ON THE TONGUE OR ON THE HAND?
Catholics who are informed and thoughtful want to know exactly what the Church teaches in these two separate but related matters.
Catholics who are neither informed nor thoughtful simply repeat what they have been told by a long series of other Catholics who are neither informed nor thoughtful.
I beg my fellow Catholics to be enormously suspicious whenever they are told that they should start doing something they never used to do (or stop doing something they always used to do) “because the Second Vatican Council said that we should (or should not) do it.”
Always say: “Would you please document that for me? Chapter and verse, please!”
We’ll come back to the Second Vatican Council in a minute. First of all, please know the following two citations.
In the 13th century there lived a man named Thomas. He came from a town called Aquin. He was a priest of the Dominican Order. He has been canonized and is known to us as “Saint Thomas Aquinas”. Many times, for sake of brevity, he is referred to simply as “Aquinas”. He wrote a lot of fairly good stuff, much of which is still being read today. People say that he was rather bright. In fact, “rather bright” doesn’t quite cut it. It would be more accurate to say that he was stupendously, excruciatingly and almost illegally bright — brighter than anyone has a right to be. And he was holy too — off-the-chart holy. I mean, like, really holy. So, having those credentials of Thomas in mind, please read what St. Thomas Aquinas wrote about who should handle the Holy Eucharist:

In the 16th century, the Church convened an ecumenical council. It met from 1545 to 1563 in the City of Trent. It is known as The Council of Trent (or the Tridentine Council). It was convened primarily in order to combat the errors of Protestantism. It was a “batten down the hatches” Council. It is, perhaps, of all the ecumenical councils, the most far-ranging in the number of topics with which it dealt. The impact of the Council of Trent on the centuries that followed can hardly be exaggerated.
Here is what the Council of Trent authoritatively taught about “who may distribute Holy Communion” (in ordinary circumstances).

"To omit nothing doctrinal on so important a subject [the Holy Eucharist], we now come to speak of the minister of the Sacrament, a point, however, on which scarcely anyone is ignorant. The pastor then will teach that to priests alone has been given power to consecrate and administer the Holy Eucharist. That the unvarying practice of the Church has also been, that the faithful receive the Sacrament from the hand of the priest, and that the priest communicate himself, has been explained by the Council of Trent; and the same holy Council has shown that this practice is always to be scrupulously adhered to, stamped, as it is, with the authoritative impress of Apostolic tradition, and sanctioned by the illustrious example of our Lord himself, who, with His own hands, consecrated and gave to His disciples, His most sacred body. To consult as much as possible, for the dignity of this so August a Sacrament, not only is its administration confided exclusively to the priestly order; but the Church has also, by an express law, prohibited any but those who are consecrated to religion, unless in case of necessity, to touch the sacred vessels, the linen or other immediate necessaries for consecration. Priest and people may hence learn, what piety and holiness they should possess who consecrate, administer, or receive the Holy of Holies." (Council of Trent, Session 13, Chapter 8)

Now, back to the Second Vatican Council.
Q - What did the Second Vatican Council say about receiving Holy Communion in the hand and about extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion?
A – Nothing! Absolutely nothing! Believe it or not, nothing! But you could have sworn that the Second Vatican Council changed everything, didn’t you?
It is incredible how easy it is to fool people.
There is, of course, an allowance (indult) for the use of laypersons as extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion. However, having read all of the Roman documents that pertain to the subject, I conclude that, for the use of extraordinary ministers to be legitimate, a parish must have a truly pressing need for them. Does this truly pressing need exist in our two parishes? I think not. In fact, I am sure not.

As everyone knows, there had been a problem for quite some time with the St. Vincent dePaul Parish parking lot. Whenever there was a heavy rainfall, we would have Lake Saint Vincent dePaul.
Notice we wrote “had been a problem” (past perfect), not “has been a problem” (present perfect).
Thanks to the Girardville Borough Council, the problem has been resolved. At least, we are almost certain it has been resolved. The next heavy rainfall should tell the story for sure.
I think (but I am no expert on such matters) that the Borough reconnected the drainage pipe to the sewer. This was the main problem. They also flushed out the drainage pipe (it had a lot of dirt in it) and did a nice job replacing the macadam at the “C” Street entrance to the lot.
One of the gentlemen who works for the Borough gave me some advice about work that he recommends be done by the parish..
Part of this involves: (a) replacing the grates over the three drains; (b) placing some sort of barrier along the bottom of the embankment that leads from the yard to the parking lot, so as to keep the soil from washing away; (c) perhaps digging up the 8” drainage pipe and replacing it with an open trench that would be covered with grates.

Thank you, Girardville Borough Council!

DO NOT RECEIVE HOLY COMMUNION IF:
a) you are not a member of the Catholic Church;
b) even though a Catholic, you do not believe what the Catholic Church believes and teaches about the Holy Eucharist, viz. that the Holy Eucharist IS the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ under the appearances of bread and wine;
c) even though a Catholic, you privately believe that the bread and wine are mere symbols of Jesus’ Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity;
d) your policy or practice is to attend Sunday Mass only occasionally, e.g. “once or twice a month” or “whenever I feel like it” or “whenever there’s nice weather, not rainy or snowy or hot or windy or humid” or “whenever I’m in a good mood” or “whenever my mother comes to visit” or “whenever Sunday happens to coincide with one of my occasional good hair days”;
e) you are living in a sexual union with someone to whom you are not VALIDLY married (i.e. married according to the laws of the Catholic Church);
f) you practice artificial contraception, which includes (but is not restricted to) the using of condoms and “ being on the pill”;
g) you are so angry with someone that you have made up your mind that you will never forgive him or her and that, as far as you are concerned, that person can just go to hell.

The official teaching of the Catholic Church in this matter can be found in Canon XI of Chapter XIII of the Council of Trent. Here is what the Council said:

CANON XI: If any one saith, that faith alone is a sufficient preparation for receiving the sacrament of the most holy Eucharist; let him be anathema. And for fear lest so great a sacrament may be received unworthily, and so unto death and condemnation, this holy Synod ordains and declares, that sacramental confession, when a confessor may be had, is of necessity to be made beforehand, by those whose conscience is burdened with mortal sin, how contrite even soever they may think themselves. But if any one shall presume to teach, preach, or obstinately to assert, or even in public disputation to defend the contrary, he shall be thereupon excommunicated.

For the sake of clarity, I have taken the liberty of “translating” this canon into words that are more easily understood. (EBC) ?

CANON #11: If anyone says that all you need is faith in order to be eligible to receive Holy Communion, let him be denounced. Because of the fact that this Holy Ecumenical Council wants to prevent people from being condemned to Hell as a result of their receiving Holy Communion unworthily, we solemnly establish and declare that anyone who is in the state of mortal sin must make a sacramental Confession before he receives Holy Communion, even if he thinks that he is already privately and sincerely sorry in his heart for his sins. If anyone dares to teach or preach or stubbornly assert or defend anything other than what this Council teaches, let him be excommunicated.

ALWAYS GO TO CONFESSION BEFORE RECEIVING HOLY COMMUNION, IF THERE IS ANY CHANCE WHATSOEVER THAT YOU ARE IN THE STATE OF MORTAL SIN.