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If you can’t read this or it seems formatted incorrectly, click here to view at our web-site. Church
of the Holy Spirit The Peace of Christ be with you! |
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November 5, 2009 |
Volume 1, Number 47 |
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In This Issue o WELCOME Visitors and Newcomers o This IS NAME TAG WEEKEND - November 7-8 o Faith Formation for Children and Adults Calendar: o LIFETEEN o Edge o November Vigil of Reparation and Adoration o Union Springs Hispanic Ministry o Monthly Parish Breakfast THIS SUNDAY o St. Paula’s Pals Annual Thanksgiving Luncheon o Angel Tree is around the corner! o Auburn Catholic Campus Ministry Center Blessing o Montgomery Area Perpetual Adoration Chapel o Liturgical Ministers Schedule o Lighting the Parish Advent Wreath o FLOWERS IN FRONT OF THE BLESSED MOTHER o Pro-Life Rosary at Beacon Clinic o A Pilgrimage to Catholic France o The Church hopes and prays for the o salvation of those who commit suicide o Building in the Spirit Campaign
Contact Us http://www.holy-spirit-church.com Church Office 334-277-5631 Fax:334-271-1008 8570 Vaughn Rd. |
WELCOME Visitors and Newcomers - We welcome you to Church of the Holy Spirit. New parishioners are encouraged to join by completing a family registration form located in our welcome center in the vestibule of the church or on our web-site at the address below, and returning it to the parish, through the collection basket or to the Church Office. http://www.holy-spirit-church.com/welcome_to_holy_spirit.htm top_______________________________________________________________________________
This IS NAME TAG WEEKEND - November 7-8This weekend is "Name Tag Weekend". Every member of Holy Spirit parish is invited to wear a name tag at the Saturday vigil Mass and the Sunday Mass on the SECOND weekend of every month. Many of us have name tags from work or school. Wear that one. If you don't have one, then make one. Make sure all of the children make one for themselves too. This will help us know each other and will help us welcome newcomers. Loving your neighbor starts with knowing their name. Wear a name tag and be a great neighbor. top_____________________________________________________________________________________________ This Week at Holy Spirit
Faith Formation for Children and Adults Calendar:
Get ready to Celebrate! Advent G.I.F.T. GatheringSunday, November 15, 2009 9:00 to 11:00am in the Parish Hall Everyone is invited!
Click here for complete year on-line class schedule top_____________________________________________________________________________________________ Youth MinistryTEENS: Just a reminder that if you are
in grades 7-12, we have so much going on! LIFETEEN (Grades 9-12) LIFE TEEN is for our high school teens with meetings on Sunday nights after our LIFE TEEN Mass. We also have retreats, conventions, and other great experiences.
Coming Up:
Edge (Grades 7 & 8) “The EDGE” is for our middle school youth group. We have an EDGE night on the 1st Wednesday night every month and other functions including mass together. Coming Up:
If you haven’t made it to any of our youth group functions for LIFE TEEN or The EDGE-Give it a try!
If you have graduated from high school but are not quite married with kids and would like to be involved in bible studies, activities, conferences, and other events specifically for you, please contact Denise Katz at youthminister@holy-spirit-church.com.
top_____________________________________________________________________________________________ November Vigil of Reparation and AdorationIn honor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus through the Immaculate Heart of Mary O come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord
First Friday November 6, 2009 Sorrowful Mysteries of the Holy Rosary at 8:30 p.m. Mass of the Sacred Heart of Jesus at 9:00 p.m. Followed by all night Eucharistic Adoration
First Saturday November 7, 2009 Benediction at 8:45 a.m. Mass of the Immaculate Heart of Mary 9:00 a.m. Followed by the Joyful Mysteries of the Holy Rosary top_____________________________________________________________________________________________ Union Springs Hispanic MinistryChristmas - Toy Drive November 7/8 Items are being collected in the Gallery! If you cannot bring your items to the church, please call Suzi Law at 288-6923 and arrangements will be made to pick them up. top_____________________________________________________________________________________________ Monthly Parish Breakfast THIS SUNDAYSponsored by the Knights of Columbus Sunday, November 8, 2009 After 8:00 am Mass, in the Parish Hall
November
Parish Breakfast Menu Link Sausage, Biscuits N Gravy, Coffee, Milk, Orange Juice
Come join us for fun, food and fellowship! top_______________________________________________________________________________ “Southern Catholics”Join Us in the Parish Hall at St. Bede's on Sunday November 8th at 7:00 p.m. as we kick off our series on the lives of influential Southern Catholics. This series is sponsored by the Portier Institute for the New Evangelization. Contact Tom Riello at 334-221-4575 or email him at TRiello@MontgomeryCatholic.org. Attendance is free and refreshments will be served.
top_____________________________________________________________________________________________ St. Paula’s Pals Annual Thanksgiving LuncheonMonday, November 9th, 12 Noon Lois Miller’s house Please call to confirm and get directions, 277-4415 top_____________________________________________________________________________________________ Baptism Preparation ClassMonday, November 9th 7pm in the Church top_____________________________________________________________________________________________ The Women of Holy Spirit“The Spirituality of St. Therese of the Little Flower” presented by Dr. Donna Hovey. Join us on Thursday, November 19th in the parish hall. Social begins at 6:30pm with the program at 7:00pm. Light refreshments will be provided. Questions, please contact Jeanette Gueret at 260-8234 or jeanette.gueret@hotmail.com. top_____________________________________________________________________________________________ SENIOR SPIRITSWe are in the planning stages for the Christmas luncheon to be held on Monday, December 7, 2009 as discussed in the October Pot Luck Supper. Please contact Jane or Nancy Goins at 272-1810 or by email at bjgoins@bellsouth.net if you would like to attend. Final plans will be made based upon participation. More news will follow. top_____________________________________________________________________________________________ Attorney VolunteerWould the Attorney who volunteered to help with a situation in the Union Springs Hispanic Community please contact Ms. Suzi Law at 288-6923. Your number has been misplaced. Thanks. top_____________________________________________________________________________________________ Angel Tree is around the corner!Make plans to help make the special tags for our Christmas tree. We’ll gather on Wednesday, November 18 in the Parish Hall. Look for sign-up sheets closer to the event! Each year our parish family provides Christmas gifts and a holiday meal for approximately 50 underserved families in our community. Help be a part of this special time by joining us on November 18. top_____________________________________________________________________________________________ PRAYER LINE MINISTRYThere are may needs and concerns. Let us pray for one another. If you would like to be a part of the Prayer Line Ministry or place someone on our prayer line, please call Helen Frey 277-8609 or Maureen Moore 279-5848. top_____________________________________________________________________________________________ ANOINTING OF THE SICKIf you are ill and would like to receive the Sacrament of the Sick and/or the Eucharist, please contact the parish office to make arrangements. Please contact the parish office prior to hospitalization, surgery or during illness. top_____________________________________________________________________________________________ Share the Word Bible StudyTuesday Mornings, 8:45am Conference Room top__________________________________________________________________________ SUNDAY NURSERYThe Sunday nursery is available during the 8:00 and 11:00 A.M. Masses each Sunday for children walking to age 3. Families who use the nursery are asked to volunteer to help in the nursery one Sunday every 8 weeks.
The Archdiocese requires all adults who have direct contact with minors to complete the Child Protection class prior to volunteering. Child Protection classes are offered the 4th Monday of each month at 7:00 P.M. at Montgomery Catholic Preparatory School.
Please see the nursery workers following Mass for additional information and our information sheet.
top__________________________________________________________________________ Be A Friend MinistryCANCER Have you or someone you know been recently diagnosed? Be A Friend Ministry is here to assist you. We will help during this time of need, with prayers, meals, taking you to appointments, or just talking. Just give us a call! Louise - 279-6593 top__________________________________________________________________________ Wanted: Used Baby BottlesWe are collecting Baby Bottles for a fundraiser for C.O.P.E. If you have any old bottles and would like to donate them, Please bring them by the Church Office. top__________________________________________________________________________ Advent Retreat:Living & Growing through the Beatitudes Saturday, November 21 from 8:30am—2:00pm at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church. Join us as we prepare for the Advent season by learning how to live & grow through the Beatitudes. They are the best guide to a more love-filled life and a closer relationship with God. Mass, lunch and Confession will be provided. For more information or to register, please call Dawn Damato at 334-414-9407. top__________________________________________________________________________ Christ the King CelebrationSunday, November 22, 2009 All are cordially invited to attend the annual archdiocesan Christ the King Celebration to be held on Sunday, November 22, 2009. This year’s celebration will revive the tradition of the Christ the King Procession. Participants should gather at the cross in Bienville Square, downtown Mobile, by 10:30 a.m. Archbishop Rodi will give an opening prayer and begin the recitation of the Holy Rosary. The procession will continue recitation of the Rosary as it leaves Bienville Square and processes west on Dauphin Street to Cathedral Square. Upon completion of the Rosary, participants will enter the Cathedral-Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, where Mass will begin at 11:00 a.m. The procession route encompasses a little more than three city blocks, so those unable to walk that distance are invited to be seated in the Cathedral. During Mass, Archbishop Rodi will confer the first-ever Christ the King Medal to honor a volunteer from each parish who has been nominated by their pastor for exemplary service to the parish. Everyone is invited to participate in this marvelous archdiocesan-wide celebration and witness to our faith and heritage. top__________________________________________________________________________ Auburn Catholic Campus Ministry Center BlessingAll are invited to attend the blessing of the new Auburn Catholic Campus Ministry Center at 115 Mitcham Avenue in Auburn. The blessing will be celebrated by Archbishop Rodi on Tuesday, November 10 at 4:00pm. A reception will follow. top__________________________________________________________________________ Montgomery Area Perpetual Adoration ChapelThere are still hours that need adorers at our 24 hour - 7 day’s a week Adoration Chapel located on the campus of Our Lady Queen of Mercy Catholic Church. If you can help, please call Priscilla Berry at 293-7019 or Joan Lynch at 288-6620. top__________________________________________________________________________ MEN’S BASKETBALLWe are starting pick up games at Catholic High gym at 2pm on Sundays. Come out and join us! City league season will be starting first part of December. If you are interested in playing, please contact Mark Sadie marksadie@bellsouth.net or 334-546-6950. top_______________________________________________________________________________ MEN’S SOFTBALLFall season is underway – we have played two games so far, but we need a couple more players to complete the roster, so if you are new to the parish and would like to come join us for fellowship and some healthy competition, please contact marksadie@bellsouth.net Mark Sadie or 334-546-6950. top_______________________________________________________________________________ Help for the Suffering Poor: Deacon Wadas collects the "tabs" from can tops to help MacDonald Houses provide comfort and care to families while their children are patients in a hospital. If you wish to help in this cause, just turn your "can tabs" over to Deacon Wadas. top_______________________________________________________________________________ Liturgical Ministers Scheduleis published on-line for your convenience at
New Proclaimer WorkbooksThe workbooks for the new liturgical year that begins with the First Sunday of Advent are now available in the gallery. Please take a book with your name on it and check your name off the list. Thank you. top_______________________________________________________________________________ Lighting the Parish Advent WreathA sign up sheet is up for those who would like to have your family light the Parish Advent Wreath at the beginning of any of the Masses Advent, which starts on Saturday, November 26th. top_______________________________________________________________________________ FLOWERS IN FRONT OF THE BLESSED MOTHEROctober is the month of Our Lady of the Rosary. We are offering you the opportunity to have flowers placed in front of her statue in memory of a loved one. Please sign up on the bulletin board in the gallery. In early November we will send you an invoice for these flowers. top_______________________________________________________________________________ Serenity RetreatFor Those in a Twelve-Step Program November 6-8 at Blessed Trinity Shrine Retreat. For further information and for registration, please contact Ken Martin at 404-434-2570. top_______________________________________________________________________________ Pro-Life Rosary at Beacon Clinicon Monticello Court. Join us praying the rosary every Tuesday 8:15am - 10:15am & Thursday 10:15am - 1pm. top_______________________________________________________________________________
RETIREMENT LIVING Are you 62 years of age or older? Or mobility impaired? Are you trying to make ends meet on a limited income? Do you enjoy a quiet environment, like people, activities and good food? Then check out and enjoy retirement for a lifetime!
Located at 3721 Wares Ferry Road, Montgomery, AL, we are a 100 unit apartment community offering safety, comfort and affordable living. All units are one-bedroom, with a full kitchen, separate living room with a dining area, and a separate bathroom. All residents must be physically and mentally capable of caring for themselves or otherwise providing for their own care. We are not an assisted living facility. We have monthly activities, pot luck meals and serve a hot lunch five days a week.
Check out the best kept secret in town. Please call 272-4000, to make an appointment. top_______________________________________________________________________________ A Pilgrimage to Catholic FranceIn celebration of the Year of the Priest, join Father Patrick Driscoll on a special pilgrimage tour of several famous French Catholic sites including Lourdes, Paris, Lisieux (St. Therese), Nevers (St. Bernadette), Ars (St. John Vianney, Patron of Priests), Paray-le-Monial (St. Margaret-Mary), La Salette, Turin, and Oropa. The cost is $3,299.00 for double occupancy, from Atlanta Airport, and includes airport tax. The dates are Monday, May 24 to Friday, June 4, 2010. The pilgrimage coordinator is Marc Karam, (334) 727-8991. The travel agency is Laura Massoni Travel, (858) 201-6424. top_______________________________________________________________________________ Pastor’s Corner
The Church hopes and prays for thesalvation of those who commit suicide
Q: Would you explain the Catholic Church’s position on suicide? My wonderful wife took her own life 15 years ago, and every day I think about her salvation. She was a good wife and mother while she lived. Our pastor assured us that our Lord would bring her home. Still, my children and especially I myself feel responsible that we did not do enough to prevent this tragedy. (Illinois)
A: I’m sure you know and have probably been told often that the reaction of you and your children is not uncommon. When struck by a catastrophe like your wife’s death, which we cannot make sense of no matter how hard we try, we feel we must have failed to have done something within our power to prevent what happened. To attempt to explain such actions this way, however, is futile and unhelpful. I believe it would be personally useful to understand the Catholic Church’s approach to suicide, and I hope you take consolation in what your priest said. He reflects the same teaching as the Catechism of the Catholic Church when it says we each have responsibility for our own lives, but we should not despair of those who take their own lives. By ways known to him alone, God has ways of providing for them, and the Church always holds them, as it does all the deceased, in its prayers (#2283). Much Catholic understanding of these situations is reflected in the Church’s funeral policies. Canon law lists among those who might be deprived of Catholic rites “manifest sinners who cannot be granted ecclesiastical funeral rites without public scandal of the faithful” (Canon #1184). Are people who commit suicide really “open sinners” whose Christian burial would give scandal? Today, bishops and other pastors generally believe the opposite. The scandal would be, rather, if Christian burial is refused. They, as all the rest of us, are painfully aware of our limitations in knowing what really happened spiritually to the one who died, not to speak of the particular care we need to exercise toward the loved ones left behind. Taking one’s own life is a serious matter. But how much was the individual capable of genuine reflection on what he or she was doing? How much true consent of the will was there? Clearly, we cannot know. I have had the sad experience of dealing with suicide many times in my 55 years as a priest. Circumstances surrounding these deaths gave strong hints to everyone who knew them that the deceased were hampered mentally or emotionally, often to a severe degree, at the time of death. Sometimes those hints are apparent, with erratic behavior pointing to some crippling psychological dysfunction. Sometimes they are less obvious, and the self-destruction contradicts every experience with that person. To all appearances, something inside just snapped, and we’ll never know what that might have been. In other words, the Church makes no judgment about the individual’s relationship with God. We simply place all our trust in God’s mercy and love for the one who has died and for those terribly hurt by the death. So the encouragement your priest gave you was based on solid Catholic belief about God and what we understand today about such suicides as your good wife’s. You have every reason to hope, even be certain, that she is in our Lord’s loving presence and care. Fr. John Dietzen, Peoria, IL top_______________________________________________________________________________
Building in the Spirit Campaign
GOOD NEWS AND CHALLENGE!
The Good News is that we now have a grand total of $2,923,390.36 in pledges and donations for our BUILDING IN THE SPIRIT campaign. We are only $76,609.64 away from our minimum goal of $3,000,000.00. If you have not made a pledge or donation yet, please do so now. With your help we can meet our goal before Christmas. Tuesday night the BUILDING IN THE SPIRIT committee met with Mr. Paul McTear, chairman of the parish Finance Council, and with Mr. Brant Hill, chairman of the Building Committee. Mr. McTear reported on behalf of the Finance Council that the parish can budget a mortgage payment of $25,000 per month to pay back a bank loan once we borrow money to build Phase One of our parish Master Site Plan. Mr. Jeff Rosser and Mrs. Barbara Rosser, co-chairs of the Building in the Spirit Committee joined with all present to commit themselves to reaching our minimum goal of $3,000,000 by Christmas. Mr. Brant Hill, chairman of the Building Committee, made a presentation on the preliminary designs of Phase One that have been received from the architect. He spoke of the determination of the Building Committee to keep the basic design of the buildings that has been presented in the Building in the Spirit brochure, while at the same time looking for cost-cutting measures that will allow us to begin ground breaking within the next 7 months. All agreed that, despite the year 2009 being a recessionary year, it is truly amazing that the people of Holy Spirit parish have raised $2,923,390.36 and are so close to reaching our minimum goal. If you are one of those parishioners who declined to make a pledge because of your caution about the economy, please reconsider and become the parishioner/family that puts us over the top, so we can have our ground breaking as soon as possible.
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