Our heartfelt thanks go to Allison Wright, Kathy Burger-Reece,  Ray Mote, Barbara Cunningham, Eileen and Bob MacDonell and Rick Charlton. Their dedicated watering and gardening throughout this summer kept our plants living and yielding beautiful flowers for us to enjoy God’s Majesty.     

Unfortunately, it soon will be time to remove the decaying flowers, and ready the grounds for winter. Please set aside Saturday, October 17th, 9 am-12 pm,  for fall clean up around the church and school. Please bring tools, paper bags, and come join a bunch of fun volunteers. Many hands certainly make the work lighter !! All the best, and hope to see you on Saturday, October 17th.

Eileen MacDonell

Praying the Rosary

 Our Parish will be praying the rosary after most weekend Masses in October. Please mark your calendars to join us.

Saint John XXIII’s Story— November 25, 1881—June 3, 1963

Saint of the Day for October 11

Although few people had as great an impact on the 20th century as Pope John XXIII, he avoided the limelight as much as possible. Indeed, one writer has noted that his “ordinariness” seems one of his most remarkable qualities.

 The firstborn son of a farming family in Sotto il Monte, near Bergamo in northern Italy, Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli was always proud of his down-to-earth roots. In Bergamo’s diocesan seminary, he joined the Secular Franciscan Order.

After his ordination in 1904, Fr. Roncalli returned to Rome for canon law studies. He soon worked as his bishop’s secretary, Church history teacher in the seminary, and as publisher of the diocesan paper.

His service as a stretcher-bearer for the Italian army during World War I gave him a firsthand knowledge of war. In 1921, Fr. Roncalli was made national director in Italy of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith. He also found time to teach patristics at a seminary in the Eternal City.

In 1925, he became a papal diplomat, serving first in Bulgaria, then in Turkey, and finally in France. During World War II, he became well acquainted with Orthodox Church leaders. With the help of Germany’s ambassador to Turkey, Archbishop Roncalli helped save an estimated 24,000 Jewish people.

 Named a cardinal and appointed patriarch of Venice in 1953, he was finally a residential bishop. A month short of entering his 78th year, Cardinal Roncalli was elected pope, taking the name John after his father and the two patrons of Rome’s cathedral, St. John Lateran. Pope John took his work very seriously but not himself. His wit soon became proverbial, and he began meeting with political and religious leaders from around the world. In 1962, he was deeply involved in efforts to resolve the Cuban missile crisis.

His most famous encyclicals were Mother and Teacher (1961) and Peace on Earth (1963). Pope John XXIII enlarged the membership in the College of Cardinals and made it more international. At his address at the opening of the Second Vatican Council, he criticized the “prophets of doom” who “in these modern times see nothing but prevarication and ruin.” Pope John XXIII set a tone for the Council when he said, “The Church has always opposed… errors. Nowadays, however, the Spouse of Christ prefers to make use of the medicine of mercy rather than that of severity.”

On his deathbed, Pope John said: “It is not that the gospel has changed; it is that we have begun to understand it better. Those who have lived as long as I have…were enabled to compare different cultures and traditions, and know that the moment has come to discern the signs of the times, to seize the opportunity and to look far ahead.”

“Good Pope John” died on June 3, 1963. Saint John Paul II beatified him in 2000, and Pope Francis canonized him in 2014.

Taken from franciscanmedia.org

 Permanent Deaconate of Robert Calleja

Please keep Robert (Bob) Calleja in your prayers as he will be ordained to a Permanent Deacon on Saturday, October 17th. The ordination Mass will be celebrated by Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament.