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St. Mary, Mother of God Church A Parish of the Diocese of Greensburg
A Pennsylvania Charitable Trust Roman Catholic Church
608 High Street ~ Freeport, PA 16229
Father Ronald Maquiñana—Pastor [email protected]
Parish Staff William Girardi, Pastoral Associate—412-719-7085 Claudia Vertosick, Business Manager/Parish Secretary Helen James, Religious Education Director Thomas Koharchik, Choir Director William Girardi, Social Hall Coordinator—412-719-7085 David Valencic, Parish Custodian Richard Bertino, Cemetery Caretaker
Ministries Kristen Marhefka/Julie Polana Gardone—Teen Ministry Melissa Kristine/Beth Macurdy—Evangelization John Nemcek—Homebound Ministry Gina Jones—Helping Hands
Organizations Diane Grant—Christian Mothers Ray Smetana/Mary Ellen Gray—St. Vincent de Paul Society
Office Information Administrative Center Numbers & Hours : 724-295-2281 (Office) 724-295-3090 (Fax) Monday through Thursday - 9:00 A.M. to 3:00 P.M. Friday - 9:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M. Parish Website: www.stmaryfreeport.com Parish Email Address: [email protected]
Parish Information Saturday (Vigil): 4:00 P.M. Sunday: 8:30 & 11:00 A.M. Weekday Masses: Monday through Friday—8:00 A.M. Holy Day of Obligation: 8:00 A.M. & 7:00 P.M. Reconciliation: Saturday - 3:00—3:45 P.M. Baptism: Sundays within the 11:00 A.M. Mass (by appointment) Marriage: Contact the Parish nine months in advance. Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults: RCIA helps you to learn more about the Catholic faith. Pre-registration is required. Con-tact Fr. Ron or William Girardi at 724-295-2281. Hospital or Home Visit: If you would like to receive Holy Communion or if you know someone who would like to have the priest visit, please call Fr. Ron at 724-295-2281. Anointing of the Sick: Contact Fr. Ron at 724-295-2281. Holy Communion: Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Commun-ion are available to bring the Eucharist to the sick and home-bound. If you know of someone, please call the Administrative Office at 724-295-2281. Baptism: To understand the importance of the Sacrament of Baptism and your obligation as parents, you are required to attend one baptismal class. To register for one of these classes, please call the Administrative Office at 724-295-2281.
Established 1826
MISSION STATEMENT—St. Mary’s is a caring and welcoming family committed to building and strengthening a community of God, reaching out as disciples of Jesus Christ to Freeport and beyond.
December 16th, 2018
We are at the midpoint of the Advent season and this Sunday we are called to rejoice as we get closer to the solemnity of the birth of our Savior. The third Sunday of Advent is known as Gaudete Sunday (from the Latin meaning “rejoice”). Its name is taken from the entrance antiphon of the Mass, which is: Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice. Indeed, the Lord is near. This entrance antiphon we will hear again in the second reading of this Sunday from the letter of St. Paul to the Philippians. He said, “Brothers and sisters re-joice in the Lord always. I shall say it again: rejoice! Your kindness should be known to all. The Lord is near.” (Phil.4: 4-5) Why did St. Paul say this to the Philippians? It is because he knew that Advent is the season of preparing for the arrival of the Lord Jesus (both his first coming and his second coming), and since the third Sunday of Advent is at the midpoint of the season, it is appropri-ate to rejoice because the Lord is near.
As part of rejoicing, we light the pink candle on our Advent wreath. Why the pink candle? Because the pink candle signifies joy. Historically speaking, Advent is patterned in part after Lent. Gaudete Sunday is similar to the Lenten Laetare Sunday, which also represents joy and falls at the midpoint of Lent. In the ancient Church on Laetare Sunday in Lent, the Pope gave a citizen a pink rose. That tradition has continued as popes would be-stow golden roses on Catholic rulers and now more commonly, on places of devotion. Following this papal rose custom, bishops and priests began wearing rose-colored vestments on Laetare Sunday. The Church then brought the Lenten practice of rose vestments to Advent on Gaudete Sunday. As a re-sult, the pink candle gained a place on the Advent wreath. Anyway, so much for the historical background of the pink candle. Since pink is the color of joy, I am going to share with you a way to bring true joy into your life. All you have to remember is how to spell J O Y, what each letter stands for, and the order of the letters. ‘J’ stands for ‘Jesus’, and just as ‘J’ is the first letter of JOY, so Jesus should always be ‘first’ in our lives. ‘O’ stands for ‘others’, and just as ‘O’ is the second letter of JOY, we should always think of others ‘second’ in our lives. The ‘Y’ stands for ‘you’, and just as ‘Y’ is the last letter of JOY, we should always think of ourselves ‘last’. Therefore, to bring true JOY into your life, always think of Jesus first, others second and yourself last.
Happy Third Sunday of Advent!
Faith Formation For Parishioners! Now every parishioner can experience hundreds of hours viewing, read-ing, and listening to the best Catholic content. Enjoy more than 300 episodes of beautiful and compelling video series, feature-length movies, motivating and spiritually-enriching eBooks, and over 40 hours of audio content.
Register your account by going to: www.formed.org and use our parish account (case-sensitive) VNX4G6.
Congratulations to the proud
parents, KKevin & Jennifer Harding, on the baptism of
their son, Jase Ryan.
He is a child of God, heir to the
Kingdom!
The Mardi Gras wine tas ng fes val will be held Saturday, March 2nd, from 6:00-10:00 P.M. in our Fellowship Hall. Tickets are $30.00 each and in-cludes wine tas ng and a lite fare. Do you have someone on your list that you have no idea what to buy them? Perhaps you need a couple stocking
stu ers? How about ckets to our wine tas ng event? What a per-fect gi for the one who has everything! To reserve your ckets, please call Bridget at 724-294-0089. This event is sponsored by our Parish Council and your support is appreciated.
Christmas Memorial Flowers may be placed in the regular collection basket until Sunday, December 16th or you can drop your envelope off at the Administrative Center no later than 12:00 Noon on Tuesday. Please write the names of those you wish to honor on the envelope. We will publish the names of those you so wish to honor with a donation.
The Chris an Mothers would like to thank everyone who par cipated and helped to make the Christmas basket ra e a success. Congratula-
ons to all the winners! Have a very Merry Christmas!
Penance Services for Advent - Communal Penance services are an excellent way to enter into the spirit of the call to conversion that Jesus issues to each of us. We are ever more conscious of the need for reconcilia on among the people of God, God’s great mercy in forgiving us, and the bene t that we receive from each others prayers. Several priests will be available at each of these Penance services. Following is the remaining schedule for our Regional Penance Services for our area:
Tuesday, December 18th - St. Mary, Yatesboro - 7:00 P.M. Thursday, December 20th - St. Mary, Freeport - 7:00 P.M. Saturday, December 22nd - Christ, Prince of Peace, Ford City - 12:00 Noon
Christmas Eve 5:00 & 10:00 P.M. Christmas Day
10:00 A.M.
Thank you to Giant Eagle for their support by donat-ing the brown paper bags for our annual Blessing Brown Bag Campaign. Your thoughtfulness and generosity is greatly appreciated.
Oplatek (Christmas Wafers) have arrived. Each family is asked to please take only one envelope so that there is enough for everyone. You can check with the Ad-ministra ve o ce on Friday, December 21st to see if there are any extras available. Thank you for your though ulness.
December 15th Baptism—“Walker” - 10:45 A.M. December 16th Religious Education Christmas Party—9:30 - 10:40 A.M.—Security Guard - Vicki Ostrowski Teen Ministry—9:35 - 10:45 A.M.; Choir Practice—9:45 - 10:45 A.M.; 11:00 A.M. Mass December 18th RCIA—6:30 P.M. - Conference Center December 20th Advent Penance Service—7:00 P.M. December 23rd Baptism—“Graham” - 12:15 P.M.; No Religious Education Classes; No Choir Practice December 24th Parish Office Closed; Christmas Eve Masses at 5:00 & 10:00 P.M. December 25th Parish Office Closed; Christmas Mass at 10:00 A.M.; No RCIA December 26th Parish Office Closed December 30th No Religious Education Classes; No Choir Practice December 31st Vigil Mass (Holyday of Obligation—Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God)—4:00 P.M. January 1st Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God—Mass at 10:00 A.M.; No RCIA; Parish Office Closed
Fr. Aaron Kriss, Senior Parochial Vicar at Our Lady of the Most Blessed Sacrament Parish, Natrona Heights, our neighbor, who was the Speaker for the Theology on Tap program last month, has completed his third book of poems en tled ONE A DAY REFLECTIONS - 365 very short poems (plus one for Leap Year) - one for each day of the year. If you are interested in purchasing one of these books, please contact the parish o ce at 724-295-2281 or email Fr. Aaron at: akriss@diopi .org. The suggested dona on is $14.00/book. This may be a good gi to give someone for Christmas. If you are interested in ge ng a copy of Fr. Aaron's rst book of poems CELESTIAL THOUGHTS or his sec-
ond book SPIRITUAL INSPIRATIONS, contact him at his email address or his o ce at 724-226-4900, Ext. 20.
There will be no religious educa on classes on Sunday, De-cember 23rd or Sunday, December 30th. Classes will resume on Sunday, January 6th, 2019.
The Diocese of Greensburg is sponsoring a trip for young adults (ages 18-39) to a one-day Catholic fes val at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., January 26th, 2019, in conjunc-
on with World Youth Day in Panama. The event will include a livestream of Pope Francis’ Mass in Panama. Cost, including overnight accommoda on, is $160.00/per person, $95.00/per person for double occupancy. Please visit: www.dioceseofgreensburg.org/WYD for more informa on. The registra on deadline is Thursday, January 3rd, 2019.
If you have any suspicion about the sexu-al abuse (or any other type of abuse) of a minor child by anyone — contact PA Childline immediately at 1-800-932-0313.
If the alleged abuser is func oning in a parish, school or di-ocesan posi on as clergy, religious, paid sta or volunteer you are also requested to contact the Bishop’s Delegate for Ma ers of Sexual Misconduct a er you have called the ChildLine number and made the report. The Bishop’s Dele-gate may be reached at 724-837-0901, Ext. 1221.
Holy Name Society - As announced previously, St. Mary, Mother of God Church is in the process of forming a Parish Chapter of The Holy Name Society. All male members of the
Parish who are 18 years of age or older are eligible to become members of The Holy Name Society. During the Advent Sea-son, we are ini a ng the process of iden fying all parishioners who want to join The Holy Name Society. An ini al member-ship mee ng will be held in January, 2019. At this me, if you are interested in becoming a member, please e-mail or call Tim Fogarty at: [email protected]; 724-294-0089.
Natural Family Planning CM-BBT instruc on will be Monday, February 4th, at 6:00 P.M. in the Catholic Chari es o ce in Greensburg. Please call at least one week prior to the instruc on date to preregister. Contact Mary Ann Newhouse at Catholic Chari es at
724-837-1840, Ext. 1658 for addi onal informa on or to regis-ter for this or an upcoming class. For more informa on about Natural Family Planning and the CM-BBT method, visit: www.cchari esgreensburg.org and link into Natural Family Planning under “Services.”
A Blessing Box is located outside the Freeport Historical Society, on the corner of 6th and High Streets. This box is a “self sustain-ing” source of non-perishable food and personal hygiene items. It is not a subs tute for the local food bank. The box is intended to help people through a di cult temporary situa on. Anyone is welcome to visit the box and take what they need. There is no one parent body that re lls the box. It is supported by the Free-port Ministerium, and replenished by you, the community. If you would like to support this e ort we ask you to do the following: PRAY for those that use the Blessing Box. TELL others about it. SHARE what you have by purchasing and placing items in it.
We would like to thank Dennis J. Daugh-erty Funeral Home for the beau ful Catholic Calendars. Once again, your generous gi is very much appreciated! When you see
Dennis, please remember to thank him.
MASSES FOR THE 3RD SUNDAY OF ADVENT SATURDAY: December 15th 4:00 P.M. Special Intention SUNDAY: December 16th 8:30 A.M. Flora Trettel (Family) 11:00 A.M. St. Mary Parishioners MONDAY: December 17th 8:00 A.M. Ken Hughes (Patty and Family) TUESDAY: December 18th 8:00 A.M. Maurice Heinritz Family (Estate) WEDNESDAY: December 19th 8:00 A.M. Jane E. Thompson (Ron & Peggy Thompson) THURSDAY: December 20th 8:00 A.M. Elizabeth McDermott (Gary & Chris Miller and Family) FRIDAY: December 21st 8:00 A.M. Joseph Poretti (Sister)
MASSES FOR THE 4TH SUNDAY OF ADVENT SATURDAY: December 22nd 4:00 P.M. St. Mary Parishioners SUNDAY: December 23rd 8:30 A.M. Ray Ravotti (Dave & Rose Check) 11:00 A.M. Edna Barr (John & Brenda DeMeno)
Offertory Collection for December 9th, 2018 No. of Envelopes Mailed Out: 613 No. of Envelopes Received: 182
Collection: Offertory - $3,947.00 Electronic Payments (18) - $1,153.00 Loose - $347.00; Children - $27.00
Feast of the Immaculate Conception - $1,100.75
Total Collection - $6,574.75 THANK YOU!
Saturday, December 22nd, 2018 Christine Kern and Connie Waltenbaugh
Thanks to our advertisers who sponsor this bulletin. Please support them with your business.
ADVERTISER OF THE WEEK
The Altar Bread and Wine were donated for this week
in loving memory of ROSE AIELLO
By Family
In acknowledging the Real Presence of Christ, The Sanctuary Lamp (Candle) will burn this week in
loving memory of KEN HUGHES By Patty & Family
MINISTRY SCHEDULE FOR DECEMBER 22ND & 23RD, 2018 Altar Servers Extraordinary Ministers of Holy
Communion Lector Greeters Organist Cantor
Saturday - 4:00 P.M.
Madison & Dawson Gaillot Zach Showers
Andrea Camerlo Arlene Miller; Fred Walker
Jackie DeFelice Sharon Mihalich Diane Pleva Alex Smith
Sunday—8:30 A.M.
Brianna & Olivia Sutara Ryan Sutara Ali & Ben Brestensky Nicolette Zollinger
Rose Check Patty Hughes Cindy Harbison
Judy Bergstrom Karen Nigra Tom Koharchik Tom Koharchik
Sunday—11:00 A.M.
Jacob & Erin Schaeffer Evan Giori; Paige Liti
Helen James; Andre Volek Melissa Schaeffer
Bill Cogley Karen Fennell Dave Wesolosky Choir
Christmas is a wonderful me for us. In addi on to the very special meaning of the liturgical celebra on, there are many parishioners whose schedules may not allow them to a end Mass at this wonderful
me. If you are one of those who cannot visit our parish during the holiday season, you might want to
check into electronic giving. Electronic giving allows parishioners to con nue to support the parish even when they are out-of-town dur-ing the holiday, too busy to remember an envelope, working week-ends, or a ending Mass at another parish. When you sign up, please remember to provide your envelope number.
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