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 rmaquinana@dioceseofgreensburg.org

Parish Staff William Girardi, Pastoral Associate—412-719-7085 Claudia Vertosick, Business Manager/Parish Secretary Helen James, Religious Education Director Thomas Koharchik, Choir Director Cindi Harbison, Social Hall Coordinator—724-272-7744 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—724-448-9251; ginaj1904@gmail.com

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: thechurch@stmaryfreeport.com Facebook: Saint Mary, Mother of God - Freeport Send Information to share: stmarysocialmedia@yahoo.com

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.

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.

Sixth Sunday of Easter May 26th, 2019

In Father’s absence, I have been asked to write a weekly message in his normal space. This week’s message is about our Pastoral Council and the role the council plays in the life of the parish. On May 5th, during the 8:30 A.M. Mass, Father Ron installed the new members of the Parish Council: Dave Kradel, Mark Lepkowski, Sharon Mihalich, and John Zurisko. He also reaffirmed the continuing members: George Bender, Steve Brestensky, Beth Macurdy, and Jeff Polana. Father formally installed Judy Bergstrom as Recording Secretary and myself, Bridget Fogarty, as Facilitator of the Council. At this time, we would like to thank those parishioners who completed their service as members of the Coun-cil: Dave Posney who served as Facilitator for the past nine years and Marianne Sheehan. Thank you and God Bless you. You will be missed! Now you might be asking yourself, “What is the role of the Pastoral Council?”. The Parish Council is a consultative body that strives to discern the movement of the Holy Spirit among God's people in the parish. This Council provides help to the pastor in fostering pastoral activity; they investigate, under the authority of the pastor, all those items which pertain to pastoral works, to ponder them, and to propose practical conclusions regarding them. Council meetings occur in the context of prayer and openness to the Holy Spirit so that, at all times, the common good will prevail. Specifically, the Pastoral Council's purpose is to enhance the process of pastoral planning, developing pastoral programs, improving pastoral services, and evaluating the pastoral effectiveness of various programs and services. As representatives of the parish community, as a whole, YOUR input into our planning and evaluation is criti-cal. Please feel comfortable in approaching Fr. Ron, parish staff members, or any of the Council Members to suggest ways that we may enhance the life of the parishioners and the parish. Next week, we will recap the last pastoral council meeting. ~~Bridget Fogarty

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Register your account by going to: www.formed.org and use our parish account (case-sensitive) VNX4G6.

Pew Preparations For New Padding

Because of your gi s in me, talent and treasure, those who have given to this year's Diocesan Lenten Appeal, the many hours of prepara on— you made possible the beau ca on of our pews with the new padding that will last for many years to come. So far, this year’s DLA has resulted in only 44% parishioner par cipa on. Last year, the total DLA resulted in 52% parish par cipa-

on. If you have not yet given, we ask that in these nal weeks you prayerfully consider giving a gi and/or pledge. From this point forward, 100% of all monies stay in our parish so that we can complete our remaining projects—new carpe ng and carport at the Cemetery Chapel. Again, may God bless all of our parishioners, those who have given, those who are unable to give, and those who are prayerfully considering a gi to this years campaign. Yours in Christ—Fr. Ron

Completion of our Project Installing New Pads The Underpadding FINISHED

Preparation for the new padding involved removing the

old padding and staples. This required a little more than fifty volunteers over a three day

period—over five hundred hours of volunteer time.

Thank you!

Freeport Theatre Fes val’s Junior Drama Camp—June 17th-21st from 8:30 to 11:30 A.M. See insert in today’s bulle n for all details!

To understand the importance of the Sacrament of Bap sm and your obliga on as parents, you

are required to a end one bap smal class. The next class scheduled for this year will be held on Thurs-day, June 13th. To register, please call Mark and Melis-sa Kris ne at 724-230-4450 or the Administra ve O ce at 724-295-2281.

Memorial Day Mass will be celebrated on Monday at St. Mary Cemetery—9:00 A.M.

The Ascension of the Lord - Thursday, May 30th Masses—8:00 A.M. & 7:00 P.M.

Red Geranium forms may be found at all of the church entrances. Complet-ed forms and money may be placed in a marked envelope (Geraniums) and placed in the collec on basket or

dropped o at the Administra ve Center no later than 12:00 Noon, Monday, June 3rd. Flowers may be taken home immediately following the 11:00 A.M. Mass on Pentecost Sunday, June 9th.

Meals on wheels is in need of drivers on Mon-days, Wednesdays and

Fridays. If you are able to help out one, two or three days a week for a couple of hours, please call Betsy Olsen at 724-353-1424 for all details.

St. Mary Cemetery - Do you like working outside? Our cemetery is in need of someone to help with the grass trimming and light labor work, one or two days a week from April to November. If you are interested, call our caretaker, Richard Ber no, at 724-295-3632 (home) or 724-602-5986 (cel). Clearances required.

MASSES FOR THE 6TH SUNDAY OF EASTER SATURDAY: May 25th 4:00 P.M. Stella Trygar (Tim & Bridget Fogarty) SUNDAY: May 26th 8:30 A.M. IHO Lee & Emily Bergstrom (Bob & Judy) 11:00 A.M. St. Mary Parishioners MONDAY: May 27th—Mass to be celebrated at the Cemetery 9:00 A.M. All Veterans TUESDAY: May 28th—COMMUNION SERVICE 8:00 A.M. Ken Hughes (Patty & Family) [Mass intention will be Celebrated by Fr. Ron] WEDNESDAY: May 29th 8:00 A.M. J. Easley Family (Estate) THURSDAY: May 30th - The Ascension of the Lord 8:00 A.M. St. Mary Parishioners 7:00 P.M. Robert Gray (St. Vincent de Paul Store) FRIDAY: May 31st 8:00 A.M. Elizabeth & Dale Harbison (David & Janis Harbison)

MASSES FOR THE 7TH SUNDAY OF EASTER SATURDAY: June 1st 4:00 P.M. Alberta Hager (Silvia Sikora) SUNDAY: June 2nd 8:30 A.M. St. Mary Parishioners 11:00 A.M. Jane Thompson (Ron & Peggy Thompson)

Offertory Collection for May 19th, 2019

No. of Envelopes Mailed Out: 598 No. of Envelopes Received: 161

Collection: Offertory - $4,136.00 Electronic Payments (10) - $490.00

Loose - $242; Children - $18.00 Catholic Communication Campaign - $345.00

Total Collection - $5,231.00 THANK YOU!

Saturday, June 1st, 2019 Donna Smith and Deb Showers

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The Altar Bread and Wine were donated for this week

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Ascension of the Lord Thursday - 7:00 P.M.

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