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CATHOLIC FAMILY OF
PARISHES IN NORFOLK
St. Mary, Our Lady, Queen of Martyrs,
St. Bernard of Clairvaux, and St. Cecilia
Website: www.catholicfamilyparishesnorfolk.dol.ca
Facebook: www.facebook.com/stbstcstmolqm
Pastoral Team
To reach a staff member, call your Parish Office and use the extension provided
Rev. Alan Dufraimont, Pastor [email protected] ext: 222 Rev.Olivet Okoro, [email protected] ext: 223
Rev. Frank Murphy, Migrant Ministry, (Retired) Ian Duckworth, Family & Youth Minister [email protected] ext: 227 Kathryn Heemskerk, Pastoral Minister [email protected] ext: 224
Deacon Andy Alway [email protected] Deacon Dave Callaghan [email protected] ext: 237
Deacon John Doomernik [email protected] Deacon Gerard Van Schyndel [email protected] ext: 236
Deacon Frank Chowhan (Retired)
Parish Team
Debbie Drinkwater, Administration Manager [email protected] ext: 240 Rick Hobbins, Coordinator of Property and Maintenance and Custodian-St. Mary
[email protected] ext: 249 Mary Zylstra, Finance Secretary [email protected] ext: 241
Barb Balog, Office Secretary [email protected] ext: 0 Laurie Smith, Bulletin Editor and Scheduling Coordinator [email protected] ext:225
Judy Wilkie, St. Bernard Custodian Bill Hasilo, Our Lady, Queen of Martyrs, Custodian
CATHOLIC SCHOOLS
St. Bernard of Clairvaux, Waterford 519 443-8607 St. Joseph, Simcoe 519 426-0820
École Sainte-Marie, Simcoe 519 426-4775
St. Frances Cabrini, Delhi 519 582-2470 Holy Trinity Catholic High School, Simcoe 519 429-3600
Parish Offices
Our Lady, Queen of Martyrs &
St. Bernard 110 Adams Avenue, Delhi, ON N4B 1P7
Tuesday & Thursday 8:30 am-12:00 noon
1:00 pm-4:30 pm PHONE/FAX (519) 582-1312
St. Mary & St. Cecilia 211 Union Street
Simcoe, ON N3Y 2B3 Wednesday & Thursday
8:30 am-12:00 noon 1:00 pm -4:30 pm
PHONE/FAX (519) 426-0887 [email protected]
SUNDAY EUCHARIST
Our Lady, Queen of Martyrs 110 Adams Ave., Delhi
Saturday Vigil at 5:00 pm Sunday at 11:00 am
St. Mary 211 Union St., Simcoe
Saturday Vigil at 5:00 pm Sunday at 11:00 am
St. Bernard of Clairvaux 165 Thompson Rd, Waterford
Sunday at 9:00 am Spanish Mass Sunday at 7:00 pm
Easter Sunday to November 1
St. Cecilia 17 Lynn Park Ave.
Port Dover Sunday at 9:00 am
SACRAMENT OF
RECONCILIATION
St. Mary & Our Lady, Queen of Martyrs
Every Saturday 4:00 pm-4:30 pm St. Cecilia & St. Bernard
of Clairvaux Every Sunday 8:15 am or by
appointment
OUR MISSION STATEMENT
“We are a Eucharistic community forming faith-filled disciples of Jesus in loving service of God and neighbour
for salvation”
St. Cecilia, Port Dover 519 583-0224Easter Sunday—April 12, 2020
All masses and church activities are cancelled, please go to our website www.catholicfamilyparishesnorfolk.dol.ca
for detailed cancellations.
From the desk of Father Alan:
It is with great joy that I see the good work that all our staff is doing, mostly in their homes, as we all remain isolated. I thank the good Lord for the blessing of our staff, the Pastoral Team and the Parish Team (Administration). Please see the information that Debbie Drinkwater has put into this bulletin with respect to our finances. For those who can, we ask for your continued financial support. As Debbie has mentioned, we are overjoyed that Mary Zylstra is staying on as Financial Secretary, and not retiring. Thanks Mary!
The Bishop’s of Canada with our Bishops, Bishop Fabbro and Bishop Dabrowski have celebrated the Consecration of the Blessed Virgin Mary for our Catholic Church and our country of Canada, as we struggle with the coronavirus. This consecration took place on Friday, May 1, 2020, at St. Mary’s Church in London, ON.
This past Saturday, May 2 was the date that Deacon Phil Guimaraes from Our Lady, Queen of Martyrs Parish was scheduled to be ordained to the Priesthood. We await the new date for Phil’s Ordination as our Catholic Family of Parishes in Norfolk will celebrate along with the Diocese of London. Keep Deacon Phil in your prayers.
There are many parishioners waiting to celebrate the sacraments, Baptisms, First Holy Communions, Confession, Marriages, Memorial Funeral Masses and the three adults eager to become Catholic, as they have completed the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults (RCIA). Once we have word from the Government of Ontario and our Bishops to begin celebrating Mass, we will make many announcements to celebrate these sacraments.
Our St. Vincent de Paul’s and the Soup Kitchen in Simcoe, continue to minister to those in need. We salute them for their dedication and ministry that is needed now more than ever as many people struggle financially. This ministry is a most important arm of our Catholic Church and Christian communities.
Following is a short reflection taken from the book “Rediscover the Saints‘” by Matthew Kelly.
How would you describe your relationship with Jesus? For the saints everything was about him. They placed Jesus at the center of their lives by placing him at the center of everything they did. They discovered the best-version-of-themselves in and through Jesus. How is your relationship with Jesus? Or perhaps it would help to consider some questions. How do you wish to be known? What do you want your reputation to be? How do you want to be remembered? Would you like to be remembered for your accomplishments or for your character? Would you like to be remembered for what you did or who you were? Do you want to be remembered as a worldly person or a spiritual person? Do you hope to be thought of as a disciple of Jesus? Do you think that John the apostle would rather be known as a saint, as an apostle or as a friend of Jesus? “Seek first the Kingdom of God” Matthew 6:3. Let us try to enter a life-giving relationship with Jesus and make that friendship a daily priority. The saints were God’s friends on this earth. And now it is your turn.
We will be live streaming on Facebook and on our website our weekly Mass
every Sunday at 11:00 am.
From the desk of Deacon Andy:
A Friendship Like No Other Taken from the Book A FRIENDSHIP LIKE NO OTHER--WILLIAM A. BARRY S.J.
St. Teresa of Avila was once thrown from her carriage into some mud. She is supposed to have said to God: if this is the way you treat your friends it’s no wonder you have so few. The story, if true shows that Teresa had a close relationship with God. She could speak easily and angrily to God, whether with a sense of humor or with the kind of petulance and self-centeredness many of us exhibit at times. God creates all human beings for friendship. If that is the case, one could ask why so many bad things happen to God’s friends even the ones who accept the invitation to friendship. Why doesn’t God intervene to stop people from committing evil? And how could God allow natural disasters and human evils that devastate so many lives. The people who suffer these disasters and evils might well ask “what is the good of God’s friendship if it does not save them from such horrors”. How can we come to terms with evil in a world created by a compassionate God who wants our friendship? In creating human begins with free will and calling them into friendship, God becomes vulnerable to our weaknesses and fears. So why doesn’t God wipe out the evil-doers? Jesus answer to this question comes in the parable of the weeds among the wheat. Let both of them grow together until the harvest and at harvest time I will tell the reapers. Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn. Matthew 13:24-30 When we encounter God, we know that we are not God and that we exist only because God wants us to exist. We don’t have an answer of why there is so much evil and pain in this world. All we can do is encourage you to speak directly to God if you have questions about God’s ways, as one friend to another, even if anger is the only emotion you can voice. Even though we may know that God and God’s ways are a mystery that only God can know, we still try to identity God’s will in the workings of creation. Suffering and evil remain a mystery that places us squarely before the question of who God is. If God did not stop the crucifixion of Jesus, then perhaps God cannot change human hearts, unless those hearts agree to change. God, of course wants to influence our hearts but God cannot coerce them to change. “We can never know the mind of God. If we could, God would not be God”. What can we do when we are faced with the reality of pain and evil and cannot know why God allows them? What turns pain into something ultimately positive is trust in God. We find ourselves in situations that can only be endured with blind trust in the God we have met and come to believe in! Life does throw us any number of curveballs, terrible things that are hard to handle, but if we want to find some measure of peace and blessing, we must say YES as Jesus did in the Garden of Gethsemane. In the end, we don’t need to understand evil: we just need to say “YES” to God.
We Commend to your Prayers:
We pray for all the sick of our Parishes: Daphne Jarman; Nikki Buckborough; Ruth Lampman; George DeBlock; Edward McCarthy; Shirley George; Deacon Frank Chowhan; Peter St. Jean and Nora Walsh
We pray for all the faithful departed including: Joaquina DaConeicao; Terry Pieters; Margaret Tamas; and Sister Frances Ryan.
Prayer Line: 519 426-0788 ~ [email protected] or 519 582-243l
Online Youth Ministry Certificate
This might be a great time for some Professional Development or to begin training to support Family and Youth ministry in your community. The Certificate in Youth Ministry course is an online program offered in partnership with Steubenville Catechetical Institute that can be done at your own pace. Information can be found at dol.ca/ymcertification or contact Claire Bondy at [email protected].
Growing in Faith, Growing in Christ The digital resources Growing in Faith, Growing in Christ, the Catholic School Religious Education program, are now available for home use. The website features videos, songs, bible stories, prayers, interactive activities and more. Click here to access these resources with Username: GIFGIC_student99 and Password: Student99. Parishes are encouraged to promote the use of this site. (Note: Login will only work when using Internet Explorer/Edge). A promotional graphic is available here.
The National Week for Life and the Family
The National Week for Life and the Family will be observed from May 10-17 with the theme, “Children: The Crowning Glory of Marriage” . The material for the 2020 National Week of Life and Family has been prepared by the Catholic Organization for Life and Family (COLF) and is available on the COLF website in English and French. The material available includes: a proposed plan for pastors and lay pastoral workers on how they might organize the week; a message from the CCCB President, the Most Reverend Richard Gagnon; proposals for homily notes and prayers of the faithful; suggestions for events and activities. The material will also be shared with the diocesan organizers for the Quebec Family Week. The letter from Archbishop Gagnon is available in English and French.
Outreach Resources The diocese has a webpage that will be continually updated with resources for the faithful http://dol.ca/outreach. Join us in the newly added “House of Prayer” initiative. Please promote this page to your parishioners and others to help them find online Masses, Catholic publications and activities for families, children and youth.
St Vincent de Paul The collections in April for Saint Vincent de Paul were very successful and are finished now at St. Mary’s and Our Lady, Queen of Martyrs. Thanks for all your support.
A message from Bishop Fabbro regarding Father Stephen Savel
After time devoted to prayer and discernment, and after discussions with me, Father Stephen Savel has, for personal reasons, made the decision to leave active priestly ministry. I am grateful to Father Steve for his twenty years of priestly ministry in our parishes, which included his appointment as episcopal vicar. During Father Steve’s leave of absence and now, with his decision to leave active ministry, I have removed his faculties in the Diocese of London. I include this message from Father Steve: “Thank you for those who prayed and supported me while I have been on a leave of absence. After taking this time for prayer and discernment, I have decided to seek laicization. This is a very difficult choice that I am making. I continue to love the Catholic Church and the priesthood. Please pray for me, and know that I will do the same for you.” Please join me in our prayers for Father Steve and for the people he served.
“I came that they might have life, and have it abundantly.” ~John 10:10b
When Jesus reminds us that he came that we might have life, he does so in the context of laying down his own life for our sake. Defending life in our country and even in our faith communities can cause division, fear of judgment and limit our relations with others. Yet Jesus continues to offer abundant life to all, and invites us to be one with him in receiving, protecting and nurturing life.
NOVENA of NINE DAYS to THE HOLY SPIRIT for OUR PARISH.
Holy Spirit, third Person of the Blessed Trinity, Spirit of truth, love and holiness, proceeding from the Father and the Son, and equal to Them in all things, I adore You and love You with all my heart. Dearest Holy Spirit, confiding in your deep, personal love for me, I am making this Novena for the following request, if it is Your holy Will to grant it: to pour gifts upon us, the Catholic Family of Parishes in Norfolk. Teach me, Divine Spirit, to know and seek my last end; grant me the holy fear of God; grant me true contrition and patience. Do not let me fall into sin. Give me an increase of faith, hope and charity, and bring forth in my soul all the virtues proper to my state of life. Make me a faithful disciple of Jesus and an obedient child of the Church. Give me efficacious grace sufficient to keep the commandments and to receive the sacraments worthily. Give me the four Cardinal Virtues, Your Seven Gifts, Your Twelve Fruits. Raise me to perfection in the state of life to which You have called me and lead me through a happy death to everlasting life. Through Christ our Lord. Amen. (Start praying this on any day, and pray it daily for nine days. Repeat as needed.)
Virtual Life in the Spirit Seminar – May 28-30, 2020
This year due to Corvid-19 lockdown the Spirit of Truth and Love prayer group is unable to hold as planned, an in person, New Life in the Spirit Seminar in preparation for Pentecost. The alternative is to have an On-line -As in a
New Pentecost- New Life in the Spirit Seminar event the last week of May. If you are interested, please contact
John Barra at 519-583-0277,or e-mail [email protected].
The Sanctuary Lamp will burn in all 4 churches in The Catholic Family of Parishes
in Norfolk for the intentions all our parishioners.
Beginning Monday May 11, 2020, scheduled Mass intentions will be offered each day when the priests celebrate their private mass. It is our hope you will pray for those intentions in your daily prayers as well.
Mass Intention for the week of May 10-16, 2020
Monday May 11—Antonio & Maria Ferrador; Jerry Finnigan and Charlie Grech Tuesday May 12—Catherine Brown (Kokus); Suzanne Leonard; and Maria & Alfredo Ferreiro Wednesday May 13—Denise Campbell; Luiza Gomes Ferreiro & Tiago Gomes; and James Bakos Thursday May 14—Ana & Anibal Moura; Eva Hare; and Annie Benko Friday May 15—James & May Kay; Porfirio & Mercedes Guimaraes and Joan Boyle
Mass Intentions for the week of May 17-23, 2020
Monday May 18—Margaret May, Lucien Deelan; and Joe VanHooydonk Tuesday May 19—Ricardo Benevides & Esperanca Gonzales; Maria Preciosa & Jose Mendes ; and Norma & Willy Goudeseune Wednesday May 20—Manuel & Maria Benedicto; Trudy Van Schyndel; and Irene Verspeeten Thursday May 21—Albert Beselaere; Gregory Godelie: and James Esbaugh Friday May 22—Pamela Douel; Mary Hird, Velma Schooley
5th Sunday of Easter
READINGS FOR THE WEEK
Monday: Acts 14:5-18; Ps 115:1-4, 15-16; Jn 14:21-26 Tuesday: Acts 14:19-28; Ps 145:10-13ab, 21; Jn 14:27-31a Wednesday: Acts 15:1-6; Ps 122:1-5; Jn 15:1-8 Thursday: Acts 1:15-17, 20-26; Ps 113:1-8; Jn 15:9-17 Friday: Acts 15:22-31; Ps 57:8-10, 12; Jn 15:12-17 Saturday: Acts 16:1-10; Ps 100:1b-3, 5; Jn 15:18-21 Sunday: Acts 8:5-8, 14-17; Ps 66:1-7, 16, 20;1 Pt 3:15-18 or 1 Pt 4:13-16; Jn 14:15-21 or Jn 17:1-11a
VOCATION Roman Catholics in the United States spend a good deal of time speaking of “vocation” and the manner in which each of us discerns our vocation for life. In today’s apostolic letter, however, Peter gives us the “cornerstone” of our vocation, the description of what each of us is called to first and foremost by our baptism. He describes our vocation as “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of [God’s] own, so that you may announce the praises” of Christ, who called us out of darkness into light (1 Peter 2:9). All of us, no matter what path our life’s vocation may take us down, have been chosen by God, made holy, and anointed as priests in the high priesthood of Christ through baptism. All of this, so that we may announce the praises of Christ. Vocation is given for proclamation at home, in the workplace—wherever life takes us—in service, in word, and in sacrament. Present Father, you have promised we will never be alone. Teach us to put our trust in you, to scour our world for signs of
your presence, and to trust you are with us even when we struggle to see and feel you. Amen. Alleluia!
6th Sunday of Easter
READINGS FOR THE WEEK Monday: Acts 16:11-15; Ps 149:1b-6a, 9b; Jn 15:26 — 16:4a Tuesday: Acts 16:22-34; Ps 138:1-3, 7c-8; Jn 16:5-11 Wednesday: Acts 17:15, 22 — 18:1; Ps 148:1-2, 11-14;Jn 16:12-15 Thursday: Acts 1:1-11; Ps 47:2-3, 6-9; Eph 1:17-23;Mt 28:16-20 (for Ascension); otherwise Acts 18:1-8; Ps 98:1-4;
Jn 16:16-20 Friday: Acts 18:9-18; Ps 47:2-7; Jn 16:20-23 Saturday: Acts 18:23-28; Ps 47:2-3, 8-10; Jn 16:23b-28 Sunday: Acts 1:12-14; Ps 27:1, 4, 7-8; 1 Pt 4:13-16; Jn 17:1-11a; or (for Ascension) Acts 1:1-11; Ps 47:2-3, 6-9;
Eph 1:17- 23; Mt 28:16-20
THE REASON FOR OUR HOPE “What is the reason for your hope?” Imagine somebody coming up to you and asking you that question. Not “What are you hoping for?” or “What are you hoping to do?” No, this isn’t about our desires for possessions or aspirations for life, it’s “Why do you hope?” Peter today tells us that we ought to be ready to give an answer to this question. Truth be told, few of us spend much time thinking about why we hope. Luckily, the scriptures today give us our answers. We hope because Christ suffered for us, in order that we might come to God. We hope because we know that, in the Spirit, God grants us another Advocate through Christ to remain with us always. No matter what we might hope for, whatever we might hope to do, we must always first know and proclaim the reason for our hope: the presence of God in Christ, with us through the power of the Spirit. Spirit of Truth, draw close to us in seasons of suffering and help us to know your presence. Protect us from believing lies, giving into temptations, and despairing. Give us the strength to trust that the Father who loves us will bring Resurrection and new life from the hardest of circumstances. Amen. Alleluia!
