Church of St. Philip the Apostle est. 1898 Diocese of Charlotte

P.O. Box 882 525 Camden Drive

Statesville, North Carolina 28677

Office/Fax Phone (704) 872-2579 Rectory Phone (704) 681-4860

E-mail: stphilipapostle@bellsouth.net

Website: http://stphilipapostle.com

Rev. Fr. Thomas J. Kessler, Pastor

Rev. Mr. Charles Brantley, Deacon Ms. Regina McCollum, Secretary

Mr. & Mrs. Jim Kermes, Food Closet

Mrs. Mary Brown, Faith Formation Director Mrs. Norma Echevarria, Faith Formation

Mrs. Raquel Swierczewski, R.C.I.A Mrs. Anita Lund, Youth Director

Marriage - Baptism Call the church office. Marriages, call at least 6 months in advance. Reconciliation

Pastoral Council Meetings are 2nd Monday of each month at 7:00 p.m. September thru June except National Holidays.

Religious Education Children, grades 1-Confirmation, are required to attend religious education classes. Call the office to register your children. Adult classes also available. Parish Registration We welcome new parishioners to the parish and we ask them to register as soon as possible. Parish registration is important and necessary. Also, if you move away from the Parish please notify the office. Thank you.

Come and See

From the pastor.. Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time – The Wisdom of Solomon is featured in the first reading this weekend. Just imagine if God, not a genie from a magic lantern, but imagine if God appeared to you in a dream and said “ask something of me and I will give it to you”. What would you ask for? This happened to Solomon and he responded to God’s offer with “Give your servant an understanding heart to judge your people and to distinguish between right and wrong”. How does that response compare with what you would have asked from God? The Bible says that the Lord was pleased that Solomon made this request and so God said to him “Because you have asked for this – and not for a long life for yourself, nor for riches, nor for the life of your enemies, but for understanding so that you may know what is right – I will do as you requested. I give you a heart so wise and understand-ing…”. And we might have been inclined to ask to win the lottery! Today’s Gospel message is harmonious with the first reading. “The kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea, which collects fish of every kind. When it is full they haul it ashore and sit down to put what is good into buckets. What is bad they throw away. Thus it will be at the end of the age. The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth. Do you understand all these things?” We’d all do well to imitate the wisdom of Solomon and ask for under-standing so that we may know what is right and wind up with the good in God’s bucket rather than with the wicked in the fiery furnace. Next Sunday is the Feast of the Transfiguration. The Readings at Mass will be taken from: Daniel 7:9-10,13-15, 2 Peter 1:16-19, Matthew 17:1-9. Thanks to those who worked so hard to plan and organize the CHRISTMAS IN JULY CRAFT FAIR and to those who took the time and trouble to come out and support the Fair. Are you interested or curious about possibly becoming a Catholic? Now is the time to call me (Fr. Kessler – 704-681-4860) so as to inquire about the RCIA Class which will be forming at the end of August. I will meet with you personally and privately to discuss your questions, etc. Don’t be bashful nor wait until the last minute. Forward With Christ update – The 2nd collection next weekend will go towards this effort. So far we have $2,078,809.74 in the bank and are short $421,190.26 of our 2.5 million dollar goal. Thanks so much for your support and generosity. With God all things are possible. The finishing touches on the new parking lot – the trees need to be planted, etc. In the summer, it may seem that the lot is more than we need. But the extra spaces will come in handy once the Faith Formation Classes resume and especially when we commence building the new Social Hall. For safety sake, we probably will need to implement a new traffic pattern, which will require the parishioner’s patience and coopera-tion. The traffic coming towards the church on Harmony Drive and the traffic on Camden Drive will continue to have the right-of-way. We do want to avoid any needless accidents on the way to and from the Church. The Choir Appreciation Dinner for the English Masses will take place in the Social Hall this Thursday, August 2nd at 6:30 p.m. The Spanish Choir Appreciation dinner was held on June 15th. Thanks to all who recommended different Companies to take care of our lawn care. Our new company began their services earlier this month. Again, we thank Ligaya and Wade Kates for doing such a great job for so many years. They will continue to do a great job with the flowers that adorn the House of the Lord.

Saturday, July 29th 5:00 p.m. Elia Chery † by Seme Family Sunday, July 30th 8:00 a.m. Josefina Curiel † by Swierczewski Family 10:30 a.m. Larry & Anne Martini † by Stickle Family

12:30 p.m. Monday, July 31st 9:00 a.m. Billy McEvilly † by M/M Bill McEvilly

Wednesday, Aug 2nd 6:00 p.m. Ronald & Betty Brostowski † by M/M Russel Haas

Thursday, Aug 3rd 9:00 a.m. Michael Danckert † by M/M Anthony Ferguson Sr. Friday, Aug 4th 9:00 a.m. Ronald & Betty Brostowski † by M/M Anthony Ferguson Sr. Saturday, Aug 5th 9:00 a.m. Pro Populo 5:00 p.m. James Wilson † by Stein & Ferguson Families Sunday, Aug 6th 8:00 a.m. Dolores Cronin † by Bruce & Laurie Klvana 10:30 a.m. Stanley & Caroline Wienckowski † by Sadowski Family

12:30 p.m. Pro Populo READERS Aug 5 5:00 p.m. Linda Fitzgerald Aug 6 8:00 a.m. Stan Spice 10:30 a.m. Jason Wodecki EXTRAORDINARY MINISTERS OF HOLY COMMUNION

Aug 5 5:00 p.m. M. Rhodes (H), I. Poston, B. Scales, B. Bailey, A. Eisele Aug 6 8:00 a.m. N. Echevarria (H), R. Echevarria, C. DiFulvio 10:30 a.m. S. Soltysiak (HM), B. Stickle (HA), J. Phillips (HC), J. Bennett, J. Rafols, A. Sadowski, J. Sadowski ALTAR SERVER Aug 5 5:00 p.m. Aug 6 8:00 a.m. 10:30 a.m. Happy Birthday 7/30/2017-8/5/2017 7/30 Sean Healy, Kim Juares, Geneva Kelly, Miguel Orellana, Gemma Rafols 7/31 Jose Francisci Cabrera, Diego Castano, Janet Guadarra-ma, Michael Pepper, Daniel Pina, Shelley Soltysiak 8/1 Patricia Beha, Frank DiGangi, Patrick Green, Julian Guadarrama, IsaBella Gunn, Virginia Maucherek, John Rabito, Emily Serrano, Arthur Weber 8/2 Randy Frantz, Sean Grant, Thomas Grant, Evitelia Hurtado Gar-cia, Deanna Madson, Maria Sanchez, Marcos Urbina 8/3 Robert Gas-sett, Miguel Lopez-Hernandez, Matthew Ries, Luis Vargas Estrada 8/4 Jennifer Osorio, Ronald Springer 8/5 Edgar Cuanas, Juan Cuanas, Jacob Freese, Kenia Lopez-Hernandez, Gale Vestal

Happy Anniversary 7/30/2017-8/5/2017 7/30 Gale & Mun Vestal 7/31 Luis & Ada Serna 8/3 Kent & Anita Waugh, Arthur & Shirley Gunn 8/4 Philip & Beth Helderlein, Lando & Yolanda Vicidomini

Mrs. Mary Brown: If you need to contact Mrs. Brown, Faith Formation Director, please call or text 704-929-0152 or email her at faithformationdir@att.net or if you need to contact Mrs. Norma Echevarria please call the office at 704-872-2579 or email her at echevarria_norma@yahoo.com. Registration forms for 2017-2018 have been handed out to all current Faith Formation students. If you did not get one, please stop by the Faith Formation office. They are located next to the Faith For-mation Office door on orange paper. All forms need to be returned to the faith Formation office by Aug 1st, 2017 to avoid a $10 late fee. Students who plan on making their Confirmation and First Commun-ion need 2 years of Faith Formation classes prior to those sacrament and must attend at least 25 Masses during each of the school years. It’s not too early to think about volunteering for Faith Formation for the 2017-2018 School Year. The new Faith and Life series is ter-rific. All lessons are planned and related worksheets are always pre-pared often with a craft that corresponds with that week’s lesson. Please prayerfully consider if God is calling you to volunteer for Faith Formation. The future of St. Philip’s is a direct result of how well we prepare our young people. It’s not always easy, but it is al-ways worthwhile. What would happen to the Catholic Faith if there were no Faith Formation teachers to pass it on???? Please contact Mary Brown if you think you may be interested and we can talk. There will be 2 Faith Formation volunteer meetings, Wednesday, Aug 30th @ 6:30 p.m. and Thursday, August, 31st @ 6:30 p.m. Faith Formation volunteers should make plans to attend one of these meetings. If you cannot attend a meeting, please contact Mary Brown at the information above. Christmas Pageant Planning Meeting: It’s that time again. We will have the first planning meeting on Thursday, Sept 7 @ 6:30 p.m. in the social hall. Everyone is welcomed to attend. The Christmas Pag-eant will be Sunday, Dec 17th at 3:00 p.m. followed by a holiday treat reception. Children and adults are invited to participate. This is a great way for Confirmation students to get service hours. Please text or email Mary Brown if you have any ideas or questions. The 2017-2018 Faith Formation calendar is now available in the Faith Formation office or on the table in the gathering space with the registration forms.

Collections last week Regular 5:00 p.m…..….………….……...…………….……$2,562.00 8:00 a.m…......…..………………….…….…...……..1,506.40 10:30 a.m…….….....…………………………...……..1,932.12 12:30 p.m…..………...……..…………..............………842.55 Total…..….……...…………………….....…..……$6,843.07 Food Closet Total.…...…....…….……….....................................$225.07 Forward With Christ Total...………..…..…..….…...…...…………….$60,919.00 Spanish Food Fundraiser Total.…..………………...….…….…………….………..$0 Total to date…….………………….…………….$9,231.95

Collections Year to Date Last year This Year Regular $27,815.15...….……...........$28,317.14 Forward With Christ ………................……..1,017,890.74 Food Closet 1,585.00…….......…….…..1,380.07 Thank you for returning some of God’s gift to you to His Church.

Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time July 30, 2017

PARISH SUPPORT CHURCH YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 2018

THE WEEK AHEAD

The Catholic Daughters are having a fundraiser with Autobell Car Wash– they are selling $20.00 gift cards. For each card they sell Autobell will give us 50% of the proceeds. All the proceeds from this fundraiser will be donated to the Forward With Christ Building fund. Please see any Catho-lic Daughter or call Tami Harris at 704-902-0315 to pur-chase. At home.. Lillian Alvey, Paul and Ber tha Summerville, Bill Parker, Anna Eisele Shingleton, David Eisele, Jessica Allison, Jessica Crosso, Andrew Gulley, Jackie Mejia, Ange-la Moreno, Howard Stewart, Rick Stoup, Robinette Tilley, Alan Eisele, Joe Stallings, Arthur & Marion Weber, Martha Wall, Frank Bollero...Statesville Manor - Brenda Kelley. Please pray for the intentions on Our Prayer Tree. To place a name on the Prayer Tree, please sign the Prayer Book in the Lobby or e-mail; Jean Danckert - danckert5851@roadrunner.com. Our next Forward With Christ restaurant fundraiser will be on Monday, August 14th from 4 p.m. to close at Sorrento’s Restaurant in Statesville at 1004 Crossroads Dr ive, next to Big Lots. Sorrento’s will give us 10% of all receipts so please put them in the basket!

Monday, July 31st 9:30 a.m. Rosary Wednesday, Aug 2nd 6:30 p.m. Spanish RCIA 6:30 p.m. English Choir Appreciation Dinner Saturday, Aug 5th 10:30 a.m. Spanish Baptism 6:00 p.m. Wine & cheese social Sunday, Aug 6th 9:00 a.m. Donut & coffee social 11:30 a.m. Donut & coffee social Stewardship thought of the week: If we accept the chal-lenge of putting God first in our time and treasure, our atti-tudes, priorities and spiritual lives will definitely change.