Church of the Transfiguration 4000 E. Castro Valley Blvd., Castro Valley, CA 94552-4908

(510) 538-7941 Fax (510) 538-7983 E-mail: transfig_office@sbcglobal.net Website: www.transfigchurch.com August 30, 2015

Rev. Mario L. Borges, Pastor ● Rev. Terence O’Malley, Parochial Administrator Deacon Martin J. Leach ● Deacon Timothy L. Moore ● Deacon Burton J. Rigley

LITURGICAL MINISTRY: Liturgy Coordinator, Sean Cooper Eucharistic Ministers, Stephen and Carina Kowalewski Lectors, Barbara Mehan Altar Servers, Alicia Antonio Youth Liturgy, Michelle Gilman

FINANCE COUNCIL: Chairman, Mark Zaleski

PARISH ORGANIZATIONS: Catholic Youth Organization (CYO), 60 Plus or Minus Club, Hospitality Committee

SAINT VINCENT de PAUL SOCIETY: (510) 274-0830 Serving our community.

SICK & HOMEBOUND MINISTRY: Claudia Paquette, (510) 537-8986

STEWARDSHIP: Chairperson, Ed Coelho, (510) 881-5705

WINGS “Women in God’s Spirit”: Bobbie Blackard,510-581-4149 HALL MANAGER: Pat Ballinger, (510) 537-1502

HALL RENTAL MANAGER: Ann McAusland, 510-239-7941

YOUTH MINISTRY: Sean Cooper, (510) 581-5870 or Transfig_Youth@sbcglobal.net

PARISH OFFICE: Phone: (510) 538-7941 Fax: (510) 538-7983 Hours: 8:00 a.m. — 4:30 p.m., Monday-Thursday (Closed between 12:00 & 1:00 p.m.) Friday, 9:00a.m. — 12:00 Noon - Saturday & Sunday—Closed Secretary, Gloria Meeker Secretary/Bookkeeper, Phyllis Moore

SCHEDULE OF MASSES Saturdays 4:00 p.m. Sundays 7:30 a.m., 9:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m. Monday-Friday 8:00 a.m. (Except First Fridays - 9:30 a.m.) Communion Service - Saturdays, 8:00 a.m.

CONFESSIONS Saturdays 3:00-3:45 p.m.

BAPTISMS: Pre-baptismal class is required. Class is held the second Tuesday of the month at 7:30 p.m. in the Marian Room, Parish Hall. Please call the Parish Office, 538-7941, to register.

MATRIMONY: Six months advance notice required. Please call the parish office. WEDDING COORDINATOR: Mel Speed (510) 909-9334 or melspeed@live.com FUNERALS: Please contact the funeral home of your choice and then the parish office. RELIGIOUS EDUCATION: Director, Patrice Ballinger (510) 537-1502 or TransfigCCD@aol.com

RCIA: Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults Director, Martin Mijalski. Please call the parish office.

MUSIC MINISTRY: Director, Alexander Katsman (510) 538-7941, Ext. 302 or Transfig_Music@sbcglobal.net

Mission Statement: “Transfiguring Our Community Through Faith”

Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time August 30, 2015

Humbly welcome the word that has been planted in you and is able to save your souls.

— James 1:21b

Transfiguration Catholic Church

Mass Intentions (August 29-Sept.5, 2015) Sat. 4:00p.m. Manuel Faria and Antonio & Belmira Freitas & Family Sun. 7:30a.m. Janice Paulo 9:00a.m. For the People 11:00a.m. Ida Agnone Mon. 8:00a.m. Edward & Mary Joaquin and Dr. Douglas Franklin Tues. 8:00a.m. Lyn Burkey Wed. 8:00a.m. Special Intention for Rick & Judy Schafer Thurs. 8:00a.m. Piedade Luis Fri. 9:30a.m. Special Intention for Moses and Prada Diaz Sat. 4:00p.m. Rose Morgan

Stewardship Corner The collection total for the weekend of: August 22nd & 23rd—$8,553.78 (compared to $12,000 average weekly stewardship goal)

Thank you for continuing in your stewardship role of providing for the upkeep of our parish community.

Remember Transfiguration in your Will and Living Trust

Coffee and Donuts Craig & Martha Sihner will be hosting coffee and donuts this Sunday after the 9:00a.m. Mass. Stop by and enjoy the fellowship.

Adult Bible Study Monday evening, August 31, 2015 in the Marian Room of the Parish Hall, 7:00-8:30 p.m. No sign-up required, just drop in. Free will offering.

Upcoming Events October 24, 2015 Oktoberfest Dinner/Dance Fundraiser

We extend a warm welcome to new parishioners and guests. If you would like to register or update information, please pick up a registration form in the vestibule of the church and return it to the Parish Office.

Please Note We will not have a Pancake Breakfast

in the month of September.

Transfiguration Parish Goal Update Our goal here at Transfiguration Parish for the “Reclaiming Christ’s Mission Together” campaign is $549,431.11. So far, we have raised $303,157.68 (55.18% of our goal). We still have $246,273.43 to be raised. Let’s keep going to reach our goal! If you have not yet responded, please consid-er doing so soon. Remember, our parish will receive 25% of all monies collected up to our goal and 50% of funds raised above our goal. Thank you for your support!

Dear Parishioners, This weekend, we welcome Fr. Lukasz Drozak. He will be speaking at all the Masses for the Mission Cooperative Plan of the Diocese (Mission Appeal). Through our prayers, sacrifices and financial help we co-operate in building up the Church in various parts of the world. Fr. Drozak will speak about how we can cooperate in bringing the good news to the poor. We encourage you to generously support the Mission. Yours in Christ, Fr. Mario Borges

Note: Mass on Friday, September 4 will be at 9:30a.m.

Please Note The Parish Office will be closed on

Monday, September 7th in observance of the Labor Day holiday.

Your Prayers Are Requested for the Repose of the Souls of: Elvira Gomes Francisco Pangelinan

Diocesan Priest Retirement Collection Next weekend there will be a collection for the Diocesan Priests Retirement Benefits Trust. This is our way of giv-ing back to those priests who enable us to live our Catho-lic faith by helping with their increasing retirement costs.

Come and join the Transfiguration Choir! Experience the in-spiring, healing and blessed joy of praising God in song. Choir practice begins at the end of August. We have rehearsals once a week. The choir sings Sundays at the 11:00a.m. Mass. Please call Alexander Katsman, Music Ministry Director, (510) 538-7941, ext. 302 or email: Transfig_Music@sbcglobal.net. Be part of an important ministry, and meet the friendly members of our Transfiguration Choir!

Amazon Smile Update Thank you to all who have signed up for Amazon Smile, Amazon.com's charitable donation program. For the second quarter ( April 1 through June 30, 2015), we received a dona-tion of $43.88 from Amazon! If you have not signed up for Amazon Smile yet, please consider doing so. Instructions are available at: www.transfigchurch.com/donate.

Baptism Class The next Baptism class will be Tuesday, September 8, 2015.

Please call the Parish Office to register.

Altar Servers Wanted!!! Want to be an Altar Server or know someone who is interested? We are now recruiting new Altar Servers for our Transfigura-

tion Church Parish! Children who are 10 yrs. and older and who have received first Holy Communion are eligible. Parents who would like their children to serve at the altar may email Alicia

Antonio at: bheng1972@yahoo.com. “When you take part in the liturgy by carrying out your altar service, you offer a witness to all. Your absorption, the devotion that wells up from your heart and is expressed in gestures, in song, in the responses: if you do it correctly and not absent-mindedly, then in a certain way your witness is one that moves people,” (Pope Benedict XVI, 2006).

Event Volunteers Wanted Many positive comments have been received from our past fund raising social events; St. Patrick’s dinners, Portuguese dinner, Country Western dinner, and our most recent Filipino dinner. Many hands make light work is an expression we all understand. Please consider volunteering to assist us in keeping these socials events going. Our Oktoberfest dinner is on the calendar for October 24th. Meet fellow parishioners by getting involved with the many tasks needing event volunteers. If you have the time to give a few hours as needed for the following activities, please contact our Stewardship coordinator, Ed Coe-lho (510) 881-5705 or email arc32684@earthlink.net to get details on the following activities needing volunteers:

• Setup: tables & chairs, bar, food serving tables, decora-ons, etc.

• Ticket sales at all Masses prior to the event

• Servers, bartenders, raffle cket sales, bar cket sales at the event

• Kitchen crew/helpers: cooks, servers, kitchen clean up

• Clean up and put away tables & chairs

We wish to thank the many volunteers for making the past events so successful, fun for families and fellow parishioners to spend an enjoyable evening together.

Immigration: The Catholic position, articulated by Pope Francis and ech-oed by Bishop Barber, is that immigration is a right-to-life issue. There will be a diocesan-wide event on October 17. The purpose of the event is to assist immigrants who are cur-rently permanent residents apply for full citizenship. I hope to confirm the details shortly and will include the in-formation in the bulletin in the next few weeks. I do know that the event is scheduled from 9:00a.m. until 3:00p.m., but volunteers would not necessarily have to stay the entire time. Please prayerfully consider joining us on October 17. Peace and Blessings, Deacon Marty

St. Vincent de Paul There will be a collection for St. Vincent de Paul this week-end. Your support enables us to continue helping our neigh-bors in need answering Christ's call to serve the poor. Each month our St. Vincent de Paul helps about 150 people, the majority of which are children.

Italian Catholic Federation Come and join the ICF Br #343 for our Sept. meeting and dinner on Sept. 10 @ 6:30p.m. at Our Lady of Grace Stack Hall. A wonderful dinner by Chef Mike Miraglia of chicken marsala and salad! Cost: $14 for members/ $16 for guests. Deadline for reservations is Wednesday, Sept. 2. Call Juanita @ 582-7242 or Stella @ 581-5863. See you there!

Sixty Plus or Minus Club Please join us in the Hall following the 9:30a.m. Mass on Fri-day, September 4th. Our hosts this month will be Carol Moss, Elsie Boyd, Elena Jimenez, Kay McCann and June Rigley. Bin-go will be played after the meeting. Please sign up today if you plan to attend.

TODAY’S READINGS First Reading: Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-8

Second Reading: James 1:17-18, 21b-22, 27 Psalm 15—Gospel: Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

READINGS FOR THE WEEK Monday: 1 Thes 4:13-18; Ps 96:1, 3-5, 11-13; Lk 4:16-30 Tuesday: 1 Thes 5:1-6, 9-11; Ps 27:1, 4, 13-14; Lk 4:31-37 Wednesday: Col 1:1-8; Ps 52:10-11; Lk 4:38-44 Thursday: Col 1:9-14; Ps 98:2-6; Lk 5:1-11 Friday: Col 1:15-20; Ps 100:1b-5; Lk 5:33-39 Saturday: Col 1:21-23; Ps 54:3-4, 6, 8; Lk 6:1-5 Sunday: Is 35:4-7a; Ps 146:7-10; Jas 2:1-5; Mk 7:31-37

LETTER FROM POPE FRANCIS THE “JOY OF THE GOSPEL” CONTINUED...

The Church’s Missionary Transformation—#96 No to spiritual worldliness This way of thinking also feeds the vainglory of those who are content to have a modicum of power and would rather be the general of a defeated army than a mere pri-vate in a unit which continues to fight. How often we dream up vast apostolic projects, meticulously planned, just like defeated generals! But this is to deny our history as a Church, which is glorious precisely because it is a history of sacrifice, of hopes and daily struggles, of lives spent in service and fidelity to work, tiring as it may be, for all work is “the sweat of our brow”. Instead, we waste time talking about “what needs to be done” – in Spanish we call this the sin of “habriaqueísmo” – like spiritual masters and pastoral experts who give instructions from on high. We indulge in endless fantasies and we lose con-tact with the real lives and difficulties of our people. Fr. Terry’s Remarks— Pope Francis shares with us this week, that there are some of us who are quite happy to be: ' the big fish in the small pool' and Oh! how jeal-ously we guard our little drop of water. Then we go on to dream daring adventures which are pure fiction. We Christians must never forget that Jesus' great adventure here on earth ended with Him hanging on a Cross and being taunted by his enemies. If we read a good history of the Church, if we follow the lives of people we find much sacrifice, dashed hopes, daily struggles and stead-fast fidelity. Some of us waste too much time and energy on: ' what needs to be done'. When I go on retreat, I have more often than not to listen to spiritual masters, exhort-ing me and also the other poor retreatants: to many won-derful works of prayer and exercises of devotion, plus works of mercy that are unrealistic and would not give us time for eating and sleeping not to mention a little relaxa-tion. Now we begin to understand what Pope Francis is getting at when he talks about, ''field hospitals'' and, ''smelling of the sheep.''