8
Parish Communities St. Mary & St. Philip Benizi Pastor: Rev. Leo LeBlanc (508) 839-3993 x24 • [email protected]
Parish Communities St. Mary & St. Philip Benizi
Pastor: Rev. Leo LeBlanc (508) 839-3993 x24 • [email protected]
Traditionally summer is when our offertory drops, any support that you can give us at this time would be greatly appreciated.
Sunday Offertory
St. Mary August 7 – 13, 2020
$3,872.00
St. Philip August 7 – 13, 2020
$2,733.67 Includes WeShare Electronic Giving
St Philip
August 16 – Memorial Henry Coz by a Friend August 23 – Memorial Lucille Wilson by the Parish August 30 – Memorial Jean Welsh by the Parish September 6 – Memorial Nelson Carlson by the Parish
To request a Mass Intention, please call Jill Sullivan (ext. 10) or Lisa Stewart (ext. 11) at St. Mary at 508-839-3993.
Welcome to St. Mary & St. Philip Parishes.
Please visit our website for all the upcoming events.
If you would like a bulletin sent home, please call St.
Mary’s parish office. Please visit our website to sign
up for attendance at Mass and latest details on our
parishes
stmarysgrafton.org or stphilipsgrafton.org
Please sign up for Flocknotes on our
website for continuous updates on your phone or
email. You will find us on Facebook at
stmary.stphilip.of.grafton.ma
You will find our recorded weekly Mass on your local
cable channels at 6:30am and 6:30pm Daily on
Channel 191 for Charter or Channel 34 for Verizon
Our mailing address and phone numbers:
St. Mary Office - 508-839-3993
17 Waterville St, N Grafton, 01536
St. Philip Office– 508-839-3325
12 West St. Grafton, 01519
If you know of any elderly or home-bound parishioners who would like to have the bulletin sent to them by mail, please contact St. Mary Parish office and one will be sent out weekly.
St. Mary
Please Note: Weekday Mass times have been modified.
August 15, Saturday: 4:00pm – Wedding Anniversary Remembrance Leopold and Ella LaMarche by the Family, Birthday Remembrances Philippe LaMarche and John DeFoe by the Family, Memorial John McCartney by Catherine Ryan, 31st Anniversary Thomas Killoran and Birthday Remembrance Malvina Killoran by their daughter Elizabeth, 2nd Anniversary Joan Kasabula by the Family August 16, Sunday: 7:30am – For the Holy Souls in Purgatory 10:30am – Birthday Remembrance Phyllis Dorr by the Family Monday – 8:00am Mass Tuesday – 12:00pm Mass Wednesday – 3:00pm Mass Thursday – 8:00am Mass August 22, Saturday: 4:00pm – Birthday Remembrance Henry Gibson by Janet LaMarche, Memorial John McCartney by Catherine Ryan August 23, Sunday: 7:30am – For the Holy Souls in Purgatory 10:30am – Memorial George Stratton by Stanley and Gail Dogil, 10th Anniversary Mary M. Sparrow by the Family
Please continue to pray for all those affected by the pandemic.
Special Collections:
This Weekend – The Assumption of the blessed Virgin Mary
Next weekend – St. Mary – No second collection
St. Philip – Fr. Henault - Haiti
August 16, 2020 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Stray Dogs
The Church… is the home of all, not a small chapel that can hold only a small group of selected people. I see the church as a field hospital after battle. It is useless to ask a
seriously injured person if he has high cholesterol and about the level of his blood sugars! You have to heal his wounds. Then we can talk about everything else. Heal the wounds, heal the wounds.... [But] you have to start from the ground up. The church sometimes has locked
itself up in small things, in small-minded rules [where the] most important thing is the first proclamation: Jesus Christ has saved you.
~ Pope Francis
As a Church, that is who we are called to be: healers. That is how we are called to love, to serve, to live out our call to discipleship. By helping bind up the wounds of others, physical or spiritual.
We’re not here just for the ones who are safe and sound within these walls. The words of the Gospel aren’t just for those of us who come to Mass every weekend (actually or virtually), who participate in the ministries, who follow the rules, and accept the dogmas and call ourselves, “Good Catholics.” We’re here also – maybe even primarily – for the lost and lonely, the outcasts and foreigners, the strangers and unloved who walk the streets beside us, desperately hoping for someone to recognize them, to welcome them in and offer them healing from the brokenness and pain they’ve experienced in a world that can sometimes be so heartless and hurting and cruel. Because the fact is that probably describes every one of us at some point in our lives: lonely, hurting and unloved. Hoping for a little recognition. Hoping for kindness and being treated like a stray dog. Hoping for someone to hear us cry, “Help me. I’m over here.”
In this weekend’s Gospel, Matthew describes the woman seeking Jesus’ help as a “Canaanite woman.” The Canaanites were the ancient enemies of Israel. The people God called to be expelled from the Promised Land because of their worship of false gods, child sacrifices and hedonistic rituals. The woman is actually from Syria, but Matthew uses “Canaanite” purposely to show how “outside” the circle of the Chosen People she would be to a Jewish rabbi. And she was a woman, who in Jewish culture should not engage in conversation with a man not part of her family or clan.
But Jesus engages with her. Not only that, he is persuaded by her reasoning and amazed at her faith – the faith of a pagan, an outsider, one who is “unclean.”
As the Dominican priest, Fr. Donagh O’Shea, wrote a few years ago: “A Christian society that is deaf to the outsider and that marginalizes some of its own, can hardly be described as Christian.”
We can no longer allow a word like immigrant or divorced or gay to become an insult, but must rather offer words of welcome and love and charity to those who are marginalized or kept outside the inner circle of the church. It’s those unwanted in society, the bullied, the weak, the small, the ones we ignore in the hallways of our schools, who sit alone at lunch in the cafeteria, who everyone ignores in the office, who walk by our church every day but are never invited in... they are the ones who, if we just stopped and paid attention to them once in a while, might just lead us to a true encounter with Christ… and to true salvation.
Deacon Tim Cross
Partners in Charity relies on your support!
Please reflect on God’s great generosity and prayerfully consider a gift or pledge to Partners in Charity. Without your support, many will go without during this difficult time.
You can pledge any one of the following ways:
• Print out a pledge card from our website and mail your pledge into the parish. (Please make all checks out to Partners in Charity)
• Make a pledge online by clicking the Partners in Charity Annual Appeal link on our website.
• Text the word “donate” to 84576 to pledge on your phone.
As of Monday, August 11, 2020:
• St. Philip has raised $24,935 which is 75% of our goal.
• St. Mary has raised $37,978 which is 58% of our goal.
Thank you to all who have made their gift to the 2020 Partners in Charity Appeal.
Turn Loose Change into Cash for Haiti!
In Deacon Tim’s “Abundance” homily on the weekend of August 1st and 2nd, he mentioned that for 7¢, we could feed 1 meal to 1 starving child in El Salvador.
In light of this fact, we decided to take up a collection of loose change for our twinned parishes of Sts. Pierre and Paul in Coteaux Haiti.
Do you have any loose change that you would be willing to donate? If so, we will be taking up this collection the weekend of August 29th and 30th. Bring in your change or provide a check in the amount of your loose change.
If you have not heard Deacon Tim’s homily, it can be found on our parish website at the following link: https://stmarysgrafton.org/homilies Once on this page, click on Dn. Tim’s homily on “Abundance” on August 2, 2020.
COLLECTION FOR FATHER JOHN HENAULT @ ST. PHILIP AUGUST 23rd
Father John is unable to be with us this summer due to the Coronavirus, but we are still going to have our annual collection for his mission. This year he has a goal of $15,000 that will cover the following projects. This is his “Wish List”.
• $200 for new tires for his vehicle
• $2,000 for a mobile clinic
• $3,000 for 2 Jialing motorcycles (one for home and one for the clinic) @$1,500/each. These are
easier to get parts for in Haiti and are less expensive.
• $9,000 for 6 new Mach 2 pumps @$1,500/each. There are community wells that were drilled
years ago that are now broken and never repaired. His goal is to get these wells operational
again, so there is easily accessible water.
If you write a check, please make it payable to St. Philip and we will ensure that your donation gets to him.
MATCHING GIFTS OFFER
Benedict Council #2379 Knights of Columbus and two generous parishioners from St. James have created a $6,000 pool, from which every donation made to Fr Henault, from now until the pool is expended, will be matched dollar for dollar. Please be as generous as you are able and thank you in advance for your continued generosity!
SUMMER 2020 BIBLE STUDIES
A 4-part series giving an overview of the Bible.
Live Zoom sessions will take place on the following Thursday’s beginning at 7:00pm: August 20th, August 27th, September 3rd and September 10th.
Check our website for more details and to sign up if you’re interested. The Zoom link will be emailed to you.
Your help is needed! Please consider sharing your faith with the young people of our parishes. Please contact Darleen at [email protected] for more info or if you can help
Sunday 9:15-10:15am Monday 4:30-5:30pm Catechists for Grades K, 2, 3, 4, 5 Catechists for Grades K, 1, 2 Aides for Grades K, 2, 4, 5 Aides for Grades K, 1, 2
Sunday 6:30-7:30pm Virtual Classes via Zoom—all grades Catechists for Grades 7, 8, 9, 10 Substitute Catechists—all grades Aides for Grades 7, 8, 9, 10 Substitute Aides—all grades
10 GOOD REASONS TO BECOME A CATECHIST
1. You will grow in your own faith, learn the teachings of the Church, and deepen your relationship with Jesus.
2. Your Baptism calls you to share in Jesus’ ministry. 3. Children, teens and adults in today’s world, more than ever, need to hear the Good News of Jesus. 4. Children, teens and adults in today’s world, more than ever, need to encounter good role models of faith. 5. You have much to share with those you’ll teach, and you’ll have opportunities to share faith with other
catechists. 6. Today’s catechetical textbooks/resources offer outstanding support. 7. You’ll be challenged, you’ll have fun, and you’ll make new friends. 8. You’ll be helping people deepen their relationship with Jesus. (You’ll be evangelizing!) 9. You’ll be handing on a 2000-year-old Tradition that changes lives. 10. It’s our job: Jesus sent us to “go and teach all nations.”
Won’t you answer the call?
Our next Market Sunday is September 6. We could never thank you enough for all of the support we have received during this summer!
As we head into the Fall, we are particularly in need of:
mayonnaise & salad dressing, crackers & cookies, soup, canned tomatoes, paper products, cleaning supplies and soap/shampoo.
Donations can be left in the gathering space at St Mary’s or St Philip’s at any time.
If you are aware of anyone needing help to support themselves or their families, please refer them to our St Vincent de Paul Society ministry at 508 839-3993 x 35. All information is kept strictly confidential.
CONFIRMATION PREPARATION Confirmation Request Letters—Candidates for Confirmation should be writing and submitting a Confirmation request letter to Fr. Leo. In this letter, answer the following questions: What does Confirmation mean to you? Why do you feel you are ready to celebrate the Sacrament of Confirmation? How have you been actively involved in your parish? Put some thought into the answers to each question. Letters need to be submitted before the Confirmation Interview.
Confirmation Interviews—Confirmation Interviews began on July 13th and will close on September 13th. Students should complete the Pre-Confirmation Interview Questions and then sign up for an interview on our website at: https://stmarysgrafton.org/confirmation.
Confirmation Registration—If you have not already completed the Confirmation registration form, you can access it at: https://stmarysgrafton.org/confirmation
Please don’t hesitate to contact Mrs. Farland at [email protected] with any questions.
HIGH SCHOOL MAKE UP PACKETS--
Students who were not able to complete either High School “Church” or “Morality” classes are reminded to please return your completed make-up packets to Mrs. Farland ASAP.
Religious Ed Registration for 2020-2021
If you still need to register your child, please do so soon. You can conveniently register and pay online at: https://stmarysgrafton.org/re-registration. If your child is NEW to the program and was NOT baptized at St. Mary or St. Philip, please forward us a copy of his/her baptismal certificate. If you know a family with a child entering Grade K or Grade 1 this fall, please extend an invitation to them to enroll their child in Religious Education.
First Communion Masses—September
For those parents and students who opted to delay First Communion until Fall, emails were sent with information on signing up for First Communion Masses on Sept 12th, 19th, or 26th. Sign-ups are on a first come first served basis and can be found on a parish website at the following link:
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0d4aaaad2ea3fd0-first2
If you would prefer to have your student wait until next year for First Communion, that is perfectly fine. If you haven’t already signed up, and would like to do so, please sign up before the deadline of Monday, August 31st.
Website for both parishes: www.stmarysgrafton.org www.stphilipsgrafton.org
Parish Staff
Deacon Tim Cross: ext. 29 [email protected]
Business Manager: Lisa Stewart X11 [email protected]
Director of Religious Ed. St. Mary/St. Philip Darleen Farland x12
Director of Music/St. Mary: Pamela Cross X37 [email protected]
Music Coordinator/St. Philip: Brittany Dyer [email protected]
Parish Secretary/Safe Environment Coordinator St. Mary: Jill Sullivan x10
Parish Secretary/Safe Environment Coordinator St. Philip: TBD; contact Jill or Lisa
Custodian: Ron Dennis [email protected]
St. Vincent de Paul Society of St. Philip/St. Mary at 508-839-3993 x35. All information is
kept strictly confidential.
St. Mary Prayer Line 508-839-3993 X18
Youth Group Ministry- [email protected]
St. Mary Office – 508-839-3993 St. Philip Office – 508-839-3325
Al’s Oil Service American Red Cross
Boucher Energy Systems Buggy Whip
Cancun’s Restaurant CatholicMatch
Collette Motors, Inc. CSR Financial Services, LLC
HearJOY Audiology Heffernan Painting
Mallory’s Army Foundation McClure’s Barber Shop
MD MedAlert Post Office Pub
Rand Automotive Center RE/MAX Executive Realty
Roney Funeral Home Rosaries From Flowers
Trusted Like Family Homecare, Inc.
We thank our advertisers for making our bulletin possible.
Please patronize our advertisers especially during this time of
pandemic. Thank you!
