St. Clare of Assisi Parish Parish Office: 460 Reed Street Clairton PA 15025

Phone: 412-233-7870 Fax: 412-233-0742 Office Hours: Mondays - Thursdays 8AM-2PM CLOSED Fridays

Email: stclareparish2@comcast.net Web Site: www.stclareofassisiparish.com

MISSION STATEMENT We are a Family,

United in the Eucharist, Guided by the Holy Spirit,

Called by Jesus Christ to Grow in Faith, Love and Prayer

in Harmony with the Universal Catholic Church

We will achieve our parish mission by worshipping together and working to evangelize, educate and

serve each other and the entire community.

PASTOR: Rev. Charles J. Baptiste BUSINESS MANAGER: Kathleen Ulmer SECRETARY: Elaine Mancini MUSIC MINISTRY: Sean Thornton BUILDINGS & GROUNDS: Amy Ference HOMEBOUND MINISTRY: Beverly Mazza SAFE ENVIRONMENT COORDINATOR: Lorraine Carter ABUSE HOTLINE: 1-800-932-0313

MASSES: Saturday 4:30PM (Sunday Vigil) Sunday 9:30AM Weekdays 7:00PM (Monday) 8:00AM (Tuesday thru Friday)

RECONCILIATION: After Mass on Monday Evenings & 12:30PM Saturdays BAPTISMS: Call the Parish Office to schedule a day and time. WEDDINGS: Call the Parish Office at least six months in advance. The Diocese requires each couple to attend a pre-marriage course.

ST. CLARE CEMETERY: Worthington Ave. For Information call the Parish Office.

A Pennsylvania Charitable Trust

THIS SUNDAY’S READINGS – July 16/17 Pages 192 - 193 NEXT SUNDAY’S READINGS – July 23/24 Genesis 18:20–32 – Page 194 Colossians 2:12–14 – Page 195 Luke 11:1–13 – Page 196

WEEKLY MASS SCHEDULE

SIXTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - July 16/17

4:30PM For The Parishioners 9:30AM Helen Maksin - (Millie Petrisin & Family) MONDAY, July 18 – Weekday 7:00PM James M. Tullius - (Marcia Nesti) TUESDAY, July 19 – Weekday 8:00AM Helen Medved - (Son, George) WEDNESDAY, July 20 – Weekday 8:00AM Domenica Capolupo - (Chuck & Karen Chovan) THURSDAY, July 21 – St. Lawrence of Brindisi, Priest 8:00AM Harry McNeil - (Family) FRIDAY, July 22 – St. Mary Magdalene 8:00AM George Kacmarik, Sr - (Daughters, Marlene & Claudia (Daniel) Popelas) SATURDAY, July 23 12:30PM Reconciliation SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - July 23/24

4:30PM For The Parishioners 9:30AM Matthew & Anna Duymic - (Family)

WEEKEND MINISTERS - July 23/24

4:30PM - Eucharistic Ministers - Regina Behary, Russell Behary, Ray Werner Lector - Elizabeth Marsh Altar Servers - Colton Boring, Aaron Maricic

Head Ushers - Mike DiCarlo, Ed Obusek

9:30AM - Eucharistic Ministers - Larry Carra, Susan Finnegan, Joanne Kaskin Lector - Janice DiLonardo Altar Servers - Lydia Bernardo, Kevin Massaro

Head Ushers - Ray York, Vince Gori

July 17, 2016 SIXTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Sunday, July 17 10:45AM - Counting Team #4

Monday, July 18 Slovene Day - Kennywood

Tuesday, July 19 I.S.D.A. Children’s Day - Kennywood

Thursday, July 21 Slovak Day - Kennywood

7PM - SC Men’s Group Meeting - Parish Office Saturday, July 23

12:30PM - Reconciliation

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Reflection: Have you chosen the better part? Do you ever wonder if the Lord thinks we have a very short memory? It seems to me He does. Today, we are again reminded of the importance of spending intimate time with Jesus. Do you remember the series on different types of prayer we had spent some time with in last years’ reflections? To refresh you, some of those were, Rote Prayer, our memorized prayers we often say repeatedly throughout the day, Centering Prayer, those times of prayer when we focus on a word or phrase and see where the Spirit takes us. We may pray Lectio Divina, which is prayer over a particular verse or two of scripture. We also may pray a St. Ignatius type of prayer, which is like a thorough Morning Offering. This prayer is a purposeful offering of everything your body, mind and spirit have to offer to the will of God. Taken seriously, this can take some time and is always very freeing. It frees us of worries, old memories that haunt, of cares for tomorrow and it opens us to the workings of the Holy Spirit. In today’s Gospel, we hear of Mary and Martha having an opportunity to visit with God in their very own house; yet, as now, so many aspects of life can take our interest away from what is Holy, or pertinent to our physical, mental and spiritual health. Just a few days ago, through some fluke, my phone was ringing off the hook with text messages. So many, in fact, that it overloaded my little ‘flip-top dumb phone’ and froze it up for quite some time. All of it was nonsense yet, somehow it preoccupied me for an hour or so trying to get that all important thing to work again only to see that the texts were not important at all. Some days the distractions are ridiculous and we are still consumed by them. How many times I see people walking while looking down at their phones. One time, a man walked into the side of my cousins’ car while at a stop light. The poor guy looked so embarrassed but, nonetheless, walked away continuing to look at the phone instead of paying attention to the blessings around him. Have we become too preoccupied to pray; to keep relationship to the God who gave us life and so many, many blessings? I, for one, want to try to sit at the feet of Jesus instead of wasting time again with a confused ‘dumb phone’ only to find the message it gives me is not worth my time; at least not treasured time. St. Peter Chrysologus, Bishop and Doctor of the Church, reminds us that, even though a Priest may preach for an hour, there is still not enough time to expound on the depths of the

Word of God. Ha! Perhaps we should sit at the feet of Jesus with the Word of God during the week, praying over the scriptures for Sunday. Surely, the Word would come even more to life when we kneel each day at the feet of Jesus. Without those blessed times at the feet of Jesus, we may...no, WILL find our lives less fulfilled and meaningful. Mary, pray for us so that we will spend more time at the feet of our Master. Our Lord gives us reminders quite often concerning the importance of prayer. It must be important to Him…shouldn’t it be important to us?

Keeping Our “Church Alive” in Clairton. From OUR PAST. . .

St. Clare – St. Joseph – St. Paulinus To OUR PRESENT. . .

St. Clare of Assisi Parish 1994 – 2016 and INTO OUR FUTURE. . .

. . .by making the celebration of our Liturgies and Sacraments a joyous and spiritual event in our lives!

Peace, Fr. Chuck

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On The Lighter Side: An elderly woman walked into the local church. The friendly Usher (insert here the name of one of our own) greeted her at the door and helped her up the step. “Where would you like to sit?” he asked politely. “The front row, please,” she answered. “You really don’t want to do that,” the Usher said. “The pastor is really boring.” “Do you happen to know who I am?” the woman inquired. “No,” he said. “I’m the pastor’s mother,” she replied indignantly. “Do you know who I am?” he asked. “No,” she said.

“Good,” he answered.

PLEASE PRAY FOR Our Recently Departed. . . John Mathews (Former Parishioner)

Our Sick and Shut-ins. . . Barbara Antrom, Pete Azzari, Fr. Chuck Baptiste, June Bendik, Eleanor Berggren, Vincent Capane, Maria Campano, Gloria Cerasoli, Fran Colonna, Mildred Demchak, Sheila Eddy, Rebecca Farabaugh, Meryl Ferrare, Kathleen Geletko, Rudy (Blu Jay) Gori, Genevieve Hartman, Marie Hodge, Mary Julian, Sophie Jupin, John Kranack, Off. James Kuzak Jr., Ann E. Martin, Linda Massaro, Audrey Mihalko, Sandra Milas, Diane Moran, Barbara Pavlack, Lou Pavlack Jr., Martha Petras, Betty Rothbauer, Fr. Angelus Shaughnessy, Sophie Slavick, John Sorrentino, Fr. Bonaventure Stefun, Kathy Tachoir, Catherine Vukovich, Rita York - and all Names and Intentions listed in our Prayer Request Book

FISCAL YEAR JULY 2016 - JUNE 2017

Budgeted Weekly Offering Required….........$ 5,561.00 Actual Weekly Offering July 9/10...…....….$ 3,794.00 Weekly Deficit………………………………..$ - 1,767.00 Caring Ministry Fund Collection……………$ 762.00 Parish Share 2016 YTD.. …………..……....$ 14,448.00 Cemetery Envelopes 2016 YTD..…….…...$ 5,541.00

For family members of our parishioners serving in the military: Dante Capane, Tara Felker, Gregory Lentz, Jason Middleton,

Daucent Radlien Jr., Garrett Santoline, Michael Santoline, Anthony Svetz, Andrew West, Jeffery West

PRAYERS FOR OUR SEMINARIANS This week, please pray for Michael Faix from Corpus Christi Parish, McKeesport.

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OFFERTORY COLLECTION

CONCERNING OUR FUNDRAISERS. . .

Please remember St. Clare of Assisi Parish in your Will or Estate Plan.

This Week’s Flowers at the Altar were donated in Memory of Ruth Ann Skop by Her Family

GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY Our next Golden Opportunity Drawing will be held on Friday, July 29 (the last working day of the month). Entered to Date: 93

On Vacation and need to know the nearest Catholic Church and Mass Schedule? Go to: masstimes.org.

If you are a shut-in or know someone who is and they would like to receive Holy Communion, please call the Parish Office.

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CONCERNING OUR PARISH. . .

FAB FIVE INFORMATION We aren’t having much luck (no pun intended) trying to find a company that can print our monthly (5 number) FAB FIVE Tickets. The company that used to print them, went out of business and most companies (that are still in business) do not have the equipment to print 5 numbers on One Ticket. (Personal Computers, Scanners and Printers are putting the neighborhood Printing Shops out of business.) We did find one company that CAN print them, but would charge $110 for each month. We have always solicited businesses or individuals to help to offset the expense of the printing charge (which used to be $65). This is an excellent fundraiser for us since we only have to sell 200 Tickets every month. To continue with this fundraiser for 2017, we thought 2 sponsors each month could share the cost of $110. If you, or someone you know, would like to sponsor our monthly FAB Five Ticket next year, please call Kathy at the Parish Office soon, so that Tickets can be ordered.

PARISH PICNIC We hope you’re making plans to join us as we celebrate our Parish Feast Day with a PICNIC after the 4:30PM Mass on Saturday, August 13. Call the Parish Office soon (before August 1) to let us know who and how many will be attending. If you can’t make it to the Picnic, be sure to stop past Clare Pavilion after Mass on Sunday, August 14 for DONUTS & Bev-

THE STUDENT PRIEST Several weeks ago, Fr. Mark Eckman from the Diocesan Clergy Office contacted me and asked if we would give a home to a student priest from Africa. He said there would be no cost to the parish; his personal needs would be supplied from his home diocese of Kabale, Uganda. This all sounded fine to me as he would be able to help on occasion to have Masses here while he studies at Duquesne University. At that point, I asked for some time to first speak with our Pastoral Council. I was able to catch a few members after Masses that weekend but, the following Tuesday, I had a copied email that was mailed to our student priest, Fr. Fortunatus Mugisha. The email informed him of our being open to his coming to live with us for several years. Apparently, their secretary got only part of the message; that I was for his coming, but not about the part that I wanted to first talk it over with the Pastoral Council. The best plans are often laid waste. Please welcome Fr. Fortunatus (as he prefers to be called) when he arrives at one of the first few weekends of August. I am sure he will enjoy our parish’s hospitality. Please keep him in your prayers as he works at his continuing education to help support and guide his diocese in Uganda.

JUST ANOTHER BRICK IN THE WALL As you may have noticed, work has begun at the side entrance of our church. As of now, we do not know when it will be completed, but we are on the way. God bless the guys working on this project. We have a beautiful building and we need to keep it sound and solid.

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PARISH MEMBERSHIP FORM

Registering at our Parish is a declaration of your desire to be part of a Catholic community. We extend a warm welcome and hope you will find our Parish Community a place where your faith will be nourished. If you are moving into, or out of the Parish, please let us know. Fill out this Form and return it to the Parish Office.

NAME______________________________________________ADDRESS__________________________________________ TELEPHONE________________________________________ __________________________________________ Check One: New________ Change of Address________ Moving out of Parish________ Want Envelopes________

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BILLBOARD SIGNS FROM GOD

CONCERNING OUR DIOCESE. . . CONCERNING OUR COMMUNITY. . .

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“Don’t cry because it’s over… Rejoice because it happened.” - God

● Pass this information along...The Allegheny County Health Department has announced that Shop ‘n Save in West Mifflin will now accept food vouchers for the WIC (Women, Infant and Children Supplemental Food & Nutrition) Program. ● If you have suffered a stroke or know someone who has, OPERATION UPLIFT STROKE CLASSES will be presented for the next 10 months on the 1

st and 2

nd

Monday of every month beginning on Monday, July 18 from 4-6PM at the Clairton Public Library. These clas-ses will provide a blend of health care, professional and lifestyle support to help you improve your quality of life. ● St. Elizabeth Elementary School, Pleasant Hills, is offering full-day Preschool 5 days a week, along with 3 or 5 day, half or full day options. Registrations are also being accepted for Kindergarten (half or full day) and for Grades 1-8. For more information, call the school office at 412-881-2958. ● Ladies are invited to the Magnificat Pittsburgh Prayer Breakfast on Saturday, August 6 from 9AM-Noon at the DoubleTree, Cranberry Twp. Cost: $23. To reg-ister, call Pam at 412-461-8906 by July 29.

On Mission for The Church Alive! will help us envision how our parishes, schools and ministries can best respond to the changing landscape of our communities so they can be vital centers of worship and service. Since 2000, Mass attendance across the diocese has fallen 40 percent, half our parishes are running operational deficits and pending retirements will mean far fewer priests will be available in the future to serve God’s people. But the possibilities and opportunities are endless! Learn how to get involved at one of this week’s Summer Sessions, all held from 7-8:30PM on: Monday, July 18 at St. Joseph Parish, O’Hara Twp; Tuesday, July 19 at St. Monica, Beaver Falls; Thursday, July 21 at St. Margaret Mary, Moon Twp. or at St. Paul Cathedral, Oakland with Bishop David Zubik. You can also learn more by visiting: www.OnMissionChurchAlive.org/About.

IN THIS YEAR OF MERCY: Spiritual Works of Mercy Counsel the Doubtful ● Listen to others and offer encouragement. ● Offer good advice or refer people to other sources of counsel that can meet their needs.

Family PERSPECTIVE Cell phones, emails, faxes, texts and voice mails can reduce our lives to a continual series of interrupted moments. Listen to Jesus in today’s Gospel: “You are anxious about many things; robbing us of the precious time needed to BE with others. Quality time is Quantity time. Marriage MOMENTS “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things.” (Luke 10:41) What worries and burdens are you carrying today? (Money? Children? Health? Job?) Let your beloved (your spouse and God) be a comfort to you. Be present to who is most important to you today. Parenting POINTER This is a “love your neighbor as yourself” follow up from last week. Once appropriate self-love is acknowledged, help your child expand this to loving others. Teach them to be hospitable to everyone they meet, whether or not they take an instant liking to the person.

Our Bulletin is Sponsored This Week In Memory of

Harry McNeil

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ARE YOU WAITING TO HEAR FROM GOD? St. Francis was knocked off his horse and St. Paul was struck down while traveling to Damascus, but God doesn’t always make His message that obvious. Try these ideas for discerning how God wants to work with you: Give Him control. Give your concern to God, then let it go. Try not to get too attached to an outcome, but trust God to do what’s best for you. Redirect your thoughts if you start getting anxious. Ask, ask and ask again. The best sources of guidance are prayer and Scripture. While you wait for an answer, though, seek guidance from someone who shares your faith, such as your favorite priest or religious. Spend extra time in church, looking for inspiration.