St. Patrick Catholic Parish Newsletter — Jan 2023

Patrick’s PA r I s H St.

First Saturday Devotions: Praying as Our Lady Asked of

When Mary appeared to the shepherd children at Fatima, Portugal, in 1917, she brought several messages. The principal is the first Saturday devotion. Here at St. Patrick’s, we have an opportunity to practice this devotion beginning at 7:45 a.m. on the first Saturday of the month. The time includes guided Fatima prayers, the Rosary, Mass, and 15 minutes of Lectio Divina focused on the mysteries of the Rosary.

This special devotion began here at St. Patrick’s in 2022 on the feast day of Mary, Mother of God, Jan. 1. The devotion was launched after two years of COVID-19 quarantine. Megan Hall loves being part of the first Saturday devotions because she knows she is making a difference in saving souls. The devotion must be practiced five first Saturdays in a row.

“I can participate in the remedy to save souls with community prayers from the entire body of Christ with the communion of Saints,” she says.

Those who participate in this devotion are promised His grace, repentance, and salvation. The five Saturdays correspond to the five blasphemies against the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Those are blasphemies against the Immaculate Conception; against her virginity; against her

Examining Our New Year’s Resolutions ThroughtheLensofStewardship

Every January, we all step forward into the New Year with new ideas, goals and resolutions. But after the initial sparkle of the New Year has faded, it can be easy to forget our once-fervent resolutions. However, we might find that it’s a bit easier to keep our New Year’s resolutions if we look a bit beyond our physical selves. By also involving our spiritual lives, as well as the lives of others, we can add a lot more meaning to our resolutions.

Renowned Catholic author Matthew Kelly says, “We’re all trying to be better versions of ourselves,” and that’s basically what any resolution is about. Stewardship is essentially the same thing — if we embrace living a stewardship way of life, we become better versions of ourselves. We can use our time and talent to make improvements in our lives, in the lives of others, and in the life of the parish. It all comes down to one basic point — if we acknowledge that everything we have is a gift from God, then we are supposed to be good stewards of those gifts, use them for the benefit of others, and return our talents tenfold to the Lord.

One idea to help incorporate stewardship into your New Year’s resolutions is to make two distinct resolutions each year — one at the beginning of the liturgical year, and one at the beginning of the calendar year.

We can think of the first Sunday of Advent as the Church New Year, and we can make our own spiritual resolutions at this special time each

year. Then, for the new calendar year, we can make resolutions for our health and well-being. In both cases, we can commit to these promises much in the same way we make our commitments during our annual Stewardship Renewal. We can make these resolutions, write them down, and share them with someone. Once you’ve written it down and shared it, you are now holding yourself accountable.

We are both physical and spiritual beings. Taking care of the physical side of things is a good start, but if we ignore the spiritual side, what kind of progress are we truly making? Even if you already regularly pray, you can add five more minutes to your prayer time each day to take a step forward in your faith. Even if you read the Bible once a week, you can take a spiritual leap and make it twice a week. One way to make a good resolution is to consider joining or increasing your involvement in one of the parish’s prayer, faith formation or outreach ministries.

Making resolutions requires us to truly reflect on the areas in our lives that we’d like to improve, while also ensuring that our priorities are in order. Remember, there is no need to take a giant leap all at once. So, as we begin a new calendar year, remember that even the smallest steps forward in faith can go a long, long way as you continuously renew your relationship with Christ.

A l etter F rom F A t H er

A New Year, NewChallenges,NewOpportunities

Dear Family,

It is a new year, and it is my prayer for all of you — and for me, as well — that we can take new steps on our faith journeys and seek new ways to live out discipleship and stewardship.

Pope Francis once commented on his perspective of our modern approach to life. He said, “Certainly, possessions, money, and power can give a momentary thrill, the illusion of being happy, but they end up possessing us and making us always want more, never satisfied. I have learned that the most important thing is to put on Christ in your life, place your trust in Him, and you will never be disappointed.”

As we pray for one another in this New Year, may we all ask the Lord to help us appreciate Pope Francis’ approach to life, his simple way of seeing things, and his very basic way of appreciating things. I would hope that we see this year as a time for opportunity, a time to deepen our relationship to Christ, and for that matter to one another.

If we wish to change our lives and the lives of others, there are two easy ways to do it. We are blessed with many opportunities in this parish to pray, but as much as we need to take advantage of those, we also need to develop a strong personal prayer life. Recall the young Samuel, who was not quite sure what to do with his life, or what direction to go. When he finally

settled on that one important prayer, “Speak, Lord, for I am listening,” Samuel gave us the hint as to what we need to do. Prayer is a two-way street, and part of that is taking the time to listen to God.

The second important way is to exude joy. Christ certainly called us to do that. Pope Francis has had much to say about joy, as well. The Holy Father says, “Joy cannot be held at heel; it must be let go. Joy is a pilgrim virtue. It is a gift that walks — walks on the path of life, that walks with Jesus… proclaiming joy, lengthens and widens that path.” We must seek that joy and then we need to share it. That is truly our call. Joy translates quite easily into “love your neighbor.”

Yes, there may be challenges ahead in 2023, but we must focus on the opportunities, and then exert the effort to benefit from those opportunities. Happy New Year!

Your Father in Christ, Fr. Estrella Pastor

Patrick’s

PA r I s H

Welcoming Fr. Jossy Vattothu “I Really Love Being

Fr. Jossy Vattothu is excited to be part of our parish community. Originally from Kerala, India, he was ordained to the priesthood in 2009.

When

Fr. Jossy Vattothu was growing up in India, prayer was a regular part of his family’s evening routine.

“We had a tradition every evening — we would come together, the whole family,” he says.

Before sharing a meal, the family prayed the Angelus, intercessory prayers for the dead, followed by the Rosary and daily Gospel readings. Each child would kiss their father and mother’s hands, greeting each other, as was customary in Kerala, where he grew up.

The family’s house was adorned with images of the Sacred Heart, the Virgin Mary, and various saints. Fr. Jossy is the eighth of nine children — some are married, one is a priest, and one of his sisters is a nun. Raised in the Syro-Malabar rite of Catholicism, Fr. Jossy credits much of his formation to his parents and family.

“My parents, even in the morning, pray together,” he says. “I remember those times. I think they really prayed for me. I’m sure they were really happy about me being a priest. I’m thankful to my Lord for fulfilling my wish.”

Fr. Jossy knew from a young age that he was being called to the priesthood. Having served at the altar as a boy, the priest in his home parish often brought him along on service opportunities, such as bringing Holy Communion and visiting with the sick. This wasn’t something every altar boy did, but Fr. Jossy was grateful for the opportunity that touched

“In the United States after coming, I’m mainly in the parishes and I really love being with the people. When ordained, they invite me for their sacraments, anointing, visiting or blessing their houses, or inviting me to restaurants. I love their company. That’s what I really enjoy — in all my parishes, I have a lot of friends.”

— FR.

JOSSY VATTOTHU

Vattothu to Our Faith Community Being with the People”

him so deeply. Without a vehicle, the visits took place on foot.

The priesthood was something that Fr. Jossy dreamt about.

“It was my dream, even in childhood,” he says. “Being with the priests and going with them, visiting homes really influenced my life. When I was serving at the altar, I dreamed one day I would celebrate the Mass. And it’s just wonderful. I didn’t feel any special call, but God was working, and moving me.”

Fr. Jossy was ordained to the priesthood in 2009, alongside nearly 50 other seminarians from his order, the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate. Recalling his first year in seminary studies, Fr. Jossy was worried about the academics and studying that accompanied his formation. He had friends in seminary who had been sent home and was worried he would also be sent home.

“I was so scared,” he says. “But God really, really was holding my hand all my way. I never thought of being in the United States. I was so nervous to speak English. I would keep quiet in seminary. But here I am. I don’t know how all of these things have happened, but everything was a miracle and that’s the way I’m looking at it. He was just holding my hand and taking me forward all the time.”

After his ordination, Fr. Jossy served as

director of an old age home in Gujarat, as well as chaplain to three convents. He returned to his home state of Kerala. After three years, Fr. Jossy moved to the United States and has since moved around between Brooklyn, Sacramento, and now Grass Valley. Being in an American diocese is a different experience from his priestly duties in India, which were more focused on social work and less to do with parish life.

“In the United States after coming, I’m mainly in the parishes and I really love being with the people,” Fr. Jossy says. “When ordained, they invite me for their sacraments, anointing, visiting or blessing their houses, or inviting me to restaurants. I love their company. That’s what I really enjoy — in all my parishes, I have a lot of friends.”

Fr. Jossy is excited to be joining us here at St. Patrick, even though it means being far away from his family and friends in other parishes. He is grateful to be in this parish community, celebrating Mass and being with our parishioners.

“People are welcoming, that is always nice so good to their priest and they care for their priest,” he says. “We don’t feel that we are away from home, that’s how they take care of their priest. That’s what Jesus said about when you leave your parents or siblings. But you have plenty. All my moms and grandmas are here — that’s the way they care.”

Highlights of Our 2022 S tewardship R enewal

This past fall, our St. Patrick parish leadership conducted the 2022 Stewardship Renewal. The Stewardship Renewal gave our parish community the opportunity to discern how we are using our gifts of time, talent and treasure in service to the parish and in return to God.

This month, we are happy to share with you some of the highlights of the 2022 Stewardship Renewal.

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There were 143 commitment cards received from 27 percent of active households.

There were 1,506 prayer commitments — the stewardship of time — from 95 percent of participating households.

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There were 610 ministry commitments — the stewardship of talent — from 87 percent of participating households. Of these, 161 were new ministry commitments, while 449 were recommitments to parish ministries.

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There were 111 offertory commitments — the stewardship of treasure — from 78 percent of participating households. The average pledge was $2,577.

We thank all those who participated in our 2022 Stewardship Renewal. If you did not have the opportunity to fill out and return a commitment card, we invite you to consider the ways you may share your gifts of time, talent and treasure with God and the parish community!

C reation C are t eam :

Serving Others and Working to Ensure a Clean World for All

Our good and beautiful world has so much to teach us about the goodness and beauty of our Creator. Everything in the world is a gift from God and caring for that gift is a profound way to offer God thanks and praise. A new ministry in our parish hopes to help all of us become more aware of the beauty we’ve been given and how we can do our part to take care of our homes.

Greg and Bobbie Cane were inspired to start the Creation Care Team when they read Pope Francis’ encyclical, Laudato si’

“Pope Francis laid it out really well,” Bobbie says. “This is our common home and we have a responsibility, a faith duty, to help the next generations by making things better for the future.”

While Greg and Bobbie have always been interested in climate issues, Laudato si’ brought faith and science together for them. The encyclical also drew many connections between humanity’s attitude toward the earth and other social issues. The “throwaway” culture in which we live doesn’t just dispose of single-use plastic and out-of-style clothing — it applies the same attitude toward people.

In the last two years, Greg and Bobbie became grandparents and this really gave them a new perspective on the future.

“It hit home,” Bobbie says. “What kind of world are our grandchildren going to have? We may not see the results of what we do, but our parents and

grandparents did things for us without seeing the results and now it’s our turn.”

As a new ministry, the Creation Care Team is starting small. You’ll find tips in the bulletin, sharing ideas of small changes we can all make to help the environment. The group cleaned up litter in the park. Greg and Bobbie joined the committee that planned the installation of the new solar panels for the church.

The next event is a showing of the film The Letter, on Jan. 22 at 2:30 p.m. This documentary about Pope Francis’ encyclical explains how it has impacted the movement to save the environment. The film also shares perspectives from around the globe and the united effort to bring about change.

Bobbie acknowledges that sometimes we are bombarded with so much information about climate change that we just stop listening. She hopes to open the conversation up again from a faith perspective and in a way that breaks down Laudato si’ into bitesized pieces. When it comes down to it, caring for our home is an act of love and gratitude for God and our neighbor.

“Christ’s message was love and service to one another,” Bobbie says. “Our faith is tied up in service to others. Service takes us out of ourselves and forces us to think about other people. What better way to serve others than to make sure they have a clean world?”

The Creation Care Team meets on the last Tuesday of the month at 10 a.m. For more details and the location of the next meeting, please contact Bobbie Cane at 360-929-6370 or bobbie@h2tonps.org

Patrick’s PA r I s H St.

235 Chapel Street Grass Valley, CA 95945 (530) 273-2347 stpatrickgrassvalley.org

First Saturday Devotions

divine maternity; of those who publicly seek to sow in the hearts of children indifference, or scorn or even hatred of this Immaculate Mother; and the offenses of those who outrage her directly in her holy images.

We should all make the first Saturday devotion more than once. It’s not a one-and-done devotion.

“This is the remedy for a post-Christian world, and God’s justice requires our penance and reparation for the expiation of sins that offend God,” Megan says. “This saves souls from going to hell — ourselves and others.”

Fr. Donald Calloway shares a story on the Thirteenth of the Month Club website at www. marian.org/13th. A priest ministering in Japan was

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approached by an ambassador who blamed war on Catholics. The priest was surprised. The ambassador explained that Mary appeared to Catholics at Fatima, not any other religion, to give directions on achieving peace. Since there is no peace, it must be the fault of Catholics. This story paints a powerful picture of how we should all be praying as Mary pleaded at Fatima.

Take some time out of the next first Saturday of the month to take part in this special devotion. We are blessed to have the opportunity at St. Patrick’s.

“The Mother of God says a lot of people are going to hell because there is no one praying to save souls,” Megan says.

Please join us for the First Saturday devotion every month on the first Saturday at 7:45 a.m.

MASS SCHEDULE

Monday-Saturday: Daily Mass at 8:30 a.m. | Saturday Vigil Mass: 5 p.m. | Sunday Mass: 7:30 a.m., 9 a.m., 11 a.m., 1 p.m. (Spanish)