Ministry Schedule December 9/10
First Sunday of Advent Saturday Vigil, December 2, 2017 4:00 p.m. P Mike Urick (Russ Urick) Sunday, December 3, 2017 8:00 a.m. P 100th Birthday Remembrance Samuel Basile (Daughter Christine Rankin & family) 9:30 a.m. C Andrew Dubos (Carl A. Dubos) 11:00 a.m. P Pro Populo Monday, December 4, 2017 7:30 a.m. P Margaret Geisel (Mary Savona) Tuesday, December 5, 2017 7:30 a.m. P Emilio & Lucia Pasqualucci (Frank & Vincenza Congelio) Wednesday, December 6, 2017 8:00 a.m. C Anniversary of Death Michael Urick (Wife & children) Thursday, December 7, 2017 7:30 a.m. P Frank A. Horka, Jr. (Mary Jane Ranney) 7:00 p.m. P Vigil Mass—Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary Birthday Remembrance Daniel Chew (Elizabeth Dedola) Friday, December 8, 2017—Holy Day of Obligation Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary 9:00 a.m. P Barbara F. Apone (Jilda Apone) 7:00 p.m. C Agnes Skobel (Parish family) Saturday, December 9, 2017 8:00 a.m. C Albert Durigon (Wife)
Second Sunday of Advent Saturday Vigil, December 9, 2017 4:00 p.m. P Pro Populo Sunday, December 10, 2017 8:00 a.m. P Josephine Klamerus (Son Michael Klamerus & family) 9:30 a.m. C Bernard DeSimone (Bernie & Patty Kaminsky) 11:00 a.m. P Anniversary of Death Pearl Teper (Son Bill, Dayna & Jacob)
The Historic Church of St. Peter Sanctuary Lamp
Birthday Remembrance
Daniel Chew
by Daughter Margaret & Ray
EM: Server: Lector:
Saturday, December 9 — 4:00 p.m. St. Peter C-Sr. James Ann C-Joanie Pagac H-John Peters Anna & Luke Clister Roxanne Zidek Cantor: Theresa Mazur
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Sunday, December 10 — 8:00 a.m. St. Peter C-Margaret Peters C-Tim Shimko H-Bill Johns Skylar & Andrew Frazee Cory Anne Dolan Cantor: Samantha Ziglear
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Sunday, December 10 — 9:30 a.m. St. Cecilia Nancy Sebeck Mark Konter Annette Augustine Caleb DellaPenna Anthony DellaPenna Clara Medlock
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Sunday, December 10 — 11:00 a.m. St. Peter C-Dot McCrory C-Rich Eadie H-Tracy Eadie Cole Lincoski Addison Navarro Lacey Harvey Patty Columbia Cantor: Nicole Dainty
Collection Report
St. Peter Church 11/19/17 ADULT ENVELOPES (251)......................... . ... $4260.00 STUDENT ENVELOPES (25) .............................. $54.00 MONTHLY (11)…………………………… ........... $542.00 LOOSE…………………………………….. ........... $388.00 CANDLES……………………………… ............... $174.56 POVERTY RELIEF ............................................. $435.00
St. Cecilia Church 11/19/17 ADULT ENVELOPES (69)................................ $2298.00 STUDENT ENVELOPES (10) .............................. $15.00 LOOSE ................................................................. $36.00 CANDLES............................................................. $32.00 UTILITY .................................................................. $9.00 POVERTY RELIEF ............................................. $180.00 RETIRED RELIGIOUS ........................................... $4.00
St. Peter Church 11/26/17 ADULT ENVELOPES (205)......................... . ... $3433.00 STUDENT ENVELOPES (17) .............................. $23.00 MONTHLY (10)…………………………… ........... $110.00 LOOSE…………………………………….. ........... $685.00 CANDLES……………………………… ............... $141.00 THANKSGIVING .............................................. $1158.00 ACCENT ............................................................... $15.00
St. Cecilia Church 11/26/17 ADULT ENVELOPES (89)................................ $1573.00 STUDENT ENVELOPES (5) .................................. $5.00 LOOSE ............................................................... $128.00 CANDLES............................................................. $54.00 SVDP .................................................................... $10.00 THANKSGIVING .................................................. $36.00 POVERTY RELIEF ............................................... $82.00 UTILITY ................................................................ $10.00
Available This Weekend Oplatki Christmas wafers are available for sale in the back of both Partner Parishes churches this weekend: $3 per pack of four wafers, three white and one pink. The Oplatki tradition is easy, fun, and deeply meaningful. All it requires is a simple wafer paired with love and affection, and the willingness to share it. This is a heartwarming tradition that will complete your time together with family and friends during the Christmas season.
Advent has begun. We begin our yearly preparation for the birth of Jesus. This year let us make a sincere effort to focus on the gift from our Heavenly Father that will be present to us not only now but throughout our earthly and eternal life, Jesus Christ the Incarnate Word of the Father born of a humble maiden, Mary. The wonder of God becoming man, and the woman Mary becoming the ark (the tabernacle of the Son of God and of man), awes us by the magnitude of the gift. We honor Jesus as our Savior and King. We give thanks to God for the gift of our spiritual mother, Mary. On this earthly journey, we will never fully comprehend the depth and breadth of our Father’s love for us. However, as we treasure the gifts of his Son and the Christ-bearer, Mary, let us commit to making this Advent and Christmas Season a time of prayer, kindness, and transformation for our lives. Isaiah in the first reading speaks of God as our Father. He uses the metaphor of God being the potter who created us. We are referenced as the clay of God’s hand. Imagine the potter as he forms us on his pottery wheel into his own image. How intimate the process of our Creator forming us into the exact object he created us to be. When we were formed, he breathed on us through the sacrament of baptism and his Spirit came alive within us. Our challenge during the preparatory days of Advent is to determine if we have permitted the potter to form us for his intended purpose or have we rebelled and pursued our own will for our life? Is the Spirit of God continuing to form and direct us or are we so hard-hearted and desirous of our will that we refuse to say yes to our Father? Mark’s Gospel will not let us forget as he reminds us that one day we will stand before Jesus. “You do not know when the time will come.” Jesus’ admonition to us is to “Be watchful! Be alert!” Therefore, we do not pursue pleasures, material things, positions of power and recognition, thinking we will be less selfish with our gifts and talents later. Jesus directs us to use our God-given gifts throughout our life, responding to the promptings of our Creator. I have an analogy that I'd like to share with you. It's from the book, The Frugal Gourmet of Food and Theology: Keeping the Feast. The author relates a story that he received from a shepherd. The shepherd shared with him how, at the birthing season, he arose one morning and he found a ewe, a mother sheep, who had a lamb during the night, but the lamb was dead. The ewe tried to nudge life into the lamb, tried to restore the lamb's life; it was desperate, broken-hearted at the loss of its newborn lamb. But just a short distance away was another ewe that had given birth, but the ewe was dead and its lamb was alive. The lamb was desperately seeking to be fed, searching for that nurturing. The problem was: never the twain shall meet. It would make sense that the orphaned lamb would go with the ewe that lost its own lamb. But the ewe would not accept the lamb because the lamb didn't have its odor. So the shepherd took the lamb that had died, drained the blood from it, and covered the lamb that survived with that blood. He presented it to the ewe, who recognized the odor of its own lamb and accepted it. It fed the lamb, just as our God does us. We are the creation of the potter and adopted children of the Father through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We have been sprinkled in the blood of the sacrifice of the altar of the Cross, which has cleansed and purified us and united us to our God. The author used that analogy to talk about how all of us who have been separated from God through a life in which perhaps we haven’t lived in conformity with his commandments, in which we haven’t sought through prayer and the sacramental life to maintain a deep and abiding relationship with the Lord and, as a result, we've been separated from our Creator, the potter who formed us. That's what happens when we sin. We are hungry; we are searching for the food that will give us life, that will nurture, that will restore that relationship. That ewe is our God, whose heart is broken when we are not in relationship with him, when we fall away, when we lose our direction by pursuing our own will. As we journey through this Advent, let us recall the wonder of our many gifts. Such reflection on the generosity of our Creator will help us to stay awake, to be alert for his arrival. Let us seek to restore that relationship in preparation for the coming of our God at Christmas and at the end of time, so that we will be recognized for the qualities of Jesus that have come alive within us. For Christ must be living in us when he returns and we enter his presence.
Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary Holy Day of Obligation — Friday, Dec. 8, 2017 Vigil Mass Thursday, Dec. 7 7:00 p.m. The Historic Church of St. Peter Friday, Dec. 8 9:00 a.m. The Historic Church of St. Peter and
7:00 p.m. St. Cecilia Church Bonanza Biggest Success In Recent Years!
This year’s Bonanza, held Nov. 18, 2017, was a huge success! Thanks to all who donated, attended, and supported the Bonanza in any way!
Income: Expenses: Profit:
$21,780 12,075 $ 9,705
The Historic Church of St. Peter Celebrates Thanksgiving Day With Mass and Gratitude for an Abundance of Blessings
Those who attended Thanksgiving Mass at The Historic Church of St. Peter gave thanks for God’s most bountiful blessings. They were treated to the beauty of a cornucopia of decorations on the altar and, after Mass, were invited to take home for their enjoyment the fresh baked goods and seasonal fruits and vegetables to include with their holiday celebrations.
A beautiful cornucopia of fresh baked goods and seasonal fruits and vegetables decorated the altar for Mass on Thanksgiving Day at The Historic Church of St. Peter.
Christmas Kindness Project 2017 Kicks Off This Sunday, Dec. 3 Beginning this Sunday, Dec. 3, our Partner Parishes of The Historic Church of St. Peter and St. Cecilia are embarking on a Christmas Kindness Project to fill the Christ Child’s manger with bedding in preparation for his arrival on Christmas Day. This “bedding” will be composed of “Acknowledgement Cards,” business-card-sized slips of paper that acknowledge acts of kindness done during this Advent Season. When we perform an act of kindness for someone, or someone else does a kindness for us, we are to place an Acknowledgement Card into the manager in either church. This way, the more kindnesses we all do this Advent Season, the more soft bedding Jesus will have to welcome him Christmas morning. An additional part of the project is “Kindness Cards” that you may hand to anyone for whom you do even the simplest kindness. This card asks that person to share a kindness with another person, with the message, “Pass it on.” Our hope is that kindness will be contagious this Advent Season and really catch on into the New Year! Sheets of Acknowledgement Cards and Kindness Cards are available in the back of both of our Partner Parishes churches. Please call the church office if you have questions or would like additional sheets of cards: 724-785-7781.
St. Cecilia Thanksgiving Day Mass Draws Grateful Worshippers Attendees at Thanksgiving Day Mass at St. Cecilia Church also gathered to express their gratitude to the Lord for his generous blessings. Their eyes, hearts, souls and bodies feasted on his bountiful gifts as they enjoyed the beauty of the altar decorations during the Mass celebration and then took home the wonderful fresh baked goods and seasonal fruits and vegetables to share with family and friends as part of their Thanksgiving Day festivities.
Faithful from Partner Parishes Attend St. Cecilia Healing Mass
Almost 70 faithful attended the healing Mass to be anointed by Fr. Tim and Fr. Alvin and pray to receive the gift of healing from God. Nearly all those who attended the Mass enjoyed the delicious luncheon that followed in the social hall.
Prayer List Anthony Vigliotti Beatrice Kloock Bill Snodgrass Brian Tomecsko Carol Ashton Charlotte Katko Cheryl Furlong Chuck Britvich Cody Tylka Craig Alessio Daryl Hall David Ballant David Ostien Deb Donna Fletcher Donna Hill Dru Vojacek Ed Balchon Elaine Helsel Eleanor Dando Fr. Bob Conley George Lisac HeatherBeth Powell Helen Mendish Irene Franks
J. A. Jackson Hodge James Harvey Jr. Janet Booker Janice Ritsko Jean Bohna Jim Famularo Joe Angell Joe Shashura John Hlatky Jonathan Wallowicz Josephine Lagina June Robinson Karl Hennig Kim Harvey Lillian Baroni Lisa Chancey Luella Sholl Mary Ann Olenik Matthew DeSimone
Mike Dorobish Mildred Petro Mildred Shenal M. V. Nancy Jenkins Patricia Knight Robert Atz Robert Franks Robert Stringert Sam Basile III Sarah Corebridge Sherri Zias Shirley Mae Mislo Stanley Sobek Susan Rountree Sylvia Walinski Veronica Stringert Virginia Conaway V. V. Wanda Burns William Gabonay
St. Cecilia Christian Mothers Announcements
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There will be a Coffee and Donut Social on Dec. 10, 2017, following the 9:30 a.m. Mass in the parish social hall. Please join us for refreshments and fellowship. St. Cecilia Christian Mothers will hold a monthly meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2017, at 6:00 p.m. in the parish social hall. New members are always welcome!
See What Good You Can Do With Your Old Eyeglasses?
The Grindstone Lions Club is collecting any used eyeglasses (frames with or without lenses, tinted or clear) to be donated to the Fayette County Association for the Blind. There are box‐ es in the back of both of our Partner Parishes churches to collect your eyeglass donations.
Thank you for sharing the gift of sight with others in need! Brownsville Library to Hold Children’s Holiday Party
Brownsville Free Public Library will hold a Children’s Holiday Party Dec. 20, 2017, from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Hear a story read by Santa Claus himself! Make ornaments to take home and to hang on the Snowden Square Christmas Tree. Questions? Call the library at 724-785-7272.
Advent Penance Service Schedule — December 2017 Tuesday, Dec. 5 at 7:00 p.m. Historic Church of St. Peter/St. Cecilia, Brownsville Sunday, Dec. 10 at 3:00 p.m. St. Joan of Arc, Farmington Thursday, Dec. 14 at 7:00 p.m. St. Francis of Assisi, Masontown Saturday, Dec. 16 at 1:00 p.m. St. John/St. Therese, St. John the Evangelist Uniontown Tuesday, Dec. 19 at 7:00 p.m. St. Mary (Nativity)/St. Joseph, St. Mary (Nativity) Uniontown
We are pleased to announce that the children of our Partner Parishes will be celebrating their First Reconciliation on Dec. 5 at our Advent Penance Service. Please note: Because of conflicts with regional Advent Reconciliation Services, Confessions will not be held at The Historic Church of St. Peter on Saturdays of Advent until Dec. 23.
Advent Daily Mass
Advent is a wonderful time to increase our commitment to our faith life. As appropriate to our personal journey, we should use this holy season to restore, strengthen or begin a deeper faith life. We do this through daily prayer (perhaps an Advent Wreath on the dinner table with the candles lit each evening and reciting the prayer), fulfilling our Sunday obligation, and potentially by beginning the practice of attending daily Mass. As we prepare for Jesus’ rebirth in our hearts and commemorate his birth in Bethlehem more than 2, 000 years ago, the discipline of attending daily Mass focuses our attention on the reason for our faith. At Mass, we encounter Jesus in the Advent readings (His Word), our fellow parishioners in attendance and, of course, in the Eucharist we share. Daily Mass attendance does require a commitment of our time and effort but the investment is well worth the great dividends we receive as our faith is strengthened and reinvigorated.
Partner Parishes of Historic Church of Saint Peter 300 Shaffner Avenue St. Peter Brownsville, Pennsylvania 118 Church Street & Brownsville, PA 15417 Saint Cecilia Church 1571 Grindstone Road O: 724-785-7781 Grindstone, Pennsylvania
#770350
H: 724-785-7604 Parishes in the Diocese of Greensburg C: 724-984-6983*** “Pennsylvania Charitable Trusts”
Contact: Shannon Sealy MESSAGES:
Mailing Address: Partner Parishes of St. Peter & St. Cecilia 118 Church Street Brownsville, PA 15417 Phone: 724-785-7781 Fax: 724-785-0844
Pastor: Rev. Micah E. Kozoil; Sr. Priest Active: Rev. James Petrovsky Office Manager: Mrs. Virginia Galway: Music Ministry: St. Peter: Daniel Kovacic; St. Cecilia: Eric Blanda Religious Education Coordinator: Mrs. Anita LaMendola: Youth Ministry: Patty Columbia Mass Schedule: Saturday Vigil 4:00 P.M. (EST); 5:00 P.M. (DST) (St. Peter) Sunday Morning 8:00 A.M. (St. Peter); 9:30 A.M. (St. Cecilia); 11:30 A.M. (St. Peter) Reconciliation: Noon to 12:30 p.m. St. Peter: 1st & 3rd Saturday St. Cecilia: 2nd & 4th Saturday Sacrament of Baptism Contact the parish as soon as you know that you are expecting a child. Sacrament of Matrimony Those entering into Marriage must contact the pastor at least one full year in advance of the wedding Sponsor Certificates You must be registered and active in the parish at least 4 months to receive a certificate. Please don’t come at the last minute! Sexual Child Abuse If you have a concern about sexual abuse of a child or young person by anyone in a parish or diocesan position — clergy, volunteer or paid staff — please contact Bishop Brandt’s delegate for matters of sexual misconduct. He may be reached at 724-837-0901 Ext. 221