September 13, 2020

Twenty Fourth Sunday In Ordinary Time

Sept. 13, 2020

JUST A WORD From our Pastor (Page 9)

SCHOOL INFORMATION (Page 5)

FIVE MINUTES JESUS (Page 8)

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Mission Statement The Roman Catholic Parish of St. Monica-St. Elizabeth of Hungary-St. Stephen of Hungary opens its doors to welcome and embrace all in our community. We strive through worship, hospitality and service to receive those seeking a spiritual home. In the midst of diversity of thought, life style, nationality, economic status & age, we endeavor to live as a community of faith and invite you to join our family - a family seeking to know and love Jesus Christ.

Mass Schedule

Daily Mass: Mon-Sat, 12 noon Saturday Vigil: 5:30pm Sunday: 8am, 10am, 12pm & 5pm Confessions: Saturdays at 5pm or by appointment

Mass Intentions

Saturday, September 12th, Vigil

5:30 pm

Parish Staff Pastor: Rev. Donald C. Baker .......................... frdcab@stelmo79.org Rev. Msgr. Leslie J. Ivers ........................... msgrlivers@stelmo79.org Weekend Associates: ...............................................Rev. Tony Ciorra Pastoral Associate: Ms. Maryann Tyrer ........ mtyrer@stelmo79.org Pastoral Associate: Ms. Jasmine Gomez ..... jgomez@stelmo79.org Parish Manager: Mr. Michael Ward ............. mward@stelmo79.org Music Director: Mr. John Zupan .................... jzupan@stelmo79.org Wedding Coordinator: Ms. Debbi Burdett . dbweddingsnyc@gmail.com Plant Manager: Guillermo Vanegas ......... gvanegas@stelmo79.org Sacristan: Pedro Pizarro ................................ ppizarro@stelmo79.org Administrative Assistant: Gladys Tejada ..... gtejada@stelmo79.org

Robert DeCola

Sunday, September 13th, Twenty Fourth Sunday In Ordinary Time

8:00 am

Victor Vensas

10:00 am

William Keating

12:00 pm All Parishioners 5:00 pm

Patrick Walsh

Monday, September 14th Weekday

12:00 pm

Priests of St. Monica’s

Church Address: 413 East 79th Street, NY, NY 10075 Parish Center Address: 406 East 80th Street, NY, NY 10075 Tel: 212-288-6250 Fax: 212- 570-1562 Email: info@stelmo79.org Our Offices are open: Monday ............................................................. 9:00 am - 5:00 pm Tuesday - Thursday ....................................... 9:00 am - 7:00 pm

Tuesday, September 15th Our Lady of Sorrows 12:00 pm

Sunday ..................................................... Closed Closed for Lunch Weekdays......................1:00 pm - 2:00 pm

12:00 pm

Bridie Stronge

Thursday, September 17th Weekday

12:00 pm

Adam Armetta

Friday, September 18th Weekday

12:00 pm Visit us at: www.stelmo79.org Follow us on social media by searching STELMO79

Wednesday, September 16th St. Cornelius & St. Cyprian

Friday ....................................................... Closed Saturday ................................................. 10:00 am - 2:00 pm

Brian Thompson

Kevin & Raymond Swanchak

Saturday, September 19th Weekday 12:00 pm

Msgr. Ferdinando Berardi (Living)

For Mass Intentions, please visit the Parish Center.

Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament Every Friday after the Noon Mass to 3:00 pm.

Devotions Miraculous Medal on Mondays after each Mass

Divine Mercy The Divine Mercy Chaplet is Prayed each Friday Afternoon at 3:00 pm.

Sacrament of Reconciliation: Saturdays at 5pm or by appointment

Baptisms & Marriages: Please call the rectory office for more information.

Communion for the Homebound: If you know of anyone who cannot attend church because of illness or age, and world like to have communion brought to them, please contact the Parish office, so that we can arrange for a Eucharistic Minister to bring communion to them.

PRAYERS FOR THE SICK Jennifer Garcia, Gilberto Rodriguez, Lucille Clats, Desiree Parke, Sr. Margaret Mary, Edward Ackerly, Maria Jose &Norka Chiang

PRAYERS FOR THE DECEASED Rev. Michael Cedro, Sr. Eileen Clifford, Sharon Lee Daly , Judy Baron & Robert Castro

Treasures of our Tradition September 13 “Speaking truth to power” may have become just another cliché, but doing precisely that cost John “the Golden Mouth” (Chrysostom) his diocese and, after exile and a forced march, his health and life. “Renowned for eloquence, heroic in suffering” (Sacramentary), John’s scriptural insights still comfort and challenge. Mystical theologian, he bids Eastern Christians, whose principal Divine Liturgy bears his name, to lift up their hearts to “God ineffable, beyond comprehension, invisible, beyond understanding, existing forever, always the same.” Model pastor, he warns Roman Catholics in the Liturgy of the Hours not to neglect God-in-the-flesh: “Would you honor Christ’s body? Do not scorn his nakedness, honoring him here in church with silken robes, while neglecting him cold and naked outside.

What use to burden Christ’s altar with golden chalices, while Christ himself starves to death? What use dressing the altar with gold-woven cloths, while denying the shivering Christ the clothes he needs? Do not adorn the church while ignoring your needy brother: he is the most precious temple of all!” (Saturday, Twenty-first Week in Ordinary Time).

—Peter Scagnelli, Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co.

Today’s Readings

First

Reading — Remember the commandments and hate not your neighbor (Sirach 27:30 — 28:7).

Psalm — The Lord is kind and merciful, slow to anger, and rich in compassion (Psalm 103).

Second Reading — Whether we live, or whether we die, we do so for the Lord (Romans 14:7-9).

Gospel — Forgive one another from your heart (Matthew 18:21-35).

The English translation of the Psalm Responses from Lectionary for Mass © 1969, 1981, 1997, International Commission on English in the Liturgy Corporation. All rights reserved.

Readings for the week Monday: Nm 21:4b-9; Ps 78:1-2, 34-38; Phil 2:6-11;Jn 3:13-17 Tuesday: 1 Cor 12:12-14, 27-31a; Ps 100:1b-5;

Jn 19:25-27 or Lk 2:33-35 Wednesday: 1 Cor 12:31 — 13:13; Ps 33:2-5, 12, 22; Lk 7:31-35 Thursday: 1 Cor 15:1-11; Ps 118:1b-2, 16ab-17, 28; Lk 7:36-50 Friday: 1 Cor 15:12-20; Ps 17:1bcd, 6-8b, 15; Lk 8:1-3 Saturday: 1 Cor 15:35-37, 42-49; Ps 56:10c-14; Lk 8:4-15 Sunday: Is 55:6-9; Ps 145:2-3, 8-9, 17-18;

Phil 1:20c-24, 27a; Mt 20:1-16a

St. Stephen of Hungary School Pre-K through 8th Grade Catholic Parochial School 408 East 82nd St., New York, NY 10028 (212) 288-1989 • Fax: (212) 517-5788 Principal: Ms. Kelly Burke www.saintstephenschool.org Interested in admissions to our parish school? admissions@saintstephenschool.org

Parish Life The Young Adult Ministry is a curated space for those ages 18 to 39. We will be hosting virtual events focusing on building our community and strengthening our faith- starting this fall. If you are interested in connecting with this group or attending our events, please visit https:// www.stelmo79.org/ya-ministry We are hosting a virtual Second Sunday Social on Sunday, September 2, 2020 at 1:30pm! This is an opportunity to learn more about the parish and hear about the opportunities to get involved. If you are interested in joining, please email Pastoral Associate, Jasmine Gomez at Jgomez@stelmo79.org

Generally, our seniors are retired members of our community who have time during the day to worship, to meet and discuss God’s Word, to share stories of God’s faithfulness in their lives and to articulate their needs and aspirations presently. If lively conversation, film viewings and community is what you are looking for, this is a sure fit! Contact the group at Seniorministry@stelmo79.org This ministry is new to our parish. The team is dedicated to education, service, and advocacy on behalf of the natural world, following the teachings of Pope Francis.

Meetings for this group will begin in October.

If you are interested in joining, please email GreenTeam@stelmo79.org

Bread & Wine This Week’s Bread & Wine Intentions & In Memory of The O’Donoghue Family Offered by Kitty O’Donoghue

Sanctuary Lamp

This Weeks’ Sanctuary Lamp Intentions for The Walsh & The Mackessy Families Offered by Kitty O’Donoghue

Back to School!

Preparations for back to school looked different this year due to COVID-19 precautions that have been put into place. While you may not be able to see the smiles behind our masks, we are excited to be welcoming back our students – both in-person and remotely!

SACRAMENTAL CELEBRATIONS: We congratulate our parish and school children who will celebrate their First Holy Communion next weekend, (after a long delay due to Covid-19!) Let us pray for these 40+ children as they mark this milestone in their faith journey.

K-8 PARISH RELIGIOUS EDUCATION: Registration is now open. Our program will be online via Zoom this Fall, and begins on Sunday, October 4 at 10:15am. You can register via our website (www.stelmo79.org), or download the forms there and deliver them with payment at the Parish Center (406 East 80th Street.) Please register promptly so that we can order books and materials and set up classes. The Archdiocese of New York requires two years of either Catholic School or Parish Religious Education before the reception of First Communion or Confirmation.

ADULT FAITH FORMATION: Our Sunday morning Scripture Discussions will resume on Sunday, October 18 at 10:15pm in our Parish Center. You are invited to join us any Sunday to learn more about your faith, and how the Sunday Mass Scripture readings can be a guide for living our faith in today’s world.

ADULT SACRAMENTS OF INITIATION: If you have ever thought about becoming Catholic, or if you are a baptized Catholic who has not yet celebrated First Communion or Confirmation, please contact Maryann Tyrer at mtyrer@ stelmo79.org to discuss our adult initiation process (commonly known as the RCIA). You can begin this process at any time throughout the year, and no commitment is required during the initial phase of Inquiry.

PARISH OPPORTUNITIES TO CONNECT WITH OTHERS Virtually – via Zoom – Be a catechist or assistant for our K-8 religious education program, and help to pass on the faith to the next generation Offsite – Serve as a prayer partner for someone preparing for a Sacrament of Initiation this year Onsite – in person – Service as a discussion leader or sponsor for our RCIA program, serve as a hospitality assistant for our Lifelong Faith Formation events throughout the year, or serve as a member of our new Bereavement Ministry team.

Contact Maryann Tyrer at mtyrer@stelmo79.org or 212-288-6250 to discuss how your gifts and talents could meet our needs and opportunities here at the parish. No experience needed, as all training and materials will be provided.

Once in a decade opportunity: July 8-16, 2022

In 1633, the people of the German village of Oberammergau made a promise: if their community was spared from the plague, they would perform a Passion Play every ten years in thanksgiving. The village was spared, and the first play was staged the following year. Over 2000 citizens make up the cast, chorus, orchestra, and technicians that produce the play, and hundreds of thousands of people now make the pilgrimage from all over the world to see this spectacular event.

Travel to Germany and Switzerland with Fr. Donald C. Baker, pastor of the Church of St. Monica – St. Elizabeth of Hungary – St. Stephen of Hungary, and one of Collette Tour’s wonderful guides.

Explore the Bavarian region around Oberammergau, Germany; see the 42nd installation of the famous Passion Play; visit beautiful Zermatt and Lucerne in the Swiss Alps.

Tour package includes flight to/from JFK, all airport and hotel transfers, tour bus, full-time tour guide, local tour guides, all hotel accommodations, 13 meals, taxes and fees. $200 discount for bookings ($800 deposit) by November 23, 2020. Because it is estimated that 750,000 people will attend the Passion Play over its 5-month run in 2022, we must book this far in advance in order to secure play tickets and area accommodations.

For more information, visit gateway.gocollette.com/link/938182 or contact Maryann Tyrer at mtyrer@stelmo79.org

Five Minute Jesus

Using the Gospel for Prayer – Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time – September 13, 2020 It’s simple. 1. Read the Gospel for the following Sunday slowly, reflecting on the story it tells. 2. Reflect on the questions assigned for each day. 3. Make some resolution about how what you read can be lived that day. 4.

Then thank God for speaking to you through this reflection.

The Gospel according to Matthew 18:21-35 Peter approached Jesus and asked him, “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive? As many as seven times?” Jesus answered, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times. That is why the kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who decided to settle accounts with his servants. When he began the accounting, a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount. Since he had no way of paying it back, his master ordered him to be sold, along with his wife, his children, and all his property, in payment of the debt. At that, the servant fell down, did him homage, and said, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.’ Moved with compassion the master of that servant let him go and forgave him the loan.

When that servant had left, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a much smaller amount. He seized him and started to choke him, demanding, ‘Pay back what you owe.’ Falling to his knees, his fellow servant begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’ But he refused. Instead, he had the fellow servant put in prison until he paid back the debt. Now when his fellow servants saw what had happened, they were deeply disturbed, and went to their master and reported the whole affair. His master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to. Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant, as I had pity on you?’ Then in anger his master handed him over to the torturers until he should pay back the whole debt. So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives your brother from your heart.”

Sunday Was there something in this reading that spoke to me? Comforted me? Challenged me? What was it? Why did it have this effect on me?

Monday Think of a time when you have forgiven someone, only to have them hurt you again. How did you deal with that situation? Is there a limit to your ability to forgive?

Tuesday Have you ever been forgiven for some huge debt or wrong you have committed? How did it feel to know that you could never fully repay that debt, or undo the harm you have caused? How did it feel to be forgiven?

Wednesday Have you ever withheld forgiveness from someone, either out of spite, or because you simply could not forgive them? What effect did that inability to forgive have on you? Were you able to forgive eventually? What helped you to do so?

Thursday Jesus likens the kingdom of heaven to a king who is merciful to a debtor, forgiving a debt that would be impossible to repay. Take some time today to reflect on all that God has forgiven you in your life.

Friday How might we become more forgiving? Sometimes forgiveness seems impossible when the hurt is so serious.

But if we bring our hurts to God in prayer, and ask for the ability to forgive, then God can work within our hearts and help us to let go of the hurts and reconcile with our neighbors. What holds us back from bringing our hurts to God in prayer? What holds us back from wanting to forgive?

From your Pastor September 13th, 2020 Church Lights and more - Finally finishing?

Most of us go to church in the morning – if at all during these days of CoVID-19 quarantine! Therefore, with the sunlight streaming through our windows, the lights in the church are not that important. But as the days shorten, night lengthen, and people, especially at the Saturday and Sunday evening masses, begin to come in darkness and leave in darkness, it will become apparent just what an amazing change has been wrought in lighting our church.

Many of us will remember Easter just two years ago, when at the Easter Vigil we turned on the lights, and it was still so dark we could barely read our worship aids! The old lighting system installed in 2005 by Rambusch Co. had finally begun to die. Thanks to Brightcore lighting, who built upon the old system but updated all the lights to low cost, high efficiency LED lighting, our church is now awash in light. Next time you come to church, look up; all the lights in the ceiling have been or soon will be replaced; but most beautiful are the uplights that illumine the arches and vaults of our ceiling. They were designed by Rambusch, and now that they work again, they highlight the beautiful colors of our ceiling, as they initially were intended to do.

Our church was painted its current palette by Revovata a company specializing in church remodeling and redesign. One of its associates, Lawrence Hoy, left and established his own company, and he is the one who has removed the confessionals along the left side of the church and is busy building a new reconciliation room, designing a storage area for our Christmas decorations, and installing a chapel dedicated to our three patron saints, St. Stephen, St. Elizabeth and St. Monica. These are three different projects that will be done as funds allow. The first, the reconciliation room, will begin to appear in (hopefully) a few weeks. (Remember, until that time confessions are being heard in the Parish Center Chapel (The St. Elizabeth of Hungary Chapel) at 406 E. 80th St on Saturdays from 5:00 – 5:30pm.

With that, most of the big-ticket items in the church we have been planning for years are complete: Air Conditioning; New Sound System; New Lighting. One big outlier, however, is our organ. A while back I wrote about all the work that it needs. We hope to be able to begin that sometime next year. Again, money is a determining factor.

There will be other projects as well. One thing those of us who have been coming to mass have begun to notice is the state of our pews. They simply were not meant to be wiped down after every mass with astringents and bleach as they are not.

The finish is being destroyed. Moreover, the kneelers are shot. Hopefully at some future date, we will be able conquer this project as well.

Yet despite all of this, our church is beautiful, the music is rich and varied; even in this time of CoVID-19. We are celebrating a full mass schedule and people are slowly but surely returning.

We have taken a severe hit as a parish community. But we will rebound. In fact, we already are beginning to.

New Section on the Parish Website Under the direction of our Pastoral Associate for Parish Life, Jasmine Gomez, we have added a new section for various prayers and devotions that we can access. It is a growing section and we hope to add more to it as time goes along. One of the prayers that was added was given to us by Msgr. Ivers, to be used when going to mass is impossible and we have to attend mass online. Look for the prayer Seeking to encounter the Eucharistic Christ in digital bread and wine. While going to mass online can never replace celebrating together as a community, we hope that such prayers and devotions will foster personal prayer until we can all be together again.

St. Stephen of Hungary School Opens In the face of so much chaos and confusion regarding education in our city, this past Wednesday saw a glimmer of normalcy creep in; the Catholic Schools of the Archdiocese of New York opened. St. Stephen opened with an option for five-days-a-week in-school education, and the majority of our students signed up for this option.

Congratulations to the staff and teachers of St. Stephen for achieving the herculean task or remodeling, refitting and reorganizing the school for a CoVID-19 world. There is still a low to be done, but under the guidance of Ms. Kelly Burke, the Principal, and Mr. Paul Rich the school’s Business Manager, we are underway! My personal thanks to everyone who worked so hard, the parish staff and the school faculty and staff, to make the opening possible.

Fr. Baker

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