The Roman Catholic Parish of
Saint Monica Saint Elizabeth of Hungary Saint Stephen of Hungary ————————————————————————————————————— Church : 413 East 79th St. New York, NY 10075 Parish Center: 406 East 80th St. New York, NY 10075 Tel.:(212) 288-6250 Fax: (212) 570 - 1562 www.STELMO79.org www.facebook.com/stelmo79
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The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary & Joseph–December 29th, 2019
Office Hours
Parish Staff
Our Offices are open: Mo. 9am – 5pm Tu.-Th. 9am – 7pm Fri. Closed Sat. 10am -2pm Sun. Closed Our offices close for lunch: 1pm – 2pm daily
Pastor:
Rev. Donald C. Baker
frdcab@stelmo79.org
Associate:
Rev. Msgr. Leslie J. Ivers
msgrlivers@stelmo79.org
Weekend Associates:
Parish Manager: Music Director:
Rev. Jim O’Shea Rev. Tony Ciorra Ms. Maryann Tyrer Ms. Jasmine Gomez Mr. Michael Ward Mr. John Zupan
mtyrer@stelmo79.org jgomez@stelmo79.org mward@stelmo79.org jzupan@stelmo79.org
Wedding Coordinator:
Ms. Debbi Burdett
DBweddingsnyc@gmail.com
Pastoral Associates:
Mass Schedule Saturday Vigil: 5:30pm Sunday: 8:00am,10:00am,12:00pm,5:00pm Monday – Saturday: 12:00pm Confessions: Saturday: 5:00 – 5:30pm and by appointment Our church is open: 7:15am – 3:30pm daily for private prayer Vespers (evening prayer): 5:10pm Fridays in Parish Center Chapel St.
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
S
MISSION STATEMENT The Roman Catholic Parish of St. Monica, St. Elizabeth of Hungary and 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 and 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.
SATURDAY 5:30PM
December 28thVigil Georgina Hernandez (Living)
SUNDAY
December 29th The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary & Joseph
8:00AM 10:00AM 12NOON 5PM
Nine Souls of Lima Florence Castellanos (Living) All Parishioners Geraldine M. O’Hara
MONDAY
December 30th Sixth Day within the Octave Nativity of the Lord Nine Souls of Lima
12NOON
TODAY’S READINGS First Reading — Those who honor and comfort their parents shall never be forgotten (Sirach 3:2-6, 12-14). Psalm — Blessed are those who fear the Lord and walk in his ways (Psalm 128). Second Reading — You are called into one body. Bear with one another; forgive one another; let Christ’s peace control you (Colossians 3:12-21 [1217]). Gospel — Joseph rose, took the child and his mother, and fled to Egypt (Matthew 2:13-15, 1923). 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.
TUESDAY
December 31st Seventh Day within the Octave Nativity of the Lord
12NOON
Nine Souls of Lima
WEDNESDAY January 1st Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God 12NOON Theresa Grant THURSDAY
January 2nd Ss. Basil the Great & Gregory Nazianzen
12NOON
Maureen Sheehan
FRIDAY
January 3rd Christmas Weekday Walter Burns
READINGS FOR THE WEEK Monday:
Tuesday: Wednesday: Thursday: Friday: Saturday: Sunday:
1 Jn 2:12-17; Ps 96:7-10; Lk 2:36-40 1 Jn 2:18-21; Ps 96:1-2, 11-13; Jn 1:1-18 Nm 6:22-27; Ps 67:2-3,5, 6, 8; Gal 4:4-7;Lk 2:16-21 1 Jn 2:22-28; Ps 98:1-4; Jn 1:19-28 1 Jn 2:29 — 3:6; Ps 98:1, 3cd-6; Jn 1:29-34 1 Jn 3:7-10; Ps 98:1, 7-9; Jn 1:35-42 Is 60:1-6; Ps 72:1-2, 7-8, 1013;Eph 3:2-3a, 5-6; Mt 2:1-12
12NOON SATURDAY 12NOON
January 4th St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Edith Costello
If you wish to add the name of a loved one to the prayer list, please notify the parish center: (212) 288-6250
K-8 Religious Education • No K-8 Religious Education or Adult Faith Formation on Sunday, December 29, due to the Christmas/New Year Holidays. • All sessions resume on January 5 at 10:15am, and will include an Epiphany Celebration and a visit from the Three Kings! Adult Faith Formation • Our Sunday Morning Scripture Discussion Group is in session, and runs 10:15-11:45am in the Parish Center each Sunday that Religious Education is in session. This group is open to any and all adults – you can become a “regular,” or just drop in occasionally as your schedule allows. Sessions resume at 10:15am on January 5. Make a New Year’s resolution to deepen your faith! Adult Sacraments • Adults thinking about becoming Catholic, or Catholic adults who have missed First Communion or Confirmation – it’s never too late! Contact Maryann Tyrer, Pastoral Associate, to discuss our adult initiation process. You can begin the process any time throughout the year. Sessions are held on Sunday in the Parish Center following the noon Mass. All inquirers are welcome! Christmas Season • The Christmas Season began at sundown on December 24, and continues until the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord (which this year falls on January 12.) • The vestment color is white throughout this season, and the church will remain decorated for the season. We will continue to sing Christmas hymns, as well! • So even though stores switch over the Valentine’s Day on December 26, we as a church continue to rejoice in the birth of our Savior! So keep those decorations up at home, and keep playing Christmas Music all season long!
Today (December 29) is the Feast Of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, but also every family’s feast day, since the Holy Family is the patron and model of all Christian families. Scripture tells us practically nothing about the first years and the boyhood of the Child Jesus. All we know are the facts of the sojourn in Egypt, the return to Nazareth, and the incidents that occurred when the twelve-year-old boy accompanied his parents to Jerusalem. In her liturgy the Church hurries over this period of Christ's life with equal brevity. The general breakdown of the family, however, at the end of the past century and at the beginning of our own, prompted the popes, especially the far-sighted Leo XIII, to promote the observance of this feast with the hope that it might instill into Christian families something of the faithful love and the devoted attachment that characterize the family of Nazareth. The primary purpose of the Church in instituting and promoting this feast is to present the Holy Family as the model and exemplar of all Christian families. Excerpted from With Christ Through the Year, Rev. Bernard Strasser, O.S.B.
Please join us for our 4th Annual New Year’s Eve Wine and Cheese with Champagne toast (and sparkling cider) – open to all – in the church, following the 5:30pm Vigil Mass on December 31!
SPECIAL DEVOTIONS
TREASURES FROM OUR TRADITION
After all weekday masses Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament Every Friday after the Noon Mass to 3 PM, with Benediction following the Divine Mercy Chaplet Devotions Miraculous Medal on Mondays after each Mass Divine Mercy The Divine Mercy Chaplet is prayed each Friday afternoon at 3 PM Sacrament of Reconciliation: 5:00 PM on Saturdays Anytime 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 would 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
SAINT THOMAS BECKET (1118-1170) December 29 To anyone who imagines conflict between religion and politics to be a modern phenomenon, history witnesses otherwise. Martyred under Henry VIII in 1535, Thomas More declared, “I die the king’s good servant, but God’s first!” Thomas Becket could have said the same four centuries earlier. As Henry II’s closest friend and trusted chancellor, Becket, the king presumed, could be counted on, if made archbishop, to deliver the church to royal control. But Becket experienced a profound conversion, confirmed by the ordination liturgy’s rich symbolism of the bishop as Good Shepherd and the church as Bride of Christ. Renouncing secular responsibilities, distributing his wealth to the poor, Thomas became the church’s uncompromising champion. Faced with this “new” Becket, the king’s previous friendship turned into a ferocious, almost irrational hatred. As eight centuries later, Archbishop Romero would be martyred at the altar of Christ’s sacrifice, Becket was slain before the altar of Canterbury Cathedral by royal agents, neither the first nor last good shepherd to lay down his life as the price of freedom for Christ’s church and justice for Christ’s sheep.
Please remember in your prayers Maria Rotandaro, Antoinette Paone, Judith Baron, Maria Escobar, Martha Gil, Gerard Baray, Isabella De Sola, Emma Baruffi, Richard Baldwin, Glenn Allen, Jean Stephens & Albert Walsh.
—Peter Scagnelli, Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co.
Bread & Wine This Week’s Bread & Wine
ALL VICTIMS OF MILITARY ACTIVITY
Intentions for William & Mary Mitchel
PRAYERS FOR THE DECEASED
Offered by Margaret Mitchel
Katherine L. Wessley, Adriana Marcella & Angelo Velluci, Pietro Coiccaglione, The Victims of the Jersey City shootings, Fr. James White, Fr. Carlos Rodriguez, Bryan Brosbhart, James Francis Dana, Priscilla Morse, Lincoln Werden, & Kathleen DelGaudio
Please pray for our deceased parishioners and family members
Sanctuary Lamp This Weeks’ Sanctuary Lamp Intentions for William & Mary Mitchel Offered by Margaret Mitchel
SAINTS & SPECIAL OBSERVANCES Sunday:
The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph Monday: Sixth Day within the Octave of the Nativity of the Lord Tuesday: Seventh Day within the Octave of the Nativity of the Lord; St. Sylvester I; New Year’s Eve Wednesday: The Octave of the Nativity of the Lord; Mary, the Holy Mother of God; World Day of Peace; New Year’s Day Thursday: Ss. Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzen Friday: The Most Holy Name of Jesus; First Friday Saturday: St. Elizabeth Ann Seton; First Saturday FAMILY MASS Our Next Family Mass will be celebrated on Saturday, January 4th at 5:30 PM.
The Feast of the Holy Family It seems appropriate that we celebrate the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph during the Christmas season, just after families have gathered for Christmas, frequently with stress over gift-giving, travel drama, and the intricacies of meal preparation for people with their various dietary needs and preferences. Today’s readings ask us to put family and life in their sacred and holy perspective. When we take care of aging parents we care for Christ, who is with all and in all. When we approach one another with compassion, kindness, gentleness, and patience, we communicate Christ’s love. Even when the Lord leads in ways we cannot quite appreciate or understand, we must follow God’s will, knowing that in doing so, we cooperate with God’s grace in our midst. Every family is called to be a holy family.
Your Holy Family Families come in all shapes and sizes. When asked to describe your family, you might begin by telling people about a parent, sibling, or extended family members. You might even describe what you have learned from a genealogical study. You are unlikely, however, no matter how wonderful your family may be, to describe your family as “holy.” And yet, this is our primary call. Each of us as people of God, and each of our families, is called to be holy. We are called to live as God’s people in the world, to communicate God’s love and presence through the way that we live together and in relationship with others. Every family, no matter what their circumstances, is called to be a holy family. Even Mary, Joseph, and Jesus faced challenges and trials. And yet they rose to the occasion, listened to and followed God’s will, and were assured of the love of the Lord through it all. Today’s Readings: Sir 3:2–6, 12–14; Ps 128:1–2, 3, 4 –5; Col 3:12–21 [12–17]; Mt 2:13–15, 19–23
All Families and Parishioners are invited.
Copyright © J. S. Paluch Co., Inc.
Next Year I…
From your Pastor December 29th, 2019
If you are like me, the last six weeks have been a whirlwind. New York in the holiday season has become, a little more each year, a gauntlet of office parties and celebrations traveling to relatives and a swirl of rich meals, party foods and often far too much alcohol. We celebrate so much, that it is easy to forget what it is we are celebrating; the wondrous stories and their values, that are the reasons for our “Holiday Season”. If you are like me, I make resolutions. Every year I say, next year it will be different; Next year I will eat less, drink more soda and less wine. Next year I will create spaces for myself where I can stop, take a deep breath, and amidst the football and turkey, give thanks at Thanksgiving and during the holiday rush and crush, reflect on the meaning of Christmas. Next year . . .
But perhaps “next year” is the problem. It never comes. It always becomes this year with the same burdens and responsibilities. So, as we turn the corner from last year to this year, 2020, we stop and take a breath: A deep breath. We have a few last ends to tie up, the tree to take down, a couple of gifts to return (or re-gift!) but the holiday season is over. However, the better practices we want for the next holiday season really begin now. Better care of our bodies, sure - we vow that every year. But this year, maybe, better care for our spirit? More time to give thanks, to reflect and pray, to read and learn? When we do it now, we will be better prepared for then: after all, the Holiday Season 2018 less than a year away. Where in the World is Father Baker? You are reading this in my absence. I know! Despite the fact that Msgr. Ivers is not here, I am still able to fit in my annual visit to my brother and his family in North Carolina! It has to be short; only a couple of days, but I get to go and celebrate his 73rd Birthday. This only happens because of the generosity of our Weekend Associates, Father Jim and Father Tony, Father Antonio, who lives with us and works at Lenox Hill Hospital, our Pastoral Associates, Maryann Tyrer and Jasmine Gomez, as well as Michael Ward, our Parish Manager. To all of them I say a heartfelt thanks. Sadly, this kind of pasting together of a schedule will become more commonplace as the number of priests declines. Nevertheless, we can all be thankful for our staff. I know I am. Msgr. Ivers It is now commonly known that Msgr. Ivers is away at a treatment facility. Shortly before Christmas he heard from his doctors that the treatment for depression will take a minimum of three months. Many people asked if there were a way to contact him. I feel fairly certain he checks his email, so there is the email address on the cover of this bulletin. If you wish to write him a card or send him anything like a gift, the best way to do that is to drop it by the parish center. I put together packages with his mail and send them periodically. A New Decade As you read this, we stand on the brink of a new decade; the third of the 21st century. Looking back at the last 20 years, it can be astonishing to think of how much has changed… and yet how much is the same. In 2000 the twin towers still stood, but we were already dealing with terrorism; we might not have faced the current threats to constitutional democracy, but don’t forget Bush Vs. Gore. True, in 2000 we did not impeach a president, but that was only because we already had the year before. This is not to make light of the challenges we face. But at moments like the turning of the decade, it is important to gain perspective. On one level nothing changes. But if the birth that we just celebrated last week has any meaning, beyond childhood stories and holiday nostalgia, it is that the new world we hope for isn’t in some far-off future. It is here, now. And it happens every day in our families, schools, communities, cities and nations, when we take what we receive from the man that baby born at Christmas became, and share it with others. Do that and make the new decade something truly new. Happy New Year! Father Baker