Sixth Sunday of Easter 5/14/2023

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 familya family seeking to know and love Jesus Christ.

Parish Staff

Pastor: Rev. Donald C. Baker ............................ frdcab@stelmo79.org

Weekend Associate: .................................... Rev. Anthony Ciorra, IVD

Weekend Associate:...............................................Rev. Edward Beck, CP

Pastoral Associate: Ms. Maryann Tyrer ........ mtyrer@stelmo79.org

Music Director: Mr. John Zupan .................... jzupan@stelmo79.org

Wedding Coordinator: Ms. Debbi Burdett.....dbweddingsnyc@gmail.com

Parish Manager: Jennifer DeSpirito.............................jdespirito@stelmo79.org

Plant Manager: Guillermo Vanegas .......... gvanegas@stelmo79.org

Sacristan: Pedro Pizarro ...................................ppizarro@stelmo79.org

Administrative Assistant: Gladys Tejada ..... gtejada@stelmo79.org

Mass Intentions

Saturday, May 13th Vigil Saturday, 13th

5:30pm Thanksgiving

Sunday, May 14th Sixth Sunday of Easter 14th Sixth of Easter

Mother’s Day Mother’s

8:00am Maria Soliven Reyes 8:00am Maria Soliven

10:00am Mrs. Alber t Blain Mrs. Albert

12:00pm All Parishioners All Parishioners

5pm Richard K avanaugh 5pm Richard Kavanaugh

Monday, May 15th Easter Weekday 15th Easter

12pm Bobby Castro 12pm Castro

Tuesday, May 16th Easter Weekday May 16th Easter Weekday 12pm Josephine & Car mel Xureb 12pm & Carmel Xureb

Wednesday, May 17 Easter Weekday 17 Easter

12pm Helen D. Flack & Edward Pranckitas 12pm Helen D. Flack & Edward Pranckitas

5:30pm Peter Sammut, Greg or y Fenech Peter Sammut, Gregory Fenech & Joseph Zarafa & Zarafa

T hur sday, May 18th Easter Weekday Thursday, 18th Easter

Church Address : 413 East 79th Street, NYC 10075

Parish Center: 406 East 80th Street, NY, NY 10075

Tel: 212-288-6250 Fax: 212- 570-1562

Email: info@stelmo79.org

Our Offices are open:

Monday & Wednesday 9am - 4pm

Tuesday - Thursday ....................................... 9am - 7pm

Friday ....................................................... Closed

Saturday ................................................. 10am - 2pm

Sunday ..................................................... Closed Closed for Lunch Weekdays..................1pm - 2pm Visit us at: www.STELMO79.org

Follow us on social media by searching STELMO79

T he Ascension of the Lord The Ascension of the Lord 12pm K athleen M. Reddington 12pm Kathleen M. Reddington

Friday, May 19th Easter Weekday 19th Easter 12pm Thanksgiving 12pm

Saturday, May 20th Easter Weekday 20th Easter

12pm Luz Elida Amparo Galindo Luz Elida Galindo

Mass Schedule

Daily Mass: Mon-Sat, 12 noon

Saturday Vigil: 5:30pm

Sunday: 8am, 10am, 12pm & 5pm

Confessions: Saturdays at 5pm or by appointment

Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament

Every Friday after the Noon Mass until 3pm in the church and live on-line

Devotions

Miraculous Medal on Mondays after Mass in the church and live on-line

Divine Mercy

Prayed every Friday at 3pm in the church and live on-line

Vespers (Evening Prayer)

Every Friday at 5:10pm in the Chapel and live on-line

Sacrament of Reconciliation

Saturdays at 5pm or by appointment

Anointing of the sick

Every third Saturday of the Month after the noon Mass.

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

Stephen Smail, Maurine Lynch, Michael Patrick Keating, Albert del Rosario, Ashley Wilson, Bruno Franco Adame, Susan Bacerra, Michael Reilly, Dorothy Condon, Marcelle Ferrier, Joana Jack, Cindy Garnica Castro and all those ill with or recovering from the COVID-19 virus and all Victims of Military Activities

PRAYERS FOR THE DECEASED

Almuth Raspe, Bessie McKenna, Fr. Bernard Heter, Robert Anello, Giacinto Sisto, Eugene Flynn & Isidro Manalad

Weekly Readings & Observances

Readings for the week of May 14, 2023

Sunday: Acts 8:5-8, 14-17/Ps 66:1-3, 4-5, 6-7, 16, 20 (1)/1 Pt 3:15-18/

Jn 14:15-21

Monday: Acts 16:11-15/Ps 149:1b-2, 3-4, 5-6a and 9b/Jn 15:26—16:4a

Tuesday: Acts 16:22-34/Ps 138:1-2ab, 2cde-3, 7c-8/Jn 16:5-11

Wednesday: Acts 17:15, 22—18:1/Ps 148:1-2, 11-12, 13, 14/Jn 16:12-15

Thursday: Acts 18:1-8/Ps 98:1-3ab, 3cd-4/

Jn 16:16-20

Ascension: Acts 1:1-11/Ps 47:2-3, 6-7, 8-9 (6)/Eph 1:17-23/Mt 28: 16-20

Friday: Acts 18:9-18/Ps 47:2-3, 4-5, 6-7/ Jn 16:20-23

Saturday: Acts 18:23-28/Ps 47:2-3, 8-9, 10/Jn 16:23b-28

Next Sunday: Ascension: Acts 1:1-11/Ps 47:2-3, 6-7, 8-9 (6)/Eph 1:17-23/ Mt 28:16-20

Seventh Sunday of Easter: Acts 1:12-14/Ps 27:1, 4, 7-8 (13)/1

Pt 4:13-16/Jn 17:1-11a

Observances for the week of May 14, 2023

Sunday: 6th Sunday of Easter; Mother’s Day

Monday: St. Isidore

Tuesday:

Wednesday:

Thursday: The Ascension of the Lord; St. John I, Pope and Martyr

Friday:

Saturday: St. Bernardine of Siena, Priest; Armed Forces Day

Next Sunday: The Ascension of the Lord; 7th Sunday of Easter; World Communications Day ©LPi

Our school community is wishing you a Mother's Day filled with many blessings.

His Eminence, Timothy Michael Cardinal Dolan

Five Minute Jesus

Using the Gospel for Prayer –Seventh Sunday of Easter May 21, 2023

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.

Gospel John 17:1-11a

Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come. Give glory to your son, so that your son may glorify you, just as you gave him authority over all people, so that your son may give eternal life to all you gave him. Now this is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ. I glorified you on earth by accomplishing the work that you gave me to do. Now glorify me, Father, with you, with the glory that I had with you before the world began. “I revealed your name to those whom you gave me out of the world. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you gave me is from you, because the words you gave to me, I have given to them, and they accepted them and truly understood that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for the ones you have given me, because they are yours, and everything of mine is yours and everything of yours is mine, and I have been glorified in them. And now I will no longer be in the world, but they are in the world, while I am coming to you.”

Monday May 15th

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?

Tuesday May 16th

Jesus is praying here after the Last Supper. He knows that this is “the hour.” His words betray and support the idea that all of this is according to plan, and that plan is set by his Father. How do I feel about this? Do I experience my life has a plan set by God? If so, what is it? How do we discover this plan?

Wednesday May 17th

Eternal life is to know God. Seems simple enough. But then Jesus adds, “and the one whom you sent, Jesus Christ.” Looking at the world, and seeing it as God’s creation, what words would come to mind to describe its creator? Then looking at Jesus, how do his words and actions reveal God for us?

Thursday May 18th

IN the ancient world, names had power. If you knew someone’s name you could control them, bind them, at very least you had a relationship with them that was intimate. Thus, in Judaism the true name of God is so holy it is not to be written or spoken aloud. You are not supposed to “know” it, out of respect. Here Jesus reveals how people come to know the name of the one who sent him. And that is through Jesus himself. He speaks god’s word and through it, through him they come to know the Father. How comfortable am I with God’s Word? Do I have a Bible? Do I read from it? IF so, how often? If not, why not?

Friday May 19th

Jesus prays for the ones who have received his word, which comes from the Father. This is how Jesus says, we know they belong to the Father. They follow his word, put it into practice in their lives and build a community which reflects the selfsacrificing love Jesus models in his death. Do I see that community in my parish church? If so, am I a contributor to is? IF not, why not? And how can I change that?

Saturday May 20th

To give glory to someone is to act and speak in a way which reflects on the one who taught us how to speak and act. Jesus is glorified in us. How do I glorify him? Do I give glory to him by what I say and do?

Just a Word

From the Pastor 05.14.23

The Future

Recently a person in our parish asked me a question I have heard SO MANY times. When speaking about the fact that I am the only priest assigned to ministry in our parish, they asked, “Why won’t the Archdiocese send someone to help?” It can be difficult for us priests to hear that question, and we remember that the perspective of our parishioners is very different from our own; most people come on a Sunday and that is the extent of their involvement. We priests see the situation “up close and personal”.

And what we see is that there are no priests to send. This fact was confirmed by our Vicar for Priests, Bishop Edmund Whalen at the February meeting of the Presbyterial Council, which is a council made up of priests which advises the Cardinal. (Think: Parish Council for the Archdiocese.)

In his report he gave the following statistics:

In the Archdiocese of New York there are 286 assignable priests under 75 years old. 165 priests are 75 and older (and thus at or exceeding retirement age, which in the Archdiocese is 75). Only 10 are under 35. The youngest priest is 30.

The largest cohort in that 286 number is the group from 60-75 years old – There are 96 priests in that group. I know many people in that 60–75-year-old group of priests. Many are tired and feel overworked. It is anyone’s guess how many of them will make it to retirement, thus making the situation even more serious. That group will be retired completely by 2038, and given the low rates of ordination (three, this year – NONE, last year) the handwriting is on the wall, as they say.

That will mean many things. It will mean that more parishes will be yoked with each other, under the supervision of one pastor. It will mean that only the largest parishes will get a second diocesan priest. There will still be foreign-born priests who will assist in some places, but the numbers of vocations in places which were once suppliers of priests to other parts of the world, have also suffered. There will still be parishes run by religious orders, but their numbers are dropping as well.

And it will mean many more parishes like ours where the sacramental life is largely dependent upon on one priest. We are lucky to have weekend associates – otherwise our mass schedule would be vastly different. We are also lucky to have the investments which make it possible to pay for lay pastoral workers. As long as these things are in place (and I remain healthy) we continue to function well.

But reports such as the one offered by Bishop Whalen give us a glimpse of the future. For years we have been told to pray for vocations, and of course we should do that. We have. But perhaps we should also pray that the Holy Spirit give our leaders the wisdom and vision to respond to this impending crisis in creative, out-of-the-box ways.

There is little else left to do. For so long so many of us have not wanted to face facts. Now it would seem, the facts are forcing us to.

Sacrament Roundup

Because of the way in which these columns are written, this is the first I have had to congratulate all our second graders who received their first communions and our 8th graders who made their confirmations two weeks ago. The celebrations of First Communion on Saturday April 29th and the mass of Confirmation on April 30th were joyous celebrations, and I want to take a moment here to just thank everyone who sang, read, served welcomed and organized.

Thank you ion a special way to all our catechists both in the school and in the parish, to John Zupan, who provided the music for these cerebrations, and of course to our Pastoral Associate for Christian Formation, Maryann Tyrer for pulling all the disparate parts of the weekend together into a coherent smoothly running whole.

Fr. Baker