STOCCC GAZETTE #221

stoccc gazette

February 2021 issue

Saint Teresa of Calcutta Catholic Community a CACINA Parish

Valentine’s Day February 14th

Ash Wednesday February 17th

GOD LOVES YOU!

LIVE MASS LIVE STREAMING SUNDAY @ 10:30 AM

www.stoccc.org

CHURCH CALENDAR Rosary Prayer Video on the Zoom Zone Calendar every Sunday

Additional Liturgical Dates for February 2 Tue The Presentation of the Lord 3 Wed [Saint Blaise, Bishop and Martyr; Saint Ansgar, Bishop] 5 Fri Saint Agatha, Virgin and Martyr 6 Sat Saint Paul Miki and Companions, Martyrs 7 SUN FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME 8 Mon [Saint Jerome Emiliani; Saint Josephine Bakhita, Virgin] 10 Wed Saint Scholastica, Virgin 11 Thur [Our Lady of Lourdes] 14 SUN SIXTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME 17 Wed Ash Wednesday 18 Thu Thursday after Ash Wednesday 19 Fri Friday after Ash Wednesday 20 Sat Saturday after Ash Wednesday 21 SUN FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT 22 Mon the Chair of Saint Peter the Apostle 23 Tue Lenten Weekday [Saint Polycarp, Bishop and Martyr] 28 SUN SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT

For Readings Visit: https://bible.usccb.org/

• Sunday, January 31, Start bringing in your old palms for burning on February 14th.

• Sunday, February 7, 10:30 am, Mass– Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time LIVE STREAM AND LIVE MASS • Sunday, February 7, 12:30 pm, House of Ministry Meeting. Zoom from the Chapel.

• Sunday, February 14, 10:30 am, Mass– Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time LIVE STREAM AND LIVE MASS • Sunday, February 14, Rite of Blessing Palms to Ashes after Mass • Sunday, February 14, HAPPY VALENTINES DAY • Wednesday, February 17, 6:30 pm, Chapel Ash Wednesday • Friday, February 19, 6:30 pm, Chapel Stations of the Cross • Sunday, February 21, 10:30 am, Mass– First Sunday of Lent LIVE STREAM AND LIVE MASS • Sunday, February 21, 2:30 pm, F.A.S.T. joint AUMC/STOCCC Meeting on Zoom • Friday, February 26, 6:30 pm, Chapel Stations of the Cross • Sunday, February 28, 10:30 am, Mass– Second Sunday of Lent LIVE STREAM AND LIVE MASS • Sunday, March 7, 10:30 am, Mass– Third Sunday of Lent LIVE STREAM AND LIVE MASS

HAPPENINGS UPCOMING BIRTHDAY AND ANNIVERSARIES for the Month

BIRTHDAYS FEB 6 JENNIFER STOUT FEB 9 ELLIE OSPINA FEB 10 BECKY BYRLEY

ANNIVERSARY FEB 2 BUDDY AND PAULA BAKER

Sunday, February 14th

February 17th

ST TERESA of CALCUTTA Lenten Document LENT is a season that summons and allows us to open our hearts and minds to the Lord. It occurs for a forty-day period before Easter, beginning on Ash Wednesday and ends on Holy Thursday. It is a time of prayer, almsgiving and fasting.

PRAY for us and each other to let go of our wrong doings and cleanse our spirits.

GIVE of yourself wholeheartedly to others, freely offering your love, talents, and gifts.

ACT to avoid greed, anger, and obsessions – leading to a spiritual and emotional growth.

When is Lent? February 17 through Holy Thursday March 25, 2021. Check our Calendar for Lenten activities.

The Preparation: St. Teresa of Calcutta offers many opportunities to reflect during this season.

We invite you to see the bulletin or website for information regarding masses and special offerings such as individual Confessions/Reconciliation, Communal Anointing and Healing Service, Communal Reconciliation Service, Stations of the Cross, Eucharistic Adoration, and Feed My Starving Children by the Parking Lot Gang. F.A.S.T. is another great charity for us to support.

What is Lent?

Daily Lenten Reflections: Interested in receiving Daily Lenten Reflections or Holy Day reminders? LIKE us on FaceBook - St Teresa of Calcutta Catholic Community. Signup! See "Connect with St. Teresa" section on the homepage as well as, WWW.STOCCC.ORG, and get connected to all the great ministries here at St. Teresa’s!

Lenten Renewal Small Groups: A wonderful faith formation opportunity to reflect and prepare for the Easter season. For 6 weeks, a small group meet 60 minutes once a week to reflect on their faith, pray together, support one another in their lives, and reach out in service with our CACINA Sisters and Brothers. Each year there is a different theme, designed to help the church community recenter itself on the teaching and practices that help all disciples of Jesus live the covenant of baptism.

Leaders guide small groups using Sunday scriptures, designated reading materials, discuss what these readings mean, and how we can reflect and make positive and healthy changes in our lives.

Registration is easy, contact me by email - victorray49@gmail.com and I will get you set up with CACINA. You will receive an Email every week on Monday, or Tuesday at 6:30pm, just click on the link and you will be automatically loaded into ZOOM. It is a ‘safe’ environment for all.

Lenten Projects – 2021: St. Teresa of Calcutta Catholic Community is all about community outreach. In 2020, we supported CACINA charity - Southern Poverty Law Center and the Dream Center, Celebrate Outreach, Shower and Empower, through the ministry of our own, Parking Lot Gang by donating both items and financially to support those in need.

HOUSE OF MINISTRY MEETING SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2021 12:30 PM ZOOM FROM THE CHAPEL MEETING URL: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86531124313 We will be experimenting with doing the Zoom Meetings from the Chapel now. I realize that while we are in COVID it is hard for some to attend the Meetings or Training in Person. Once we are COVID free, the goal is still to conduct the Zoom Meetings so that those that are out of the area may still participate in any Meeting or Training that we have. Live Streaming Meetings and Training is fine, but you do not get the immediate feedback or participation like you would via Zoom.

Due to COVID we are not able to have our annual Dennis and Cindy Mardi Gras Party this year.... sadly.

It was a GREAT church-included event. *******************************************************************************************************

TIME, TALENT, TREASURES 1) Time – Live Mass, Live Stream, or Participation in events (Live or Zoom) 2) Talent – Adding Input to Gazette, Mats at Home Assembly, Inspiring Others, etc.

Is It One Category Or, All Three?

3) Treasures – Ensuring Church Meets Its Needs. Online Giving in Website @ stoccc.org or App @ Saint Teresa of Calcutta Catholic Community

Starting May 1, 2021, St. Teresa's CCC will be looking for a new Liturgy Minister. If you feel you are up to the challenge, please contact Jim Villafana or and Father Victor at St. Teresa Church.

LOOKING FOR NEW ACOLYTES (Altar Servers) TRAINEES. Please contact Jim Villafana @727-288-6177

Register at: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZcrcO6rrzssGdzAqcSzQqkWRlx0AxA-loB

February is a month of Love on Valentine’s day and Love and Hope in a deeper way with the beginning of Lent at St Teresa of Calcutta. Some may say, Father, I don’t have anyone special in my life….well I say, YOU are that someone special.

Let’s start to rediscover that Love and Hope again. We might think that the hope of Lent has to do with our hope that we will get through it, that we will come to the end of it. We see Lent as an obstacle course we need to navigate in order to get to the great feast of Easter. But while the Lenten season is indeed preparation for our Easter celebration, the hope of this season is that we will find our lives transformed by the many ways we encounter God’s Word, by the richness of the Scripture readings chosen to encourage, to challenge, to confront, to comfort.

Focusing only on the end goal would cause us to miss so much along the way. The greatest hope of Lent is the discovery that it’s not only about penance, deprivation, spiritual struggles, and rooting out sin in our lives. Those are often the things we do during Lent. But the hope of Lent lies in what God does. God’s mercy and grace surround us not just in special times and places but always and everywhere. Lent is a time to discover the extraordinary in the ordinary, to be surprised by God’s mercy when we least expect it. As the season begins, think about the hopes you have for Lent this year. Think about what changes you want to see in your life, in the world. Let the words of our faith community guide you on a journey of bringing those hopes to fruition.

A Word from the Spirit of God! With its invitations to conversion, Lent comes providentially to awaken us, to rouse us from torpor, from the risk of moving forward by inertia. The exhortation which the Lord addresses to us through the prophet Joel is strong and clear: “Return to me with all your heart” (Joel 2:12). Why must we return to God? Because something is not right in us, not right in society, in the Church and we need to change, to give it a new direction. And this is called needing to convert! Once again Lent comes to make its prophetic appeal, to remind us that it is possible to create something new within ourselves and around us, simply because God is faithful, always faithful, for he cannot deny himself, he continues to be rich in goodness and mercy, and he is always ready to forgive and start afresh.

Let’s put the Word to life in our hearts! I am amazed on the way our church is filled on Ash Wednesday. It’s not a holy day of obligation. No one is required to attend Mass or receive blessed ashes. But there’s something about the beginning of this season of Lent that draws us in, calls us to return to sanity, to a bit of austerity, to a change of heart and mind. It’s a second chance at our new year’s resolutions, long since broken and forgotten. It’s a second chance at making changes in our lives. For some people like myself, it’s no less than a second chance at life. That something that draws us is God’s grace. And it’s drawing us back to God’s merciful embrace. There’s something attractive about Lent beginning in the middle of an ordinary week, catching us in the midst of our daily occupations and asking us to take time out to find God there. Lent doesn’t take us away from our ordinary lives, but rather it invites us to bring a new and holy attention to those activities. This should be the way with all of our spiritual practices. We take time apart in order to return to our daily activities with new inspiration. God will always surprise us with possibilities when we least expect them. Let this Lent be one of those surprises. The prophet Joel calls for a public ritual of repentance. Jesus reminds his followers that our deepest need is between ourselves and the Father. Both are necessary. Which do you need this Lent?

How might your Lenten observances contain a healthy balance of public and private prayer? Choose something this Lent that will enhance your day-to-day interactions with the people in your life.

Father Victor’s pray for our community. In the face of so many wounds that hurt us and could harden our hearts, we are called to dive into the sea of prayer, which is the sea of God’s boundless love, to taste his tenderness and experience His love and hope. Happy February of Love and Hope….and welcome to Lent!

Father Victor Ray

Purpose of this Newsletter: One format in which to “Keep the lines of Communication OPEN” and inform the congregation, friends, and guests of Saint Teresa of Calcutta Catholic Community of what is happening.

SAINT TERESA OF CALCUTTA CATHOLIC COMMUNITY STATS: PHYSICAL ADDRESS: 3803 HAINES ROAD NORTH, ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA 33703

Saint Teresa of Calcutta Catholic Community Existing Ministry Teams: HOUSE OF MINISTRIES Moderator: William Schwartz Assistant Moderator: AVAILABLE Financial: Jon Laubscher Music Director: Gordon McMann Card Ministry: D.A. Marx and Dee Spano Decorations: Frank Matzelle Hospitality: Jim Villafana Liturgical: Jim Villafana Mats Ministry: Shelli Muncy Media: William Schwartz and Aryn Zahnow Outreach: (Cindy Giddens/Frank Matzelle as needed) Parking Lot Gang: Shelli and Kelvin Muncy Refreshment: Paula Baker and Cindy Giddens Immediate Needed Ministries:

MAILING ADDRESS: SAINT TERESA OF CALCUTTA CATHOLIC COMMUNITY P.O. BOX 47921, ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA 33743

Welcome Marketing

Records Keeper Future Goals

Planning

Pastor is Father Victor Ray HOUSE OF TRUSTEES

PHONE NUMBER IS: 727-245-0102 Line #1 is the Church Office Line #2 is Father Victor Ray Line #3 is Prayer Request Line #4 is Healing Ministry

CHURCH EMAIL: MAIN: MEDIA.STOCCC@GMAIL PASTOR: PASTOR.STOCCC@GMAIL.COM

President: William Schwartz Vice President: AVAILABLE Accountant: Jon Laubscher Legal: Catherine E. Blackburn, Esquire If anyone is interested in participating in an Existing Ministry, please contact the Ministry Leader. If anyone is interested in Leading any of the Immediate Needed Ministries, Please contact Father Victor Ray or William Schwartz.

Remember that Saint Teresa of Calcutta Catholic Community follows the principles of: TIME

TALENT

TREASURES

FACEBOOK AT FACEBOOK.COM/ST. TERESA OF CALCUTTA CATHOLIC COMMUNITY YOUTUBE AT SAINT TERESA OF CALCUTTA CATHOLIC COMMUNITY TWITTER AT STOCCC2 INSTAGRAM AT STOCCCLOVE APP AT SAINT TERESA OF CALCUTTA CATHOLIC COMMUNITY You can easily connect to all, on our Website: www.stoccc.org

Bring A Friend!

Live Mass/Live Stream Every Sunday at 10:30 am A CACINA Parish

Chapel at SAFETY DURING THIS PANDEMIC IS OUR PRIMARY CONCERN. ELECTRONIC MEDIA IS AVAILABLE.

3803 Haines Road North St. Petersburg, FL 33703

Thank You, as always, for taking time out to read this recent STOCCC Gazette. Please “Pass It On” so that others will find out what we are all about.

This is your Gazette so if there is anything that you would like for me to put in, just let me know! Send all inquiries to: media.stoccc@gmail.com.

Until Next Time, Follow the Holy Spirit and remember what.

Saint Teresa says, “Spread Love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier”!