APRIL 30, 2017 THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER

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APRIL 30, 2017 THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER

PARISH LAY LEADERSHIP

Finance Council Chairs….Kimberly Schoolcraft, Matthew Barnes

Parish Pastoral Council Chair..………………Kathleen Harrington

Rel Ed Advisory Committee ...Melissa Moriarty, Suzanne Harlow

RCIA ……………………………Ray Breton, Rosemary Thresher

Bible Study………………………………………..........Sue Fratini

Adult Education………………………..Mary Federici, Bob Stack

PARISH ORGANIZATIONS/PROGRAMS

Rosary Sodality……………..………Nancy Garen/Ursula Tuohey

Social Justice………………….…………….Andrea Cook-Hewitt

Just Faith…………………………………Pat Mack, Karen Scahill

St. Joseph’s Workers………………………………………Fr. Dan

Men’s Ministry Group………………………......................Fr. Dan

Women’s Ministry Group..……………………..…..Mary Federici

Youth Group (JPII Crew)………………….………Lisa Laferriere

AFFILIATED ORGANIZATIONS

Cursillo Movement ……………………….………...Karen Scahill

Schoenstatt Movement .……………..……….…Diane Czerwiecki

Boy Scout Troop 821 …………………..………………..Joe Muto

Girl Scout Troops…………………….……..……....Pat O’Connor

Knights of Columbus………………………………Greg Perreault

PARISH MINISTRIES

Altar Server Scheduling……………………..……… Cindy Monti

Altar Server Training……………………………….Jim O’Connor

Baptismal Prep……………………………..…… Lou Mastroianni

Children’s Liturgy of the Word……………….……….Sue Fratini

Eucharistic Ministers/Readers, Scheduling ......……Beth Modlish

Homebound/Pastoral Care Ministry…………..........Mary Federici

Music Ministry – Adult & Youth Choir……………Melanie Peetz

Contemporary Music Group (Psalm 33).………………Tom Fucci

Sacristans.…………………..……..Irene King, Phyllis Chlastawa,

Jim O’Connor, Irene Breton, Karen Scahill

Soup Kitchen……………… …..... Marcia Daly, Sandy O’Connor

Take & Eat Ministry……..…………………………Cheryl Wood

Wedding Coordinator………………………….…..Donna Whelan

Wedding Team……...…Kathy Harrington, Gina Broderick,

Christina Straney, Tina Broderick

Prayer Line………………..Pauline, 862-3885 or Diane, 568-9754

OFFICE HOURS

The Parish Office is located at the Parish Center. Entrance is across from the Mary Garden. Hours: Monday-Friday, 9:00AM-2:00PM. Sue is available to greet and assist you.

NEW PARISHIONERS

We warmly welcome new members to join our parish. Please fill out a registration card on the tables in the church and place in the collection basket. Registration and active participation is necessary for Religious Education and letters of eligibility for godparents and sponsors, as well as Catholic School Parish Subsidy.

SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM

The Sacrament is celebrated monthly. Please call the Office to arrange. At least one Godparent must be a Confirmed, active parishioner in their parish, attending Mass weekly.

SACRAMENT OF MARRIAGE

The Sacrament of Marriage is planned by an initial meeting with a priest or deacon, at least 6 months in advance. Be sure to contact the church BEFORE committing to date or venue with a deposit.

SACRAMENT OF THE SICK

The Sacrament of the Sick is administered by a priest, when requested. Pastoral care to the hospitalized sick and homebound is provided by the pastoral staff, and trained parishioners.

SACRAMENT OF RECONCILIATION

The Sacrament with Confession is celebrated each Saturday after the 8:00 am Mass, and from 3:15- 3:45 pm, as well as by appointment.

CHAPLET OF DIVINE MERCY

The Chaplet is prayed as a group on Saturday afternoons at 3:45 in the Chapel.

MIRACULOUS MEDAL NOVENA

The Novena is prayed every Saturday morning at the 8:00AM Mass in the Chapel.

HOSPITAL VISITS

If anyone has a hospital stay, please have a family member call the parish and indicate whether the parishioner would like to have a visit, or if they would like their name mentioned at Mass during the Prayers of the Faithful.

HEALING MASS

Monthly Healing Mass – 4th Sunday of Every Month at 2:00PM - St. George Church, 202 E. Main St. Chicopee, MA. 413-331-5656

HEARING ASSISTED DEVICES

Hearing Assisted Devices are located near the American Flag at the back of the church.

LOW-GLUTEN HOSTS

Low-Gluten Hosts are available at Communion time in the Chapel

MASS SCHEDULE

Sat 4/29 4:00PM +Raymond & Evelyn Stevens

r/b Paul & Louise Stevens

Sun 4/30 7:00AM +Richard Fortier

r/b the Parish Community

8:30AM +Stephen Golas

Birthday Remembrance

r/b his wife Margaret Golas

11:00AM CONFIRMATION

+William & Bertha Hebert

r/b their Family

Mon 5/1 7:00AM +Theodore Cupak

r/b Kathleen Harrington

Tue 5/2 7:00AM +Lillian & Robert May r/b their Family

Wed 5/3 7:00AM +Rose Grimaldi

2nd Anniversary Remembrance

r/b Fr.Dan

Thu 5/4 7:00AM Communion Service

Fri 5/5 7:00AM Communion Service

Sat 5/6 8:00AM +Peter Grimaldi and Mother

Anniversary Remembrance

r/b their Family

MIRACULOUS MEDAL NOVENA

3:15-3:45PM CONFESSIONS (Chapel)

3:45PM CHAPLET OF DIVINE MERCY (Chapel)

4:00PM +Susan Sarro

Birthday Remembrance

r/b Maureen, Wayne and Stephanie

Sun 5/7 7:00AM +Daniel Gonzalez

r/b MargaritaGonzalez

8:30AM +Fern Albert r/b the Albert Family

11:00AM +Marlene Fondakowski

1st Anniversary Remembrance

r/b Ed Fondakowski

PRAYER-LINE

To request prayers for yourself or a loved one, please call Pauline at 862-3885 or Diane at 568-9754.

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APRIL 30, 2017 THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER

FROM FR. DAN’S DESK…

This weekend we celebrate the Sacrament of Confirmation with our students here at the Parish. 28 young men and women will received the Sacrament at the 11:00AM Mass. We welcome once again Msgr. Homer Gosselin as the one delegated by our Bishop who will confer the Sacrament for us. Congratulations to our young people, and we pray they will be motivated by the gifts of the Spirit to continue to practice their Catholic Faith! Our students along with their parents and sponsors gather this Saturday evening for a Confirmation Rehearsal and Supper served by our Parish Seniors. If you remember we have the tradition that the Confirmation class serves the Senior Advent Dinner, and the Seniors in turn serve the Confirmation Class Rehearsal Dinner. It’s a great tradition! This year we have added a special “speaker” to address the students, parents and sponsors. John Martin is a Guidance Counselor and Football Coach at East Longmeadow High School. He is also a “motivational speaker” and particularly speaks about his faith and the importance of our commitment to it. I think everyone will enjoy John’s talk!

We also formally close our Religious Education Program for our students till next Fall. I particularly want to thank all the Teachers and Aides who do so much throughout the year in volunteering to teach our children the Faith! These teachers are “unsung” heroes without whom we could not conduct our education programs – so thank you all – from Kindergarten Teachers thru High School – may God bless and reward you for your kindness!

We also have formally ended till Fall, our Children’s Liturgy of the Word Program held at the 11:00AM Mass. I want to thank the volunteers who make this Program happen each week for our youngest children. Hopefully it helps our parents during Mass, and makes the children look forward to coming to church each week!

As I hope you’ve noticed, a lot of work has been done around the church to have us prepared for the Spring Season! I want to thank the Parish St. Joseph Workers Group who helped to spread 14 yards of mulch in all of our planting beds two weeks ago. I am always very grateful for their work, along with that of our new Facilities Manager – Kevin Richardson - who worked right alongside them! Everything looks great and ready for Spring!

I want to apologize for the problems we have recently had with our Sound System and especially our Organ. As we continue to add new components to our sound system (like our new computer driven TV screens and Wi-Fi) we are learning how to better manage the power and the sound. We have planned a meeting between the sound company who installed our system, Hogan Communications who installed our TV’s, Elm Electric who takes care of our electrical needs, and parishioner – John Strauss - who is our in-house technical guy, to be sure we are “wired” correctly! Also, we do have a problem with the “clicking” in our Organ and are having the Organ looked at by Allen Organ to help keep it healthy as well. We are blessed to have all that we have, but every once in a while there’s a “bug” in the system and we want to keep all “bugs’ outside the church! Thanks for your patience!

I’m happy to see that we have, as of the writing of this column, 21 people signed up for our newest 10 week Bible Study offering: “Exodus: Called to Freedom”. Our Bible Study Program has really been successful in recent years. The Program is segmented into studies of different books of the Bible, so it makes it easy for people to register for different Bible Studies of various lengths and commitments. It also allows the group to always be open to new participants! Consider joining a Bible Study in the future and meet some great people in the parish!

As I have mentioned, Bishop Rozanski has “Called” our Seminarian – Deacon Barrent Pease to the “Order of the Priesthood”! Barrent will be Ordained a Priest on Saturday June 10 at 11:00AM at St. Michael’s Cathedral in Springfield. On behalf of Barrent, I’d like to invite all of our parishioners to attend the Ordination at the Cathedral. If you have never been to an Ordination, it’s a beautiful Mass that gives you a great appreciation for the gift of the priesthood. And the next day – Sunday June 11, Barrent will celebrate his “Mass of Thanksgiving” here in our Church at 2:00PM, and you are all invited to attend his First Mass as well! After the Mass, it is traditional for a newly ordained priest to offer his “First Blessing” to anyone who would like it. We will have a Reception for Barrent in the Parish Center immediately following the First Mass, and Barrent will offer his First Blessings there. Light refreshments will be served. Please join me in praying for Barrent in these remaining weeks till his Ordination.

As a gift to Barrent from our parish, I thought it would be nice to buy Barrent a Priesthood Vestment for his Ordination. The cost is between $1200-$1400. So if anyone in the parish would like to contribute toward the cost of Barrent’s Vestment “In Honor of His Ordination”, please place a check (payable to: OLBS) or cash in an envelope marked “Barrent - Vestment” and place it in the collection basket in the weeks ahead. We will give Barrent all the names of those who contribute toward the Vestment. I’m sure he will be grateful!

Also I would like to offer a Bus to go to and from the parish to the Cathedral for the Ordination on June 10. Please call Sue at the Parish Office at 562-3450 or email her at and let her know you would like to take the bus. There will be no charge. The bus would leave here about 10:00AM and return about 2:00PM.

God Bless, Fr. Dan

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APRIL 30, 2017 THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER

SANCTUARY CANDLE

Is burning this week in loving memory of

+GEORGES & LEA BRETON

requested by Ray Breton and Family

MARY GARDEN CANDLE

Is burning this week in loving memory of

SISTER MARY FABIAN

ANNIVERSARY REMEMBRANCE

requested by Mary & Michael Zyra

Any of the memorial candles can be requested through our parish office. The Special Intention Mary Garden and Veteran’s Memorial Garden Candles burn for 1 week (requested donation $10).

MOTHER’S DAY REMEMBRANCE

Once again this May, the names of our Mothers, living or deceased will be placed at the Altar and prayed for on Mother’s Day. Envelopes for this occasion are on the tables by the bulletins in the back of the Church. Please return the envelopes to the parish office by the weekend of May 13 & 14.

UNITY DINNER – ROSARY SODALITY

May 5th is the deadline to purchase tickets for the Rosary Sodality Unity Dinner being held Sunday May 21 at St. Mary’s Church. The Rosary will be prayed at 1:15pm, Mass at 2:00pm, and dinner to follow in the school. The speaker will be Elizabeth Montagny. Tickets are available for $18 by calling Nancy Garen at 568-1275.

DIVINE MERCY CHAPLET

We have resumed the praying of the Divine Mercy Chaplet on Saturday afternoons at 3:45 in the Chapel. Please join in this beautiful prayer just before the 4:00PM Mass each week. May God’s Mercy be with us in abundance!

WESTFIELD FLAT FAST 5K RACE/WALK

Saturday May 20th is race day and we have formed a Parish Team – “Wholey” Spirit – Team OLBS to participate in the Westfield Flat Fast 5K! Peter and Anne Fratini will be our Co-Captains once again this year. Our Designated Charity is the Westfield Soup Kitchen. $5.00 of every registration goes to the Pantry. Register to run or walk before May 1 for a lower rate and for a team t-shirt. Go onto the website runwestfield.com and look for our Team listing and Register with us.

OUR STEWARDSHIP

April 16, 2017

Regular and Development (gold) $ 11,431

Budget Requirement per Week 9,600

1,831

Easter Collection $ 5,943

2nd Collection – Mortgage 2,564

THANK YOU!

GOD BLESS & THANK YOU!

We thank the following who have made donations to the Mortgage Fund:

In memory of: Carol Barrett

Ruth Tinker

ADORATION

Adoration for the month of May is Thursday, May 4th. Adoration begins after the 7:00 am service and ends at 8:00 pm. The month of May is dedicated to the BLESSED VIRGIN MARY.

To Our Lady

O most holy Virgin Mary, who evermore stands before the most holy Trinity, and to whom it is granted at all times to pray for us to your most beloved Son , pray for me in all my necessities; help me, combat for me, and obtain for me the pardon for all my sins. Help me especially at my last hour; and when I can no longer give any sign of the use of reason, then please encourage me, make the sign of the cross for me and. fight for me against the enemy. Make in my name a profession of faith; favor me with a testimony of my salvation, and never let me despair of the mercy of God. Help me to overthrow the wicked enemy. When I can no longer say: " Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, I place my soul in your hands," please say it for me; when I can no longer hear human words of consolation, please comfort me. Leave me not before I have been judged; and if I have to expiate my sins in purgatory, oh! Pray for me earnestly; and admonish my friends obtain for me a speedy enjoyment of the blessed sight of God. Lessen my sufferings, deliver me speedily, and lead my soul into heaven with you that, united with all the elect, I may there bless and praise my God and you for all eternity. Amen

-St. John Vianney

Pope Francis’ intentions for the month of May are that Christians in Africa, in imitation of the Merciful Jesus, may give prophetic witness to reconciliation, justice, and peace.

2017 CONFIRMATION CLASS

Congratulations to our 11th grade Religious Education students being confirmed this Sunday at the 11am Mass! The Confirmands are as follows:

Matthew SEBASTIAN Bonsall

Nathan SEBASTIAN Boucher

Olivia ANASTASIA Castonguay

Liam FRANCIS Coffey

Caitlin MARGARET Conroy

Sabrina CECILIA Dawicki

Jay SEBASTIAN Fournier

Madison ANNE Gage

Jessica ANTHONY Gosselin