Mount Union, Pa 17066

203 W Market Street

MOUNT UNION, PA 17066

(814) 542-4582

Most Rev. Mark L. Bartchak, JCD

Bishop

Fr. George D. Koharchik, Pastor

cell: 814 423 1162

Marriage: Please contact Rectory at least

nine months prior to wedding

Confession: 4:30 PM Sat; 8:30 AM Sun

Baptism: By appointment

SANCTUARY CANDLE

Steve J. Holesa

By Ann, Stanley, Patty

SERVER SCHEDULE

Weekend of Feb.11 & Feb. 12

Sat. 5:00 p.m. Katie Christoff

Marie Daschbach

Sun. 9:00 a.m.C.J. Booher

Kaitlyn Booher

Ashlyn Drake

READERS

Weekend of Feb. 11 & Feb. 12

Sat. 5:00 p.m.Beth Lear

Sun. 9:00 a.m.Dennis Drake

Frank Miller

EXTRAORDINARY

EUCHARISTICMINISTERS

Weekend of Feb. 11 & Feb. 12

Sat. 5:00 p.m. Beth Lear

Andrea Christoff

Melissa Fleming

Sun 9:00 a.m.Mary Lyons

Elaine Booher

Bonnie Melnyk

GIFT BEARERS

Weekend of Feb.11Feb. 12

Sat. 5:00 p.m. Volunteer

Sun. 9:00 a.m.Connie & Ray

Singer

GREETERS

Weekend of Feb. 11Feb. 12

Sat. 5:00 p.m. Annette Brodbeck

Sun. 9:00 a.m.Elaine Booher

KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS

February 19, 2012

6:30 p.m. Regular Council

School Hall

CATHOLIC DAUGHTERS

No Meeting in January

Or February

BIRTHDAYS

Feb. 5 – Feb. 11, 2012

Kaitlyn Booher, Joseph Huntsman, Rexall Secrest, Daryl Booher, Regina Hicks, Trudy Lego, Kylie Marie Hammon, Sybil Miller, Mary Secrest

FINANCIAL REPORT

Balance Jan. 28, 2012 $217,338.38

Weekly 1,384.00

Youth 34.25

Loose186.37

Monthly4.00

Catholic Register 65.00

Interest 9.99

Income for Week $1,683.61

Expenses $51,898.81

(Error Check #11671 $18.00, New Checks $95.70, Priest’s Salary $1,815.35, Rectory Supplies $46.76, Furniture $407.02, Website Service $23.99, Adult Education $157.27, Wages $84.98, Provisions $172.29, Building Project $49,077.45)

Balance Feb. 4, 2012 $167,123.18

Loose collection

1st Sunday of month: St. Catherine’s Cemetery

3rd Sunday of month: St. Vincent dePaul Society

4th Sunday of month: Charity

Please pray for all who are sick, recovering,or homebound:Leonard Slates;Phyllis Neary; Eva Roddy;Paul Yakymac; Ashleigh Hicks;Valentine Johnson; Kylie Hammon, Lisa McDermott; Andy Kurey; Connie Flaherty, niece of Joan Wenzel; Barb McMath; Darlene McMath; Jennifer Rosenberry Jenkins; Cathy Wilson; Fred Renninger; Arthur Smith; Dave Singleton:Eric Giacobello;Carmella Ciccaglione; Mae Galla; Brian Baker, son-in-law of Ed McGarvey; James D. Abrashoff, nephew of Julia Madden; John Austin; Dakota Hammon; George Bodnar; Lenny Leonard; John Dell, son-in-law of Jerry & Ann Norris; Marie Christine Giacobello Shiffler; Denny Hanes, brother of Nancy Kumpf; Rose Rocammo;; Valerie Thomas; Larry Puchalla; Emily Kerstetter, niece of Mary Secrest; Joanie Jenkins, granddaughter of Mary Leonard; Howard Fleck, father-in-law of Patty Fleck; Marie Sgro, relative of Dorothy Dell; Shawna Todaro; Jerry Brown, father of Dan Brown; Stanley Holesa; John Sweatlock, brother of Maggie Szczerba; Vicki Sample; Brian Doyle; Robert Sossong, nephew of Kenneth Sossong; Bucky Moore; Linda Wagner; Pierre Brenneman; Richard Buffone; Helen Giacobello; Dave Knox, father of Cinda Imperioli; Jorden Dimoff; Cory Dixon; Alivia Thomas Hanes; Adele Whitaker; Diana Rutherford; Barb Rourke; Maxine Barrett; Doug & Katy Widenor; Russ Matthews, son of Mae Galla; Carolyn Ann McMath Harbaugh, niece of Martha Cullen; Jim Myers; Ann Salamon; Sally Ann Cunningham; Adeline Cialone; Harry Cholewinski; Erma Ticconi; Joan Renninger; Betty Renninger; John Benson; John Remek in VA Home; Charles Peck; Matilda Piskura, Joseph Seback, Thomas Koharchik, family of Fr. George; Tom Isenberg; and all the homebound of the parish, particularly those at Westminster Woods: Mary Fink; at Woodland Retirement Center: Paul McGarvey, Dean Valimont, Kathryn Wilson; and those at Meadowview Nursing Home: Gladys Thomas, Stella Los, Joan Wenzel, Mary Bender, Clara Kaniecky, Jack Ratchford. AnnHomolash is at Hearthside, 450 Waupelani Dr, State College, PA 16801. If you know anyone who would like to have a visit, or Communion, please let me know; also, let us know if there are any additions or deletions to the list. Also pray for all those called up to military service, as well as the victims of natural disasters throughout the world.

PRAYER CHAIN: If you have someone for whom you would like to request prayer, please get in touch with Connie Singer, 542-8222; Liz Stasenko, 542-4987, or Carmela Ciccaglione, 542-4281; they will contact the people on their list. If you want the person’s name to remain anonymous, just ask for a special intention, etc. The Lists include: CONNIE SINGER: Suzanne Boyer, Betty Renninger, Maria Danish, Nancy States, Mercy Miller; LIZ STASENKO: Bonnie Melnyk, Aric & Tara Miller, Maggie Stiffler, Jeannette Bumbaugh, Ann Cutshall, Cathy Wilson; CARMELA CICCAGLIONE: Ann Gilliland, Mary Gaisior, Carmen Rivera, Valerie Thomas, Melissa Fleming. Those on the list will be called when a request is received, but the prayer chain will not be held up if the contact person is unable to reach you. If anyone else would like to be added to the Prayer Chain, please call the Rectory or one of the contact persons.

St Catherine of Siena Parish marks its 100th Anniversary in 2012/13, only a year away. Some of the areas which we will need to work on include:

MEMBER DIRECTORYCHURCH HISTORYCOMMEMORATIVE ITEMSDINNER/ BANQUETLITURGYOTHER

Committees are being established to handle these areas. We have begun scanning materials from the parish archives, and would also like to do a directory, in print and/or digital. Everyone is invited to submit photos of their families to be included; we will also be taking photos of parishioners as needed. If you have any newspaper articles, old photos, or other materials, they can also be scanned and included in the overall collection. The amount of material that can be made available to everyone is almost limitless.

Please return the sign-up forms indicating where you would like to help for the 100th Anniversary activities.

Bishop Mark has let us know that he will be present for Mass on Sunday, April 29, 2012, (the Feast of St. Catherine), at 2:00 PM, to mark the beginning of our 100th anniversary year.

PARISH NEWS

There will be Mass on Monday at Woodland at 1:30 p.m. and at Meadowview at 3:00 p.m.

Bible study will meet Monday, February 6, 2012 at 6:00 p.m. in The Holy Family Hall. We are beginning a study of the history of the Church; all are welcome to participate.

The next Job Conference will be Tuesday, February 14, at 10 AM. Work shoul be completed this week on the restrooms in the basement; the work on the restroom in the vestibule will begin then.

The Parish Pastoral Council will meet Wednesday, February 15, at 7:00 PM.

At the Masses on February 11 & 12, there will be a special blessing for married couples, as well as a recognition of those who are widowed.

Anyone who needs a statement of donations for 2011 is asked to contact the Rectory or put a note in the collection basket.

ORGANIZATION NEWS

The Catholic Daughters will not meet in February.

The Knights of Columbuswill Nominate Officers for the 2012-2013 year at the March meeting.

COMMUNITY NEWS

A Red Cross Community Blood Drive will be held on Wednesday, February 8, 2012 from 12:00 p.m. to 6:00 pm. at the First United Methodist Church in Mount Union.Blood donations have been very low - a good response is critically important.

Crossroads Pregnancy Center is hosting a Volunteer Orientation on Thursday February 16th from 6pm to 7:30pm at the Huntingdon CMA Church on 1019 Moore Street. This is for anyone who wants to know more about Crossroads and the various ways you can become a volunteer. There is no obligation – just information and an opportunity to ask questions. Please call 814-643-0331 to let us know you are coming or go to our support web site: to register. Refreshments will be served. Hope to see you there! Cindy MansbergerExecutive Director

CCD/YOUTH

Wonderfully WickedThursday, February 9 & Friday, February 10, 7:00 PM, in MUAHS Auditorium. Written and Directed by Erica Cooper. Cast, Clay Glenny, Piano, Alex Ashman,members of St Catherine.

The 11th Grade Confirmation retreat is scheduled forFebruary 19, 2012.

CCD Grades 8 & 9 continue collecting food for the Food Bank, as a community service. The theme for January is: Anything Goes.

DIOCESAN NEWS

The Diocesan Marriage Preparation Schedule is available in the vestibule or at the Rectory. Programs include Engaged Encounter Weekends, Sponsor Couple Sessions, and the Marriage Preparation Series. Contact the Rectory at least 8 months before your wedding. The schedule is also available on-line at

Post-abortion healing: 814-884-8000. Confidential, compassionate. For women, men, relatives, friends hurt by abortion. Many whose child was aborted were uninformed, coerced, pressured, even helpless. The Church wants to walk with you on a path of healing and reconciliation with God, the Church, your child, yourself. Helpful websites: noparh.org; abortionchangesyou.com; menandabortion.info; rachelsvinyard.org.

"COUPLE PRAYER SERIES" 6 Sun. evenings, Feb. 5-March 18-6:30-8:30 pm at the Family Life Office, Lilly. For Catholic and interfaith/engaged and married couples. To help couples grow gradually and comfortably into praying together. Cost: $20/couple. Register by Feb. 1.

EVANGELIZATION

“Let us go to nearby towns to preach there,” said Jesus. How spontaneously he evangelized! Of course, Jesus did not find evangelization easy when it meant carrying the cross and then dying on it. His passover to third-day glory, however, gave cruel crucifixion new significance. Risen life gives direction to all growth. Whether we call our lack of growth “sin,” “demon,” “disease” or “death,” Jesus shows us how to pass through it and into newness. How well he preaches the good news in our town! Text, James A. Wilde, PhD © 2000, OCP. All rights reserved.

Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, cycle B

Much has been said in the past few years about what is and what is not a "family." Today's liturgy, it turns out, is in no small part about "family"—God's family. Indeed we begin our celebration with prayer for our church "family " (collect). The Gospel, too, features a family: Simon's, whose mother-in-law is sick with a fever. Jesus immediately reaches out to heal her. She responds by welcoming him into her home. But Jesus' healing touch is not limited to this one household; instead, it reaches the "whole town," all who come seeking relief. Though pressured to remain in one place, to make one group his own, Jesus goes to the "nearby villages" to preach and heal. Paul, in the second reading, extends the family of believers further, becoming "all things to all, to save at least some." His Gospel message is free to anyone who will receive it. The prayer after Communion continues the focus, and in it we pray that "the one Bread and the one Chalice" may make us "one in Christ" and "bear fruit for the salvation of the world." Being God's family, then, calls us beyond our own individual family, our own city or nation, beyond social class. It is literally a family of everyone, open to everyone, for the sake of everyone. Let today's liturgy shape us more fully as God's family, where the Lord's table beckons all to be made one. By Bryan M. Cones © 2005, OCP. All rights reserved.

The Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time brings before us the image of God's family. The collect uses the term family in referring to the gathered faithful. Picking up on the image of the poor in spirit from last week's second communion antiphon, we the family of God, the poor in Spirit, trust the promises of God for eternal life. The collect prays that the family might simply be kept safe. The prayer after Communion leads us to live out the basic tenet of family life — unity. No matter what troubles we may face in the present or what worries we have over our future destiny, we are called to live in unity for the sake of the world. The Eucharist is seen as a means for this in the prayer over the offerings, calling the Eucharist nourishment in this life and Sacrament for the life to come. The Communion antiphons complete this image of family life by bringing it around the table of the altar; God will give us good things and will feed those who hunger for righteousness. The second antiphon again quotes from the beatitudes, providing an interesting motif for the music of these days. By Glenn CJ Byer, MA SLD © 2003, OCP. All rights reserved.

The Christian Community is compelled to tell the story of Jesus Christ. Conforming our lives to God’s will is not one option among many; it is the only option for those who follow Christ. The gospel story, indeed, indicates that the Christian life (here given voice in the life and times of Jesus) should do anything but let us ‘get comfortable.’ Jesus, having healed the sick and consoled the masses, could have remained where he experienced a little bit of success. Instead, he moves on, to a new frontier, expands his horizons to preach the message of forgiveness and peace in another place and time. He is the itinerant messenger of the Lord, who doesn’t care how much trouble he stirs up. He is unrelenting in spreading the message as far and wide as possible, to create the most discomfort so that people ‘wake up’ and smell the rose of life with and in God. By Dale J. Sieverding © 2003, OCP. All rights reserved.

Job 7:1-4, 6-7 By John Paul Heil The shortness of our lives can make us restless, hopeless, and unhappy. This reading from the wisdom tradition in the Book of Job expresses feelings that we human beings may often experience during the shortness of our time on earth. We may feel that we just don't have enough time to accomplish all that we would like to accomplish, so that we try to work as hard as possible and often try to do too much. Such a life can seem like sheer drudgery, as if we are merely slaves or hirelings working for our wages. Such a life can also be filled with sleepless nights, as we anguish over our lack of time--"I am filled with restlessness until the dawn." So quickly do our days go by--"swifter than a weaver's shuttle" and "like the wind"--that they seem to be without happiness or hope. In today's Gospel reading, meant to accompany this reading from Job, Jesus illustrates how to restore happiness and hope to our lives by making good use of the time God has given us to work for his kingdom: "Rising very early before dawn, he left and went off to a deserted place, where he prayed." In the midst of all of the healing and preaching activity that Jesus had to do, he found the time for prayer. Indeed, it was his prayer that empowered him to make the best use of his time in continuing his ministry--"Let us go to the nearby villages that I may preach there also." May we find the time and place for prayer in our busy lives, lest they become without happiness and hope. © 2005, OCP. All rights reserved.

Psalm 147:1-2, 3-4, 5-6 By Tom Conry No songs are composed or sung in a social vacuum; no music is innocent of its surroundings. This is especially true of sacred music. Every sung moment (and thus, every psalm) is highly charged with a point of view, and every chorus inevitably produces its winners and losers. Today's psalm belongs to the "Hallelujah Psalms" (146-150, but also 113-118), and in its Hebrew text it begins and ends with the untranslatable exclamation Hallelujah! The reference to building up Jerusalem is probably a reference to the building up of Jerusalem's walls by Nehemiah (Neh 12:27f), although the Greek version of the psalm (i.e. in the Septuagint) connects the image to Haggai, Zechariah, and the rebuilding of the temple. Psalm 147 is a song that reflects the royal liturgy of the postexilic community, and so one needs to be very careful indeed in performing its affirmations of the present situation. Brueggemann calls this psalm "the massive rhetoric of present well-being . . . one is not likely to notice a present needfulness that contradicts one's own present abundance" True enough, there are occasional gestures in the text towards God's transformational justice, but these are overlaid and all but drowned out with the royal language of prosperity. It is easy enough to begin by praising God's plan for the universe and, before we know it, to wind up praising the ruler who presents himself as the interpreter and guarantor of God's power and wisdom. Hidden behind this language lies the psalm's theological core: that God's creative power is salvific, and that the fundamental nature of creation is inextricably bound up in compassion and justice. © 2003, OCP. All rights reserved.

1 Corinthians 9:16-19, 22-23 By Virginia Smith If congregants really hear what Paul is saying today (and they will if the lector proclaims the message properly), it should leave them shifting uneasily in their seats. Paul clearly understands that he has a duty and responsibility to preach the Gospel. He can either do it willingly or unwillingly, but he is compelled to do it. This ought to leave all of us wondering when we last preached the Gospel, if ever, and how we felt about it if we did. Some Catholics see evangelization as strictly the province of the clergy and professed religious, but Paul was neither of these. When others think of preaching, it conjures up images of people shouting into bullhorns on busy street corners. But in fact it should come as naturally as breathing. What generally dominates our conversation? Those things which are most important to us. If there’s a big event coming up in our life, those around us are sure to hear about it. Hopefully, we do that in a manner that is both effective and inoffensive. The same is true of our faith. It should just naturally find its way into our exchanges with others. We’ve all heard that the best way to preach is by example, and that is also true. Francis of Assisi urged his followers to preach always and, if necessary, to use words. Like Paul, we are all called as disciples to preach Jesus by both word and action. How seriously do we take that commission? © 2008, OCP. All rights reserved.