Dear Parishioners,
This weekend we celebrate the Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time. The readings this weekend call us to a renewed understanding of the complementarity of married love. God created man and woman as partners and equals who, at their best, will live faithfully all their days. In marriage, couples bear witness to God’s command to love one another and to form community.
Next weekend will be the Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time. We have heard in Scripture that “God’s ways
are not always our ways.” The readings next weekend will pose a challenge to each of us to remain faithful to God’s ways — to seek God’s wisdom, to hear, and embrace God’s Word and to make God a priority in all of life, resisting the distractions of wealth and possession.
Special Collections: Today we will have the annual collection to help support the Diaconate Program in our Archdiocese. I hope you saw last week’s Saint Louis Review which covered a number of topics regarding the Diaconate. With two currently serving deacons, two retired deacons, and a member of the parish in forma- tion for Ordination in 2020, we are particularly blessed. There was an envelope in your set. I hope you are generous. I hope you read the Archbishop’s letter that was sent out to you as an “email blast” on Thursday of this week.
As announced last weekend today we will have a “second collection” for the benefit of the victims of Hurri- cane Florence, in North Carolina and South Carolina. We solicit your generosity for this special collection as many dioceses assisted many areas in the Midwest following the devastating floods of 1993, twenty-five years ago! Thank you, in advance, for your generosity.
Archdiocesan Priests Convocation: Every four or five years, since the days of Archbishop May, the priests of the Archdiocese have gathered for a week of study, reflection, and prayer, at Tan-Tar-A Resort at the Lake of the Ozarks. This coming week (Monday afternoon through Friday morning) will be this year’s Convocation for all the Archdiocesan priests. The theme this year is An Intimate Sacramental Brotherhood. The description of the Convocation is: Called to share in the ministry of Christ, priests are invited into a special relationship of service. With our diversity in background, family history, and education, in our common identity as priests acting in persona Christi Capitis (“in the person of Christ the Head”) the presence of Christ is made visible. In addition, as diocesan priests we proclaim the mystery of Christ as co-workers with the bishop, caring for the lo- cal assembly. This unity of identity and ministry is recognized in our intimate sacramental brotherhood, celebrated during Convocation 2018.
Speakers will include Timothy Cardinal Dolan, Archbishop of New York, who will lead us in a Day of Recollection on Thursday, October 11th, Bishop Michael Sheridan, Bishop of Colorado Springs, who will give the keynote address on Tuesday, October 9th, Father James Flynn, Episcopal Vicar of the Central Region of the Archdiocese of Boston, Father Paul Hoesing, a priest of the Archdiocese of Omaha, who is the Dean of Human Formation and Director of Seminarians at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary, and Dr. Susanne Harvath, the Coordinator of Human Formation and Professor of Pastoral Counseling Services at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary.
Please pray for Father Mike and myself, and all the priests, who will be present at the Lake of the Ozarks this week.
Masses this week will be held as usual, with Father Jim Burshek, SJ, from DeSmet Jesuit High School, handling the 6:30 A.M. Masses Tuesday – Friday, and Father Laurence Kriegshauser, OSB, from Saint Louis Abbey, celebrating the 8:15 A.M. Masses Tuesday – Thursday, and Father Finbarr Dowling, OSB, also from the Abbey, handling Friday.
Our Deacons are “on call” for the week … as are the priests at Saint Anselm and Our Lady of the Pillar Parishes.
Patty and Joan can get in touch with us if necessary! Thank you for your prayers.
Brother Ben Keller, OP: We have been blessed with a Dominican student brother here on the weekends for two of the last three years. This year Brother Ben is very keen in helping our college and recently graduated college young people develop a closer relationship with Christ. Last year he served at the Catholic Student Center at Indiana University in Bloomington. Brother Ben wanted me to put this in this week’s bulletin.
I love becoming a part of St. Monica’s this last month. One thing that I deeply believe is that life is better when we have faith and live within the Church. It may not always feel like this, and there are days when we go to Mass simply because we are supposed to. Overall, though, l fully believe that life is transformed when we have a deeper relationship with Christ and understand how the Church and Mass play into that. My hope is to help, in a small way, St. Monica’s continue to be a place where people are excited to come on a Sunday Morning to participate in worshiping God, receiving our Lord physically in the Eucharist, and becoming the Body of Christ that reaches out to everyone else that we meet. More specifically, I am hoping to help the young adults and young families unite and continue to go deeper in their faith so that they are better equipped to reach out to new young people that walk into our church and their friends who are not going to church.
Brother Ben meets with young folks at the East Entrance of Church (near the Confessionals!) each Sunday after the 9:30 A.M. Mass. The group is growing. Consider joining them!
Blood Drive: Thank you for your support with the blood drive last Sunday. We only had 26 donors, out of a goal of 30. I was very concerned that after the 9:30 Mass we only had one donor! However, any amount of blood donated is a great gift for life! Stay tuned for future blood drives. (I doubt they’ll be in the gym any more … too hard to coordinate!)
Masses for the communal celebration of the Anointing of the Sick will take place at the 5:00 P.M. Mass on Saturday, October 27 and the 9:30 A.M. Mass on Sunday, October 28. I’ll have more on that next week- end. But, please, mark your calendars now, if you would like to be anointed later this month. If you know someone who doesn’t “get out” that often, please consider asking them to come and (perhaps) offer to pick them up!
Attention all parishioners: There will be a special “update” for the parish Tuesday, October 16 beginning at 7:00 P.M. The plan is to have the meeting over no later than 8:00 P.M. We plan to discuss various issues, finance with charitable giving tips, the school, and the building, including the status of the new elevator and renovation process. The Pastoral Council is hosting this and we hope that many of you will be present. For questions, contact David Skaggs, [email protected].
The parishioners of Incarnate Word Parish invite our parishioners to join them on Saturday, October 13, at 12:00 noon, at Faust Park (near the Butterfly House), to pray the Rosary. If you need information please call Mabel Lumbrano, 314.434.4277.
May God bless us all this week. Father Mike and I will be praying for you; please pray for us!
Faithfully yours,
Fr Joe Weber