PONDERING
Every month has some civic or religious celebration that helps to provide a focus for our living. Poor June has but Flag Day on the civic side and the Feast of Corpus Christi on the religious calendar. July has no religious celebrations, but it does have Independence Day. I won’t go through the rest of the months but in my cursory inventory it seems to me that November is the busiest month of all. It begins with All Saints-All Souls. Every other year we have elections. Then Veteran’s Day followed by Thanksgiving and the Feast of Christ the King.
I usually look forward to and enjoy the election
cycle but not this year. Neither candidate excites my imagination. Neither one
strikes me as a leader. I think it was Winston Churchill who opined that there
are politicians and there are statesmen. It has been a very long time since we
have had statesmen on the national or international scene. Where have all the
statesmen or stateswomen gone? If it is true that we get the leaders we deserve,
then we are more lost as a nation than I previously thought.
All Saints Day and All Souls Day are precious
jewels that we don’t fully appreciate. The Communion of Saints that was so much
a part of my growing up and my education as a Catholic seems to have fallen off
the radar screen. Although John Paul II made more saints than all the other
popes combined (remember that most of the saints in our calendar were “made”
saints by acclamation of the people rather than a
All Souls Day also seems to have lost its ability to inspire our Catholic imagination or faith. Growing up, All Souls Day was a blast. Every time we made a visit to church and said the big three – Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be – we could spring a soul out of Purgatory. Those of us in Catholic school would scoot over to church and rescue a soul during recess, get a few more after lunch and after school we would go in the front door, kneel at the altar rail, say the required prayers and exit the side door only to return to the front door and repeat the process until all of our deceased relatives were in Heaven. The fact that we kept rescuing the same people year after year never seemed redundant back then.
Perhaps November would be a good time to reflect
on our religious dealing with death. It seems like each year we lose a little
more respect for our dead. Wakes get shorter and shorter. More often than I can
understand, there are no calling hours at all. I still don’t fully understand
on-line guest books. I guess for people who live a great distance, they might
serve a purpose, but would it be too much to expect that sympathy is better
conveyed in a letter or a note than kilobytes? Some folks don’t want any church
service at all. A few prayers graveside will do just fine thank you very much.
I still remember when a funeral cortège would have the right of
way out of respect but that courtesy has all but disappeared.
MASS
INTENTIONS
Sunday, November 2
8:00 a.m. Viola
Lonardo
Patricia
Blanchard
9:15 a.m. John
Kristman
John
Maloney Martin
Gerard
Blaney
11:35 a.m. Terry
Anderson
Salud
Barba Sanchez
Graciana
Barba
8:00 p.m. Richard
Gould, Sr.
Tuesday, November 4
12:00 p.m. Richard
Welch
Dominic Savio Baby Boy
Saturday, November 8
5:00 p.m. Richard
Welch
Robert
Cetenich
Sunday, November 9
8:00 a.m. M.
Rita Brock
John
F. Brock
9:15 a.m. Gerard
DiSchino
Ralph
Pescatore
11:35 a.m. Maximiana
Sanchez
BAPTISM
PREPARATION
The next BAPTISM
PREPARATION class is Tuesday, November
11 from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Parish Hall. Parent preparation is required and
arrangements should be made at least three months prior to the baby’s due date.
If you have any questions or plan to have a child baptized, please call the
office at 783-7459.
Please note: Baptism preparation sessions are held four
times a year (February, May, August, November).
STEPHEN
MINISTRY MESSAGE
Last
month began an exciting journey for five members of our parish who began
training to become Stephen Ministers. Over the next eight months, they will
learn different skills in order to be more present to fellow parishioners who
are experiencing difficult times in their lives. These skills include
compassionate listening, keeping confidential the most private thoughts and feelings
that may be shared with them and helping individuals suffering grief from
varied losses. Please keep Monica Blanchard, Brian Feeney, Kim Kiely,
Michael Mattox, and Bob Parrillo in
your prayers during these months of training and congratulate them when you see
them.
STEWARDSHIP
THOUGHT
On
the Feast of All Souls we pray for those who have gone before us and stand in
judgment before God. May we share with one another the treasure of love’s memory,
and console one another with the assurance of resurrection.
RELIGIOUS
FORMATION
Religious Formation Classes will be held
as scheduled November 2, for classes
Pre-K to 8 and Phase II.
GRADE 5 FIRST RECONCILIATION
Our first parent meeting is Wednesday, November 12 at 7 p.m. in the hall. Parent participation is an important aspect of sacramental preparation, and parents are required to attend all parent meetings unless an older child has participated within the last three years.
CONFIRMATION NOTES
PHASE I – Retreat Notices were mailed last
week. If you did not receive your retreat
assignment, contact the office at 789-0417
or email glardaro@ctkri.org.
Retreat dates are Thursday, November 6 and
Monday, November 24. Both retreats are from 4:30 – 8:00 p.m. in the Parish Hall.
PHASE
II ONLY, Sunday,
November 2 in the hall from 5:30 – 7:30 pm. The speaker is Mrs. Eileen Kelly, Director of
Religious Education at St. Gregory Parish in
The topic is “Gifts of the Holy Spirit”.
All
parishioners are welcome to attend.
MAKE
A DIFFERENCE
Join us for our next workshop on Sunday, November 9 from 8:30 – 11:30
a.m. in the hall. The parishioners in this ministry have already completed
153 items this season. Myrtle Cetenich,
Helen Douglas, Alice Erdman, Kathe Fogelman,
Beth Hogan, Wilma Jung, Ann Kowalski,
Rita Lizotte, Corliss Manning, Paulette
Russell, and Ann Sullivan
completed 10 sewn quilts at the last meeting! All supplies are provided.
LITURGY CORNER
The month of November is a time of remembrance, of special remembrance for those who have gone before us marked with the sign of faith. It is the traditional month for praying for those who have died. We at Christ the King again enter the names of our loved ones in the Book of the Dead. This book is available all during the month of November, and we invite you to stop and inscribe the names of your deceased loved ones. We will remember them in prayer and thus the experience of death is shared in the assembly of faith. The Book of the Dead is located next to the Easter candle.
NOVEMBER WALL HANGINGS
During the next three weeks, the bulletin will feature short biographies of the holy men and women wall hangings displayed in the church.
JEAN
DONAVAN grew up in the suburbs of
OSCAR
ROMERO was appointed Archbishop of San Salvador in
1977, and immediately began speaking out against the suffering and repression
of the poor. The more he spoke out against injustice, the more enemies he made
in the government. On March 24, 1980, while celebrating mass, four men rushed
into the chapel and killed him.
MARK
YOUR CALENDAR
Tickets for our 20th Anniversary Feast of Christ the King Concert will
be available after all masses next weekend in the hall. Tickets are $15/adults and $10/children 12 & under.
Our annual Book
Fair will be held November 15/16 after all Masses in the Parish Hall. Stop in and
see the selection of Catholic reading materials and gifts.
AED/CPR TRAINING AT CHRIST THE
KING
Rick Walsh will conduct an AED/CPR training class on Saturday, December 6
from 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. for any
parishioners who are interested in being AED and American Heart Association CPR
certified. Call the rectory office (783-7459) to register.
THANK
YOU
Dear Father Joe & Families:
Now that the frenetic atmosphere at Kingston Hill Academy has somewhat quieted, we’d like to take this opportunity to express our sincere gratitude to each of you for the significant supply of backpacks that were so generously provided to our financially challenged families. The faces of our students radiated when they saw their backpacks and supplies; their parents breathed a deep sigh of relief when they learned of your timely and unexpected bequest. In my estimation, your gift gave these families not only backpacks and school supplies, but it also sent a message of home and compassion. ‘
Sincerely,
Stephen
Panikoff, Principal
Dear Father Creedon:
We are pleased to receive your letter awarding
the Indigent Patient Medication Program at
Sincerely,
R.
Otis Brown, Vice President
SOUTH COUNTY CHURCH WOMEN UNITED
South County Church Women United will sponsor a
potluck dinner for World Community Day on Friday,
November 7 at 6 p.m. at Church of the
Ascension,
CALENDAR
FOR NOVEMBER 2 – 9
Sunday, November 2
5:30 p.m. PH
II Meeting/Hall
REMEMBER TO SET CLOCKS BACK 1 HOUR!
Monday, November 3
6:00 p.m. CIC/Library
7:00 p.m. Religious Formation/Sunroom
7:30 p.m. Finance/Library
Tuesday, November 4
8:30 a.m. Staff Meeting/Library
Wednesday, November
5
7:00 p.m. RCIA/Catholic Center
7:00 p.m.
7:00 p.m.
7:30 p.m. Choir
Thursday, November
6
4:30 – 8:00 p.m. PH I Retreat/Hall
7:00 p.m. Bible Study Team/Library
Saturday, November
8
4:00 p.m. Confession
7:30 p.m. International Wine Tasting/Hall
Sunday, November 9
8:30 – 11:30 a.m. Make a Difference/Hall