April 24, 2011Easter Sunday: The Resurrection of the Lord

CORPUS CHRISTI CATHOLIC CHURCH6300 McKenna Drive, Mobile, Alabama 36608

Email: Church@CorpusChristiParish.com ! Website: www.CorpusChristiParish.com

TELEPHONE NUMBERS

Parish Office: 342-1852 • Fax 342-6313

School Office: 342-5474, ext. 1 • Fax 380-0325

Rel. Ed. Office: 342-5474, ext. 7 • Fax 380-0325

Preschool Office: 342-2424 • Fax 343-3119

Youth Ministry: 342-1852 • Fax 342-6313

PASTORAL STAFF

Very Rev. James F. Zoghby, V.F., Pastor

Rev. John S. Boudreaux, Associate Pastor

Deacon Arthur W. Robbins, Deacon

Sr. Donna Cooper, R.S.M., Visitation Chaplain

Mrs. Judi B. Ankiewicz, Pastoral Assistant

Mrs. Joan T. McMullen, School Principal

Mrs. Linda M. Hawkins, Preschool Director

Mrs. Kathleen Q. Jester, Parish Catechetical Leader

Mrs. Colleen DeVoe, Youth Ministry Co-Director

Mrs. Brenda Martens, Youth Ministry Co-Director

Mr. Matthew F. Purvis, Music Director

Mr. Jay H. Henley, Gym Manager

TO REGISTER AS A MEMBER OF THE PARISH

Please fill out a Census Form. Census Forms are

available in the church vestibule and parish office.

COMMUNITY CENTER RENTALS & SERVICES

For rental information and kitchen services, please call

the parish office at 342-1852 or 342-1420.

SUNDAY MASSES

Vigil: 5:30 p.m. Saturday

Morning: 7:00, 9:00 and 11:00 a.m.

WEEKDAY MASSES

6:30 a.m.: Monday through Friday

8:15 a.m.: Monday through Saturday

SACRAMENT OF RECONCILIATION

Saturday: 5:00 p.m. and by request, particularly

after the 6:30 & 8:15 a.m. weekday Masses.

BAPTISM, MARRIAGE, ANOINTING OF SICK

Please call the parish office (342-1852) or information

and scheduling baptism, marriage, anointing of sick.

ADULT RELIGIOUS EDUCATION (R.C.I.A.)

Please see published schedule for specific dates and

times, or call the parish office (342-1852).

SUNDAY SCHOOL (C.C.D.) Grades K–12, Sundays

during school year, 10:05-10:55 a.m. in school bldgs.

SCHOOL, SACS-accredited for Grades K through 8.

For info & registration, please call the school office.

PRESCHOOL, State-licensed for 6-week to 4-yr. olds.

For info & registration, please call the preschool office

EAS TER S UNDAY: THE RES URRECTION OF THE LORD

Rejoice!With joy we welcome our brothers and sisters

joining the Catholic Christian Community, and Catholics receiving Confirmation.

CATE CH UME NS

Those not yet baptized being received into the Catholic Christian Community

with the 3 sacraments of Christian initiation: Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist

Pamela Parsons Nina Velinda J. Smith

CAND ID ATE S F OR FULL COMMUNION

Christians of other denominations being received into full communion with the

Catholic Christian Community with sacraments of Confirmation & 1st Eucharist

Emily Ann Cavanaugh Cheryl Harbin Reese Angela C. Harris Cynthia Celeste Spivey Elvis Eugene Lundy David Frederick Walker

CATH OLIC CAND ID ATE S F OR CONF IR MATION

Catholics Receiving Confirmation

David Paul Daris Jessica Maria Lopez-Montalvo

Dates for Children’s Confirmation & 1 Eucharistst

Confirmation practice: Sat., May, 7 at 1 p.m. for candidates and sponsors in the church. Confirmation Mass: Tue, May 10, 6 p.m.First Eucharist practice: Sat., May 14, at 10 a.m. in the church.First Eucharist Mass: Sun., May 15, at 1 p.m.

School Openings AvailableRegistration for the 2011-2012 School Year continues.

Please call the School Office (342-5474, ext. 1) for information.

SUNDAY SCHOOL (CCD)

No Classes on Easter Sunday, April 24.

Society of St. Vincent de PaulPoor Box, Food, Clothing donations put in the designated places inthe vestibule are distributed by our St. Vincent de Paul Society

To obtain assistance, call 432-5173 and leave name & phone no.

Meetings: 1 & 3 Wed., 7 p.m., Com. Ctr. Conf. Rm. (2 Flr.)st rd nd

Special Thanks to Deputy Chief Joseph KennedyCorpus Christi is especially grateful to parishioner, Deputy ChiefJoe Kennedy of the Mobile Police Department for his generosity inproviding security during the Thursday, Friday, Saturday services,personally patrolling Corpus Christi's parking lots.

Easter Egg HuntMeet at the school courtyard right after today's 11 a.m. Mass

Women of MaryTuesdays, 9 to 10 a.m. OR Wednesdays, 7-8 p.m. , in the Family Room

.. All women are welcome to meet for prayer, reading the Gospel, and discussion.Info: Judi Ankiewicz, 344-0321, or Sr. Deborah Kennedy, R.S.M., 316-3960.

Men of St. JosephTuesdays, 7 to 8 a.m. in the Family Room

All men are welcome to meet for prayer, reading the Gospel, and discussion.Info: Jim Donaghey, jbd@orthomobile.com or www.MenOfStJoseph.com.

The Women’s ClubThe May meeting of the Corpus Christi's Women's Club will be onMonday, May 9, at 6:30 p.m. We will have a Girl's Night Out andwill meet at O'Charley's on Schillinger Rd. All women of the parishare invited to attend this meeting. Hope to see all of you there.The Women's Club will help with the Wedding AnniversaryCelebration on Saturday, May 14, at the 5:30 Mass.For more info please call Barbara Collette at 767-1638 or EarlineThorne at 414-3507. Please note this meeting will be on Monday.

Knights of ColumbusMeeting: 2 Tues., Apr. 12, 7 p.m., Com. Ctr. Conf. Rm.. (2 Flr).ndnd

Contact: Grand Knight, Bill Hamilton, 377-2661.

Around the Archdiocese: Archangel Radio Pledge

Drive 2011: Tune In to Archangel radio 1410 am for the 1st annual Archangel RadioPledge Drive April 27, 28,and 29. Join us for 3 full days of Special Guests from allover the country as well as many local personalities. Info: Visit WNGL1410am.com.

EASTER FLOWERS COLLECTION FINAL: $2,355.00CHURCH IN AFRICA & EASTERN/CENTRAL EUROPE: $1,214.00APR 17TH BUILDING FUND ONLINE & COLLECTION: $18,416.00APR 17TH TITHING ONLINE & COLLECTION: $21,992.50

Thank You and God Bless YouGod bless all who faithfully tithe and contribute to the support ofGod's work here at Corpus Christi, and those who make a specialbequest in their will for Corpus Christi Church. To make a directdonation of stock, contact your stockbroker, or call SteveSetterstrom at Citigroup Global Mkts. at 470-1060.

Receive a record of your contributions

by mail, email or fax at any time:Call 342-1852 or email Church@CorpusChristiParish.com

Online Giving – If you wish to use the

online giving option, go to our parish website(www.CorpusChristiParish.com): click “Church”; thenclick the green Online Giving icon on the left, andfollow the instructions to make your contribution(s) tothe tithing fund, building fund or special collections.For direct assistance call 1-800-348-2886, ext 4.

Church Is Good For You!

Many studies have shown that people of faith who

regularly attend services tend to be happier andhealthier than those who don’t.

Back in the 1990s a study by psychiatrist David Larson

found that: Regular church attenders live longer, have fewer heartattacks and a lower incidence of arteriosclerosis, highblood pressure, and hypertension. Religious people are less likely to abuse alcohol andare far less likely to use illicit drugs. Prison inmates who make a religious commitment areless likely than their counterparts to return to jail. Marital satisfaction and overall well-being tend toincrease with church attendance.

According to a study published in December, 2010, in

the journal American Sociological Review, religiouspeople were more satisfied than non-religious people. According to the data, about 28 percent of people whoattended a religious service weekly were “extremelysatisfied” with their lives, compared with 19.6 of peoplewho never attended services.

In 2010, the Pew Research Center released a study

which found that people who attend religious servicesweekly or more are happier (43% very happy) than thosewho attend monthly or less (31%); or seldom (26%). This correlation between happiness and frequency ofchurch attendance has been a consistent finding of theResearch Center’s General Social Surveys taken over theyears.The same pattern applies within all major religiousdenominations. For example, 38% of all Catholics who

attend church weekly or more report being very happy,while just 28% of Catholics who attend church less oftensay they are very happy.

According to an article in Time magazine in 2009, “A

growing body of scientific evidence suggests that faithmay indeed bring us health. People who attend religiousservices do have a lower risk of dying in any one yearthan people who don’t attend. People who believe in aloving God fare better after a diagnosis of illness thanpeople who believe in a punishing God. No less a killerthan AIDS will back off at least a bit when it’s hit witha double-barreled blast of belief.”

Social demographer Robert Hummer of the University

of Texas has found that “those who never attendreligious services have twice the risk of dying over thenext 8 years as people who attend once a week. Peoplewho fall somewhere between no churchgoing andweekly churchgoing also fall somewhere between interms of mortality.”

Neal Krause, a sociologist and public-health expert at

the University of Michigan has found that parishionersnaturally benefit when they receive social support fromtheir church. But he has also found that those peoplewho give help fare even better than those who receive it. Kause also found that people who maintain a sense ofgratitude for what’s going right in their lives have areduced incidence of depression, which is itself apredictor of health. In another study he conducted hefound that people who believe their lives have meaninglive longer than people who don’t.

A 30-year study by Cornell University sociologist

Phyllis Moen shows that women who volunteered inchurches, civic groups and schools reported good healthand high self-esteem. They described their lives asmeaningful, and their outlook was more optimistic thanmost of their peers.The report also demonstrated that 52 percent of womenwho never volunteered show less self-esteem and saidthey were unsatisfied with their lives. It seems thatpeople who volunteer at least two hours a week showsignificant reductions in their stress levels. Once theysee how much better off they have it than the people theyhelp, they lose their self-pity.

Happy the people the Lord has chosen to be his own!

Psalm 33

He is Risen!Resurrection Homily of St. John Chrysostom

Let all pious men and all lovers of God rejoice in the splendor of this feast!

Let the wise servants blissfully enter into the joy of their Lord. Let those who

have borne the burden of Lent now receive their pay, and those who came after thethird hour be grateful to join in the feast, and those who may have come after thesixth, let them not be afraid of being too late, for the Lord is gracious and Hereceives the last even as the first. He gives rest to him who comes on the eleventhhour as well as to him who has toiled since the first.

Yes, He has pity on the last and He serves the first. He rewards the one and

is generous to the other. He repays the deed and praises the effort.

Come you all: enter into the joy of your Lord. You the first and you the

last, receive alike your reward. You rich and you poor, dance together. You

sober and you weaklings, celebrate the day.

You who have kept the fast and you who have not, rejoice today. Let no

one grieve over his poverty, for the universal kingdom has been revealed. Let

no one weep over his sins, for pardon has shone from the grave. Let no one fear

death, for the death of our Savior has set us free. He has destroyed it by

enduring it. He has despoiled Hades by going down into its kingdom. He has

angered it by allowing it to taste of His flesh. When Isaiah foresaw all this, he

cried out: “O Hades, you have been angered by encountering Him in the nether

world.” Hades is angered because it has been frustrated. It is angered because

it has been mocked. It is angered because it has been destroyed. It is angered

because it has been reduced to nothing. It seized a body, and, lo! It discovered

God. It seized earth, and behold! It encountered heaven. It seized the visible,

and was overcome by the invisible.

O death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory? Christ is

risen and you are abolished. Christ is risen and evil is cast down. Christ is risen

and the angels rejoice. Christ is risen and life is freed. Christ is risen and the

tomb is emptied of the dead. For Christ, being risen from the dead, has become

the Leader and Reviver of all who had fallen asleep.

To Him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen!

St. John Chrysostom (347-407)

EasterThe Name of Easter

In almost every language except English, the name

for this annual memorial of the resurrection is someform of the word “Passover” (for example, Pasch,from the Hebrew Pesach, “Passover”). WhenChristianity arrived in the north countries, itsspringtime celebration of the resurrection received anew name from the Teutonic people, a name usedtoday by English-speaking people: Easter. At onetime it was thought that this name came from anAnglo-Saxon spring goddess, Eostre. However, thereis doubt that worship of such a goddess ever existed. A better explanation lies in people’s misunderstandingof a Latin phrase for Easter Week, “in whitevestments” (in albis), thinking it was the plural of albain the Latin idiom for “dawn.” This was translated inOld High German as eostarun. Regardless of theexact origin of the term, the symbolism remains:Christ is the sun that rises at dawn – in the east.

Easter Eggs The egg has become a popular

Easter symbol.Creation myths of many ancientpeoples center in a cosmogonic eggfrom which the universe is born. The egg, therefore, is a natural

symbol, not only of creation, but also of re-creationand resurrection. In ancient Egypt and Persia friendsexchanged decorated eggs at the spring equinox, thebeginning of their new year. These eggs were asymbol of fertility for them because the coming forthof a live creature from an egg was so surprising topeople of ancient times. Christians of the Near Eastadopted this tradition, and the Easter egg became areligious symbol. It represented the tomb from whichJesus came forth to new life. Because eggs were atone time forbidden by the church’s lenten disciplineof fasting and abstinence, they were a precious Easterfood.

Eggs are usually given to children, either in Easterbaskets or hidden for the children to find. Easter egghunts, and even the egg-rolling on the White Houselawn, are contemporary versions of egg games playedon Easter for centuries in European countries.

Easter Lilies Easter lilies did not exist in

North America until about 100years ago. The white trumpet lily,which blooms naturally inspringtime, was introduced here

from Bermuda by Mrs. Thomas P. Sargent. Thepopular name “Easter lilies” comes from the fact thatthey bloom around Easter time. They have becomeassociated with Easter as much as poinsettias are withChristmas. In early Christian art the lily is a symbolof purity because of its delicacy of form and itswhiteness. For the same reason it serves well as asymbol of resurrection.

New Easter Clothes Wearing new Easter clothes may

be traced to the new white robes inwhich the newly baptized at Easterwere clothed. They are also symbolicof the newness of resurrection. Thissymbolism has been lost for most. The

practice, still evident today, is probably associatedmore with the change of seasons along with a desireto look one’s best at Easter church services –especially if it is a rare appearance!

During the Middle Ages in Europe, people in theirnew Easter clothes would take a long walk afterEaster Mass. This was a kind of procession precededby a crucifix or the Easter Candle. Even though itsoriginal meaning was lost, the tradition evolved intothe Easter parade. It is still popular in many cities inthe United States today, especially on Fifth Avenue inNew York.

Easter Bunnies Rabbits are part of pre-Christian

fertility symbolism because of theirreputation to reproduce rapidly. Itsassociation with Easter eggs goes backseveral hundred years to vague legends in

Germany. There the custom of making candyrabbits also originated. The Easter Bunny has neverhad a religious meaning.

Easter means you can put

truth in the grave,

but it will not stay

there. Clarence W. Hull

We are sons and

daughters of the

Resurrection, and

Alleluia is our song! St. Augustine

Rejoice! The message, the spirit and

the impact of Easter go onthrough the entire year. Everyuse of blessed water remindsus of our baptism into thedeath and resurrection of theLord. Every celebration of theEucharist is a commemoration

of Jesus’ passion, death and resurrection. EverySunday throughout the year is a miniature Eastercelebration, reminding us: Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again.

Alleluia:Praise God!

The term “alleluia” is aHebrew word meaning“praise God.” Surprisingly,

it does not appear very often in the Scriptures – only15 times. From the earliest days of Christianity,however, it became a popular expression oftriumph, of joy, and of hope. St. Augustine wrotethat the entire life of a Christian should be an“alleluia,” a living expression of praise to God forHis infinite goodness in lifting us up to be Hischildren, and to share in His victory eternally. Fr. O’Day, S.J.

THEY FOUND THAT THE TOMB

WAS EMPTYOn the first d ay of

the w eek, at the first

sign of d aw n, w hen

the w om en cam e to

the tom b, they saw

that the bod y of

Jesu s w as not there.

Su d d en ly, tw o m en

in brillian t clothes ap p eared at their

sid e, and said to them , “Why look

am ong the d ead for one w ho is

alive? H e is not here. H e has risen! (cf. Luke 24:1-6)

Philip’s EasterEgg An eleven-year-old boy

named Philip was in a religion class with eight otherchildren. On Easter Sunday theteacher gave each child anempty plastic egg. The

children were told to go outside and find somethingto put into the egg that would remind them of themeaning of Easter. They came back exited and happy. As each eggopened there were exclamations of delight uponseeing a butterfly, a twig, a flower, a blade of grass. Then the last egg was opened. It was Phillip’sand it was empty! Some of the children laughed at Phillip.“But teacher,” he said, “the tomb was empty.” Sadly, Philip died a few months later. The newspaper article said that at the funeral eightchildren put a large empty egg on the small casket. On it was a banner that said, “The tomb wasempty.”

The Easter VigilIn the Early Church...

The Easter Vigil celebration of the Lord’s resurrection

goes back to the first generation of Christianity. For thefirst three centuries this was the only feast observedthroughout the Church. There was no separate EasterSunday celebration. Instead, Christians began during thenight hours and into dawn to celebrate their experience of Christ victorious over death and sin and their victory withhis. It was during those dark hours, turning into the firstday of the week (Sunday), that this mystery had occurred,as recorded in the Gospels (MT 28:11; MK 16:1; LK 24:1; JN 20:1).

It was lost...

As time went on this magnificent liturgical treasure of the church – the Easter Vigil – became all but totally

lost. The absolute low point came during the past few hundred years, including the first half the 20 century.th

Prompted partly by the development of church laws which said that Masses could not be offered after noon,and requiring absolute fast from midnight in order to receive the Eucharist, the entire glorious ritual of thecelebration of the Easter Vigil was compressed into an hour or two early Holy Saturday morning, the priestreciting all the scripture readings and blessings by himself in Latin, and then a simple Mass, much like any otherweekday Mass of the year. In the Missal of Pius V (1570), the Vigil became fixed by church law as an early HolySaturday morning liturgy. With no exaggeration, it was a sad caricature of what once was, and is now once again, the high point of our

Christian liturgy, the supreme act of worship of the year. In thatsituation, with the Easter Vigil gone, the Sunday morning Masseswere, of course the only Easter Masses.

...but was found

Starting some years before Vatican Council II, the church realized

the time had come to restore all of the Holy Week liturgies, with theEaster Vigil as the top priority. The renewal began in 1951 by way ofexperiment and was finalized in 1955. In its renewed form, the EasterVigil is almost the same as that in early centuries, except that theritual doesn’t last all night! Each year, the Easter Vigil is becomingfor more and more parishioners what it had been in its origin: thenight of all nights and the primary celebration of resurrection: Easter.

Easter morning...

The theme of Easter morning Masses echoes that of the Easter

vigil: joyful resurrection songs, renewal of baptismal vows, asprinkling of the assembly with the new Easter water, and the joyfuldecorations. Easter morning Masses remember and celebrate the veryfoundation of Christianity: Jesus is raised from the dead and is Lord.

Those who believe and are baptized share in this celebration of the resurrection to new life. This theme continuesfor the next fifty days of the Easter season.

“Catholic Customs and Traditions,” Greg Dues. “The New Question Box, “ Rev. John J. Dietzen, National Catholic News Service.