St. Maria Goretti School

Parish Week 27 Sept. 2020

Saturday, 26 Sept. / Ss. Cosmas & Damian, martyrs

8.00 am Mass: † Michele Picciola (Irma & family)

5.00 pm Mass: † Maria & Dominic Fernandes (Joe)

SUNDAY, 27 SEPT – 26 A

■ Homilist: Fr. Edwin Galea

■ 2nd Collection: Maintenance

9.00 am Mass: Int. Tina & Jerry on their

55th Wedding Anniversary

10.30 am Mass: † Ernesto & Lydia Rodas (family)

12.00 pm Mass: Int. Mike D’Mello (friends)

7.00 pm Mass: Pro Populo

Monday, 28 Sept. / St. Lawrence Ruiz & Companions, martyrs

8.00 am Mass: † Luigi DeCicco (Emma)

7.00 pm Mass: † Lalita D’Souza (Joseph)

Tues., 29 Sept. / Ss. Michael, Gabriel & Raphael, Archangels

8.00 am Mass: † Valerie & Frank Gibson (Daphne)

Wednesday, 30 Sept. / St. Jerome, priest & doctor

8.00 am Mass: † Audrey Hussey (Alice Larkin)

Thurs., 1 Oct. / St. Therese of the Child Jesus, virgin & doctor

■ Bishop Michael Power, death anniversary (1847)

8.00 am Mass: † Esgundo De Silva (family)

Friday, 2 Oct. / Holy Guardian Angels

8.00 am Mass: † Ron Forrester (Debbie)

6.00 pm Holy Hour

7.00 pm Mass: † Souls in Purgatory (Audrey Caza)

Saturday, 3 Oct.

8.00 am Mass: † Carlito Conzial (family)0

4.00 pm Blessing of Animals

- pets not required to wear face masks

5.00 pm Mass: † Lim Teng Chay & William Sy Eng Chan

(Go family)

SUNDAY, 4 OCT – 27A

■ Homilist: Fr. Elias Chachati

■ 2nd Collection: Pope’s Pastoral Works

9.00 am Mass: Int. Birthday of Joel Benedict (Mother)

10.30 am Mass: Int. Thanksgiving (D’Souza family)

12.00 pm Mass: † Reginald Mendonca (Rebello family)

7.00 pm Mass: Pro Populo

Focus on the Word

26th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A Ezekiel 18.25-28; Philippians 2.1-11; Matthew 21.28-32

O God, who manifest your almighty power above all by pardoning

and showing mercy, bestow we pray, your grace abundantly upon

us and make those hastening to attain your promises heirs to the

treasures of heaven. Amen.

Pray for the Deceased

Alejandra Canlas David

Luis Manuel Calleja Sr.

The 100 victims of the avalanche

in Kashmir

1st Communion and Confirmation

The celebrations of 1st HOLY COMMUNION and CONFIRMATION,

which were to take place after Holy Week, will be rescheduled

later in the Fall. Updates will be provided regularly, and dates

publicized as soon as possible, to give families a chance to prepare

properly to celebrate these vital, affirming and life-giving events.

The Catechism classes held at the Church for students not in our

Parish Schools will resume in October. As the schools reopen in

September, we will be able to finalize the schedule of meetings.

Stay in touch, and details will be published regularly.

2nd Collections 27 September, Maintenance

The 2nd collection on Sunday, 27 Sept., will be for the support of

our major parish projects through the Maintenance Collection.

4 October, Pope’s Pastoral Works

On Sunday, 4 October, the 2nd collection will be the rescheduled

offering for the Pope’s Pastoral Works, which cares for all his

special charities.

If a disastrous flood or earthquake strikes a nation, the Holy Father

offers aid in the name of Catholics everywhere.

If you use a recycled envelope marked “Pope’s Works,” please

remember to write your own Sunday envelope number on top.

COMING UP 7026o20

5 Oct. Infant Baptism Parent/Godparent Meeting (7:40 pm)

11 Oct. Infant Baptism (1:30 pm)

12 Oct. THANKSGIVING

18 Oct. 2nd Collection: World Mission

25 Oct. 2nd Collection: Maintenance;

- CWL Meeting (11:30 am)

1 Nov. Feast of All Saints

Website stmariagoretti.archtoronto.org For the Stewardship Scripture Reflection, and details of other

events, see pages 3 and following in the website bulletin.

THANK YOU to all of our Volunteers !

Since our parish re-opened in June, many wonderful

Volunteers have worked as hospitality ministers and as

dedicated custodians to keep our church clean. Thank you to

all who have made re-opening possible through their

generous work and contribution.

As we have observed Stewardship Sunday in all the parishes

throughout the Archdiocese of Toronto on Sunday, 20

September, Cardinal Collins has recorded a Thank You

video for all of the Volunteers throughout the Archdiocese.

I join with him in thanking all who volunteer at St. Maria

Goretti Church.

Thank you very much, and God bless you !!!

May God guide you and your families, and keep you safe in

His care.

Fr. Edwin

Please take the time to watch Cardinal Collins’ gratitude video.

The Gift of our Liturgy

Q: When do Lectors bow and genuflect?

Bow

In the Entrance Procession (when not carrying the Book of

Gospels), and in Churches where the Tabernacle is not in the

Sanctuary, the Lector bows to the Altar.

During Mass when entering or exiting the Sanctuary and when

crossing in front of the Altar, the Lector bows to the Altar.

The Lector does not bow to the Pulpit when approaching it or

departing.

Genuflect

In Churches where the Tabernacle is present in the Sanctuary, the

general rule us that the Lector genuflects to it when they approach

the Altar (at the Entrance Procession) and when they depart (after

the Dismissal).*

The Lector does not genuflect during the Mass.

Rebecca Spellacy, Associate Director,

Liturgy Office, Archdiocese of Toronto

* At St. Maria Goretti Church, as the Tabernacle is not behind the

Altar, and out of consideration for Lectors and other ministers who

cannot safely genuflect, a Lector not carrying the Book of the

Gospels bows to the Altar when entering and departing the

Sanctuary, and then makes a profound bow to the Tabernacle.

Re-opening Committee

Many thanks to Gavin Moniz, and the members of the

Parish Re-opening Committee, for their dedication to

our faith community, and for their help in making sure

that everything is in order to allow us to reassemble, in

accordance with the guidelines issued by the Provincial

government and the Archdiocese of Toronto.

Thanks to everyone for your patience, collaboration

and prayer. – Fr. Edwin Galea

Bidding Prayer

Lord, give peace to our troubled world, and give all Your

children security of mind and freedom from anxiety. Amen.

RCIA, RCIC Rites of Christian Initiation of Adults & Children

Pray for all in our parish R.C.I.A. process, who preparing for

the Sacraments of Initiation; as well as the youth in our

parish R.C.I.C. process.

The group meetings at the Church will resume in October.

Throughout September, we will be finalizing the schedule of

meetings, with priority given to the Candidates who were

almost finished their preparation for Initiation before the

pandemic shutdown began in March. Stay in touch. Details

will be published regularly, and the email communication

and online instruction for current Candidates will continue.

Prayer before Mass

Receive, O Holy Trinity, One God, this Holy Sacrifice of the

Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. I, Your unworthy

servant, now desire to offer this to Your Divine Majesty by

the hands of Your Priest, with all the Sacrifices which have

been and will be offered to You, in union with the most Holy

Sacrifice offered by Christ our Lord at the Last Supper, and

on the Altar of the Cross. Amen.

ShareLife 2020 Living the Gospel !

Parish Campaign Progress

$ 8,151,328 of $ 13,800,000

59% of goal

ShareLife Sunday Collections will take place on 10/11 October

Remember our SHARELIFE Agencies at this critical time

Community / Family Services Catholic Community Services of York Region, Catholic Cross-cultural Services, Catholic Family Services of Durham, Catholic Family Services Peel-Dufferin, Catholic Family Services of Simcoe Country, Catholic Family Services of Toronto, FertilityCare Toronto, Natural Family Planning Association

People with Special Needs Mary Centre, Our Place Community of Hope, Saint Elizabeth Health Care, St. Bernadette’s Family Resources Centre, St. Michael`s Homes & Matt Talbot Houses, Silent Voice Canada (ministry to the deaf)

Children and Youth Catholic Children’s Aid Society of Toronto, Catholic Settlement House Day Nursery, Covenant House, Sancta Maria House

Young Parents Rosalie Hall, Rose of Durham, Rose of Sharon, Vita Centre

Seniors Les Centres d’Accueil Heritage, Loyola Arrupe Centre, Providence Healthcare, Society of Sharing

Affiliated Organizations Camp Ozanam (Society of St. Vincent de Paul), Good Shepherd Ministries, Birthright International

Living the Gospel by providing for those in need

By donating to Sharelife, you help support over 40 agencies to serve the most vulnerable people in our community – of any faith, age, or background.

Our next ShareLife Appeal is on

11 October

Many thanks to all our generous ShareLife supporters for your dedication to this service that enables us to live the Gospel.

The ShareLife 2020 collections that could not be taken during the time of pandemic shutdown were postponed:

13 September

11 October (Thanksgiving)

and a final collection on 8 November.

As this point, we are just over the half way point of our ShareLife 2020 goal of $13.8 million. We are determined to reach our 2020 goal and with the ongoing support of our parishes, we know we can get there!

Please make a sacrificial gift to ShareLife through our parish campaign.

The next ShareLife offering will be this Sunday, 13 September. Please donate, and help us reach our goal!

Stewardship

Scripture Reflections

26th Sunday of Ordinary Time

1st Reading: Ezekiel 18.25-28 2nd Reading: Philippians 2.1-

11 Gospel: Matthew 21.28-32 – The Parable of the Two

Sons

Seeking to Serve Rather than be Served

In the 2nd reading St. Paul offers us a radical way of living as

Christians. He says that we should humbly, “regard others as

better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own

interests, but to the interests of others.” This is a challenging

way of life, and it is at the very heart of being a steward.

To fully live with other people’s interests above our own we

require a dramatic interior conversion. Our society

propagates the importance of the unholy trinity of “me,

myself and I”. In order to begin this conversion we need to

turn to prayer and seek to imitate Jesus, the true steward.

Jesus always sought to be a servant of others instead of

demanding to be served. This was shown very poignantly

when he washed the feet of the apostles. In this image, we

see what it means to be a steward. To humble ourselves

before others and seek their good before our own.

Imagine a parish community where everyone strives to serve

their brothers and sisters. This service can be manifested in a

variety of ways, whether it be simply going out of our way

to say hello to a new family in the parish or supporting a

family undergoing a major change or crises in their life. Let

us constantly renew our commitment to being stewards and

seek to serve rather than be served.

Summary

St. Paul challenges us to be true stewards as he says that we

should “look not to your own interests, but to the interests of

others.” In order to begin this conversion we need to turn to

prayer as well as seek to imitate Jesus, who always sought to

serve rather than be served. Let us strive to serve those in

our parishes whom we meet and with whom we pray.

_____________________________

See: Cardinal Thomas Collins’ Pastoral Letter on

Stewardship – Section One: The Meaning of Stewardship

Cardinal Thomas Collins’ Pastoral Letter on Stewardship is

organized into four sections, with the first being The

Meaning of Stewardship in the Christian Life. This section

explores the reality that we are invited by God to be good

stewards of His gifts. “If we truly have the spirit of

stewardship, we will not let God’s gifts go to waste, and we

will not selfishly cling to them, but use them graciously to

serve others, and in doing so give glory to God.” To read the

full pastoral letter, download resources and learn more about

deep stewardship, please visit:

www.archtoronto.org/stewardship

On 23 September, the life-saving 40 DAYS FOR LIFE campaign

kicks off in hundreds of cities worldwide, including Toronto,

one of the 16 locations in Canada.

In 2007, Campaign Life Coalition started the first 40 DAYS

FOR LIFE campaigns in Canada, after witnessing its success in

saving lives across the United States. Since then, vigils have

popped up all across the country, with committed local pro-

life organizers and prayer volunteers leading the way.

40 DAYS FOR LIFE is a peaceful campaign rooted in prayer and

fasting, and we encourage everyone to join their local vigil

whether it’s outside of a private abortion facility or a

hospital where abortions are committed.

If you don’t feel like attending the vigil on your own, sign

up with a friend, or better yet bring the whole family or your

Church community.

The first step is to contact your local organizer and see how

you can participate by becoming a prayer volunteer. Over

the years, Canadian campaigns have resulted in many

children being saved from an abortion, thanks to the power

of prayer, including in Toronto, Mississauga, Kitchener and

other communities where turnarounds have been reported.

Will you please volunteer one hour of your time to pray with

other peaceful vigil keepers outside an abortion facility near

you? Your prayer and public witness might just save a

baby's life – and a mother from a lifetime of remorse and

post-abortion trauma!

And please consider signin up as a prayer volunteer or to

contact your local coordinators for more information:

For life,

Jeff Gunnarson

National President

www.campaignlifecoalition.com

PS – Many 40 DAYS FOR LIFE campaigns are also organizing

kick-off rallies and religious services this week. Go to your

local campaign website for more information. You can also

contact the local coordinator.

E-Mail clc@campaignlifecoalition.com

Phone 1-800-730-5358 or (416) 204-9749

Fax (416) 204-1027

Above: A busy night on Kennedy Road as emergency vehicles

respond to a call across from the Church, 30 August 2020.

Below: The Catholic Women’s League hold an Executive

meeting on 12 September.

Sanitization is vital to maintain good health.

Above: Troy Moses collects his updated Baptism certificate for

Catholic school registration for his family, 31 August 2020.

Above: Zian Villaruz (left) ready to go home after a community

service stint, along with Janet and James Byron.

Below: Kristoff Rey Arrieta with his parents Krystle and Rex,

preparing for his upcoming Baptism.

Above: Manuel Servino helps keep the Vestibule doors in order

by an application of WD40 for the closers, 29 August 2020

Below left: Joyce Obatusin and her daughter Victoria Oluwalase

Ojumu pray to God for success in admission to the school.

Below: James Li and his mother Cecilia pray in the Church after

James finishes his day at St. Maria Goretti Catholic School.