st mary’s catholic church · 31/05/2020 · in-vitro fertilization, experimentation using stem...
TRANSCRIPT
St Mary’s Catholic Church
Greenville, South Carolina
@ @ @ @ @
31 May 2020
Dear Friends in Christ,
The Jewish feast of Passover commemorates the deliverance of the children of Israel from slavery in Egypt, and from that day of liberation, Moses led the people to the holy mountain where he had seen the living God in the bush which burned without being consumed. There on Mount Horeb Moses received the Ten Commandments from the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and although Scripture does not specify the time between Passover and the giving of the Law, an ancient tradition holds that it was fifty days. Then in Leviticus 23.15-16, the Lord commands the children of Israel to offer a sacrifice of spring wheat exactly seven full weeks from the second day of Passover, meaning the fiftieth day from the feast of Passover. So, the Feast of First Fruits, also called the Feast of Weeks (Shavuot in Hebrew), was kept 50 days after Passover and was a time of great thanksgiving to God for the blessings of freedom and prosperity and for the Law which safeguarded those blessings. This festival was also called Pentecost from the Greek words meaning the fiftieth day.
Chapter 2 of the Acts of the Apostles opens with a mention of the arrival of the day of Pentecost, and this refers, of course, to the Jewish festival celebrated 50 days after Passover. Because of the feast, Jerusalem was filled with Jews visiting from all over the Mediterranean world, and it was to this multitude that St Peter preached the Gospel, leading to the conversion of 3,000 people to saving faith in Jesus Christ. The power of Peter’s preaching came not from him but from God the Holy Spirit who was poured out upon the Church on the fiftieth day after the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, thus making Pentecost a festival for both Jews and Christians. To this day, observant Jews celebrate Shavuot in gratitude for the gift of Torah, and Christians celebrate Pentecost in thanksgiving for the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the new life of grace which comes by saving faith in Jesus Christ, our Passover and our Peace. In this concurrence we see fulfilled the teaching of St Paul (Colossians 2.16-17) that the feasts of the Old Covenant are shadows of the good things which come to us in Jesus Christ, to whom all the types and figures of Israel point.
The coming of the Holy Spirit upon the Church in Jerusalem led to the miracle of one voice being heard in many languages, an event which is both a symbolic reversal of the scattering of the human race as a result of the pride which built the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11.1-9) and a pledge of the Church’s mission to gather all nations into the unity of those who worship the one, only, living and true God by accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, repenting of sin, being baptized, and living as a new creation in Christ’s body, the Church. The events of Pentecost fulfilled the promise of the Lord Jesus to his Apostles: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1.8), and so Pentecost also began the tireless effort of the Church to fulfill the Great Commission by making disciples of all nations. Two millennia later, our contribution to that work of grace is to live as Evangelical Catholics who share the Gospel with others and lead them to saving faith in Jesus Christ.
Father Newman
Returning to the sacraments
For at least the first four weeks back we must limit attendance in all of our parishes to no more than 25% of our seating capacity in order to provide adequate space for social distancing.
At St Mary’s our maximum attendance until further notice will be 115 persons, which means that we must stagger the dates on which you can come to Mass.
To give everyone in the parish an opportunity to come to Mass during our first month back, please follow this method:
Head of HouseholdBirth Year
Beginning Letterof Last Name
Dates to AttendSunday Mass
Odd # A to L 16 or 17 May
Even # A to L 23 or 24 May
Odd # M to Z 30 or 31 May
Even # M to Z 6 or 7 June
Bishop Robert Guglielmone has decided that the public celebration of the sacraments will return in the Diocese of Charleston in the following way:
Weekday MassResumes on Monday 11 May
Sunday MassResumes the weekend of 16 and 17 May
Individual ConfessionsAt St Mary’s, Confessions resume
on Wednesday 3 June
When we resume public worship, we will keep our normal Mass schedule of 5 pm Saturday and 7.30, 9, and 11 am Sunday with Spanish Mass at 1 pm.
On your designated weekend, please come to the Mass you most often attended before the break. That will help us keep our numbers spaced properly.
Other Precautions• Every other pew in the church will be closed.• Cry rooms and Sunday nursery will be closed.• Church and rest rooms will be regularly cleaned. • Inner and outer doors of each vestibule will be open (weather permitting).• No missalettes in the pew racks & Mass booklets will be single use.• No holy water in the fonts.• Do not sit closer than 6 feet to anyone other than your own family.• People are encouraged to wear a face mask.• Be mindful of what you touch and continue to wash and sanitize your hands often.
General Absolution of SinsBefore each Sunday Mass through Pentecost
• If you wish to receive absolution, please be present in the pew no later than 10 minutes before Mass, examine your conscience, and resolve to confess any mortal sins that will be forgiven through General Absolution the next time you make an individual confession.• 5 minutes before Mass, the priest will lead those wishing to be absolved in an Act of Contrition and then grant absolution. This is a Rite of Reconciliation given by the Church for just such situations as this public health emergency, and it will allow you to receive Holy Communion with a clear conscience while individual confessions are still not permitted.
Reception of Holy Communion• Only the priest will distribute Communion at the front of the church.• All who wish to receive the Eucharist should come in a single file line, leaving a six foot interval to the person in front of you.• We ask that until further notice you receive Holy Communion in the hand. You may also remain in the pew and make an act of spiritual communion.
Those who are at great risk of serious illness from the coronavirus because of age or infirmity are asked not to come to Mass until further notice. Every Catholic in South Carolina is dispensed by our bishop from the obligation to come to Mass as long as this public health crisis continues, so no one commits a sin by not coming to Mass. If you need to stay home or simply want to stay home, please stay at home. We will continue to stream Mass at 11 am each Sunday so that those can at home can participate.
Calendar of EventsMass Schedule & Intentions Meetings & Events ** Sunday, 31 May 2020 7.30 am @ James T & Florence Mooney 9.00 am Christine & Doug Almskog11.00 am Pro populo 1.00 pm Spanish Mass (Baum)
Sunday, 31 May 2020
Monday, 1 June 2020
7.00 am @ Anniversary for Campbell & Willie Martin
Monday, 1 June 2020
Tuesday, 2 June 2020
7.00 am @ Living & Deceased Members / Moody & Bennett Families
Tuesday, 2 June 2020
Wednesday, 3 June 2020 7.00 am Christopher Miros Family
Wednesday, 3 June 2020
5.00-6.00 pm Holy Hour & Confessions (church)
Thursday, 4 June 2020
7.00 am Heather Burgess
Thursday, 4 June 2020
Friday, 5 June 2020
7.00 am Br Boniface, OSB of Norcia
Friday, 5 June 2020
Saturday, 6 June 2020
5.00 pm Greg & Carole Cornell
Saturday, 6 June 2020
3.30-4.30 pm Confessions (church)
Financial Report
Weekend of 23/24 May Needed 35,200 Received 27,720 Shortage 7,480
Poor Box 172
Offertory Year to Date Needed 1,654,400 Received 1,679,763 Surplus 25,363
Electronic Giving: If you want to have direct management of your Electronic Fund Transfer online, you can now do so through the “Make a Gift” link on the homepage of our website. For more information or if you have any questions please contact Jennifer Anderson at [email protected].
Our Solemn Mass at 11 am each Sunday is streamed live on our parish Facebook page and is available later as a recording on both our Facebook page and the parish YouTube channel.
Forward in FaithCapital Campaign$7 Million to Raise
2019 to 2023
Donations Received
Pledge Balance
Still to Go
1,719,787
1,342,589
3,937,623
** Despite the resumption of Mass, all other events are still canceled, and no meetings or assemblies of any kind are permitted on our campus until further notice.
Collection for 30/31 MaySupport of the Parish & St Mary’s Capital Campaign
St Mary’s is sustained bythe generosity of our parishioners.
Parish News
Prayer RequestsPlease pray for all those who are hospitalized and for all those who are shut-ins, ill or recuperating at home, especially Paulina Cruz, Brett Gervais, Michael Pinto, Joseph & Sandy Srp, Marie-Therese Isidore, Carlton Carpenter, Jim Barber, Mauren Lukovic, Christine Tancrell, Celsea Patry, John Tyler, Hunter Conant, Ruth O’Rourke, Rafael Marquez, Lori Wylie, Kenneth & Nancy Tessier, Patricia O’Leary, Robert Brown, John Hever, Juliet Roy, Chris Papademitriou, Jeannine Harvey, Jim & Adair Andreasson, Ellen Plowden, Mary Lou Ferguson, Mary Stillmock, Chuck & Shelby Gaschler, Rose Mary Koski, Mary Berman, James Smith, Anna Deehan, Nancy Laliberty, Beth Hambleton, Cole Henderson and Julie Birello.
Requiescat in pacePlease pray for the repose of the soul of Dr Ansel McMakin, Jr, who died recently. We extend our prayers and sympathy to his family and friends.
Prayer For The Faithful DepartedEternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and may perpetual light shine upon them. May their souls, and all the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.
Congratulations toLuca Gray Roberson who was baptized last week.
EFT Donation
St Mary’s offers Electronic Funds Transfer through the parish website as a way to automate your regular weekly offertory donation.
EFT donation lets you • make a one-time or recurring donation• change your plan• update your account information• contribute to parish, diocesan, and second collections• view your online donation history
EFT donation options include:Direct Debit Donation that allows you to automatically transfer funds from your checking or savings account.
Credit & Debit Card Donation that allows you to make offerings automatically on a pre-determined schedule using a credit or debit card.
Visit the ‘Make a Gift’ linkon the homepage of our parish website.
Donation Information
Mail-In Donation
If you would rather not use EFT, you may mailyour contribution to the parish office at
St Mary’s Catholic Church111 Hampton AvenueGreenville, SC 29601
Thank you for your generosity and support.
Welcome NewcomerWe welcome the following new member to our parish family: Mr Hugo Santos.
Mass Intentions To schedule a Mass intention, contact Vickie Acosta at 864.271.8422 or [email protected].
The Right to Life and Dignity of the Human Person
Innocent human life is destroyed by abortion, euthanasia, “fertility treatments” such as in-vitro fertilization, experimentation using stem cells from human embryos, and cloning to manufacture human body parts. Catholic teaching about the sanctity of human life also leads us to oppose the death penalty, genocide, torture, unjust wars, and economic policies that ignore the needs of the poor and vulnerable.
Call to Family, Community, and Participation
The family, which emerges from marriage between a man and a woman, is the original and basic unit of society. Social and economic policies should work to strengthen the family rather than weaken it.
Rights and Responsibilities
Every human being has the right to life and to religious freedom. Everyone has a right to refuse to participate in actions contrary to one’s religious beliefs and to share and defend one’s creed and moral principles in the public forum. Everyone has the right and duty to participate fully in all aspects of life: political, social, cultural, and economic.
Option for the Poor and Vulnerable
We must have special concern and charity toward the unborn, persons with disabilities, the dying, refugees, long-term unemployed, prisoners, and all who are marginalized in our nation and beyond. Today, the situation of immigrant workers is especially urgent.
Dignity of Work and Rights of Workers
Economic justice includes the opportunity for dignified work at wages sufficient to support a family, workplace safety, and the right to take time for religious observances. Workers also have the duty to provide a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay.
Solidarity
Loving our neighbor has global dimensions and requires us to eradicate racism and address the extreme poverty and disease plaguing so much of the world. We are called to welcome the stranger among us, including immigrants seeking work, a safe home, education for their chil-dren, and a decent life for their families. We are called to promote peace and pursue justice.
Caring for God’s Creation
As stewards, not owners, of the earth, people have an obligation to cherish and care for the environment. The earth yields forth many resources needed for human flourishing, especially energy and the capacity to produce food. These precious resources must be used prudently, fairly, safely, and with a constant concern for future generations.
Not liberal.Not conservative.
Simply Catholic.
Catholic citizenship & your voteWe have a dual heritage as both faithful Cath-olics and American citizens. As Catholics, our baptismal commitment to bear public witness to the values of Jesus Christ requires our active par-ticipation in the democratic life of our nation. As Americans, we have a serious moral obligation to vote. This brief insert is intended as a starting point to help us respond to our choices in the current political landscape.
There are many issues before us ...
Sponsored by South Carolina Catholic Conference é 901 Orange Grove Road é Charleston, SC 29407 é www.sccatholicconference.org
• Issues that directly affect human lives, such as abortion and eutha-nasia, are fundamental and demand serious consideration.
• Our Constitution heralds religious liberty in the First Amendment, yet increasingly people of faith are having to fight to retain this basic right.
• Our nation has redefined marriage. The marriage of a man and a woman is the foundation of the family and an essential core element of a flourishing society.
• The growing disparity between rich and poor means most of the world’s resources are in the hands of a small percentage of its people. The federal budget is a moral document and we prioritize the poor-est and most vulnerable among us.
• The millions of undocumented persons living in the United States deserve our compassion. Our immigration system is broken, and we need a humane solution to it.
• War, terror, and violence have caused thousands of lost lives. We must work for just solutions to conflict in the Holy Land, through-out the Middle East, and beyond.
As Catholic citizens, we should remember three things:1. Respect for the dignity of each person is the core of Catholic social
and moral teaching. This is our most basic principle.2. We focus on the common good, not our own personal interests.
We ask, how can we make the world a better place? Not, how can I improve my own personal situation?
3. We have a responsibility, a true obligation, to form our consciences and participate in the civic life of this nation.
... but every issue is not equal.
Here are ways to form our consciences and participate in civic life:
• Be true to the teachings of the Church. Read Scripture, the Cat-echism of the Catholic Church, teachings from the Holy See, and the statements of our bishops. Read “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship” at faithfulcitizenship.org. We need to be sure that our reason-ing and judgments are well-grounded in our faith.
• Stay well-informed about issues through judicious and reasoned engagement with the immense world of information in the 21st century. Just as all issues are not equal, all sources are not equal. For example, an individual’s blog, while potentially very insightful, may not have the same fidelity to factual truth as our media sources that hold themselves to professional standards of journalistic ethics, imperfect though they are.
• Remain in contact with our repre-sentatives in local, state, and federal government. Our responsibility to form our consciences leads to an obligation to be active citizens.
• Engage in reasoned, compassionate, and loving dialogue with others, Catholics and non-Catholics alike, about the issues and choices that we are facing as a nation. Remember that we are all called first to witness the Gospel, and through that witness, to share our social teaching to highlight the moral dimensions of issues, and to participate in debate on public policy.
Sponsored by South Carolina Catholic Conference é 901 Orange Grove Road é Charleston, SC 29407 é www.sccatholicconference.org
St Mary’s is online:Website https://smcgvl.org
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/stmarysgvl/
YouTube Saint Mary’s Catholic Church Greenville, SC
Daily Mass Readings For the daily Mass readings,
visit http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/
Prayer Chain MinistrySt Mary’s Prayer Chain is a network of parishioners who receive prayer requests by telephone and then pray for those requests. Please call the office at 271.8422, ext. 127 to submit your requests. Information received will be kept confidential.
Formed.org Online resources are available to every member of our parish through a program called Formed. This website includes a variety of free resources - including books, movies, podcasts - for people of all ages. Register at Formed.org using our parish code: 8B7VRM.
AmazonSmileSign into your Amazon account, and select St Mary’s
Catholic School as your organization of choice. Amazon will donate 0.5% of the purchase price of eligible products. You use the same account on Amazon.com and AmazonSmile.
https://smile.amazon.com/ch/57-0426237
Act of Spiritual Communion
Lord Jesus, I love you above all things. How I long to receive you with my brothers and sisters at the table you have prepared. But since I cannot at this moment receive you in the holy sacrament of your Body and Blood, I ask you to feed me with the manna of your Holy Spirit and nourish me with your holy presence. I unite myself completely to you; never permit me to be separated from your love. Amen.
2020 OrdinationsPlease pray for
Deacons Will Frei and Michael Cellars who will be ordained to the Sacred Priesthood on Friday 10 July at Holy Spirit on Johns Island.
Diocese of CharlestonVocations Office
AnnouncementThe Bishop has accepted 10 new seminarians to begin their seminary studies this fall! Thank you for your prayers this past year, God has answered them. Please continue to pray for our Seminarians and for more young men to rise in answer to God’s calling for them.
Mobile Clean of Heart Shower MinistryCatholic Charities is excited to introduce our newest ministry, Mobile Clean of Heart, which will provide showers to those who are homeless from Greenville to Spartanburg! Beginning in June,
a mobile shower trailer will be stationed at 2300 Old Buncombe Road (behind San Sebastian’s church, next to Our Lady’s food pantry) and will be open a few hours each Saturday so they will have an opportunity to take a shower.
Volunteers are needed from approximately 10 am - 1pm on Saturdays to welcome the people, assist with shower operations, and be present to create a positive community experience. Social distancing and safety precautions will be enforced.
If you are interested in volunteering or have any questions about the program, please contact Gracie Ortiz, Catholic Charities Regional Coordinator for the Upstate, at 864.331.2626 and [email protected].
Contact the Department of Social Services within the county the abuse
took place.
Contact the diocese at 843-261-0430 to report the status.
Contact the local police department immediately.
Call the Victim Assistance Coordinator at 843-856-0748 or 800-921-8122.
The Catholic Church is committed to respect for the dignity of each human
person. Acts of sexual exploitation or abuse, particularly against children or
the vulnerable, will not be tolerated by the Diocese of Charleston.
If you have been abused by a member of the clergy or any other
representative of the church, we encourage you to call the Victim
Assistance Coordinator, Louisa Storen, at 800-921-8122.
Additionally, if you are reporting abuse by a sitting bishop, you can make a
report online at reportbishopabuse.org or call 800-276-1562 after contacting
law enforcement.
If you suspect abuse has occurred within a family:
If you suspect an abuse has occurred that involved diocesan personnel
(priests, deacons, teachers, employees or volunteers):
PLEASE REPORT!
CH I LD PROT ECT ION S ERV IC E S ASKS YOU TO
Father Jay Scott Newman, VFPastor of St Mary’s [email protected]
Father Jonathan DuncanChaplain to St Joseph’s Catholic [email protected]
Father Bartholomew Leon Administrator of St Rafka [email protected]
Assisting Priests
Permanent Deacons
Vickie Acosta Executive Assistant to the [email protected]
Jennifer AndersonDirector of Finance and Human [email protected]
Arlen [email protected]
Jaime EscobarDirector of [email protected]
Joann MillerDirector of Religious [email protected]
Staff
Father Orlando CheverríaParochial [email protected]
Timothy NielsenPastoral [email protected]
Chris OrtizDirector of Youth [email protected]
Pat PerkinsDirector of [email protected]
David [email protected]
Lisa Watkins Director of [email protected]
Deacon John [email protected]
Deacon Joe [email protected]
Deacon George [email protected]
Deacon Tom [email protected]
Deacon Nestor [email protected]
Deacon Clark [email protected]
Deacon Diego [email protected]
Deacon Alex [email protected]