The over 56 million abortions since the 1973 decisions of Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton reflect with heartbreaking magnitude what Pope Francis means by a “throwaway culture.” However, we have great trust in God’s providence. We are reminded time and again in Scripture to seek the Lord’s help, and as people of faith, we believe that our prayers are heard. The General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM), no. 373, designates January 22 as a particular day of prayer and penance, called the "Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children”: “In all the Dioceses of the United States of America, January 22 (or January 23, when January 22 falls on a Sunday) shall be observed as a particular day of prayer for the full restoration of the legal guarantee of the right to life and of penance for violations to the dignity of the human person committed through acts of abortion.” As individuals, we are called to observe this day through the penitential practices of prayer, fasting and/or giving alms. Another way to take part is through participating in special events to observe the anniversary of Roe v. Wade.

The Mass Intention for the Mass is for all unborn children.

Holy Hour For Life Join us for a Holy Hour to pray for the unborn on Wednesday, January 22, 2020 Holy Hour will begin at 6:00 pm Eucharistic Adoration, Evening Prayer, Scriptural Rosary (Sorrowful Mysteries), Litany for the Unborn, & Benediction

Most of what we know about this saint comes from the poet Prudentius. His Acts have been rather freely colored by the imagination of their compiler. But Saint Augustine, in one of his sermons on Saint Vincent, speaks of having the Acts of his martyrdom before him. We are at least sure of his name, his being a deacon, the place of his death and burial. According to the story we have, the unusual devotion he inspired must have had a basis in a very heroic life. Vincent was ordained deacon by his friend Saint Valerius of Zaragossa in Spain. The Roman emperors had published their edicts against the clergy in 303, and the following year against the laity. Vincent and his bishop were imprisoned in Valencia. Hunger and torture failed to break them. Like the youths in the fiery furnace, they seemed to thrive on suffering. Valerius was sent into exile, and Dacian, the Roman governor, now turned the full force of his fury on Vincent. Tortures that sound very modern were tried. But their main effect was the progressive disintegration of Dacian himself. He had the torturers beaten because they failed. Finally he suggested a compromise: Would Vincent at least give up the sacred books to be burned according to the emperor’s edict? He would not. Torture on the gridiron continued, the prisoner remaining courageous, the torturer losing control of himself. Vincent was thrown into a filthy prison cell—and converted the jailer. Dacian wept with rage, but strangely enough, ordered the prisoner to be given some rest. Friends among the faithful came to visit him, but he was to have no earthly rest. When they finally settled him on a comfortable bed, he went to his eternal rest.

The Mass Intention for the Mass is for the health and intentions of Abigail Vallee.

Francis was destined by his father to be a lawyer so that the young man could eventually take his elder’s place as a senator from the province of Savoy in France. For this reason Francis was sent to Padua to study law. After receiving his doctorate, he returned home and, in due time, told his parents he wished to enter the priesthood. His father strongly opposed Francis in this, and only after much patient persuasiveness on the part of the gentle Francis did his father finally consent. Francis was ordained and elected provost of the Diocese of Geneva, then a center for the Calvinists. Francis set out to convert them, especially in the district of Chablais. By preaching and distributing the little pamphlets he wrote to explain true Catholic doctrine, he had remarkable success. At 35, he became bishop of Geneva. While administering his diocese he continued to preach, hear confessions, and catechize the children. His gentle character was a great asset in winning souls. He practiced his own axiom, “A spoonful of honey attracts more flies than a barrelful of vinegar.” Besides his two well-known books, the Introduction to the Devout Life and A Treatise on the Love of God, he wrote many pamphlets and carried on a vast correspondence. For his writings, he has been named patron of the Catholic Press. His writings, filled with his characteristic gentle spirit, are addressed to lay people. He wants to make them understand that they too are called to be saints. As he wrote in The Introduction to the Devout Life: “It is an error, or rather a heresy, to say devotion is incompatible with the life of a soldier, a tradesman, a prince, or a married woman…. It has happened that many have lost perfection in the desert who had preserved it in the world.” In spite of his busy and comparatively short life, he had time to collaborate with another saint, Jane Frances de Chantal, in the work of establishing the Sisters of the Visitation. These women were to practice the virtues exemplified in Mary’s visit to Elizabeth: humility, piety, and mutual charity. They at first engaged to a limited degree in works of mercy for the poor and the sick. Today, while some communities conduct schools, others live a strictly contemplative life.

The Mass Intention for the Mass is for the health and intentions of Campbell Lattus.

St. Paul the Apostle was the greatest of the early Christian missionaries. He first appears in the Acts of the Apostles under the name of Saul. Saul was raised in the Jewish faith as a Pharisee trained in the strict observance of God’s Law. He believed the Law should be obeyed by himself and all Jews. Saul was upset by the early Christian Church, believing that the early Christians had broken away from their Jewish traditions. He actively persecuted the Church in Jerusalem. As the first Christian martyr Stephen was being stoned to death, Saul watched the cloaks of the persecutors (Acts 7:58). Paul then traveled to Damascus to further persecute early Christians. On the road to Damascus Saul had an encounter with the Risen Jesus Christ (Acts of the Apostles 9:1–19, Galatians 1: 13–14). Jesus asked, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” Paul replied, “Who are you, sir?” Jesus responded, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting” (Acts 9: 4 – 5). Jesus then sent Saul into Damascus to wait for further instructions. Saul was shaken and blinded by the experience. When a Christian named Ananias came and baptized Saul, his blindness went away. As a result of this encounter Saul became a follower of Christ. He was now convinced that fellowship with the risen Jesus Christ, not the observance of the Law, was all that was needed to receive God’s promise of salvation. (Galatians 1:11–12; 3:1–5) Saul, whose name now became Paul, went to Jerusalem to consult with Peter (Galatians 1: 18). After his first missionary journeys, Paul was called by Jesus to proclaim the Gospel to the Gentiles. He spent the rest of his life journeying on his missions, establishing local churches, and writing to them when he heard of their accomplishments and failures. Paul’s letters are the earliest records of the life and history of the early Church. As inspired by the Holy Spirit Paul’s letters are part of the Canon of the New Testament. As a record of the happenings in the early Church they are in invaluable record of the expansion of the Christianity.

The Mass Intention for the Mass is for the health and intentions of Campbell Lattus.

Everyone is invited! $5 ticket per person for all you can eat. A large dish (feeds 8-10 people) equals 1 ticket. You can bring décor to decorate the dish area. We hope to see lots of different cultures, families, countries represented!

The Mass Intention for the Mass is for the health and intentions of the people of the parish.

Session 2: The Introductory Rites

Saint Angela was the youngest of her virtuous parents' five children; she was born in Italy, near Brescia, in 1474. The grace which filled her soul made her beauty a trial for her, and as a young girl she already rejected all vanities. Every evening at home the parents read to the children from the lives of the Saints, and Angela wished to imitate them. She and her sister made an oratory in their room and retired there every day to pray and sing. She added to this service of God harsh austerities, sleeping on the floor while her sister slept profoundly. We are the children of the Saints, she would say to her, and we must turn all our affection towards the One who dwells in heaven. Oh! what torments, what disgrace and privations the solitaries and virgins have endured, to win the crown of immortality! We must suffer and die to ourselves. Saint Angela made a vow of virginity before she was ten years old and persuaded her older sister to do the same. The children soon afterwards lost both their parents. A wealthy uncle took the two little girls into his home, but soon the sister of Angela followed her parents by a sudden death. At the age of thirteen Angela still had not received Holy Communion, according to the regrettable delays of those days. She begged to be admitted to the Holy Table, and as soon as her request was granted, resolved to take this heavenly nourishment often. For that purpose she entered the Third Order of Saint Francis, and then, with her director's permission, was able to receive her Eucharistic Lord every day. In 1496 at the age of 22, Angela returned, after the death of her good uncle, to the paternal residence in her native village. There several others began to imitate her pious life. She was persuaded that the ills of society resulted from the scarcity of Christian mothers, and that this in turn was the effect of a lack of good education for young girls. She prayed that God would help her remedy this deficiency, and a heavenly vision assured her that before she died she would establish a Congregation of virgins. She and her companions began to assemble the little girls of the area and teach them Christian doctrine. And with them they visited the poor and the sick, and distributed most of the alms by which they themselves lived. Angela became an angel of consolation for all in the region, and though she had not studied, her mind was so clear that preachers and theologians came to consult her. It was not until 1535 that Saint Angela was able to establish her Community; she was then 61 years old. During the intervening years, she made pilgrimages to the Holy Land and to Rome. Her devotion to the Passion of our Saviour was always increasing, and her piety inspired that of many others. One night in a vision, however, she saw a severe figure, a lash in His hand, look threateningly at her; it was Jesus, who reproached her for her delay in founding an Order which was destined to do a much-needed good. She asked pardon and immediately began to draw up plans and inform her companions of them. These co-workers were still living each in her own house, but all promised to follow the rules. They visited prisons and hospitals, instructed the poor and assisted them, and all of them brought together young girls in their various houses, for instruction. At first this was a simple association, but soon Angela gave her companions the name of Ursulines, in honor of the virgin martyr of chastity and her companions. Saint Angela encouraged her Ursulines to make a voluntary vow of chastity only. She died in January of 1540. It was in France some sixty years later that the group became a regularized Community under Madame Frances de Bermond; thereafter the Institute spread widely. The Foundress was canonized in 1807 by Pope Pius VII. Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin (Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 6

The Mass Intention for the Mass is for the repose of the soul of Rev. Msgr. Paul J. Morris.

By universal consent, Thomas Aquinas is the preeminent spokesman of the Catholic tradition of reason and of divine revelation. He is one of the great teachers of the medieval Catholic Church, honored with the titles Doctor of the Church and Angelic Doctor. At five he was given to the Benedictine monastery at Monte Cassino in his parents’ hopes that he would choose that way of life and eventually became abbot. In 1239, he was sent to Naples to complete his studies. It was here that he was first attracted to Aristotle’s philosophy. By 1243, Thomas abandoned his family’s plans for him and joined the Dominicans, much to his mother’s dismay. On her order, Thomas was captured by his brother and kept at home for over a year. Once free, he went to Paris and then to Cologne, where he finished his studies with Albert the Great. He held two professorships at Paris, lived at the court of Pope Urban IV, directed the Dominican schools at Rome and Viterbo, combated adversaries of the mendicants, as well as the Averroists, and argued with some Franciscans about Aristotelianism. His greatest contribution to the Catholic Church is his writings. The unity, harmony, and continuity of faith and reason, of revealed and natural human knowledge, pervades his writings. One might expect Thomas, as a man of the gospel, to be an ardent defender of revealed truth. But he was broad enough, deep enough, to see the whole natural order as coming from God the Creator, and to see reason as a divine gift to be highly cherished. The Summa Theologiae, his last and, unfortunately, uncompleted work, deals with the whole of Catholic theology. He stopped work on it after celebrating Mass on December 6, 1273. When asked why he stopped writing, he replied, “I cannot go on…. All that I have written seems to me like so much straw compared to what I have seen and what has been revealed to me.” He died March 7, 1274.

Session 3 - The Suffering Servant

The Mass Intention for the Mass is for the repose of the souls of Floyd & Sue Bryan.

The Mass Intention for the Mass is for the living & deceased ladies of the Ladies Guild.

John Bosco’s theory of education could well be used in today’s schools. It was a preventive system, rejecting corporal punishment and placing students in surroundings removed from the likelihood of committing sin. He advocated frequent reception of the sacraments of Penance and Holy Communion. He combined catechetical training and fatherly guidance, seeking to unite the spiritual life with one’s work, study and play. Encouraged during his youth in Turin to become a priest so he could work with young boys, John was ordained in 1841. His service to young people started when he met a poor orphan in Turin, and instructed him in preparation for receiving Holy Communion. He then gathered young apprentices and taught them catechism. After serving as chaplain in a hospice for working girls, Don Bosco opened the Oratory of St. Francis de Sales for boys. Several wealthy and powerful patrons contributed money, enabling him to provide two workshops for the boys, shoemaking and tailoring. By 1856, the institution had grown to 150 boys and had added a printing press for publication of religious and catechetical pamphlets. John’s interest in vocational education and publishing justify him as patron of young apprentices and Catholic publishers. John’s preaching fame spread and by 1850 he had trained his own helpers because of difficulties in retaining young priests. In 1854, he and his followers informally banded together, inspired by Saint Francis de Sales. With Pope Pius IX’s encouragement, John gathered 17 men and founded the Salesians in 1859. Their activity concentrated on education and mission work. Later, he organized a group of Salesian Sisters to assist girls.

The Mass Intention for the Mass is for the repose of the soul of Mary Margaret Martin.