St. Mary's Catholic Church - Weekly-Bulletin

Thirteenth Sunday Of The Year

Pat Perkins — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 05:01:00 GMT

Eight years ago on this day I began my service as the 16th pastor of St. Mary’s (which now makes my tenure the fourth longest among the sixteen), and on this anniversary my thoughts naturally turn to all that we’ve been through together.

First, my regrets. I had hoped by now to be able to visit most of you in your homes, and for many reasons that simply hasn’t happened. I also regret that the changes I have introduced during these eight years have led not a few families to seek a new parish home; a shepherd never wants to be the cause of disagreement or disappointment among the flock. Finally, I regret that I have not found more and better ways to be of direct service to those in need and helped you to do the same. The widowed, the imprisoned, the sick, the lonely, the poor: these are our brethren, and in their faces we see Christ. I hope in the years ahead to be able to make progress in redressing all of these regrets, and I ask for your support in that work. Now, the things for which I am grateful. The parish has grown dramatically in these years, and together we have accomplished much. The celebration of the sacred liturgy is the center of our common life, and we are blessed with truly exceptional programs of sacred music and adult catechesis. We have expanded the campus by over 30% to provide room for future growth, and we have completely renovated the church and Pazdan Hall. Graceful buildings and beautiful grounds are not an end in themselves, but they are the means to creating an oasis of tranquility in which the soul can be nourished. Our school is the oldest private school in Greenville County and is the principal apostolate of the parish. I am most grateful for the decision of the Nashville Dominicans to send Sisters to our school, and even as we continually look for ways to strengthen our curriculum, I believe that we already provide an education and Christian formation second to none. Finally, the ordinations of Deacons Diego Ferro and John Heuser, and of Fathers Christopher Smith, Dwight Longenecker, and Michael Cassabon, and the decision to try the novitiate or the seminary by one woman and eight men all bear witness to the dedication of the people of St. Mary’s to foster vocations to the priesthood and religious life. Much, of course, remains to be done. We must remove the old rectory and build a beautiful columbarium. We must integrate the newly acquired property into our campus and plan for the future use of that space. We must constantly look for ways to integrate the Anglo and Hispanic portions of the parish. We must serve those in need with love and works of love. And above all else, we must be entirely dedicated to following the Lord Jesus in the Way of the Cross and to bearing witness to our faith through radical conversion, deep fidelity, joyful discipleship, and courageous evangelism. Thank you for these eight years; I look forward to the next eight.

Father Newman

Twelfth Sunday Of The Year

Pat Perkins — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 05:01:40 GMT

Dear Friends in Christ,

The Year of St. Paul, dedicated to studying the life, ministry, and writing of the Apostle to the Nations, ends on Monday 29 June, the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul. I hope that during this past year you have taken the opportunity to learn a bit more about this extraordinary man whom the Lord Jesus called to be a powerful instrument of grace for the preaching of the Gospel. There are still eight days remaining in the Pauline Year, so there is still plenty of time to study and pray with one more of St. Paul’s letters in the New Testament.

Even before the Year of St. Paul ends, however, we begin a new special year in the Church dedicated to a single topic. Pope Benedict XVI has declared a “Year for Priests” which is meant, in the Pope’s words, “to deepen the commitment of all priests to interior renewal for the sake of a more incisive witness to the Gospel in today’s world.” In other words, the Year for Priests is dedicated to assisting priests in the renewal of their own interior lives for the sake of the Church’s mission: preaching the Gospel. The Year for Priests begins in 2009 and ends in 2010 on the Solemnity of Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, a day traditionally devoted to prayer for the sanctification of the clergy, and this special Year is timed to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the death of St. John Mary Vianney, patron saints of priests, who died on 4 August 1859.

In the coming months, we will explore the life and ministry of the Curé of Ars (the traditional title of St. John Vianney) and consider the ways in which the life and ministry of priests in our day can be renewed for the sake of the Gospel. To learn more about the Year for Priests and the ways in which you can participate, simply do an internet search for “Year for Priests.” A wealth of information is already available online, and you can begin now praying each day for the renewal of the priests who serve the Church right here in our own diocese and parish.

Finally, there is another date of note for me in the coming week. Next Sunday, 28 June, is the eighth anniversary of my service as pastor of St. Mary’s. It seems impossible that only eight years ago, with the old air conditioner broken, I stood before you for the first time in a sweltering church promising only three things: to replace the air conditioner, to make mistakes, and to give myself entirely to preaching the Gospel in the service of the New Evangelization. Eight years on we have a turbocharged air conditioner, and I’m still making mistakes. But I am also still doing my best to preach the Gospel, in season and out, in the service of leading everyone to know, love, and serve the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for these last eight years, and please pray for my service in the next eight, beginning now in the Year for Priests.

Father Newman

Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ

Pat Perkins — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 05:01:51 GMT

Praised be Jesus Christ! Now and forever!

Dear Friends in Christ,

As He was ascending to the glory of the Father, Jesus said, “Behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age” (Mt 28:20). And He also taught us: “Amen, amen, I say to you: unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you do not have life within you” (John 6:53). He fulfills both of these promises by remaining with His Church and giving Himself to us in the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist.

“The mode of Christ’s presence under the Eucharistic species is unique. It raises the Eucharist above all the sacraments as the perfection of the spiritual life and the end to which all the sacraments tend. In the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of Our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the whole Christ is truly, really, and substantially contained….It is by the conversion of the bread and wine into Christ’s body and blood that Christ becomes present in this sacrament….The Eucharistic presence of Christ begins at the moment of the consecration and endures as long as the Eucharistic species subsist. Christ is present whole and entire in each of the species and whole and entire in each of their parts, in such a way that the breaking of bread does not divide Christ.” (cf. CCC 1374, 1375, 1377)

“The Council of Trent summarizes the Catholic faith by declaring: ‘Because Christ our Redeemer said that it was truly His body that He was offering under the species of bread, it has always been the conviction of the Church of God, that this holy Council now declares again, that by the consecration of the bread and wine there takes place a change of the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the body of Christ our Lord and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of His blood. This change the holy Catholic Church fittingly and properly calls transubstantiation.’”
(CCC no. 1376)

In the Most Blessed Sacrament we behold the same Christ now worshiped in glory by the angels and saints: Come, let us adore Him!

Father Newman

Our Lady of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, pray for us.

SOLEMNITY OF THE MOST HOLY TRINITY

Pat Perkins — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 05:01:19 GMT

Praised be Jesus Christ! Now and forever!

Dear Friends in Christ,

“Christians are baptized in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit; not in their names, for there is only one God, the almighty Father, His only Son, and the Holy Spirit: the Most Holy Trinity.

“The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is the central mystery of Christian faith and life. It is the mystery of God in Himself. It is therefore the source of all other mysteries of faith, the light that enlightens them. It is the most fundamental and essential teaching in the hierarchy of the truths of faith. The whole history of salvation is identical with the history of the way and the means by which the one true God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, reveals Himself to Men and reconciles and unites with Himself those who turn away from Him.

“The Trinity is a mystery of faith in the strict sense, one of the mysteries that are hidden in God, which can never be known unless they are revealed by God. To be sure, God has left traces of His Trinitarian being in His work of creation and in His Revelation throughout the Old Testament. But his inmost Being as Holy Trinity is a mystery that is inaccessible to reason alone or even to Israel’s faith before the Incarnation of God’s Son and the sending of the Holy Spirit.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, nos 233,234, and 237)

On this Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity the Church is filled with marvel that the Three Divine Persons of the one, only, living, and true God desire to share the life and glory of Godhead with persons who are not divine – us! Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit; to God Who is, Who was, and Who is to come!

Father Newman

Our Lady of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, pray for us.

Pentecost Sunday

Pat Perkins — Sun, 31 May 2009 05:01:31 GMT

Praised be Jesus Christ! Now and forever!

Dear Friends in Christ,

The glorious season of Eastertide ends with the Solemnity of Pentecost. Sacred Scripture teaches us that forty days after His Resurrection, the Lord Jesus ascended to the glory of the Father and instructed the Apostles to wait in Jerusalem for the coming of the Comforter and Advocate Who would guide, teach, and direct the Church until Christ’s return in glory at the end of days. This Counsellor, Who came to them ten days later, is none other than the Third Person of the Most Holy Trinity, God the Holy Spirit, and on the Day of Pentecost, the young Church was filled with the fire of God’s love and emboldened to announce the Gospel to the ends of the earth, beginning at Jerusalem. Each year in the sacred liturgy, the Church implores God for a renewal of this Gift of Himself in the beautiful Sequence of Pentecost, a poetic text sung before the proclamation of the Gospel. I suggest that you take time to read and meditate on this text which begs for a stirring up in us of the zeal which first inspired the Church two thousand years ago.

Next week the sacred liturgy provides a meditation on the central mystery of our religion: the one, only, living, and true God – the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – is a Communion of Three Divine Persons sharing the same Divine Substance. The Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity also teaches us that because we are created in God’s image we are created as persons who need communion with other persons to fulfill our nature, and this need of our nature can be fulfilled only when we enjoy everlasting communion with the Divine Persons of the Triune God.

And in two weeks, we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, customarily called Corpus Christi from the Latin title of the feast. This great celebration directs us to the extraordinary gift of Christ in the Eucharist; we receive not something from Christ, but Christ Himself. The risen and glorified Jesus now adored by the angels and saints gives Himself to us under the appearance of bread and wine, and in this way, by the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus fulfills His promise to remain with us until the end of the world and gives us the means for genuine communion with the Triune God.

May the great mysteries celebrated at Pentecost, Trinity Sunday, and Corpus Christi draw us all ever more fully into God’s eternal Plan of Salvation and make us more perfect witnesses of Christ to the world.

Father Newman