SUNDAY MASS October 12, 2008

Father in heaven,
the hand of your loving kindness
powerfully yet gently guides all the moments of our day.
Go before us in our pilgrimage of life,
anticipate our needs and prevent our falling.
Send your Spirit to unite us in faith,
that sharing in your service,
we may rejoice in your presence.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen

 

PRO-LIFE BREAKFAST- TODAY
October is Respect Life Month. Our parish Knights of Columbus are sponsoring a breakfast, TODAY, October 12, from 9:30-12:30pm in our Parish Center. All proceeds will be given to the Fr. Taaffe Homes for Unwed Mothers and the Canby Pregnancy Care Center. Menu will include ham, eggs, pancakes, french toast, juice and beverage. Children under 6 eat free, children 6-12 are $3, adults are $4.50. Come, socialize and support a great cause.

COLUMBUS DAY HOLIDAY
The Parish Office will be closed on Monday, October 13, 2008 for Columbus Day.

HOPE VILLAGE MASS
This Wednesday, October 15 at 10:30am is our monthly Mass at Hope Village. Everyone is welcome to come and celebrate the Mass with the residents of Hope Village. The Mass is held in the library of the Assisted Living side of the facility. Visitors are asked to park on the side and back parking lots, please.

ONE SUNDAY FOR THE WHOLE WORLD
Next Sunday, Pope Benedict XVI calls every Catholic in the world to celebrate our vocation to be missionaries. A second collection will be taken at all the Masses next weekend for World Mission Sunday! As Catholics around the world - here at home and in the Missions - gather at the Eucharist around the table of the Lord, we are to pray for the Church’s worldwide missionary work. We pray for those awaiting the “Good News” of our Lord’s great love for us and for the missionaries who offer the poor and suffering the light of Christ. And we are to offer financial help through the Society for the Propagation of the Faith for more than 1,150 dioceses in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Pacific Islands. Please give generously by using the attached envelope.

ATTENTION! CONFIRMATION STUDENTS
If you wish to be confirmed this year and are a Freshman thru Senior, you must attend the class on October 19th at 2:00pm.

 

Reflecting the Gospel

If one goes into a card shop, there is usually a whole section with packets of party invitations. Judging by the number of different occasions, we conclude that most of us like parties, open house celebrations, etc. Judging from the number of cards in each packet-usually a minimum of eight to ten-we also like lots of people at our parties. A full house is a sign of friendship, approval, belonging, celebration, etc. How disappointing for us, if, for example, a party scheduled for October is not well attended because of an early ice or snow storm. All that work, and so few people! Beyond lots of leftover food and drink, these social occasions seldom have any other ramifications. The first reading and gospel this Sunday, however, are both about banquets; but attending these festive occasions or not has serious ramifications: the judgment about who enters eternal life. At the level of the narrative in this Sunday’s gospel, from our own experience we can well identify with the king’s disappointment and anger. However, the real issue here isn’t friendship, being good subjects of the king, or graciousness in responding to an invitation. Coupled with the first reading, this parable takes us in an entirely different direction. In Jesus’ parable, the invitation issued is extraordinary: it comes from a king, it involves a lavish feast for the wedding of his son, it is issued several times. Who could refuse it? Yet, people foolishly do and with tragic consequences. But in fact, even more is at stake for us than a royal dinner. The first reading reveals the wedding feast to be nothing less than the messianic banquet of eternal life. This is the invitation that is issued to us; our response is either to receive or reject eternal life. This is what is at stake in accepting the invitation: eternal life. Our response, however, must be more than a matter of merely coming to the banquet. The last part of the gospel includes a judgment: just as the king made the banquet ready by preparing it, the guests, must prepare for the banquet as well. All peoples are invited to God’s banquet, but there are responsibilities that accompany the invitation. Sinners are invited, but they must repent of their sinful ways and live good lives. To share in God’s banquet we must do our part. We must live our lives doing God’s will. We must be faithful subjects of our divine King by being faithful disciples of the King’s Son.

Parish Community News

OUR PRIVILEGE, OUR RIGHT, AND OUR DUTY

As it is written ‘Even if these forget, yet I will not forget you.’ (Is 49:15):

We in the Catholic Church in the Community of St. Patrick remember, hold in our memory, and pray for the men and women who serve in the Armed Forces especially: Ryan Thomas Blackwood, Ryan Bridges, Lonnie Brown, Nathan Brown, Douglas Bower Jr., Carlos Bustamante, Adamm Creel, Isaiah Creel, David Davis, Brad Dunn, Brian Dykeman, Bill Ellis, Adam Ferrell, Andrew Gibby, David Hannon, April Kennedy, Mike Krzmarzick, Jessica Krzmarzick (wife of Michael Krzmarzick) Johnny Lugo, Alex Martin, Ryan McInnis, John Nguyen, Robert Selner, Tarl Spencer, Leah Sundquist, Kenneth Thorpe, CJ Trillo, Jonathan Tuner, William Walsh, Erik Wiesehan and Ivan Wilson, may they be servants of Christ through service to those in need, and may they be kept safe from all harm.

PARISH SUPPORT
Parishioners of St. Patrick through the Sacrificial giving program gave to God the gift: October 5, 2008

Building Fund $692.00
Cemetery $10.00
Envelopes’ $9396.00
Loose $449.58
Children’s $
Poor $326.94
Total $10,874.52

 

Only goodness and kindness
follow me
all the days of my life.
Psalm 23:5

MASS SCHEDULE

Tuesday, October 14, 2008
+Larry Housen by Ann Housen & family
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
+Marino Malatesta by Guerino Pomante &
Dino Pomante & family
Thursday, October 16, 2008
+Gil & Julia Carriera by Frank Carriera
Friday, October 17, 2008
+Evelyn Montecucco by family

EVENT’S AROUND THE AREA

JESUIT HIGH SCHOOL, OPEN HOUSE
Sunday, October 26, 2008
1:00pm-4:00pm
Presentations and demonstrations by Jesuit staff and students will be a part of this special Open House.
Address: 9000 SW Beaverton-Hillsdale Highway - Portland
For more information please call 503-292-2663 or visit their website at www.jesuitportland.org.

COME AND SEE WEEKEND FOR SINGLE CATHOLIC WOMEN is scheduled for October 24-26. Come and experience the Benedictine Way of life loved here at Queen of Angels Monastery at 840 S. Main St., Mt. Angel, OR. Come share our prayer, community and ministries over the weekend. Call Sr. Marietta or Sr. Regina at 503-845-6141 for reservations.

INTRODUCTION TO THE LABYRINTH
Saturday, October 18, 9:00am -4:00pm at Franciscan Spiritual Center, 6902 SE Lake Rd., Suite 300, Milwaukie. This day of retreat will give both experienced labyrinth walkers and those new to the labyrinth an opportunity to come to the center to be renewed and refreshed. The day will include an introduction to the labyrinth, opportunities to walk it both in the morning and afternoon, personal reflection time and sharing time with other participants. Cost: $50.00 (bring a lunch). To register, call 503-794-8542 or email info@francisspctr.com. For more information, visit www.francisspctr.com.

 

Religious Education

NURSERY
Nursery is now open at the 11am Mass for ages 18 months - 4 years old. If you would like to take advantage of this program, please register after the Sunday morning Masses in the nursery or call Angela at 503-263-6622 so we know there is interest.

ROSARY OCTOBER 19 @ 10AM IN THE CHURCH. Kindergarten through 5th grades are inviting all parents/family members (especially Grandparents) and parishioners to our Rosary ceremony. Please come pray the Rosary with our children. Thank you.

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES
Our Religious Education Program is always looking for volunteers to help with the many aspects that make up our Religious Education Program. We are always looking for substitute teachers, assistants and parent volunteers who can help with the extra events that come up through out the year. If you can help, please contact Connie Bilton Smith at the Parish Office, 503-266-9411.

SACRAMENT PREPARATION
Registration for the Sacraments will be at the initial class. Be sure you are signed up for Youth Ministry or Religious Education as a part of your preparation for Sacraments. If you were not baptized at St Patrick, you need to supply a copy of your child’s baptismal certificate at the time of Registration.

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
You must be registered for Religious Education unless you are in a Catholic School to be able to prepare for Sacraments. If you are receiving Sacraments this year you must provide a baptismal copy at the time of registration if you were not baptized at St Patrick. Registration forms will also be available in the Church vestibule.

REFLECTION
I1 SACRO SPECO ( THE HOLY CAVE)
About 40 miles east of Rome you runup against the mountains around Subiaco, the region to which a young Saint Benedict retired around 500 AD. To live in solitude and contemplation. An older hermit showed him a cave high up on the cliff of a canyon and there he remained until, drawn by appeals of others, he emerged to find the present monastery at Subiaco and the Benediction order which went on to civilize Europe’s barbarian ancestors.
The original cave can still be seen within the walls of the precariously perched priory that was built around it ages ago.
It has been incorporated into a series of three chapels dating from before 1100 AD. There is a large upper chapel from which a stone stairway leads down to the chapel built around the cave itself. Each chapel is a jewel. There are arches and slender columns, a marble altar covered with gold, blue, and crimson mosaics. But most over whelming are the frescoes dating from as early as 700 AD, which cover every square foot of wall and ceiling.
Obviously the monks who created these chapels were not content only to hear the Gospel. They needed to see it happening all around them. And so they painted the walls and ceilings with splendid impressions of Gospel events. The upper chapel portrays the whole climax of Christ’s life, from his entry into Jerusalem, the kiss of Judas, the flight of the disciples, his Crucifixion, the meeting with Mary Magdalen in the garden, His confrontation of doubting Thomas, to His ascension into heaven. There it is in reds, blues, purples, silver, and gold. And then there are iconic images of Mary and saints. In the lowest chapel there’s even an image of Saint Francis, painted from life when he visited the place in 1223. It’s tucked behind a corner at shoulder level and when you stumble upon it in all your vulnerability, his wide open, gracious eyes look right into your soul.
Well, as if the art weren’t enough, when my wife and I recently visited this treasure there was a wedding in the upper chapel. In other words, we were lucky enough to experience the place not as a mere museum but as an environment alive with faith and love. It was as though all those frescoes were hardly relics of the past but beautifully present participants in the current event, beaming down with eyes strangely alive upon the equally beautiful bride and groom, family and friends-who were also beautifully attired.
Bellezza! Beauty! That’s what summed up for me the whole experience of that place and moment. Beauty. And after all, isn’t that what religion is ultimately about: becoming beautiful, perceiving and creating beauty everywhere, behaving beautifully and not just puritanically? And then I shuddered-for, standing there amid all that beauty dressed as I was in the khaki trousers, sports shirt, and hiking boots of your standard American tourist, there came to my mind that Gospel about a wedding feast and I expected someone at any moment to approach me like the king in the parable and ask, “My friend, how is it you came in here not properly dressed?
And I thought, “By golly, I’ve got to acquire a change of wardrobe. Not only literally but spiritually. I’ve got to divest myself of all the sourness and whining and grinding of teeth, the resentments, anxiety, excuses-the things that perpetually mute my beauty. I’ve got to get more joy, faith, love, vision, grace-in a word- more beauty into my life if I am ever to become eligible to enjoy the world of Christ so beautifully reflected here within this Sacro Speco of Subiaco.”
From: Living the Lectionary: Links to Life and Literature

WHAT HAPPENING

THE RCIA
Next Sunday we will celebrate the first of the Rites of Christian Initiation of Adults with the Rite of Welcome at the 11:00 am Mass. The Rite of Welcome is the first of the public Rites which marks the catechumen’s (an un-baptized adult preparing for reception of the sacraments) intent to study and prepare for entry into the Catholic faith through the Sacraments of Initiation. Our adult inquirers will be participating in a pre-rite retreat at Shalom Prayer Center on Saturday, October 18. Please keep our adult inquirers in your prayers as they discern their journey in faith in the Catholic Church.

IT’S ABOUT TIME.....TO SOUND-PROOF OUR CONFESSIONAL
Has anyone noticed the sign on the flower room door which asks you Not To Enter During the Hour of Confession? Have you ever wondered why? Currently we rely on individual courtesy for confessional privacy yet individual courtesy isn’t really enough to keep our Sacrament of Reconciliation completely private. Part of our proposed renovations is to completely sound-proof the confessional. Safeguarding the sanctity of the sacrament. It’s About Time.

ST. PATRICK’S WOMEN’S CLUB AUTUMN TEA
Annual St. Patrick Women’s Club Autumn Tea will be held on Saturday, October 18, 2008 from 12:00pm - 3:00pm in the Parish Center. Tickets are $5.00 and will be available after all the Masses and at the door. Come and enjoy a wonderful Saturday afternoon with some friends and family and enjoy some wonderful tasting and fancy refreshments.

LAST CHANCE TO PURCHASE TICKETS FOR THE ADULT DINNER/DANCE FUNDRAISER
Adults of all ages are invited to St. Patrick Annual Adult Dinner/Dance Fundraiser sponsored by the Knights of Columbus. The event will be on Saturday, October 18, 2008, from 6 to 11pm in the Parish Center. The event which was great fun last year is called “Rockin’ Thru the Decades.” Dinner at 6:30pm will include your choice of either prime rib or BBQ chicken. The dance (8-11pm) will feature great tunes from the 1940's through the 1990's. A fund raising activity will be incorporated into the evening. Money raised will be used for Parish building improvements. The cost is $20 per person. Tickets must be pre purchased by Oct. 12 and can be obtained after the weekend Masses, or by calling Ron at 503-266-1225. Come join us for a rockin’ good time!

ANNUAL HOLIDAY BAZAAR
Please mark your calendars for St. Patrick Annual Holiday Craft Bazaar, to be held Saturday, November 15th from 9am to 5pm and Sunday, November 16th from 9am to 2pm in the Parish Center. Sign up no to sell your unique home made crafts and gifts. To receive an application, please email StPatsBazaar@gmail.com or stop by the Parish Office.

LADIES OF THE PARISH
St. Patrick Women’s Club will meet this Monday, October 13 at 7:00pm. We 0will be eating cookies, visiting, working on decorations and final plans for the upcoming Fall Tea as well as the Christmas Bazaar. Come join us, and bring your pinking shears if you have them.

What's Happening

October 12-18, 2008
Sunday
KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS BREAKFAST
9:45am Religious Education Program [Kindergarten-
5th Grade]
11:00am Preschool/Nursery
2:00pm Hispanic Youth Group
3:00pm Spanish RCIC
4:00pm Youth Group
5:00pm Hispanic Bible Study
Monday
9:15am Bible Study
7:00pm St. Patrick Women’s Club
Tuesday
7:00pm Tuesday evening Mass
Wednesday
10:30am Mass at Hope Village
7:00pm Faith Sharing
7:00pm R.C.I.A.
7:00pm Journey in Faith (Junior High)
Thursday
12:00pm Eucharistic Adoration
6:30pm Spanish RCIA
6:30pm Spanish Religious Education classes
7:00pm Bible Study
7:00pm Baptismal Preparation class
8:00pm Benediction
Friday
7:00am Marian Prayer Group
7:00pm Hispanic Prayer Group
Saturday
12:00noon-3pm St. Patrick Women’s Club Autumn Tea
6:00pm-11pm Knights of Columbus Dinner/Dance

I shall live in the house
of the Lord
all the days of my life.
Psalm 23

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LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOU LOVE YOURSELF