Blessed Sacrament Parish Bulletin Dec. 28, 2014

BLESSED SACRAMENT PARISH
Staten Island, New York
Reverend Monsignor Peter G. Finn, Pastor
Reverend Francisco Lanzaderas
Reverend Albin Roby
Reverend Monsignor Francis V. Boyle, Pastor Emeritus
MASSES:
Saturday in the Church: 5:00 PM (Vigil), Sunday 8:00, 9:30, 11:00 AM, 12:30 PM.
Weekdays in the Church: 7:00 AM and 9:00 AM. Saturday in the Church: 9:00 AM.
Holy Days in the Church: 7:00 PM (Vigil), 7:00, 9:00, 11:00 AM and 7:00 PM.
SACRAMENT OF RECONCILIATION
Saturday: 12:00 to 1:00 PM; 4:15 to 5:00 PM.
Anytime upon reasonable request.
SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM
Sunday at 2:00 PM. (Except during July & August, then only on the First and Third Sunday and other specified days)
Arrangements should be made at least one month in advance with the priest of the Parish. Parents of a first child and
parents who are new to Blessed Sacrament must attend a Baptism Instruction Class which is held the second
Wednesday evening of every month (except July and August) at 7:30 P.M. in the Parish House Meeting Room.
Godparents should be Practicing Catholics, and must obtain a Sponsor Certificate from their Parish.
SACRAMENT OF MATRIMONY
Arrangements should be made about six months in advance, with a priest of the Parish. Couples must attend PreCana Conferences.
SICK CALLS - At any time.
MIRACULOUS MEDAL NOVENA - Every Monday after the 9:00 AM Mass.
EUCHARISTIC ADORATION - First Friday from 12:00 Noon to 2:00 P.M.
NEW PARISHIONERS - Welcome to our Parish.
We invite all parishioners to participate fully in our spiritual and social life. If you are new in the parish, please
introduce yourself after Mass and register at the Parish House Office weekdays 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM. Kindly notify us
if you change your address.
PARISH HOUSE
30 Manor Road
442-1581
http://www.blessedsacramentchurchsi.com
SCHOOL
Mr. Joseph Cocozello
Principal
830 Delafield Avenue
442-3090
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
Sister Anne Dolores Van Wagenen, C.S.JB. - D.R.E.
830 Delafield Avenue
448-0378
PAGE TWO
DECEMBER 28, 2014
WE ARE GOD’S HOLY FAMILY
The scriptures of Israel are filled with many
stories of barren couples who were miraculously
granted the gift of children by God. Surely the best
known among these is the first reading from today,
from which Luke took inspiration when he recounted
the miraculous birth of John the Baptist to Zechariah
and Elizabeth, and the more miraculous birth of
Jesus to Mary and Joseph. In each instance, we are
given examples of role models of those who trusted
in God. More than examples of those who trust, they
are models of self-surrender. They abandoned their
own presuppositions and prejudices about the
workings of the world and turned their lives over to
belief in a God who can make life grow where none
ought to; a God who can turn death around into a
new and unimagined life; a God who can, today, take
a tiny child of humble parents in an insignificant town
and make him into a light for all the world. This is
what we, as God’s holy family, are called to do each
day: to trust not in ourselves and the way we think
things should be, but to open ourselves and
surrender ourselves in faith to a God of endless
promise.
Copyright J.S. Paluch Co.
PRAY FOR THE SICK
The sick are comforted just knowing that you pray for them
In your charity please remember: Margaret Pittman-Boyle,
Douglas Pfleging, Jr., Phyllis Ribaudo, Ann Socci, James
Burghardt, Concetta Chicolo, Kelly Ward, Catherine
Crane, Amelia DiMauro, Lisa Barlow, Mary Kenny, David
Averack, Kathryn Haring, Jean Carter, Stephanie Barry,
Jane Redmond, Carolyn DeStefano, Robert Tursi, Deirdre
Westergren, Betty O’Brien, Nicholas Toto, Marykate Rose,
Carlo Fumando, Peggy Travers, Mary Anne Blaine, Jean
Cunningham, Jean Elmadary, Jameson Riley David, Alan
March, Sebastian Lattuga, Grayce Novaro, Angela
Siuzdak, Helen Ramsey, Katherine Barbera, Phyllis
Scharfenberg, Phyllis Giambruno, Margaret Romani,
Phyllis March, Br. William Herbst, Barbara Brown, Michael
Caruso, Patricia Connelly, Eugene Esposito, Hugh
Kiernan, Mary Belli, Mark Volpe, Elaine Lydersen, Linda
Hansen, Dean Robert Ziegler, Susannah Yates, Carol
Stoltzfus, Harvey Minars, , Marco Antonio Gonzalez,
Grace Leddy, Margaret King, Joseph D’Amico, Infant
Twins, Allison & Adrianna, and Kathy Quinlan.
SYMPATHY
Remember the souls of George Kahles, Armando Carles
and the souls for whom Mass will be offered during the
week, especially:
MONDAY
7:00 James Finn
9:00 James L. Deignan
TUESDAY
7:00 Burton Cohen
9:00 Gustave Grecsek, Sr.
WEDNESDAY
2015
On behalf of Fr. Frank, Fr. Roby, Mr. Cocozello,
Principal, Sister Anne Dolores, Director of Religious
Education and our Parish and School Staffs, I would
like to wish our Parish Family the blessings of a Holy,
Happy and Healthy New Year.
Msgr. Finn
THE SANCTUARY LAMP
KEEPS ITS SILENT VIGIL
BEFORE THE BLESSED SACRAMENT
IN LOVING MEMORY OF
ANTHONY MAZZA
7:00 John Driscoll
9:00 John Schwarz
5:00 Vigil Mass – Christmas Novena Intentions
THURSDAY
Solemnity of Mary, The Holy Mother of God
8:00 Christmas Novena Intentions
9:30 Anna Giorgio & Christmas Novena Intentions
12:30 John Schwarz & Christmas Novena Intentions
FRIDAY
7:00 John E. Finn, Jr. (Living Intention)
9:00 Joselito & Marietta Ybanez
SATURDAY
9:00 Robert W. Durr (Living Intention)
5:00 Al & Ann Gaudet
SUNDAY
8:00 Emily Marie McQuade
9:30 Donna & Steven Ancona
12:30 John Schwarz
PAGE THREE
THE HOLY FAMILY OF JESUS, MARY & JOSEPH
SCHEDULE JANUARY 4, 2015
5:00 PM Vigil
8:00 AM
9:30 AM
11:00 AM
12:30 PM
ALTAR SERVERS
Team
10
Team
6
Team
7
Team
8
Team
9
LECTORS
T
PARISH NURSE PROGRAM
The Parish Nurse’s office hours are on Tuesdays
and Thursdays from 9:00 A.M. to 4:30 P.M. If you
wish to make an appointment with the Parish
Nurse, Peggy Smith, please call her at 718-4479657.
FEEDING OUR NEIGHBORS
An Archdiocesan-Wide Drive to Replenish
Food Pantries
Sunday, January 25, 2015 to
Sunday, February 1, 2015
Nearly 325,000 children have difficulty affording
food, that’s 22% of children in the 10 counties of
the Archdiocese. Do your part to make sure no
hungry neighbor is turned away from Sunday,
January 25th through Sunday, February 1st for the
Feeding Our Neighbors Campaign.
The three simple ways to participate and contribute
to the Campaign are:
--Donate to a collection of money to support
emergency food programs
--Participate in the Food Drive at our Parish
--Volunteer at a Food Pantry
EXTRAORDINARY MINISTERS
T
B
B
A
A
PLEASE NOTE: The Parish House Office will
close at 1:00 P.M. on December 31st and will be
closed on January 1, and 2, 2015 in observance of
the New Year Holiday.
COLLECTION
FOR
THE
CATHOLIC
COMMUNICATIONS CAMPAIGN will take place
on January 4, 2015. This Collection helps to share
faith, demonstrate worship and be a witness of
God’s love through social media, television, radio
and print media.
COLLECTION FOR THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY
OF AMERICA will also take place on Sunday,
January 4, 2015. The Catholic University of
America is the national university of the Catholic
Church in the United States located in Washington,
D.C. It provides an academically rigorous education
guided by Catholic intellectual tradition to nearly
7,000 students every year. Several thousand
students receive scholarship aid from this
Collection.
The Catholic Communications Campaign and
The Catholic University of America are a
combined Diocesan Collection.
SUNDAYCOLLECTION
COLLECTION
SUNDAY
2014
2010
2009 2013
$8535.00
(Weekly)
$6384.00
(Weekly)
$5495.00 (Weekly)
$6144.00
(Weekly)
$3070.00
<Second
Collection
>$1901.00
$1961.00 (AirCondition) $2136.00 (AirCondition)
ATTENDANCE
ATTENDANCE
2014
2010
782
(Adults)
776 (Adults)
153(Children)
(Children)
179
935
955
2013
2009
791
(Adults)
755 (Adults)
149(Children)
(Children)
198
940
953
JANUARY 1, 2015
PAGE FOUR
FROM THE PASTOR
“Twilight comes, everything ends Till Tomorrow….”
Resolutions with a Higher Purpose
As the calendar counts down ever faster to 2015, you may be wondering what kind of New
Year’s resolutions you should make. In his best-selling book “You Can Change the World,” The
Christophers founder, Father James Keller, had some ideas you might want to consider. Though they
weren’t specifically resolutions (he called them “Reminders for a Christopher”), they’re ideal to think
about at this time of year because they’ll result in both a better you and a better world.
Father Keller’s first piece of advice was: “Depend more on God, less one self. All of us should
pray as if all depended on God and should work as if everything depended on ourselves…The more we
realize our strength is rooted in God, the more we will acquire, and be inspired by, an exhilarating
assurance that nothing can daunt us.”
Another one of Father Keller’s central beliefs was: “Aim to serve, not to be served.” He goes on
to quote American drama critic and author John Mason Brown, whose statement about living a selfless
life resonated with him. Brown wrote, “No one, I am convinced, can be happy who lives only for
himself. The joy of living comes from immersion in something that we know to be bigger, better, more
enduring and worthier than we are. People, ideas, causes-these offer the one possible escape not
merely from selfishness but from the hungers of solitude and the sorrows of aimlessness.”
Since the concept of lighting a candle rather than cursing the darkness was always at the
forefront of Father Keller’s thoughts, he also suggested looking for the best in others even when it’s
easier to see the worst. He wrote, “There’s a bit of nobility in the worst of human beings because all
are made in God’s image and that image can never be completely lost. Never write anybody off!
There’s always hope! Even the man who has decided to have nothing whatever to do with God isn’t
frozen in that state of mind. Deep in the very roots of his being, and just because he is created in the
Divine Image, there is an ever-present tug toward God. It is the privilege of Christophers to help him
become aware of this tremendous tug. For this very reason…Christophers can honestly say to anyone,
‘There is a lot of good in you!’”
Finally—and this may be the hardest resolution of all—Father Keller said, “Don’t flee suffering;
use it.” A perfect illustration of this principle comes from The Christophers’ ”Three Minutes a Day”
book which provides stories and reflections for each day of the year. One of them is about U.S. Army
Sgt. J.D. Williams, who stepped on an improvised explosive device (IED) in the Kandahar Province of
southern Afghanistan. According to Sgt. Williams, the blast launched him 20 feet in the air and left a
six-foot crater in the ground. At a hospital in Germany, they young soldier found out that he would
need to have his right arm and both legs amputated. After his surgeries, Sgt. Williams was sent to an
Army medical center in Texas to recover. Throughout his recovery, Sgt. Williams expressed thanks
that he stepped on the IED himself instead of one of his fellow soldiers. He believes he is a lucky man
and has said, “I really think God has a purpose for me on this planet. I will find it, whatever it is.”
Whatever resolutions you choose for the coming year together with Jerry Costello, Tony Rossi, and all
The Christophers, Blessed Sacrament Parish Family wishes you the blessing of a Happy and Healthy 2015.
GOD BLESS YOU,
MSGR. FINN