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TWENTIETH SUNDAY ORDINARY TIME A
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EAKING OPEN THIS SUNDAY'S READINGS
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20th Sunday in Ordinary Time - A
When Jesus engages with someone in need, he draws out of them a revelation of some aspect of their personality and evidence of their need. In this way every encounter becomes a teaching situation for the disciples as well as the person involved.
Jesus' first response to the Canaanite woman appeared to be a refusal of her request, but she demonstrated an assertive persistence which would have been hard for any woman to do publicly in those times. Her persistence and desperation were evidence of her deep love for her daughter, as was the risk she took in engaging in dialogue with Jesus on equal terms.
In effect the Canaanite woman said to Jesus: "What I am asking is nothing to you but everything to me". Jesus could have stayed with his position that he was "sent only to the lost sheep of Israel" but her need and her desperation gave him the opportunity to transcend the ethnic barriers of his time (a lesson in itself) and to respond with generosity.
We are sometimes exhorted to "give until it hurts" to help those in need. In this episode the Canaanite woman provides a different perspective on generosity. We have so many things that we can give others which cost us almost nothing, and yet may be everything to them - praise for person anxious about their work; a hug for a scared child; our presence at an event; support for a grieving person; engaging in conversation with a newly arrived migrant; even the purchase of a chocolate bar from a child who is fundraising.
Going past our prejudices and suspicions to give a coin to a person with a homeless sign on our streets can be a personal "generosity test" for New Zealanders. We are not used to people begging, and they are now appearing in our cities with increasing frequency. Are they the Canaanite women of our times, seeking something which is not much to us but everything to them?
Who are the Canaanite women in our lives?
New Zealand Catholic Bishops |
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Raymond Kolbe was born in Poland in 1894. He joined the Franciscan Order in 1907 and took the name that we know him by: Maximilian. Maximilian loved his vocation very much, and he especially loved the Blessed Mother. He added the name "Mary" when he pronounced solemn vows in 1914. Father Maximilian Mary was convinced that the world of the twentieth century needed their Heavenly Mother to guide and protect them. He used the printing press to make Mary more widely known. He and his fellow Franciscans published two monthly newsletters that soon went to readers around the world.
The Mother of God blessed Father Maximilian's work. He built a large center in Poland. This center was called "City of the Immaculate." By 1938, 800 Franciscans lived there and labored to make the love of Mary known. Father Kolbe also started another City of the Immaculate in Nagasaki, Japan. Still another was begun in India. In 1939, the Nazis invaded the Polish City of the Immaculate. They stopped the wonderful work going on there. In 1941, the Nazis arrested Father Kolbe. They sentenced him to hard manual labor at Auschwitz.
He was at Auschwitz three months when a prisoner successfully escaped. The Nazis made the rest of the prisoners pay for the escape. They chose ten prisoners at random to die in the starvation bunker. All the prisoners stood at attention, while ten men were pulled out of line. One chosen prisoner, a married man with a family, begged and pleaded to be spared for the sake of his children. Father Kolbe, who had not been picked, listened and felt deeply moved to help that suffering prisoner. He stepped forward and asked the commander if he could take the man's place. The commander accepted his offer.
Father Kolbe and the other prisoners were marched into the starvation bunker. They remained alive without food or water for several days. One by one, as they died, Father Kolbe helped and comforted them. He was the last to die. An injection of carbolic acid hastened his death on August 14, 1941. Pope John Paul II proclaimed him a saint and a martyr in 1982.
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St. Maximilian Kolbe was a hero who gave up his life that someone else might live. He was such a special person because he was a great friend of the Blessed Mother. We can be friends of Mary, too, if we honor her and pray to her.
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THE 5 @ 6 AFTER MASS & HOTDOGS AND STUFF
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We began two additional social events at St Joseph on Sundays to the already popular Coffee and... after the 9am Family Mass. They are the 5 @ 6 After Mass after the Saturday evening Mass and Hotdogs and Stuff after the 11:00 Mass on Sunday. They are both well attended and enjoyable however we need assistance so that the same people are not carrying all the workload.
There will be sign up sheets at the future events to request assistance for future weekends into October. Please consider adopting a weekend or two so that we can keep these great social events going...
Thank you to those of you who have stepped forward to assist thus far.
And great big THANK YOU to Suzanne and Paul Holko for faithfully offering the Coffee and Donuts after the 9am Sunday Family Mass year round for the past many years.
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Education in the context of Faith is Wisdom
As many of you know, our wonderful principal Mr Scott Bannon was offered a position as Assistant Principal of Notre Dame High School in Trumbull this past June. Although we will miss him very much at St Joseph School for all the wonderful educational and institutional innovations he brought to SJS, we know that this offer was one that he could not let slip away and we wish him well and God's blessings in his new position.
Thankfully, the Holy Spirit is alive and well and with St Joseph, watching over our wonderful school. That is most evident in that after an extensive search of several highly qualified applicants,
Ms. Dina Monti has been named the new principal of St. Joseph School and we are very blessed indeed.
Ms. Monti has more than 26 years experience as a Catholic school principal. In making the announcement, Dr. Steven Cheeseman, Superintendent of Schools for the Diocese of Bridgeport, said "Ms. Monti is a proven academic leader and is committed to making sure that students will be well prepared for high school and beyond. In addition to Ms. Monti's strong academic credentials, she is committed to sharing her deep faith with young people.
Ms. Monti comes to St. Joseph School from Stamford, CT, where she was principal of St. Cecilia and Holy Spirit Catholic Schools. She previously served as principal at Our Lady of Fatima School in Wilton, and as principal and teacher at Catholic elementary schools in Bronx, NY. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Fordham University and a Master in Education in School Administration & Supervision from Iona College.
Please welcome Ms. Monti to our St. Joseph Community!
COME AND SEE WHAT WE'RE ALL ABOUT.....
YOU'LL BE GLAD YOU DID!
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ST JOSEPH RIGHT TO LIFE COMMITTEE
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You are probably asking yourself what this familiar sign from Route 7 and 133 has to do with
St Joseph Pro Life Committee. Well, a few months ago the
Pro-Life Committee thought we should begin to bring our pro-life message from the church to the community.
Let's face it, for the most part we are preaching to the choir when it comes to the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death... "Life" is God's greatest gift to the world and it needs to be protected and defended. I am sure we would not get too much resistance about that from our SJC faithful but spreading the message needs to be ubiquitous... (like Geico).
We believe that the community at large is not as informed or convinced of what we believe and why we believe it, so
St Joseph Pro-Life Committee, under the leadership of chairperson Pat Tharrington, want to bring our message public and to do so using local bulletin boards.
Recently, we have gotten quite an education on the location bulletin boards and their monthly rental fees. We looked in New Milford, Danbury, Brookfield and Newtown. We seem to be able to get the best value for our investment right in our backyard from Dr Jenny Conner's office on Federal Road ... and the months of November and December are available.
The monthly rental is $1100 and the one time set up for the ad itself is $850 and it is reusable. This is much more affordable then some of the others boards on more heavily travelled roads.
To fund this endeavor, we have begun a program called the weekly $
Five $ for Life
Envelope Campaign.
Beginning this week we will have gray envelopes in the pew holders requesting financial assistance for our Pro-Life Bulletin Board Campaign. We are trying to raise enough $FIVE$ to fund the November/December bulletin boards to kick off this campaign. We will replenish these envelopes each week and give you a running count of where we are in our goal process.... once we make our goal, we will secure the current bulletin board contract and then go in search of another available board to target and for which to save.
St Rose of Lima in Newtown does a similar program however, they have an
archangel that ensures financially that they have always have a Pro-Life message on Route 6 for the community to think about... If this is your passion and you have the where with all, please let us know.
Thank you for your support of this very worthy campaign!
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WWW.STJOSEPHBROOKFIELD.COM
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We are proud to present our new and improved website!
There are many new features and Catholic content ...
- Static content about the Catholic faith, what Catholics believe, becoming Catholic, the Sacraments and more.
- Daily Meditations: Readings to help parishioners and visitors find a way to set the day in context.
- Faith In Action: Stories about real people and their experiences, plus guides and games for family activities.
- Catholic News and Perspective: Regularly updated news items covering the most pressing Catholic issues.
- Convenient links for electronic contributions applications
- All masses will now be streamed live to the website and Facebook Live and then archived when completed for later viewing - after a week of technological hiccups, learning curves and Mother Nature, I thing we have it locked in... (prayer hands emoji)
- Link to the Pastor's weekly eNote and a link to the Pastor's blog
- Photo albums from many of the parish events over the past year under the Parish Life Tab
- Parish Calendar of Events
IF YOU HAVEN'T GOTTEN THE APP FOR YOUR SMART DEVICE YET HOLD OFF FOR A WEEK OR SO... THE COMPANY WHO DESIGNED OUR WEBSITE IS CREATING A NEW MORE POWERFUL APP THAT WILL ALLOW US TO ACCESS ALL THINGS ST JOSEPH CHURCH QUICKLY AND EASILY ....
....TO BE CONTINUED...
Take a look and enjoy...
May God bless your travels through our new site with inspiration and peace!
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ST JOSEPH CHURCH GOES
GREEN
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St Joseph is going GREEN and the work continues...
This week there continued to be a lot of work going on underground as the electrical contractors ran all the cables from the Rectory, Parish Center and the School to the church basement. The trenches were backfilled, raked, and seeded.
(Above) The installation of the solar panels was completed this week on the school gym roof and the flat roof over the classrooms.
Next week they are planning to go to work on the church HVAC system which should take approximately 2 weeks.
Lastly, the perimeter walls and ceiling of the Church, ParCtr and the Rectory will have foam insulation and traditional insulation installed to maximize the R-Value (The R-value is a measure of thermal resistance, or ability of heat to transfer from hot to cold, through materials (such as insulation) and assemblies of materials (such as walls and floors). The higher the R-value, the more a material prevents heat transfer) of all three buildings thereby making them much more energy efficient.
This is a very exciting time for our parish, and it is especially timely in that these upgrades will be completed as we celebrate our 125th Anniversary year of serving the community of Brookfield.
I'll update again next week but feel free to talk to me after Mass or call the office if you have any questions or suggestions.
Thank you and God Bless you!
PROGRAM OVERVIEW (from previous eNotes)
In a nutshell, the Federal Government, in conjunction with the State of Connecticut, the Town of Brookfield, Eversource Utilities, and the Connecticut Green Bank have offered a solar program called - the C-Pace Program.
Early last year the Diocese of Bridgeport reached out to pastors and principals in the Diocese and presented this program to us as a viable way to upgrade our aging infrastructure. The cost of the upgrades is offset with solar credits from solar panels installed on the school building and by the reduction of annual energy costs by upgrading the HVAC systems in our buildings to high efficiency systems while thoroughly upgrading the foundation, walls and roof insulation to maximum R-factor ratings. In effect we use less by maximizing insulation R-values while minimizing overall energy usage through high efficiency HVAC systems thereby reducing energy costs.
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Let us pray for those in our parish who were recently welcomed through
the Sacrament of Baptism...
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May their lifetime journey in faith sustain them and light their way.
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Let us celebrate with great joy those within our parish who have recently joined hearts and hands in the most sacred union of Holy Matrimony.
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May God continue to bless them and keep them in his watchful care for the rest of their lives as the two of them became one in their new seamless union of love.
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FOR THE FAITHFUL DEPARTED
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Let us pray for those in our parish who have entered into their eternal rest,
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Eternal rest grant unto them
O Lord and let perpetual light shine upon them..
May they rest in peace.
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JUST A FEW THOUGHTS TO PONDER
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*** NEW ***
ST JOSEPH CHURCH 2016/2017 YEAR END FINANCIAL REPORT
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| Yours in Christ Jesus, 
Rev. George F. O'Neill
Pastor
(please excuse my typos etc...)
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