St. Leonard Catholic Parish
M
anotick, Ont
"Celebrating 50 Years as a Catholic Community
"
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Monthly E-Newsletter for June 2018
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Welcome to the St. Leonard monthly E-Newsletter.
Please take note of our Parish Potluck Lunch coming up on June 17th and come on out and join in the fun.
If you know someone who might benefit from this E-Newsletter, please forward it to them. If you do not wish to receive this Community Newsletter please unsubscribe at the bottom of this page..The E-Newsletter will not be published in July and August and will resume on Sept 1st. Best wishes for a great summer!
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Pastor's Message for June 1st
St. Leonard's Parish Celebrates 50 Years of Community
This year we celebrate the 50
th
Anniversary of St. Leonard Church. The community of St. Leonard was founded in 1968. The first Mass was celebrated on October 13, 1968 by Father John Meenderink, SCJ, in the gymnasium of St. Leonard Elementary School, which had been built in 1965. Mass did not take place in our current Church building until 1981. To mark our golden anniversary a number of events have been scheduled this year. A relic of St. Leonard (of Port Maurice, Italy) will be placed in our Church altar and consecrated by Archbishop Prendergast at the 11:00 am Mass on Sunday, June 17th. Our Parish Pot Luck luncheon will follow. An anniversary celebration will be held the weekend of October 13
th
to mark the actual date that our Parish was formed.
In the coming months, we will focus our energies on building the Community of St. Leonard. Our vision is “to grow disciples”. Not just happy parishioners but a community of believers fully committed to Christ. One Church based on “One Lord, One faith, One baptism” (Ephesians 4:5).
While much has been accomplished already, there remains much more to do. Together, we will direct our energies to building a stronger Community by applying our collective talents to establishing a thriving St. Leonard Community based upon Love and Service.
We all know that God speaks to us in many ways. Over the last several months, scripture readings and Parish events have conspired to point the way for us. We saw how we, as individuals, evolve in our relationship with God throughout our life here on earth. In the early stages, God is foreign to our “life” and unknown to us. As we mature and grow in faith, He becomes an important part of our life and as we further discover God’s plan and love for us we learn that He lives within us. He becomes central to our life.
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Two scripture readings come together to guide our individual role in our Community. These scriptures speak to us personally as a member of this community:
1. "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that bears no fruit he cuts away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes to make it bear even more." John 15,1-2
God is constantly working at making us a better version of ourselves. His purpose is to make our fruit abundant.
2. "For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body."
1 Corinthians 12, 12-13
We each have different talents (fruit) and all are necessary to build out a strong Community.
And one final thought on Church as Community. I think many Catholics “go to Church” as opposed to “belong to a Church Community”. Our challenge is to encourage those that are consumers of Church (i.e., get Sacraments, go to Mass, listen to the homily, receive Communion) to grow into becoming fully committed disciples of Christ (i.e., serve in the liturgy, reach out to the needy, bring new people to “come and see”, be good stewards). Stay tuned for more on this this theme of “building community” over the coming months.
Throughout this summer season may God bless you and all those you love.
Fr. Titus
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St. Leonard at Pentecost
On Pentecost Sunday we celebrated the coming of the Holy Spirit and the birth of the Catholic Church. Father Titus ushered in the beginning of the Parish's 50th anniversary celebrations. He told a story of how another faith community came to be. This story relates to two brothers who farmed together. One was married and had a large family, while the other was single. They lived in close proximity to each other, and each worked his land growing wheat. When harvest time arrived, each was blessed with a bountiful crop and piled up his grain for long-term storage. The unmarried brother, observing his good fortune, thought to himself that God had blessed him with more than he needed, whereas his brother, who was blessed with a large family, could surely use more. He arose in the middle of the night and secretly took from his grain and put it in his brother’s pile. Similarly, the married brother thought to himself that he was fortunate to have children who will care for him in his old age, while his brother will depend on what he saved. He, too, arose in the middle of the night and quietly transferred grain from his pile to his brother’s. In the morning, each pondered why there was no noticeable decrease in his own pile, and so they repeated the transfer the next night. These nocturnal activities went on for several nights, until one night the brothers bumped into each other. In that instant, in the dark of night, the glow of brotherly love lit up the mountain sky; they each understood what the other had been doing and fell into each other’s arms in a loving embrace. The people of the village considered their meeting place very holy because brotherly selfless love had met there and they built a church upon this location to honour this love..
Church community is not about structures; it is about building communion. As we complete 50 years as a community of faith today let us reflect on our identity, role, privilege and responsibility. We thank God and we also examine ourselves and we reaffirm our commitment to be people of God.
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FORMED Resources for June
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“Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you . . . He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him'” (John 6:53-56). The source and summit of our Catholic faith is the Holy Eucharist. This month let us enter into "Communion" more deeply.
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Bishop Barron: "Religion and the Opening of the Mind"
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Bishop Robert Barron, as part of his ongoing mission to engage the secular culture and advance the New Evangelization, recently appeared at Google corporate headquarters where he spoke to a room full of Google and YouTube employees on "Religion and the Opening Up of the Mind."
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Youth Movie Night- June 29th
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We are having our first youth movie night! It will be on Friday, June 29 from 7:00 pm to 9:30 pm. The movie being shown is "God's Not Dead". Free pizza will be provided! Please bring enough of your peanut free candy to share. A sign-up sheet is available at the back of the Church until June 24. Please sign up so we can buy enough pizza for everybody!
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73 Children Prepared for Confirmation
This year, we launched a new program for the Sacrament of Confirmation based on Matthew Kelly's videos and workbook Decision Point as the foundation of the program. Highlights of the year included:
- Reflecting on the week's Gospel and homily by writing in journals
- Each session concluded with interactive games to enhance the children's knowledge of foundation pieces of faith which included identifying key parts of the Mass to naming Saints. All games concluded with candy prizes which were well earned!
- At the Confirmation retreat, we had two young adults share their testimonies and spiritual journeys growing up in the parish which was a definite highlight.
- The candidates learned about the Holy Spirit and how he guides us to becoming our best selves.
- The children wrote letters to Father Titus about why they wanted to be confirmed after having learned what that meant for their spiritual life.
- The CWL ladies provided the children with prayer rocks to help them focus on their prayer life.
- The Knights of Columbus provided an 'Honor Guard' for the candidates which made the reconciliation service extra special.
- Parishioners picked names of candidates to pray for throughout their formation.
In these ways, our church family has wrapped their arms around these children and their families in support and shown that we are truly a village. It was an awesome year and the Confirmation team felt honored and privileged to guide the children as they prepared for this important sacrament. We continue to pray for the 73 children who have completed the confirmation program and will be confirmed June 24th.
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Ministry
St. Leonard's Development and Peace Update
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We are delighted to announce that this month has brought three new members to the Development and Peace team at St. Leonards. Please welcome Jean Lashley, Sandy Woods and Rawle Bachoo. Thank you all for your interest and your commitment.
Earlier in May, Carroll Woods and Jean Lashley attended the AGM for Ontario's Development and Peace at Algonquin College in Ottawa. Eighty people were in attendance from across the province. We heard from Serge Langlois, Executive Director from head office in Montreal, from Richard Pommainville, the National Council treasurer, the Youth Committee and several others about the continuing and inspiring work of D&P - Caritas Canada. Fr. Geoff Kerslake presided over the Mass on Saturday evening and gave us a very pertinent and supportive message on our mission. We also heard about the Fall Campaign for 2018 that is taking shape and will revolve around the plight of refugee and migrant people in the world.
Carroll also had a chance to catch up with her fellow D&P travelers to Ethopia . From left to right, Luke Stocking, animator for Toronto, Patricia Griffith, parish rep from Toronto area, Rose-Marie Valade, member on the National Council and Carroll Woods, parish rep from St. Leonard's. Visit the
Development and Peace website
for more information.
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Financial Offerings Update
As we approach the summer months we would like to thank all those who very generously support our parish financially. As of the end of May, collections are tracking approximately $11,000 ahead of last year. We have several significant projects currently under review; namely converting our electric heat to natural gas and secondly, looking at options to make our church basement more attractive and appealing for our downstairs gatherings. Without your continued financial support, projects like these could not be considered.
In early April, Father Titus made an appeal to increase the number of pre- authorized givers. We can report that as of the end of May, that number has grown to 87, so we’re slowly inching our way to our target of 100. As we now approach the summer months, we typically see a decline in both church attendance and collections revenue due to people being away on vacation or weekend cottages. This would be a great time to consider converting to being a pre-authorized giver if you have not as yet done so please
Click here
to sign-up.
For those that use their credit cards for most purchases as you collect points, we’d like to draw your attention to the website
CanadaHelps.org.
Using this website, you can select St Leonard as the recipient of your donations, choice the amount and frequency, and your church donations will be charged to your credit card. The parish receives your funds directly from Canada Helps. Your end of year tax receipt will come directly from Canada Helps along with a detailed report listing each of your donations for the year. This is another great option when choosing to become a pre-authorized giver.
Thanks for all of your ongoing financial support to our community!
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June 5 Women’s Bible Study 7:00 p.m.
June 6 Pastoral Council Meeting 7:00 p.m.
June 12 Women’s Bible Study 7:00 p.m.
June 13 Knights of Columbus Meeting 7:00 p.m.
June 17 11:00 a.m. Consecration of relic for our new altar and Parish Potluck
June 19 Women’s Bible Study 7:00 p.m.
June 20 CWL Meeting 7:00 p.m.
June 24 Confirmation celebration Notre Dame Cathedral 2:30 p.m.
June 29 Youth Movie Night 7 – 9:30 p.m.
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After the 9 am and 11 am Sunday masses in June coffee will be served in the Parish Hall. Click on the
Parish Calendar
for a full listing of upcoming meetings and events.
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Parishioner Feedback: We Love Your Input!
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Dear Parishioners we are very interested in your feedback. If have any comments and/or suggestions as it relates to any of our Parish activities, including the E-Newsletter, please
click here.
If you would like a direct response to your suggestion, please include your email address.
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Mobile Application
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St. Leonard Parish
office@stleonardsparish.ca
www.stleonardsparish.ca
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