December 11, 2018
The Advent season should come as a reminder to us that we can never be, and should not be, adjusted to the world. We are here to proclaim the reality and the imminence of a wholly other world, a world in which different powers rule and different standards operate. We are here to make it possible for ordinary men and women to believe this, and therefore to live in hope, peace and readiness.
Image: "Woman with Perfume" by Wayne Fort
"Pastoral theology seeks to recapitulate and replicate the saving encounter of Jesus Christ with the saint and the sinner that resides in every human soul, touching every dimension of human existence in the real world." - Bishop Robert McElroy
Carissimi,
This is the 3rd installment of excerpts from a speech delivered by San Diego Bishop Robert McElroy at the 2018 assembly of the Association of U.S. Catholic Priests on the three foundations of the pastoral theology of Pope Francis. They give me hope for our Church.

Rooted in Actual Experience: The final foundation for the pastoral theology that Pope Francis is delineating for the life of the church is the assertion that the church’s pastoral identity and action must be rooted in the life situations that men and women actually experience in the world today… 

This method is rooted in the world as it is, rather than in the world as it is imagined to be…It is this commitment to inductive method informed by faith and theological reflection that was at the heart of Amoris Laetitia and Laudato Si’

The lived reality of men and women and children and families was the starting point for the church’s reflection on marriage and family life, not merely the application point for pre-made theological reflections. 

Similarly, the degradation of the planet which undermines so many elements of human dignity and the future of the earth itself, was the starting point for a Catholic theology of the environment, not merely an insertion point for the rich Catholic tradition on creation. 

It is through this inductive pathway that the whole of the Catholic community becomes in an active sense architects of pastoral theology. 

For the sphere of pastoral theology is the very encounter of God with men and women in their ordinary lives, their dreams and hopes, their sufferings and wounds, their joys and accomplishments. Pastoral theology seeks to recapitulate and replicate the saving encounter of Jesus Christ with the saint and the sinner that resides in every human soul, touching every dimension of human existence in the real world.
The Second Week of Advent: "PEACE"
Aesop's Wolf & Lamb Fable

This is one of Aesop's best known fables: A Wolf meets a Lamb straying from the flock. The Wolf decides not to pounce on the Lamb right away but first to give the Lamb a reason why he, the Wolf, should eat him. So he says to the Lamb: "Hi, it was you who insulted me last year."
 
"Actually," replies the Lamb in a mournful voice, "I was not born then."
 
"But you feed in my pasture,"  says the Wolf.
 
"No, sir," replies the Lamb, "I have not yet tasted the grass."
 
"Besides," says the Wolf, "You drink at my well."
 
"No," exclaims the Lamb, "I never yet drank water, for as yet my mother's milk is both food and drink to me." 
 
At that the Wolf seized him and ate him, saying, "Well! I won't stay without supper, even if you refute every one of my accusations."  READ MORE

We offer you the following Advent devotional video; "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen"
Pastoral Council Election Continues Through This Weekend!
Make Sure to Cast Your Vote!
The St. Ignatius Pastoral Council Election is now open and will be open until 11:59 PM on Sunday, December 16. There are two ways in which you may vote:

  1. Either by paper ballot (available at all Masses on December 15 and 16)
  2. OR by voting electronically, here. 
 
The following are instructions, bios, and the link to the official electronic ballot.
  • You must be a registered Parishioner of St. Ignatius Catholic Community in order to vote in the Pastoral Council Election.
  • Election is now open and will conclude at 11:59 PM on December 16. Ballots received after that date will not be counted. 
  • You may vote for only 2 candidates listed on the ballot (A ballot containing votes for more than 2 candidates is considered invalid and will not be counted.)
  • You may only vote once either online or by paper ballot (available at all Masses on December 15 and 16).

Before you cast your vote, review the candidates by  clicking here .

To continue on to cast your votes, click on the following link:
Tomorrow Night...
Wednesday, December 12, 7:30 PM

As we are awaiting the birth of Christ, the Light of Hope, let our voices be a light for all, as we pray through our singing, our praying, our silence.

This Taizé Advent service is based in the traditions of the Taizé Ecumenical Monastic Community in France. Using simple, repetitive hymns and silent meditation, Taizé is a mystical worship experience of connectedness, centering, and community.

We invite you to take some time to just “be” during the busiest time of the year through community, song, silence, and meditation.

All are welcome!
Upcoming Events
Wednesday, December 12 - 7:30 PM
Taizé Advent Prayer Service
See box above for complete information



Thursday, December 13 - 6:30 PM
Justice & Peace Committee Meeting
Click here for complete information


Saturday, December 15 - 9 AM
Saturday Retreat in Ignatian Spirituality
Click here for complete information


Sunday December 16 - 2 PM
Charm City Baroque: Christmas Concert
Click here for complete information

Sunday December 16 - 7 PM
Rejoice! A Gaudete Sunday Party
Click here for complete information

Wednesday, December 19 - 7:30 PM
Advent Penance Prayer Service
Click here for complete information



Sunday, December 23
Confession in the Chapel of Grace
Confessions will be heard in the Chapel of Grace from 4:30 to 5:30




Monday, December 24
Christmas Eve Mass Schedule
Click here for complete information



Tuesday, December 25
Christmas Day Mass Schedule
There will be two Masses on Christmas Day: 8 AM in the Chapel of Grace, and 10:30 in the Church.


Monday, December 31 - 8 PM
26th Annual New Year's Eve Interfaith Prayer Celebration
Click here for complete information


Worship with Offerings, Liturgy and Prayers for Others
POOR BOX 
Each weekend St. Ignatius specifies a Poor Box collection for a needful cause. This week's support goes to the Ignatian Spirituality Project.

MASS MUSIC   
Attached is the listing for the music selections at next Sunday's 10:30 Mass. 
 
PERSECUTED CHRISTIAN
Weekly updates on Christian persecution around the globe. Keep a prayerful watch on what is
happening with your
brothers and sisters! 

Last Call!
Last Call To Pick Up Your Gift Tags This Weekend

Our parish continues its tradition of supporting those in need during the holiday times. We have expanded the organizations we support, in addition to the ones we have supported for many years. We thought we would share a quick overview of how your generosity will be shared.
 
  • My Sister’s Place: Supports homeless and impoverished women and their children in Baltimore City Services. An organization we continue to support through gift cards for food and other needs.

  • Loaves and Fishes: Continuing our long tradition, we provide hats, gloves, undergarments, etc. to our street guests.

  • Johns Hopkins Children Center: We provide gifts and activities to children who are in the hospital for extended treatments by supporting the Child Life Program—this will be our second year.

  • Respect for Life: This will be our first year supporting this ministry at the holiday season. One of the key areas of focus for this ministry is to support expectant mothers referred by the Gabriel Project (our "Angel Moms") with a full complement of moral, faith, and other supports (transportation, clothes, supplies etc) so that they can bring their children into the world. We are presently supporting three Angel Moms, one of whom is expecting twins.

  • Loyola Early Learning Center: We will be purchasing books for all the beautiful two and three year old children of the school. This will be our first year.

What to Do:
Please take an ornament from the tree in the narthex or from the gallery table and remember those who are less fortunate when you are doing your Christmas shopping. This year, none of the gifts should be wrapped. Please return all your gifts by Sunday, December 16 and place them under the tree. If you cannot make it to Mass, please feel free to drop them off at the Parish Office, 110 E. Madison Street.

PLEASE NOTE: Many of the tags that are left are for the Gabriel Tree moms and Respect For Life subcommittee moms that the parish supports. 
 
If you have any questions, please contact Brandie D’Orazio at bdorazio@gmail.com , 410.916.7819. Or Dan D’Orazio at dgdorazio@gmail.com , 410.960.3741. 
 
We appreciate the amazing support you continue to provide.
A great stocking stuffer....
St. Ignatius Quartet CD
Here's a perfect gift or stocking stuffer - A beautiful CD of our St. Ignatius quartet in an album called "Christ Is Born Today." This favorite presents the anthems and music of Christmas and the Advent Season.

You can pick up a CD either from an usher at weekend Masses or from the Parish offices during the week. The price is $5.00. 
In the Media
‘Silent Night’ Turns 200 This year. Is it the Greatest Christmas Song Ever?

The hills around Salzburg are alive, we hear, “alive with the sound of music.” Young and old, the people sing and hum and strum. The water in the brooks laughs as it trips and falls downstream. Church chimes sigh with the breeze.

This music, we also hear, has been sung for 1,000 years. Maybe. But one song—probably the most famous—is celebrating only 200 years. On Christmas Eve 1818, in the church of St. Nicholas in Oberndorf near Salzburg, “Stille Nacht” (“Silent Night”) was sung for the first time.

The words to “Silent Night” were the work of the Rev. Joseph Mohr, a young priest in Oberndorf. He wrote them in 1816 as a reflection on peace after a summer of violence in Salzburg. On Christmas Eve two years later, he asked his friend Franz Xaver Gruber, a schoolteacher in the neighboring town of Arnsdorf and also the organist in Oberndorf, to set his words to music. Gruber did so, and together that evening at Christmas Eve Mass, the two performed “Silent Night” for the gathered faithful, Mohr singing and Gruber playing the guitar, since the church organ was not working. “Silent Night” was an immediate sensation. READ MORE
Late Show host Stephen Colbert recently sat down with Father James Martin, a priest, author and editor of America: the Jesuit Review for an extensive conversation about faith, politics and his personal story.

The whole series (which you can watch here ) is worth checking out, but one of the clips was particularly inspiring.

In the clip, Colbert explains a dark chapter in his life when he lost his faith in God entirely. Walking down the street on a cold Chicago day, battling his anxiety, he was approached by a man who handed him a small Bible.

It was so cold that the Bible was frozen shut, but after breaking it open, he read a teaching of Jesus that he says changed his life forever. 

It’s a truly beautiful story, and is a reminder about the power of evangelism and reaching people with the word of God. Enjoy the video!
Is Our Democracy More Fragile Than We Were Taught?


I am 56 years old, and when I was growing up and learning about democracy, and how a bill becomes a law, and how the rule of law guarantees our exercise of freedom, and how the results of elections must be respected, even when we lose, it never occurred to me in a month of Sundays that I would live to see in this country the kinds of attacks on democracy we see today.

When I went to college, I studied Congress with the great scholar Norm Ornstein and learned that passing legislation was more complicated than I had realized in elementary and high school. I analyzed presidential electoral politics and the implications for campaign financing of key court decisions with Tom Donilon, who had worked on President Jimmy Carter's unsuccessful re-election campaign and would go on to become President Barack Obama's national security advisor. I assumed that the love of our nation's democratic institutions that these professors exhibited was shared by everybody.