Parish Newsletter

October 19, 2022

Staying Connected

Dear Friends,

I have voted! This year’s elections offer voters an opportunity to ensure that the nation is guided by leaders who will provide practical and efficient leadership with the good of all in mind – including the unborn, the elderly, the young, families, and those who are too often forgotten by society – as well as workers, farmers, business owners, and all future generations. (The following material is taken from Catholic Conscience, The Voice of the Heart.)

Catholics are called to participate, in accordance with the full measure of talents entrusted to us by God. At a minimum, this means voting wisely after having prayerfully considered all relevant issues, the positions of each of the candidates and parties, and relevant Church teachings. And many of us are called to deeper involvement: volunteering at polling stations and other efforts to get out the vote; engaging personally with candidates and party officials; helping to spread good ideas and encouraging others to vote properly; or in some cases volunteering to assist candidates or parties – or even putting ourselves forward as candidates.

For more than 130 years the Catholic Church has offered detailed guidance on a full range of social issues, from the dignity of life and of our life’s work to the environment and proper roles of government, the economy, and educational institutions. Specifically, we are called to consider each of the following principles, values, and virtues in deciding our votes:

1. The life and dignity of the human person, which includes both the sanctity of life and the dignity of work. Catholics care about the sanctity of life because the entire purpose of this life is for each soul God puts into it to find its way back to God. Terminating a life voluntarily at any time after its conception necessarily frustrates that purpose. We care about work because it is through our life’s work that we apply the time, talent, and treasure that God has entrusted to us to assist in His continuing act of creation, seeking truth and working to ensure that all those around us are enabled to apply their gifts as well.

2. The Church defines the common good as “the sum total of social conditions which allow people, either as groups or as individuals, to reach their fulfilment more fully and more easily. These demands concern above all the commitment to peace, the organization of the State’s powers, a sound juridical system, the protection of the environment, and the provision of essential services to all.” Everyone deserves access to a dignified home, sufficient and nutritious food, and an opportunity to put the talents God entrusted to them to work.

3. Subsidiarity is the principle that all institutions of society – the government, businesses, schools, community organizations, and above all the family – are meant to help each other to serve their proper social purposes. It includes the general rule that things should be done, and decided, by individuals, or at the lowest responsibly possible social level. Only by empowering individuals and smaller groups to make their own decisions can their freedom to seek God in their own ways be ensured. Each of us must be allowed to make our own way, and chart our own course.

4. Solidarity, or the principle that what affects one of us affects us all, whether we are in the same town, state, or country, speak the same language, or have the same interests. As St. Paul explained, we are all different parts of the same One Body of Christ.

5. The values of truth, freedom, justice, democracy and love.

In their 2019 statement, the bishops note that all of these issues are complicated, interrelated and require serious reflection, a prayerful approach, a discerning attitude and an action response. The bishops caution against relying on one issue in voting for a candidate. They state: "As Catholics, we are not single-issue voters. A candidate's position on a single issue is not sufficient to guarantee a voter's support."

Fr. Paulson

Vote "No" On Proposition 1

Proposition 1 is a worst-case scenario for abortion in California. It is an expensive and misleading ballot measure that allows unlimited late-term abortions — for any reason, at any time, even moments before birth, paid for by tax dollars. Prop 1 isn’t needed. Sadly, California already has some of the most permissive abortion laws in the nation that would remain in effect without the amendment, including our current limit on late-term abortions that are permitted only for the life and health of the mother. Prop 1 destroys this common-sense limit. California does not limit state spending on abortion, and with thousands more traveling from other states, the cost will be in the hundreds of millions. Don’t hand lawmakers a blank check to pay for abortions, and don’t let them make California an “abortion sanctuary.” To learn more, visit www.CAcatholic.org/Prop1

Sacrosanctum Concilium

(Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy)

One of the first matters to be addressed by the Second Vatican Council was the question of how to reform the sacred liturgy of the Church. This had been a matter of widespread concern for decades, not only among “progressive” clergy and theologians, but throughout the general rank and file of those entrusted with pastoral duties.

Join Fr. Paulson either in person or via Zoom in discussing this topic:

This Thursday, October 20 - 10:30am St. Stephen Parish Hall - In Person

or Thursday, October 20 - 7pm Via Zoom - Zoom Link here

Sunday, October 30

We are inviting all children to a

special Halloween Sunday Mass

9am in the Parish Hall

All children are invited to wear their Halloween costumes to Mass and to their classes. We will gather in the Parish Hall at 8:45 AM, then we’ll enter the Church through the Sacristy Door. Students will then process through the church and back to the Parish Hall where our Religious Education children’s mass will begin. We look forward to seeing everyone in their best costumes for this special event.

Saturday, October 29, 5pm at CTK

On behalf of the Young Families Ministry, we would like to invite all young families to pizza and beer (and wine) on Saturday, October 29, at 5:00 p.m. (immediately following the 4pm Vigil Mass). The event will be held on the grass near the playground on church grounds. If you and your family would like to attend - and so that we have an accurate headcount - please respond to rezaei.ryan@gmail.com by Saturday, October 22. Additionally, if anyone is willing to let us borrow any outdoor games (such as cornhole!), please let us know.  

Sign up for the Men's Retreat by clicking here

We are so excited to have Fr. Francis, the Mission Procurator Don Bosco Bangalore, India with us from the 20th of this month for a week. Fr. Francis will share the ministry of the Salesians as they transform the lives of so many street children and youth in India. He is the Director of BREADS (Bangalore Rural Educational and Development Society), an organization that protects children and youth especially on the streets of major Indian cities. You can read more information on https://breadsbangalore.org. 

Please plan to join us on October 22, 2022 at 5:00 p.m. - after the 4.00pm Mass, in our Parish Hall. There will be a video presentation. Refreshments  and appetizers will be served. 

All Saints Day at CTK - Tuesday, November 1

Mass at 7am, 9am, 12noon and 7pm

 St. Stephen Church - Mass at 8am and 6pm

All Soul’s Day at CTK - Wednesday, November 2

Mass at 9am

St. Stephen Church - Mass at 6pm 

Saturday, November 5

at the 4pm Mass

A special Mass of Remembrance will be held on Saturday November 5 at 4 pm. At that Mass we will pray specially for all who have died during this past year and whose funeral was held at Christ the King. (Do you have a loved one who died during the past 12 months? Were they not buried from Christ the King Parish? Would you like their name included? Please call the parish office at 925-682-2486 and leave their name.  Deadline to submit names is the 25th of October.) (Questions? Sr. Dominic Marie at 925-246-1122.)

 Everyone is welcome!

We enjoyed a wonderful day at the women's retreat on Saturday.

Special thanks to our retreat presenter, Toinette Eugene, Ph.D.

and to the Women's Retreat Committee ~ especially Chris Lang and her St. Stephen Team who offered gracious hospitality to all of us!

30th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Welcome to our weekly reflections on

the Sunday Scriptures.



In telling this story, Jesus invited his listeners to pray with the tax collector’s humility. Receiving our place in Afterlife has less to do with our behavior and more about God’s saving, unmerited love. Read More

Pasta Dinner Fundraiser

Saturday, November 5th

CTK's Parish Hall

See flyer for more information Here

Tickets to the Pasta Dinner will be available to purchase after mass on Sunday at 7:30am, 9am and 10:30am.

Magnificat Prayer Breakfast

Saturday, Nov. 12 - 9:30am to 12:30pm

Concord Plaza Hotel

For more information and to register please see flyer here.

https://www.stars-egypt.org/ is an ELCA ministry site serving refugees primarily from Eritrea, Sudan, South Sudan, and Yemen. There is an upcoming trip in February co-led by Bekah Davis (the pastor of St. Mark's Pleasant Hill) and an Egyptologist guide. Please see flyer here

To donate a one-time/on-line donation.

Or regular and/or second collections.

All Masses are Inside the Church. - Face Masks are encouraged.

Readings for Sunday Mass Here

Links to our services (live or archived) can be found at ctkph.org

or by clicking the Facebook or YouTube images below.

Ongoing Services:

Sacrament of Reconciliation - Private Confessions every Saturday from 3pm to 3:30pm, in the church.

Drive-Thru Holy Communion - Every Sunday 11:30am to 12 noon, in front of the church.

Thursday Mass - 6pm - Honoring our Mother of Perpetual Help, Rosary begins at 5:40pm, in the church. Worship Aide Here  (Also livestreamed).