CATHOLIC FAITH AT HOME RESOURCES
For Our Family of Parishes
St. Thomas More, St. Bernadette, St. Mary's, St. Peter's
JULY 3
OUR NEW FAMILY OF PARISHES
ST. THOMAS MORE
800 OHIO PIKE
CINCINNNATI, OH 45245
ST. BERNADETTE
1479 LOCUST LAKE RD.
AMELIA, OH 45102


ST. MARYS
3398 STATE ROUTE 125
BETHEL, OH - 45106
ST. PETER'S
1192 BETHEL NEW RICHMOND RD.
MASS SCHEDULE FOR
FAMILY OF PARISHES

As of July 1, our journey began as a
Family of Parishes:
St. Bernadette,
St. Mary,
St. Peter,
and St. Thomas More.

May this journey help us build new relationships
and join together to grow spiritually
as saints that the country and the world need!

This is the schedule of masses for July and August:

Saturday Masses
4:00pm at St. Mary
4:00pm at St. Thomas More
5:00pm at St. Bernadette
5:00pm at St. Peter

Sunday Masses
8:00am at St. Thomas More
8:30am at St. Peter
9:00am at St. Bernadette
10:00am at St. Thomas More
10:30am at St. Mary
11:00am at St. Bernadette

KICKING OFF THE...
National Eucharistic Revival




2019 Pew Research Study, showed politicians are not alone
in lacking reverence and understanding of the Eucharist
most Catholics think the bread and wine
used in Communion are merely “symbols” of Christ.

7-in-10 Catholics don’t believe Jesus is truly present
in the Eucharist,
Only 1/4 Catholics under 40 yrs.
believe the doctrine of transubstantiation,
when consecrated bread and wine at Mass become
the Body and Blood of Christ.

In response, the bishops voted last November
for a National Eucharistic Revival
to instill a deeper understanding of the Eucharist,
which Vatican II says is “the source and summit of the Christian life.”

Bishop Andrew Cozzens,
(Chairman of the Board of the National Eucharistic Congress)
said the idea came after a realization that
the Catholic Church has work to do among its own flock. He said:

“We are really aware in these times that we live that the Church
needs to become more missionary.
The culture itself doesn’t support
what we do anymore as Catholics.”

“All Catholics are invited into a renewed encounter with Jesus Christ
in the Eucharist, especially those Catholics
who don’t fully understand the power of the Eucharist.”


Scandal, division, disease, doubt.
The Church has withstood each of these throughout our human history.
But today we confront all of them, all at once.
Our response in this moment is pivotal.

In the midst of these roaring waves, Jesus is present,
reminding us that he is more powerful than the storm.
He desires to heal, renew, and unify the Church and the world.

How will He do it?

By uniting us once again around the
source and summit of our faith—the Holy Eucharist. 

The National Eucharistic Revival is the
joyful, expectant, grassroots response
of the entire Catholic Church in the U.S. to this divine invitation.

Click below to find more information about this plan ongoing for several years in stages:


Click below to read the research study showing that nearly seven-in-ten Catholics (69%) say they personally believe that during Catholic Mass, the bread and wine used in Communion “are symbols of the body and blood of Jesus Christ.” 

IT’S CLOSE!

STM JULYFEST 2022

JULY 8, 9, and 10

Many types of roles and areas are still available!

St. Thomas More JulyFest is in need of volunteers for our
upcoming festival on July 8, 9 & 10.
There are various spots available.
Please check out our sign up genius to see available shifts.
If viewing from a mobile device use the drop down
at the top of the page to see different areas.
We would love to have you as part of the JulyFest team!

Check them out at Sign up Genius by clicking the link below:

For more information and/or questions, please contact:

Pam Moore 513-502-1902
or
Linda Caskey 513-309-8447

US Supreme Court has made
a decision
in Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization...

WHAT NOW?

As Catholics we know the Family is the essential unit of society.
A society can’t thrive without thriving families,
but nurturing a healthy family is becoming tougher.

Children are more vulnerable,
finances are frequently a challenge and
everyday life's stresses lead to difficulties large and small. 

Our Archdiocese created a helpful website
that identifies programs and services
to help children and families in need,
including women who are pregnant and may feel unprepared.

Click the link below to discover organizations offering
practical, emotional and spiritual help in challenging times:

QUIZ! FOR THE WEEK

Who is the patron saint of politicians?

Scroll down to find the answer!
GOSPEL READING REFLECTION
For July 3, 2022

The Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
******************************************************************************
Prayer of Petition

“The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few;
so ask the master of the harvest
to send out laborers for his harvest.
Go on your way;
behold, I am sending you like lambs among wolves."
  • This Gospel passage recounts one of Jesus’ apostolic initiatives. He sent two-man teams of disciples to every town and village he intended to visit to prepare the people there for him, similar to the way John the Baptist prepared Israel in general for Christ. This initiative both advanced the evangelization of Israel and formed many disciples to be evangelizers.

  • Some of what Jesus said pertained only to that mission; some is of universal application.

  • One universal application is the command to pray for missionary vocations:
  • “The harvest is abundant but the laborers are few; so ask the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest.”
  • It makes sense to pray for two kinds of evangelists.
  • First are the traditional evangelists who fan out to the farthest corners of the world—for Jesus intends to visit everyplace.
  • Second are the evangelists who are to penetrate our own culture. We are these new evangelists!
  • We who are out in the world are like lambs among wolves. This is why we have to be as cunning as foxes yet remain as innocent as lambs.
  • Unlike the seventy-two disciples who had a limited time to do their work and so who dramatically rejected those who rejected their message, we don’t ever reject those who reject us and we never give up on bringing them to the Catholic faith. Instead, as Pope Francis likes to remind us, we seek them out and accompany them.
  • Accompaniment is tricky today because many who reject the Catholic faith hold an ideology that claims to be extremely moral and judges us as immoral. We must decisively reject their ideology but not their persons.

  • Another universal application is that our pastors deserve our material and spiritual support and in turn they owe us their total dedication.
  • We should see our pastors performing miracles, at the very least the miracle of holiness. They must confront evil in themselves and around them and overcome it.

  • Prayer of petition is asking God for the things we and others need. Petition is one of the acts of the virtue of religion; and the virtue of religion is part of the virtue of justice. In other words, we should ask God for good things.

  • Religion is binding ourselves to God. Asking God for good things is one way we attach ourselves to him. When we do this we are giving God what we owe him, because we are acknowledging, as the Catechism puts it, “We are creatures who are not our own beginning, not the masters of adversity, not our own last end. We are sinners who as Christians know that we have turned away from our Father. Our petition is already a turning back to him.” (CCC 2629)

  • The Catechism also points out how Christian prayer is overall hopeful prayer. It is a prayer of expectation of our full redemption and the fulfillment of the redemption of the world (CCC 2630). Our life on earth is not the only life and the only venue for whatever happiness we can experience.

  • The first step in petitionary prayer is asking for forgiveness of our sins which brings us back into communion with God, the condition we need the most (CCC 2631). Being in a right relationship with God is really the answer to all our prayers.



ANSWER TO QUIZ

St. Thomas More
Patron Saint of Politicians, pray for us!

Sir Thomas More was said to be so good at his job
(Chancellor of England, which included the duties of judge)
that they ran out of cases for him to decide.

He was a brilliant lawyer,
a wise householder,
a man of great humor
of affable disposition,
a devoted husband and father.

He was an author, poet, scholar, and a skilled opponent
of "Protestantism" founder Martin Luther.

Elected to Parliament early in his career and later knighted,
he held many other prestigious positions besides.

But greater than all this was his devout faith.
He considered the priesthood before opting for the married state, and wore a hair shirt as a continual penance.

Devoted to the Holy Eucharist, he reflected deeply on
the Passion of Christ.

You may know how the story unfolded:

How this virtuous statesman opposed his friend,
powerful King Henry VIII,
when the latter chose his own way over God’s law;

how he was imprisoned
in the Tower of London for his fidelity to Christ’s Church;

how he stayed faithful during all those hours and days,
through steadfast in prayer.

Within the prison walls he wrote his famous
Dialogue of Comfort Against Tribulation
and his magnificent reflection on
Christ’s Agony, The Sadness of Christ.

No threat or reward moved Sir Thomas
from his devotion to the Truth.

It cost him his life on July 6th, 1535,
as “the King’s good servant, and God’s first.”

For his heroic example of virtue and fidelity
in the role of statesman,
this martyr is the patron of politicians. 
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The Catholic Prayer Book
and Manual of Meditations






This prayer from the
Catholic Prayer Book and Manual of Meditations
asks God for the grace to
imitate the examples of the saints we celebrate at Mass.

Grant, we ask you, Almighty God,
that the examples of your saints
may move us to reform our lives,
that while we celebrate their feasts,
we may also imitate their actions,
through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen.