News/Save the Dates/Reminders
-
2021 Fish Bake to - go tickets: ONLINE ORDERS or print and drop a check or cash FORM
-
50/50 Raffle hosted by the St. Augustin Home & School Association HERE
-
NEWLY UPDATED: Download our 2021 Lenten Calendar of Events HERE
-
Diocese Lenten Resources HERE
- Daily morning Mass at 8 am MTWF, Tuesday Holy Hour at 6 pm, Friday Stations of the Cross at 5:30 pm: all held in the church throughout Lent.
-
From Bishop Joensen: MASK MANDATE and STATEMENT ON COVID VACCINE
-
Youth Group for High School students resumes on Wednesdays from 7:30 - 9:00 pm in the lower level. If you have questions, reach out to Mary Currie at youthministry@staugustin.org.
|
|
A Note From
Fr. Christopher Pisut
Friday, February 26, 2021
Dear Parishioners,
With Lent having begun this is a time when we as Catholics frequently think of the Sacrament of Confession. While COVID has put a restriction on our normal “communal penance services” we are still able to access the sacrament through the normally scheduled times and by appointment. At St. Augustin we have regularly scheduled Confessions Saturday 3:30-4:30 and Sunday 9-9:30 in the back of the chapel. You can also check websites for confession times at other parishes. Along those lines you might be aware that we have refurbished the confessionals in the main body of the church, they are a beautiful piece of both the architecture of our church as well as the spiritual and sacramental tradition of Catholicism. We are lucky to have them and we thank our maintenance man Paul Cognac for the great job he has done restoring them. Learn more about the Confessional in the article, “The Perennial Value of the Traditional Confessional.”
As we journey through the first full week of Lent, we also find ourselves in the midst of Ember Days once more, this Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. Recall that Ember days occur four times a year as we turn to the Lord to “ask for blessings upon mankind, and to pray in gratitude for the blessings of nature, particularly those used by the Church in her Liturgy, such as olives, grapes, and wheat. This is also a time set apart to thank God for the sacraments and pray for priests, particularly those who were being ordained. These days are marked with prayer, fasting and abstinence and stress spiritual renewal.” (catholicculture.org). While Ember Days have no direct relation to Lent, nevertheless, with their focus on fasting and abstinence they still tie in well with the season of Lent. While you may have missed Wednesday it’s not too late to enter into the Ember Days this Friday and Saturday. Plus, I can always use your prayers.
This Wednesday, March 3 we celebrate the feast of an American, St. Katharine Drexel (1858-1955). She came from a wealthy Philadelphia family and from an early age was drawn to religious life. She was especially attracted to helping the poor and minorities, such as African Americans and, particularly, American Indians. Her parents died when she was in her 20’s and she used her sizeable inheritance to help in these worthy causes. St. Katharine founded the Missionary Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament and established 145 Catholic missions, twelve schools for Indians, fifty for African Americans and Xavier University in New Orleans. While not uninterested in civil rights for minorities she was focused more on bringing them to Christ and the life of Grace of the Sacraments, particularly the Eucharist, in the Catholic Church. She died at the age of ninety-seven and was canonized in 2000. While clearly ahead of her time for society in her concerns for minorities she was merely living out the Gospel mandate of love thy neighbor and preach Me to all nations.
March 4 is the feast of St. Casimir “The Peacemaker” (1458-1484), patron saint of Poland and Lithuania. St. Casimir was born exactly 400 years before St. Katharine Drexel and, like St. Katharine, he was born to affluence. While he was a Polish Prince he was not interested in the life of nobility and ruling but rather he lived an austere life and had great concern for those less fortunate and looked down upon in society, so much so that he was known as “brother and defender of the poor.” Unlike the long life that St Katharine Drexel was blessed with, however, he died at the young age of twenty-five of tuberculosis. Yet St. Casimir teaches us that it does not matter how long one lives but what we do with the time that we are given. We never know when the good Lord will take us. Both St. Casimir and St. Katharine Drexel also teach us that wealth is not in and of itself a hindrance to our salvation for we can use the blessings that God gives us for higher purposes. Both were born to affluence but did not use it for selfish ends but rather for the sake of the Gospel. St. Casimir and St. Katharine Drexel, pray for us.
Lastly, Fr. Greg Leach began assisting at St. Augustin last summer during my absence. However, apart from his propensity to impart a humorous anecdote at the end of Mass you may not be that familiar with him. I thought it would be good for you to know a little more about him. In fact, he began his life here. He was baptized at St. Augustin's parish in 1949. However, just before he started first grade his family moved to Holy Trinity Parish. He has two sisters and one brother. His younger sister just got elected to the Leadership Team for the Dubuque Franciscan Sisters. He attended Holy Trinity grade school and Dowling High School, graduating in 1967 with our own Deacon Mike Manno. He graduated from Loras College in Dubuque with a major in Psychology. He then attended St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore for a few years but decided, as he described it, “to look at things from a different angle.” While thinking things through he worked for Valley National Bank for three years, one year as a teller and two years as a branch manager. After “looking at things from a different angle” he returned to seminary and received a Master of Divinity Degree (M.Div.) from Sacred Heart School of Theology in Hales Corners, Wisconsin (on the SW side of Milwaukee). While he was in seminary, he was fortunate enough to assist at the Mass at Living History Farms celebrated by Pope John Paul II on October 4, 1979. He has a picture of himself standing right next to the Pope. I’m sure he would be happy to show it to you if you like. He was ordained a Deacon on January 25, 1980, at Holy Trinity Church and spent nine months as a Deacon in Holy Family parish in Council Bluffs before being ordained a priest on September 12, 1980, at St. Ambrose Cathedral. Fr. Leach retired in 2020 after 40 years serving both rural and urban parishes in the DM Diocese, 36 years as a Pastor. In addition, he has served as a Firefighter / EMT for 23 years in 4 communities and is still a Chaplain for the Des Moines Fire Department. He’s also licensed to umpire at varsity level for both baseball and softball. This will be his 43rd year. He says he keeps this job because “it's the only place remaining where he can be right all the time.” We thank Fr. Leach for his many years of service to the Diocese of Des Moines and on the Fire Department, though perhaps not so much as umpire, and congratulate him on his much-deserved retirement. Lastly, we appreciate his assistance at St. Augustin’s. Fr. Leach, St. Augustin welcomes you home!
Fr. Pisut
|
|
Find our Sunday 10:00 am Masses online through
* A reminder, 10:00 am Mass has extra seating in the Parish Hall.
|
|
Mask Mandate Implemented in Diocese
In a letter to the faithful of the Des Moines Diocese, Bishop William Joensen announced a mask mandate. He's doing this to protect our ability to continue to publicly celebrate Mass and sacraments.
Extended through April 11, 2021.
|
|
|
|
including RCIA Call to Continuing Conversion and praying for our candidates, Lenten information, a letter to the Parish from Music Director Thomas Kolbo, and much more!
~Please continue to support our Vendors!
|
|
|
|
2021 St. Augustin Lenten Calendar
Join us this Lent for an expanded morning Mass schedule, Holy Hour on Tuesday evenings, Friday evening Stations of the Cross, Fish Bakes, a Novena to St. Joseph, and much more!
(UPDATES: Holy Saturday 8:00 pm and no Living Stations on Good Friday)
|
|
ALL PARISH LENTEN
To - Go FISH BAKE
(Sponsored by St. Augustin Knights of Columbus)
Saint Augustin Parish Hall
Friday, March 5th & 26th
5:30 pm to 7:30 pm
$8.00 Preorder Adults / $10.00 Adults at the Door
$5.00 Children under 12
$30 Family max.
The menu includes baked tilapia, baked salmon if pre-ordered. Grilled cheese for the kids meal. Sides of coleslaw, green beans, mac and cheese, and potato chips. (preorders requested by the Wed. prior to event)
Order form for mailing, or dropping in the office, or placed with payment in the weekly tithing HERE.
|
|
50/50 Ca$h Raffle
Fundraiser
Feeling Lucky? Tickets are on sale for the St. Augustin Home & School St. Patrick's Day Raffle now through Monday, March 8th!
|
|
Get Families Talking Sign Up 2021
Join us for Conversations about L.I.F.E. with your child(ren)! Sessions will be held virtually using Google Meets. Each session facilitates age-appropriate discussions between parent(s) and child(ren) about what is most important to our lifelong happiness - healthy relationships. Because this program is meant to foster conversations at home between parents and children, at least one parent must participate with their child(ren). We held virtual Get Families Talking sessions in August 2020 and found that virtual meetings were a very fruitful way for parent(s) and child(ren) to talk privately.
Sunday, April 11th from 4 - 5:30 pm will host Google Meet meetings for:
1st & 2nd, 5th & 6th, and High School
Sunday, April 25th from 4 - 5:30 pm will host Google Meet meetings for:
3rd & 4th and 7th & 8th grades
Note: Children attending the session for 5th grade and older should already have an idea that the physical love shared between parents brings about children. Just the basics. The program will not go into detail or even bring up anatomy, but it will discuss the progression from noticing one another to marital love.
|
|
|
|
If you are homebound or in the hospital and would like a clergy visit, please contact the parish office with your contact information at (515) 255-1175 or info@staugustin.org.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
