WEEKLY PARISH BULLETIN

First Sunday
in Lent

Feb 24th to Mar 3rd, 2007

"With the Lord there is PLENTIFUL REDEMPTION!"
Psalm 130: 7

INDEX

Weekly Mass Intentions and Schedule

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Announcements

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Prayer Lists

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Pastor's Corner

MASS INTENTIONS THIS WEEK

SATURDAY      FEBRUARY    24, 2007
4:00 PM         Eng Family
SUNDAY             FEBRUARY    25
9:00   AM      +Timothy & Josephine Hallissey
                     +Hallissey Family
11:00 AM     +Angel Fonseca
12:30 PM      +Vy Maria Vu
6: 30 PM        Purgatorian Society
MONDAY          FEBRUARY     26
7:00 AM      +Fr. Michael Golden, CSSR
                     50th anniversary
12:10 PM         Altagracia Maria Cordero Castillo
TUESDAY             FEBRUARY     27
7.:00 AM      +Mary Jannino
12:10 PM      +Theresa Thompson
                        28th anniversary
WEDNESDAY    FEBRUARY    28
7:00 AM      +Leonor Rodriguez
12:10 PM         Evangeline Girgih
THURSDAY       MARCH            1
7:00 AM       +Mary McDermott
12:10 PM       +Mary O’Connell
FRIDAY             MARCH            2
7:00 AM          Shrine Members Liv / Dec.
12:10 PM          Wil Brown
SATURDAY       MARCH            3
8:00 AM          Restoration Fund Donors
12:10 PM          Eng Family
                         Edzard Pierre- In Thanks OLPH
                       +Altagracia Liriano
                       +Martin & Bridie Greeley
4:00   PM        +Jeremiah Harris 7th anniversary
SUNDAY           MARCH            4
9:00 AM        +Elizabeth Brill
11:00 AM       +Eddie Rivera and Family
12:30 PM       +Ann McDonough Dolan
6:30 PM           Purgatorian Society


BILLS PAID THIS WEEK
Payroll                            $6, 721.92
Printing                          $    364.46
Mass Cards                    $    257.00

SUNDAY COLLECTIONS
The total collection taken up Sunday February 11th at the weekend Masses was: $ 3,107.00
1st collection (Loose)     $1, 615.00
1st collection (Env.)        $ 519.00
2nd collection                $ 973.00

Coffee and donuts are served in the Music Room every Sunday following the 9 AM, 11 AM and 12:30 PM Masses.

The Rosary is prayed after the 9 AM Mass every Wednesday

**REMEMBER YOUR CHURCH IN YOUR WILL**

ANNOUNCEMENTS...

PRESIDENT'S DAY

There will be One Mass only on Monday, February 19th due to the holiday. It will be at 9 AM. The Church will close for the day following the Mass. The Rectory Office will be closed for the day.

TAIZÈ PRAYER
Taizè prayer, a form of contemplative prayer which includes simple sung prayer and shared silence, will be offered Thursday, March 15TH at 7 PM in the Rectory Chapel. The prayer service is offered every third Thursday of each month. For more information contact Fr. Matt Allman, CSSR at (617) 445-2600 or email him at mattcssr@yahoo.com.


               MOTHER OF PERPETUAL HELP
                        PRAYER GROUP
Open Charistmatic Prayer Group meets every Monday evening at 6:30 PM in the Parish Center. Call Fr. Robert Lennon at (617) 445-2600.

                  HEALING SERVICE
At our Healing Services we pray the Holy Spirit will come down with healing and strengthening graces. Fr. Edward McDonough will lead us in prayer Sunday, February 25th at 2PM.

SENIOR CROSSROAD RETREAT
MARCH 16-18th
If you are college age or older, come spend the weekend at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Retreat House, Venice, Florida. Our week-end theme: Mary, Our Refuge and Our Hope. We focus on Mary as a vital “tool” in discerning God’s will in our lives. For more information please call Fr. Philip Dabney, CSSR at (728) 321-1394.

REMEMBER THOSE IN THE MILITARY
Pvt. Christopher Butler, SPC. Brian Carey, Pvt. Steve Cotter, CPO. Matt Fanara, Cpr. Michael Hines, Spc. Michael Lovett, Pvt. Daniel Molina and CPL Peter Smyth- Hammond, USMC

There will be stations of the cross every Friday at 7 PM in the Church during lent.

2ND Collection : Peter’s Pence

Next Week-end : Current Expenses

WHAT IS R. C. I. A.?

1. It is the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults.
2. It is a process for welcoming adult newcomers into the Roman Catholic Church.
3. It is an opportunity to grow in faith - also a chance to learn more about God in the Roman Catholic tradition.
4. It reaches out to people who were never baptized, to people baptized in a different denomination; to people who were baptized in the Catholic Church but never made their First Holy Communion or Confirmation.

Are you an adult who has never been Confirmed? Are you a Christian from another community who is now interested in becoming a Roman Catholic? Are you unbaptized and seeking to join the Church? Please join us for a meeting of our parish RCIA, the Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults. We meet on Sunday’s following the 9 AM Mass in the Rectory. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to call the rectory and talk to Fr. Bennett or Fr. Allman.

BAPTISMAL INSTRUCTIONS
Please call the Rectory Office for dates and information regarding baptizing your child.

REMEMBER THOSE IN THE MILITARY
Pvt. Christopher Butler, SPC. Brian Carey, Pvt. Steve Cotter, CPO. Matt Fanara, Cpr. Michael Hines, Spc. Michael Lovett, Pvt. Daniel Molina and CPL Peter Smyth-Hammond, USMC

NOVENA TO OUR LADY OF PERPETUAL HELP

NOVENA SERVICES (Masses)
Wednesday: 7:00 AM, 12:10 PM
NOVENA BENEDICTION
Wednesday: 5:30 PM
RADIO NOVENA (Station WROL • 950 on the dial)
Sunday: 12:30 PM
TV NOVENA (Channel 45)
Wednesday 12 Noon and 10 PM; Sunday at 11:00 PM
SPANISH NOVENA (Channel 45) Thursday 11:30 PM

MULTI-CULTURAL FESTIVAL
Thanks to all who volunteered their time and helped with the set-up and clean-up of the Parish Center. A big thank-you to all those who brought in dinner, deserts etc. to represent their countries.

   BOSTON CATHOLIC MEN/ WOMEN’S CONFERENCE
Tickets are available in the Rectory Office. The men’s conference is March 17th and the women’s is March 18th. They will be held at the Boston Convention Center. Tickets are $25.00 each.

   PETER’S PENCE COLLECTION
This week-end February 24-25th, our parish participates in the 2007 Peter’s Pence Collection for the Works of the Holy Father. Please help Pope Benedict XVI provide immediate disaster relief and emergency aid to those suffering the effects of war, natural disaster, or oppression throughout the world. In doing so, we join one billion Catholic brothers and sisters in acting to share God’s love in the world. Thank You.


          EASTER NOVENA OF MASSES
At Mission Church we remember our connection to God through our loved ones with a special Novena of Masses beginning on Easter Sunday. We are inviting you to enroll your loved ones, living or deceased, in a Novena of Masses to be celebrated in the Basilica beginning on Easter Sunday. Flowers and candy are fine, but long after they are gone, the fruits of the Mass will remain. If your loved ones have gone on to God, you cannot reach them with any gift but the spiritual. Enroll them in the Easter Novena.


   EASTER FLOWERS
We have envelopes in the back of church and in the Parish Office for those who may wish to help with this year's Easter decorations.

PRAYER LISTS

Please pray for our sick: Fr. Vincent Kelly, CSSR, Fr. Leo Dunn, CSSR, Fr. Lawrence Buckley, CSSR, Maureen Adams, Nancy Ago, David Bell, Wil Brown,Charlie Capodanno, Egerton Chang, Clare Burke, Diane Chute, Liz Conroy, Ann Corley, William Martin Corr, Cleo Crayton, Amanda Daly, Bernadette DeGrandis, Marguerite DeJoie, Katie Dimanto, Clare Doherty, Joseph Doughtery, Mary Dowd, Mary Doyle, Patricia Eng, Jennifer Ferentzy, Tom & Kathy Finn, Theresa Flaherty, John Geary, Jack Gibbons, Susan Gury, Helen Hallissey, Nowell Hanibalsz, Thomas Hardiman, Daniel Harrington,Sr. Eleanor Hegarty, SSND,John Hegarty, Mary Horgan, Jessica Laing, Joan Hurlburt, Mary Jewell, Joan Joseph, Daniel Kelly, Esmi Littleton, John & Margaret Lynch, Jackie McLaughlin, Mary McMahon, Susan (Jewell) Merner, Taryn Miller, Mickey Monahan, Helen Moreau, Michael Nardone, M. Louise O’Brien, Patrick A. O’Brien, Sr. Evangelus O’Brien, SSND, Daniel O’Donnell, Mary O’Donnell, Dolores O’Halloran, Billy O’Hara, Maria Piemonte,Theresa Poirer, Caitlin Marie O’Sullivan, Margie Reed, Mary M. Sheehan, Helen St. Cyr, Rita Sullivan, Michael Very, Joseph & Brenda Waible and Tommy Walsh

PASTOR'S CORNER

Fr. Richard Bennett, C.SS.R.

Dear Parishioners,

On Ash Wednesday, February 21st, we began the celebration of the Lenten season. The traditional disciplines of Lent are prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Lent is also the time of celebrating the scrutinies with members of our parish who are involved in the RCIA process (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults). For those who are new to the faith and for us as well, this is a holy season where we dedicate ourselves to deepening our commitment to God and His Church.   Ultimately, it is a time of personal and communal conversion. Oftentimes you will hear children say that they are giving up candy or soda. Adults will sometimes    choose to give up beer, gossiping, working extended hours, or will incorporate the attendance of daily Mass into their schedules.

Conversion is a messy experience. Conversion involves a certain dying to self. In a society where a sense of immediate gratification rules, self-denial may seem to be a very foreign concept. There are so many occasions where we find ourselves and   others being so completely self-absorbed and self-centered that we easily lose sight of the needs of others. This is clearly seen in the very prominent   “me” generation. Conversion, I believe, has to be other-centered. It is a movement away from self and toward God and others. Perhaps it is best understood as a total transformation of character and personhood with the help of God’s grace. That is to say, it completely permeates our minds and hearts to the point where it affects every thought   and action. Catholics usually gravitate toward giving up something. This can be a good practice, but, unfortunately, many Catholics do not make a connection between what they’re doing and why it is of value. We lose sight of a profound spirituality that focuses on being selfless and self-giving.        Much of sin can find its roots in self-centered actions and behavior. It is entirely appropriate that Catholics make a concerted effort to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation and other celebrations of spiritual growth and healing during the Lenten season.

Thus,“The people of God become in the world a sign of conversion to God. All this the Church       expresses in its life and celebrates in the liturgy when the faithful confess that they are sinners and ask pardon of God and of their fellow brothers and sisters.” (OP 4).

May the Holy Spirit lead and guide us and may God look upon our efforts and be well pleased and bless them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Fr. Richard S. Bennett, C.Ss.R

PRAY THE ROSARY

THE CRANES AND THE ABBESS FROM ORFORDAcross the river from Orford, I saw a flock of cranes arise.
With straightened necks and legs like stilts rising before my eyes.
The cranes came in the Springtime but did not long bide.
They would make their nests on some distant stretch along the riverside.
The town of Orford like other towns is a restless place at best.
Young folks leave as the cranes left for a final place of rest.
One day, a young girl from Orford set out at break of day
And drove to a hill near St. Botolph's town. A score of miles away,
She joined nuns working in a field, praising God night and day,
She left all things behind her, even the clothes she wore,
And clothed herself with rough Trappist robes to wear forevermore.
The cranes came in their season as long as they could fly,
But the years roll on and it may be their coming has long gone by.
The young girl is now abbess like abbesses of old,
Chosen to rule with mother love and not with power or gold.
The Orford folk love the abbess though she left for the cloistered hill,
They know that she prays for them night and day and so is with them still.
The abbess prays for the young folk seeking a place of rest,
That they find their own road to the heart of God and that will be the best.

- John E. Doherty, C.Ss.R.

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