CMA Commitment Sunday

Next weekend is “Commitment Weekend” for parishes throughout the Archdiocese.  The CMA allows parishes to pool resources to provide ministries no individual parish could supply.  There is strength in numbers.  Make sure you show the entire Archdiocese that St. Ann and Sacred Heart is a Pastoral Region that is playing in the game, not standing on the sidelines.

Blessing of Throats

Friday, February 3 is the Feast of St. Blasé, Bishop and Martyr.  The traditional Blessing of Throats will be offered individually after the Sacred Heart 7:00 a.m. Mass on Friday, but since I have to be at St. Ann for the 8:00 a.m. student’s Mass, I will have an “inglobo” blessing over everyone at the final blessing of Mass.

At the 4:00 p.m. Sacred Heart Mass on Saturday, I will offer the blessing inglobo but must be at St. Ann for Mass at 5:15 p.m. so individual blessing after Mass at Sacred Heart will be limited.  I will offer the individual blessings after the St. Ann Mass as well.

St. Ann “Building for the Future”

Mark your calendar for Thursday, March 2, 2017 and plan to come to a parish-wide meeting to consider options for rearrangement of buildings on the St. Ann parcel.  An “ad hoc” committee containing representation from St. Ann parish council, finance committee, PAC, staff, and other parishioners decided to engage an architectural firm to offer a vision of how we could best utilize and rearrange the physical plant we have on the St. Ann plat of property.  As we all know, buildings “eat while they sleep.” Deterioration happens without massive commitments to maintenance. What are the possible future uses for some of our residential buildings?  Could a gymnasium or multi-purpose building exist without compromising our already limited parking?  These are questions that most of the committee felt would be well served by professional analysis of all the factors.  We have some options and renderings which we feel will generate parish wide discussions of costs and options.  St. Ann parish and school are alive and well.  Come join in our think tank looking at the future of our parish.

Today is Open House

Sunday, January 29 is the open house for St. Ann School and Sacred Heart of Jesus School.  Be proud of your parish school.   I am convinced that our Catholic Schools are the best evangelical tool we possess.

Federal Income Taxes

At Sacred Heart, we will try to send out statements of donations to all who used their envelopes or electronic giving regularly.  We will try to get these out by the end of January.  At St. Ann, we ask that you send us a self addressed envelope, and we will send a statement of your 2016 donation back to you in the envelope. 

Also it is imperative that parishioners at either St. Ann or Sacred Heart retain all contemporaneous letters of acknowledgement received during the year,

Reflection on Scripture

The Beatitudes are one of the most beautiful of all the Gospel reading in the Bible.  They are also contradictions in terms.  They remind us that God does not see things through the prism of human greed and selfishness.  Jesus is telling us that to live as a Christian, we are to live counter-intuitively and counter-culturally.  In humanistic terms, it is illogical to say, “Blessed are the poor! or Blessed are the Meek!”   But if you believe in Jesus it makes all the sense in the world.  Divine logic flows from faith.  If we believe in God, the teachings of Jesus are flawlessly logical.  Absent God, logic is like a bow with no string.  Faith is a gift.  If we make it the foundation for all intellectual pursuit; our faith is our sail and the power of God’s grace is our wind.

The way of Jesus is not just an alternative way; it is the only way.  Live it and show the world you are not lost.

Readings for Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Is 58:7-10

1 Cor 2:1-5

Mt 5:13-16

Theme:  “You are the salt of the earth….the light of the world.”