Next Sunday: Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Celebrant: Fr. Tharp
Trial Solution for Deaf and Hearing Impaired at Sacred Heart
When the sound system had to be rewired at Sacred Heart about a year ago, combined Parish Council considered and approved a proposal to allow for two monitors that would translate every word said over the PA in church into closed caption script displayed on the monitors. Recently the two monitors were installed in the front of church.
After discussion with the Archdiocese, this form of assistance to the deaf and hearing impaired was chosen because it enables both the person who is totally without hearing as well as the person with mild hearing impairment (these usually are people who do not understand American sign language) to be able to understand the homily and even the words to the music. Two people have expressed the opinion to me that the closed captioning is a great distraction. Some others have expressed gratitude as they are enabled to read what the priest and ministers are saying and others are hearing.
As Melody Wallace, Director of Worship has promised, (in the next few weeks) we will survey the congregation and allow a vote to: 1) make the option permanent at all precept Masses, 2) make the option available at only select Sunday Mass times, 3) remove the monitors and disengage this help to the hearing impaired because it is too distracting for the general congregation. Perhaps another option I have not considered will surface .
Please watch for the survey and cast your vote. This was done as a Beacons of Light initiative to invite the hearing impaired and deaf community to feel more welcome to worship more fully with the hearing community. If it fails to achieve that purpose, or is far too distracting, please give your opinion by participating in the upcoming survey.
Sacred Heart Festival is next weekend
The Parish Family of Immaculate Heart of Mary (St. Ann and Sacred Heart) will for the long term future continue to need both church facilities, as neither location is large enough to accommodate the number of people in our combined parish boundaries who wish to attend Sunday Mass during the most favored Sunday timeslots. Since both locations also support a vibrant Catholic School, we need to maintain and enhance all existing fundraising activities at both sites. Thus it continues to be necessary for each site to host an annual “Parish Summer Festival” even when we become one parish at two locations. We need the revenues from both festivals to operate and maintain the physical plant at each of the two locations. If you are a parishioner at one or both, please prayerfully consider volunteering to work at the festival at one or both sites.
The Saint Ann Festival concluded Saturday, July 27. Since Sacred Heart’s Festival is next weekend, please consider volunteering whatever time you can.
Beacons of Light: Phase Two: “Envisioning”
In early September, I hope to present to the combined Parish Council the final draft of the Immaculate Heart of Mary vision statement. We will then present it to the entire congregation for comment, and then officially to the Archdiocese.
In September we hope to move to Phase Three “Culture.” In this phase, we will examine how both St. Ann and Sacred Heart have operated in the past, and how we can move forward with common practices as one parish with two schools and two worship locations. We have already done much of this over the past twelve years operating as a Pastoral Region and most recently a Family of Parishes. I expect we will move through this phase very quickly.
DO NOT FALL FOR SCAMS!!!!
I keep running this article because there are new scams everyday
Remember I NEVER solicit funds, donations, favors, or any request of any kind over the telephone, text, email, carrier pigeon, drone, etc. NEVER! Do not allow yourself to be taken in by scammers. Even if they have my recorded voice, be assured it is computer generated fake! It is not me!!!
Reminder for volunteers who work with or around children
Please be aware that failure to register with and complete the requirements of Safe Parish will result in your inability to continue to work with or around children in any parish and/or school setting. We have been informed by the Archdiocese that there can be NO EXCEPTIONS.
Live Streaming for Precept Masses
Please remember to access the Sacred Heart / St. Ann Pastoral Region You Tube site by clicking on the following link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVLLqbEY5hKWinwz069MVcg
Reflection on Scripture:
“I am the bread of life…” If you are working on an automatic transmission, it is helpful to have a flow chart. It shows the channels and orifices through which the pressurized fluid travels. Similarly, when hired for work by a major corporation, surveying the organizational chart tells you your immediate supervisor, and who is who all the way to the top. In today’s gospel, Jesus gives us the flow chart of “life.” Life or God’s life of Grace as we know it, comes from God the Father, through the Son; and the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son. But Grace is neither static nor dimensional. It is God’s life poured out into us. We are alive only because of God. If God does not exist; neither do we!
Jesus says, “I am the bread of life…” God’s grace of life can only emanate from God, the only source. Saying that you don’t believe that God exists is tantamount to saying I don’t believe I exist. Existence does not exist outside of God. But remember, we are not parasites drawing life from an unwitting divine host. We are children of the God who created us. We are God’s family precisely because we are fed by the Body and Blood of Christ; the Eucharist. When Jesus says, “I am the bread of life,” he is saying that all life and redemption come into temporal existence only through him. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father (the source) except through him. This is why we revel in the fact that we are called “Christians.”
NEXT SUNDAY Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
1 Kgs 19:4-8
Eph 4:30—5:2
Jn 6:41-51
Theme: The bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world."