From Fr. Mike, the Pastor ...

 

We are marching very quickly towards the Christmas Season.  This coming week, all our registered parishioners will be receiving a letter, a Christmas Mass schedule, and an offering envelope from me.  Please save the information you receive and do share with other Catholics, especially those we might not see on a regular basis.  Since Christmas is on a Saturday this year, we will celebrate two Christmas Eve Masses, A Family Vigil Christmas Liturgy at 4 pm in Oakhurst and a Candlelight Vigil Christmas Liturgy in North Fork at 7pm.  Midnight Mass will be preceded by a Festival of Carols beginning at 11:30 p.m. and there will be a Solemn Mass of Christmas celebrated on Christmas Day at 11:00 a.m. (There will be no Spanish Mass on Christmas Day.)  This will help Kevin and I to get a breather on Christmas Day since we start all over again on Sunday, the 26th with a full schedule.  

Advent is a season of Hope and Anticipation;  it does not have the same penitential nature as does the season of Lent.  As well, it is becoming more and  more difficult each year to get priests to help with Penance Services; therefore,  there will NO Advent Penance Service this year.  I will add extra hours of confessions on Saturday, December 18, from 2:00pm to 4:00pm at Our Lady of the Sierra Church in Oakhurst.  

We are continuing to collect food items for Manna House to help with the many who have great needs this Christmas Season and beyond.  I would like to continue collecting canned goods even after Christmas, so that we can be more help to the many who have such great needs.    

 

We are  now only a week away from the Christmas Feast.  All are reminded of the Christmas Mass schedule which can be found in this bulletin.  Please share the information with all the Catholics you know and may not receive our mailings.

At this special time of mourning for Bishop John Steinbock, which extends for 30 days from the date of his death, we continue to lift our prayers and hearts as we remember the many ways we were touched by this great shepherd.  I personally cannot count the number of ways Bishop John expressed his fraternal love and support through our 19 years together.  I was able to serve him in many capacities.  When times were hard for me, he was a true, loving and supportive pastor, who wouldn't let me go, and encouraged me to renew and revive my priesthood.  I will never forget him.  In a picture that hangs on my wall, he wrote, "Mike, with the esteem of a friend, +John T. Steinbock."  We who knew him came to know Christ!  May he be forever in our hearts.  Rest in peace, dear Servant of God.

As we now move into this period without a bishop, the diocese is officially 'sede vacante', which means "vacant seat".  The College of Consultors have elected Msgr. Myron Cotta  to be the Diocesan Administrator until such time as His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, appoints a new Bishop.  The Diocesan Administrator has most of the rights and responsibilities given to a Diocesan Bishop.  He cannot ordain, and when a Bishop is required for liturgical events, one will be invited to come and assist us.  The Diocesan Administrator re-appoints all department heads (I am the Director of the Office of Worship).  The Priests' Council is dissolved.  The College of Consultors will be a governing body along with the Diocesan Administrator.

All operations, construction projects, ministries, and similiar Diocesan activities can continue under a Diocesan Administrator, working with a College of Consultors.

From the desk of Fr. Mike ...

 

Happy New Year!

 

With this First Sunday of Advent, the Universal Church once again begins afresh with the beginning of the new Year of Grace 2011.  In this new year, we once again look forward to celebrating the many feasts and festivities that celebrate the saving power of Jesus Christ in Sacrament and action.  Today is also the beginning of the year of preparation to welcome the new Roman Missal which will go into effect, exactly one year from today.  It will give us all an opportunity to once again renewal our understanding of the Mass, its history, its development, and why we are always in need of reform.  In the long 2000 years of the life of the Church, the Mass has gone through hundreds of revisions and evolution.  That is why we are remind that even the old Latin Mass was only in place from the sixteenth century to 1969, a mere 300 or 400 years of the Church's history.

We will be announcing a full schedule planned for the diocese and the parish in the coming weeks.  As the Director of Worship for the diocese I will be spending much time traveling around the diocese helping small parishes and different groups in this preparation process.  The first major event concerning the implementation of the new Roman Missal will be the Clergy Convocation in January, where the priests and deacons will be introduced to the changes.  Since the changes will affect priests the most, they need to be prepared.  They will carry the greatest weight of the revisions, since its all the prayers of the Mass that we use that will change the most.  In our parishes, we will evenings to explain the changes, and this spring and summer, I will be doing catechesis during Mass in connection with the upcoming missal.

 The parish was able to send to Manna House of gift of $2000 for the Thanksgiving Day holiday season to help them purchase food.  Thank you to all who support our charity collection.  We will be sending more funds for the Christmas season.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fromthe desk of Fr. Mike ...

 

Our Parish Festival held on Sunday October 17^th was a success. Although it rained and certainly stopped some of the activities, we raised $6500 for our parish maintenance fund. This could not have been accomplished without our parishioners' many contributions for which we are very, very thankful.

 

At this time, I want to thank the many people who were involved before and during the festival – starting with the Festival Committee: Chuck Anspach, John and Anne Corrigan, Flora Franck, Lilly Dilly, Jerry Roche, Consuelo Mercier, Mick Callaghan, Mary Oldham, Peggy Stewart, Kevin Jonas and Nancy Hooper.

 

In many cases "it takes a village", in our case it took many parish volunteers and they are:

 

Bank

Chuck Anspach, Chair

Gene Harvey

Georgia Harvey

 

Drink Station

Mick Callaghan, Chair

Bill Gerth

Robert Marquez

Jerry Robison

 

Bingo

Flora Franck, Chair

Theresa Boyle

Zona Cahill

 

Bounce House

Donna Springer, Chair

Jennifer Springer

Matt Springer

Tim Springer

 

Dessert Station

Provided by the

  Womens Guild

Lilly Dilly, Chair

Tillie Helmer

Carolyn Kelly

Linda Robison

 

Duck Race

Cecelia Harding

Karen Bennett

Elizabeth Coleman

 

Face Painting

JoAnn Szyonkowiak

 

First Aid

Nancy Anderson

Jenny Becker

Fran Callaghan

Debbie Donahue

Mary Haugen

Jackie James

 

 

Golf Carts

Pat Anspach, Chair

Jerry Robison

Don Vasconcellos

 

Putting Green

Gail Gilbert

Mike Carter

Georgia Harvey

 

Horse Shoes

Jerry Roche

Lee Jonas

 

Mexican Food

Provided by

La Cabana Mexican Restaurant

Casa Velasco Mexican  

  Restaurant

El Cid Mexican Cuisine

Consuelo Mercier, Chair

Sandra Luna

Ignacio Luevano

Maria Luevano

Isabel Padilla

Norma Salazar

 

Parking

Don Vasconcellos, Chair

Tom Donoher

Chuck Galyan

Gary Gilbert

Fred James

Jerry Robison

Jeremiah Sampson

 

Hamburgers and Hot Dogs

Provided by

 The Knights of Columbus

Jerry Roche, Chair

Carl Burkard

Mike Gremp

Jan Gremp

Richard Lamontagne

Jeremiah Sampson

Tim Springer

Tony Tucker

Scarf Making

Peggy Stewart, Chair

Patty Cross

Nellie Perez

Joe Perez

 

Set Up/Clean Up

Tim Springer, Chair

Chuck Galyan

Laura Russell

Jim Russell

Donna Springer

Jennifer Springer

Matt Springer

Mary Oldham

 

Silent Auction

Kevin Jonas, Chair

Madeline Aoki

Carolle DeGeorge

Laura Jonas

Lee Jonas

Beverly Smoliski

Donna Wolfe

 

Square & Line Dancing

John and Anne Corrigan

Gold Dust Dancers

 

Ticket Booths

Katie Santoro, Chair

Pinkie Bowman

Jan Fjellbo

Valerie Jacobs

Nancy Lamontagne

Virginia Molloy

 

Volunteer Scheduling

Mary Oldham

 

Advertising and Promotion

Kevin Jonas

 

Signage

Kevin Jonas

 

 

 

We are so grateful to the parishioners that made donations for our raffle tickets, the outstanding silent auction gifts and the many underwriting donations.  These donations have been posted toward your year end statement.  Thank you to all.

 

 

From the desk of the Pastor: Fr. Mike

 

Pastor's Reflections on Festival Day 2010

 

While recently attending the Papal Audience on Wednesday, September 22nd, it was an incredible experience to be in the presence of the 'Church', the hierarchy, Religious Men and Women, Laity, gathered in unity to see, hear, and receive the words of  Faith and Blessings from the Holy Father.  This is a reminder of how Catholics gather on Sundays with each other and their priests, how diocesan events bring the people, clergy around the Bishop, and how this Universal expression of faith and unity is a quality that cannot be underestimated.  Thus this weekend, as we all get together for the Parish Festival, it brings the local Catholic community together to a unified Altar, together to hear the Word, be fed by the Eucharist, and to gather for fellowship.  I pray that all have an enjoyable time today.  Since the tour company, NAWAS, notified the audience organizers that we were attending, the name of Our Lady of the Sierra Parish in Oakhurst, California was called to the Holy Father.  Parish groups and other institutions are recognized from the pulpit that submit there intentions to be present at the Papal Audience.

 

Thank you to the many who have worked hard in bringing together this wonderful event.  The many workers/volunteers that have organized, cooked, baked, set-up and taken down, the liturgical ministers and to the many, many quiet folks behind the scene who simply, out of love for God, Church, and parish, sacrifice time, talent and treasure.  In future bulletins we will take more opportunities to name as many as we can.

 

We will also have time for reflection as we will be moving on to our new Sunday Mass schedule, commencing on the weekend of November 6/7th, 2010.  The schedule found elsewhere in this bulletin is not to everyone's liking I know, but after much discussions with as many groups and with the Pastoral Council's blessing, this new schedule will serve the needs of those we are called to serve.  I have found out how many, many Spanish speaking former Catholics there are in this community, now members of Protestant Churches and sects, like the Jevohah Witnesses, that have left the Catholic Church over many years due to the lack of outreach to them here in the mountain communities.  Bishop Steinbock is exceedingly happy and has given us all the encouragement possible as we embark on offering a Mass in Spanish every weekend.  His full support is deeply appreciated.  I do appreciate all the comments, notes, and emails, even from those that are disappointed with the new schedule.  I pray that we can work together for the good of all those we are called to serve,  not just the few.

 

As you know, members of our parish and I recently went on pilgrimage to Rome, Florence, Assisi, Venice, Innsbruck, Munich, Oberammergau, and Lucerne.   It was a wonderful experience which included the Papal Audience, Masses in Rome at St. Peter's and St. Mary Major, Mass at St. Mark's Cathedral in Venice, a parish in Florence, and the cathedral in Lucerne.  Probably the most incredible part of the pilgrimage was the Passion Play in Oberammergau, which will be something I will never forget.  The German village is extremely charming, the play so well done, and some of us stayed in private homes, since there are few hotels in the area.  Six roomed in a farmhouse that was charming and hospitable.  Home cooked breakfast woke us up.  

 

The last few days, after the pilgrims left Zurich for home, my mother and I continued on to the French Basque Country to spend time with my mother's three sisters and one brother, and with cousins and friends.  We also went to the Spanish side to see my aunt who is in a rest home, who I had not seen in many years.  It was a joy to be with family, friends, and in the land that I love very much.  On October 7th, my family and I traveled to Lourdes.  It was the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, and nearly 200,000 people had gathered to pray that day.  It was another great experience of faith.

 

The next pilgrimage is planned to the Holy Land in November of 2011.  This seems to be  a popular trip as I have begun to received numerous inquiries and reservations are coming in with deposits.  If you are interested, I need to know before the end of December, as it is first come, first serve.  We will be able to take up to as many as 40 people.

 

From the desk of the Pastor: Fr. Mike ...

 

In this weekend's bulletin, we are publishing the actual budget that finished this past June 30, 2010.  In this budget, you will be able to see exactly what was brought in as income and what our expenditures were.  We finished the year with a deficit of about $25,000.  We borrowed some funds from our savings to cover needs that we either did not anticipate, or we could not meet.  You will note that our weekly income has dropped from the previous budget year.  We also are publishing the prior year of 2009-2010 to give you an insight of the direction we are heading at this time, especially in the light the recession that affects the mountain communities.  Also, most of all the parishes of the diocese have suffered losses, and in some cases, severe losses and severe cutbacks in their operations.  Some of our Catholic schools are in crisis mode, since parishes can no longer support the schools, and the schools are totally dependent on their own ability to raise funds and must push to bring in new students.  With high employment and underemployment, fewer parents are able to place their children in our Catholic schools.  In fact, we recently saw San Joaquin Memorial High School in Fresno suffering the lowest enrollment in years, and pushing to advertise for new students.  They have even lowered the tuition, with the hopes it will stimulate interest among our Catholic families in the Fresno area.  We pray this works.

 

With regards to our own parishes, our income has fallen from one year to another.  We held all our employees to another year, but seeing the continuing decline, we no longer pay our Youth Director a stipend, we have cut our Religious Education Director hours from 30 to 20 hours a week (this also meant that she lost parish- provided health insurance for herself and family) and we have taken the part time secretary days from three to two.  We have made every effort to control travel cost, with gas reimbursements that are provided to the pastor, deacon and parish staff down considerably from last year.  The deacon and I were the only ones to attend the LA Congress this year, with me staying one less night to save on hotel and priest supply costs for that weekend.  We have closed the parish office on Fridays during the summer and we will continue this practice until further notice.  This saves on salaries and utility costs, especially with summer heat and running the two air conditioners at our rented office space.

 

This brings us to the most difficult but necessary move we will be making in the coming months.  At the time we moved to the facilities at 49430 Road 426, we were in a healthy financial situation.  The lease on the rented office space is up this November, and with the decline of income continuing well into this new year, and not seeing a better future at the present moment, we are moving our offices back to Our Lady of the Sierra Church facility.  The upper lounge will be the pastor's office.  The Religious Education Office will now be Administration Office.  The area that was used for religious education classes on the east side of the parish hall will now be cubicles for additional office space for Peggy and a conference room for small meetings.  This does mean that the hall will be smaller for general use.  There will be challenges for some of our groups.  We will add a storage building outside the kitchen area so items in the locked closets will be moved there, giving Peggy the necessary room for her religious education materials and equipment.  This may also mean that not all religious education classes will be taught on Sundays, possibly making older children classes be on Saturday or weekday evenings.  On the other hand, we will be on church grounds all the time, increasing security and being on hand when groups are present during the day.  People can once again come up the church for business and pastoral needs, not having to look for us elsewhere.    

 

We look to complete our move in mid-October to the church grounds.  This is between my pilgrimage to Rome/Europe, and when Nancy will be on her vacation in November.  As time moves on, we will keep you informed.  We ask for your patience, as we will be on top of each other at times, and we pray that someday we will be able to build our own facilities on site or purchase a house that is next to us that can be turned into offices in the future. 

 

On the other hand, we are very grateful to many of our parishioners who have made substantial contributions to some area of our budget, such as Religious Education, Youth Activities, or Liturgy.  You will note the large amount of money that it takes to send our youth to Arizona, to fund their youth activities, pizzas on Mondays at the high school and other expenditures associated with youth ministry and youth religious education.  We receive large gifts that are dedicated for this purpose alone, including memorial gifts.  We are appreciative to parishioners who have donated large gifts at whim, walking into our offices or mailing us a large check, making no demands other than it be used for whatever the parish needs. In this past year, we were gifted with a bequest from a will of a parishioner who left money to the parish.  Many that come to our parish at Christmas and Easter allow us the extra breathing room at those times of the year.

 

Most important, we cannot forget the many, many parishioners who volunteer their time to our parish.  They come to clean and repair on Wednesday mornings at OLS , they quietly care for the mission churches, they count the collections, they help with stuffing envelopes, they wash church linens, they care for the poor, they serve the youth, and they lead groups and committees.  These wonderful parishioners make it possible for the staff to save on money in so many big and little ways.  They too contribute to the budget in ways that we cannot express and we owe them all our gratitude.

 

Lastly, I am grateful to Roman Zabiki, Charles Anspach and to Roger Mercier, members of our Finance Committee.  They have been diligent in asking the right questions and giving wise advice on many issues.  They have complete access to all financial accounts and are able to see them anytime they wish in accord with diocesan statutes.  I also am grateful to Nancy Hooper, our office manager, who keeps a sharp eye on all things financial.

 

From the desk of the Pastor, Fr. Mike...

 

As mentioned in earlier bulletins, we are searching for a way to provide a Mass time for our Hispanic community on Sundays. The results I have been getting back from many people are that we should adjust the Sunday Masses at St. Joseph the Worker in North Fork and Our Lady of the Sierra Church by half an hour.  The strong consensus coming back to me is to move the afternoon Mass from Bass Lake to Sunday mornings, possibly to 9:30am.......thus we would have the Spanish Mass in the afternoon slot where we had the Bass Lake Mass.  This would give us five weekend Masses; one Saturday, and four on Sundays.  The new schedule would start in November with the change over to the winter hours.  The new winter hours would, beginning November, become our regular Mass schedule for the year.

 

WINTER HOURS:

Saturday Vigil Mass:        4:00pm at Our Lady of the Sierra, Oakhurst

Sunday Masses:              8:00am at St. Joseph the Worker, North Fork

                                        9:30am at St. Dominic Savio, Bass Lake

                                       11:30am at Our Lady of the Sierra, Oakhurst

                                         4:00pm [Spanish Mass] at Our Lady of the Sierra, Oakhurst 

  

I am open to further discussion and would like more input from as many of our parishioners as possible.  Again, the reason for the Spanish Mass in the afternoon is that most of our Spanish speaking Catholic community work in the hospitality industry in the mountain communities, and the afternoon Mass would be in between their lunch and dinner hours for those who work in restaurants, and for those who work in the hotels/motels in housekeeping: they would be finished by that time to attend Mass.  I know that the greatest inconvenience is to the Bass Lake community who have had the afternoon Mass for years.  However, this will be a greater service for our tourists who would be much more able to attend Mass in the morning as opposed to the late afternoon.  I am hoping for understanding and for all of us to reach out to the Spanish speaking Catholics who live in our mountain communities.  Presently, of all the baptisms we have in our church, the Spanish speaking baptisms far outnumber the English baptisms.  Also more and more Spanish speaking weddings are coming forth as young couples seek to marry or have their marriages revalidated.

 

I am also happy that Consuelo Mercier will undertake the ministry of outreach to the Spanish speaking, and will help in coordinating the Spanish Masses.  Her help is deeply appreciated.  She has a long history of working with the Spanish speaking in the local school district, and is familiar with many of the Spanish speaking families in the area.

 

From the desk of the Pastor, Fr. Mike:

Today is the Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady into Heaven. The Church will actually

celebrate this feast, in spite it being a Sunday, and then continue with the normal cycle

next week with the 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time.

We thank the Oblates of St. Joseph for coming to us last weekend and making us aware of

the need to extend our resources to the foreign missions. This reminder is important for

us to realize that we are one Church throughout the world and an influential community,

that we need to reach out to the poorest areas where so many missionaries are working

hard to bring Christ to so many in very difficult places and cultures. Many missionaries

like so many before, risk so much to do what they believe is their call, and we hear often

of the arrests and deaths of brave Religious men and women who have been killed for the

sake of the Gospel. Please keep our Catholic missionaries always in your prayers and

hearts as they do what we cannot do.

Please make sure that you have been able to make an appointment for a picture sitting for

our upcoming Parish Directory. I want to again thank Norm and Barb Nadeau for their

dedication and hard work in organizing the appointment picture taking schedule. This is

very hard work and so much goes on behind the scenes to make this a success.

Since we are a very small parish compared to most of the parishes in our diocese, we receive

very few intentions for the Masses that are celebrated here. We must always go to

the Chancery Office in Fresno to get extra intentions that other parishes send in since they

cannot possibly say all the Masses that are required of them. We also go begging to individual

parishes to see if they have extra intentions. If you wish to have a Mass offered for

a loved one, or for someone living who has a particular need, a birthday, an anniversary,

or for an illness, call our office and ask for a Mass to be said for them.

Today's Second Collection is taken up throughout our diocese for the maintenance of St.

John's Cathedral in Fresno, the mother church of the Diocese of Fresno. The Cathedral is

downtown, and as such, does not generate much of an income to be maintained. It is the

church from where the Bishop officially presides over the whole diocese. The cathedral

is the responsibility of the diocese and the bishop, and we all help out by generating the

funds to maintain and repair the cathedral, especially since our cathedral is well over a

hundred years old and has a lot of needs to just keep it up to standards. Your generosity

is very much appreciated today.

 

 

From the desk of the Pastor: Fr. Mike ...

 

Apostleship of the Sea of the United States of America

 

aosusa@sbcglobal.net

 

I was recently invited to join a special ministry that is provided by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, and by the Holy See, called the Apostleship of the Sea. This ministry consists of volunteer priests who serve merchant sailors, cruise ship crews and passengers.  This ministry has been in existence throughout the world for well over two hundred years.  In the United States, priests and bishops give a week or so of their year to provide sacramental services to those at sea or in ports.  This service is provided with no compensation with the exception of the ship passage, in some circumstances.  Many of the seaports, such as San Francisco, Oakland and San Pedro have full time priests who are available for merchant sailors who come ashore after many months out at sea.  Cruise ship companies now  engage the AOS directly to have priests on board many of their cruise ships to provide daily Masses for passengers and crew members.  The greater majority of the crew members of cruise ships that sail in and out the U.S. are Filipino men and women, nearly all of them Catholic.  Usually a cruise ship chaplain will celebrate two Masses daily, one for passengers and one for the crew.  The priest is also asked to provide a protestant-style service on Sundays for non-Catholics, and may even lead a Jewish community in prayer, if requested.  He is responsible to hear confessions for Catholic passengers and crew, and be available for pastoral counseling for the crew.  Not all cruise ship companies use Catholic priests, who must have the permission of their bishop to serve, and be in good standing. It is forbidden for AOS priests to witness marriages on cruise ships.  Recently Celebrity Cruises ceased using Catholic priests (since only priests are brought in to do this ministry, not Protestant ministers.)  Holland America uses the services of AOS the most of any cruise line.  About a dozen priests of the Diocese of Fresno volunteer for the AOS. Rules for priest conduct and ministries working with AOS are set by the Vatican's office of the AOS.  It is headed by a bishop.  The American AOS is headed by a priest.

 

I joined the AOS last year and am now taking my first chaplaincy cruise with Holland America to Alaska this week.  I am responsible for paying for my own way to and from the airport where the ship disembarks and returns, and in this case, it will be Seattle, WA.  I am given free passage as long as I say two Masses every day, provide confession time for passengers and crew, and be present and available for pastoral counseling.  I must pay for all incidentals that other passengers pay for, i.e. soft drinks, alcohol, etc.  The priest must also host a dinner table with passengers as he is considered a ship officer employee for the week.  

 

You probably also know that I lead tours and pilgrimages either every year or every other year.  I have been doing this for NAWAS Catholic Travel for nearly all 25 years of my priesthood.  I will be leading a pilgrimage from Oakhurst/Merced/Hanford in September to Rome and to the Passion Play in Germany.  I also provide Mass everyday on these pilgrimages, give talks, sometimes give local tours when in Rome, and hear confessions and depending on where we go, celebrate marriage anniversaries, etc.  I am the one who finds people for the tour/pilgrimage, usually those who have traveled with me before, and always new people from new parishes that I serve.   I do not pay for the tour/pilgrimage itself, since, if you will, I'm "working it", making sure everything goes well, and I am ultimately responsible for the group, from the moment they step on the plane in the US, to the moment they are home.

 

The parish I serve never pays for my vacation time or my incidental charges when serving as a chaplain on a cruise ship.  If I go to a conference/meeting/convention that is connected with the Office of Worship, the diocese pays my way.  The parish, exclusively, absorbs the cost of the Religious Education Congress which is held annually.  This enhances my pastoral ministry to the parish.  I pay for  my private vacation and any transportation that is personal.

 

Whenever I am called to celebrate a Basque Festival Mass on a Sunday, I personally pay the visiting priest his stipend for presiding at Mass here at Our Lady of the Sierra. Since I am compensated by the local Basque community, I feel that it is my personal responsibility to compensate the priest who takes my place here. The parish compensates priests when they are here because I am on vacation or away on diocesan business.  At this writing, I have  two Basque events left this year, one at the end of August and one in December.  As mentioned in an earlier bulletin, I am the only Basque speaking priest now serving in the U.S., and thus when a community wants to have a Basque Mass on a Sunday, I am notified.  Many of these Masses are now being moved to Saturdays, which will be easier for me.

 

From the desk of Fr. Mike...

 

Recently the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops voted to accept the long standing work of ICEL (International Commission on English in the Liturgy) re-working of the Roman Missal in English.  It was at the insistence of the Sacred Congregation of Divine Worship in Rome that the English version be updated so that the English text would follow the Latin text more faithfully.

 

Following Vatican II in the 1960's, the first translation of the Roman Missal in English, the dynamic process that was utilized, which is different from a word to word literal  translation from Latin to English.  In the dynamic translation, words or phrases that are similar could be used, allowing for a more colloquial style of speaking that is common in our country.  Many of our prayers are not literal, but like phrases and words are implemented.  The American style of speaking and writing English would certainly be different than English that is used in the United Kingdom or Australia.

 

The Holy See wanted all the English countries to develop a translation that would be common to all with a very closely held literal translation to be implemented.  One reason was that many other languages would translate their Sacramentary from the American version, taking them further away from the actual Latin text.

 

The official Third Edition of the Roman Missal in English is now finished and ready to be implemented in all English speaking countries.  The Holy See has given its endorsement and it has allowed each bishop's conference to set the date for implementation.  Unless we hear differently, the new translation will go into effect on the First Sunday of Advent of 2011, a full 18 months from now.  The reason for the long period is to assist bishops, priests, and the laity transition into the new language.  Many of the new prayers will be difficult for American priests.  Phrases and words, long not used in our country will be introduced.  The Collect (Opening Prayer) of all Sundays will take on another form of praying.

 

(This information will be continued in next week's bulletin)

 

From the desk of the Pastor, Fr. Mike...

 

Holy Land Pilgrimage with the Pastor:  November of 2011

 

I will be leading a pilgrimage to the Holy Land that will begin Monday, November 7th, 2011, flying from San Francisco and will last ten days.  We will visit the sacred shrines of Caesarea, Solomon's Stables and Tiberius.  The tour will then take us across the Sea of Galilee to Capernaum, the home of St. Peter's on the lake shore.  We will visit the place where the miracles of the loaves of fishes took place and where Jesus taught the Mount of Beatitudes with a stop at Caesarea Philippi where Peter was made the head of the Church.  We will visit Cana and couples on the pilgrimage will have an opportunity to renew their marriages where the Lord attended the wedding feast, turning water into wine.  We will visit Nazareth, the hometown of Jesus, with a stop at the Church of the Annunciation and step into the Jordan River to renew baptismal promises.

 

We will spend adequate time in Jerusalem, visiting the Old City, the Wailing Wall, Walking the Via Dolorosa, praying the Stations of the Cross, Mass in the Holy Sepulcher, walking through the Garden of Olives, a visit to Bethlehem and the Church of the Nativity.  We will visit the Dead Sea, the place of the Dead Sea Scrolls, Caves of Qumran, and one of the oldest cities in the world, Jericho. 

 

At each sacred shrine, whenever possible, we will celebrate Mass or have another prayer service or the Stations of the Cross in the Old City.  This is a prayer experience, to walk where Jesus walked and to grow in personal holiness.

 

Those who are interested (and we need 16 to do it) we will add a three day trip to Jordan that would take us to Madaba, Mt. Nebo, Amman, Petra (the ancient buildings in the side of a mountain) and back.  This is optional and would be an extra charge.

 

The Holy Land Pilgrimage begins and ends in San Francisco.  The cost is $2799 per person, which includes hotels, most meals (breakfast and dinner daily) a full time English speaking guide, all service charges and local taxes and automatic $100,000 flight insurance.  For those who want to extend the pilgrimage into Jordan, the extra cost would be $698.00 per person for the three days.

 

The parish website has a copy of the brochure, along with the form for those interested, otherwise come by or call the parish office for a brochure.

 

I did this pilgrimage in the Jubilee year of 2000 and it was a fantastic success!