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9/11/2020

What’s new for this month?

September 11, 2020

Dear Friends on the Journey,

Racism. Didn’t we deal with that last month? What’s new for this month?

Not so quick, not so easy. The Pastoral Council, the Adult Education Committee, the Staff, and I — indeed, so many of us — believe that an essential direction of our Catholic Faith must be to grapple, from different perspectives and with different tools, the place of racism in our hearts, in our Church, in our society. We’re not letting this go.

So please join your Paulist Center Community for its continuing exploration of racism in our midst, in our Church, in our society. Dr. Craig Ford, former member of the Paulist Center and presenter in our second session, will join us LIVE on Sunday, September 13, 7-8:15pm, addressing the question “An Anti-Racist Spirituality for Catholics.” Now a professor of Theology at St Norbert College, Wisconsin, Craig is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame, Yale Divinity School, and Boston College. So many people have told me how much they appreciated Craig’s taped presentation a few weeks ago. So now we are delighted that he will address us directly and be open to some back and forth dialogue. All are welcome. Here is the link:

Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/91865836004?pwd=andaR2FTQWRYRU85cHFCeEgrNkVrQT09

Meeting ID: 918 6583 6004
Passcode: 279169

Morning Checklist:

These are the Seven Corporal Works of Mercy and the Seven Spiritual Works of Mercy. In times past, we Catholics memorized them (often in preparation for our Confirmation examination). But we retrieve this core part of our tradition because it’s always good to re-anchor ourselves in the basics of our faith:

To follow through on the last Spiritual Work of Mercy, the Paulist Fathers invite you to join them in a coast-to-coast COVID-19 PRAYER SERVICE on Tuesday September 15th, 8:30pm. This coincides with the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows. Any of these three links will get you there:

Website Link: Website
Facebook Link: Facebook
YouTube Link: YouTube

Next week, we will more fully welcome our new Young Adult Minister, John Morton. In the meantime, “Welcome, John!”

Resources, resources, resources. For Catholics to examine themselves as responsible Catholics and responsible citizens, here is a resource list for various webinars and the Paulist Fathers’ newly issued A Paulist Reflection for the 2020 U.S. Elections. The Link: Resources

Interested in being a Catholic? If you are not baptized or raised in anther Christian tradition or have not really been instructed in our Catholic Faith from early childhood, this is your opportunity: Fr. Chuck will be leading a ten Tuesday evening, 7-8:30pm, class beginning September 15th. Please contact him (chuck@paulistcenter.org) for details. You are welcome here!

Interested in being a Catholic? Or do you know someone who wishes to be a Catholic? If you are not baptized or raised in another Christian tradition or have not really been instructed in our Catholic Faith from early childhood, this is your opportunity: Fr. Chuck will be leading a ten Tuesday evenings, 7-8:30pm, beginning September 15th. Please contact him (chuck@paulistcenter.org) for details. You are welcome here!

Annual Family Retreat, Reimagined: This year’s theme is I AM WITH YOU: Stories of Courage, Healing, and Action During Times of Uncertainty. We will meet on Saturday, October 10, and Sunday, October 11. Virtual and optional small group programming will take place both days, and families are welcome to participate in any portion of the retreat. To learn more, including about the retreat and how to register your family, contact Meredith Cohen at <cohenmm@icloud.com>. Or complete registration form Registration Form

Worshiping In-Person at the Paulist Center Chapel
(imperative if you will be worshiping with us) …

We continue our “slow roll” reentry into the Paulist Center Chapel. For the Masses on August 29 and 30, please reserve a place for either the 5pm Mass on Saturday or the 10am on Sunday.

How to reserve a place?

Call the Center (617.742.4460) Wednesday through noontime Friday during business hours (10am-5pm).  Sal, our receptionist, will take your name and contact information (either email or phone number. We need this information so that we can contact you should we become aware, after the liturgy, of a person with Covid who attended your Mass).

Again, please read the Procedures carefully and watch the video [both links below]).  Of special note:

• The doors open 10 minutes before the service.
• Masks must be worn at all times in the Chapel.
• Please follow the directions of the hospitality ministers when entering, exiting, and at communion.
• Once seated, please stay in place.
• We invite you to hum along with the songs (no singing).

Procedures:

1) Here are the expectations and requirements: Procedures
2) A wonderful YouTube Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5A6uzhJH-Y&feature=youtu.be

Still in need! If you can assist with welcoming, seating, and directing people into and out of the Chapel, we would love to hear from you! If you are not in a vulnerable group with regard to COVID-19 and are willing and able to assist in this very important ministry, please contact Peter Ghiloni at peter@paulistcenter.org.

1) 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time, September 13th, Live Streamed Liturgy/Mass from the Chapel, at 10am:
Here’s the link: https://youtu.be/Gp6_OA1Rv8o

2) Paulist Center Families Prayer Service, 10 am, Sunday
New Zoom meeting ID.  See the emailed weekly Missive from Fr. Mike McGarry for the link.
Please note that this service – to which all are invited – is only live. That is, you can join only at 10am. The recording of the live-streamed Mass can be viewed anytime: “live” at 10am or recorded any time after 11:15am, same link.

3) All are welcome to a prayer gathering with/from the Paulist Center’s LGBTQ+ Group next Wednesday, September 16th, 7pm. See the emailed weekly Missive from Fr. Mike McGarry for the link.  All are welcome!

Ways of Giving:

Our “Community Gift” is our tradition of giving away 5% of our weekend offerings, averaged out over the whole year, to a group outside of ourselves. This week, we lift up our Sister Community, Hacienda Vieja. Since 1986 we have had a sister relationship with Hacienda Vieja, a farming community in rural El Salvador near the Honduran border. Hacienda Vieja, with a population of 423, is a well-organized community located far from the violence in the cities. Over the years, the Paulist Center Community has raised money to improve the town water supply, put a new roof on their church, provide scholarship money for youth, and purchase farmland.  Thank you!

(In addition, perhaps some would like to give directly to help our brothers and sisters in Lebanon. I recommend Catholic Near East Welfare Association. Go to their website, newa.org to donate.)

We are so very grateful for your support during this time of uncertainly and financial peril. Here are two ways to give:

1. To make a one-time or recurring donation using your bank account or credit card, click on the following link: https://tinyurl.com/DonatePaulistCenter
   Giving by text: Text 844-899-7511 with the amount you would like to donate (whole dollars only). Donations collected this way will be designated as part of the “Weekend Offering.”
2. Giving by text: Text a whole dollar donation amount to 844-899-7511; this will be designated as your “Weekend Offering.”

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I conclude with the wise words of St. Teresa of Avila:

Nothing can trouble,
nothing can frighten.
Those who seek God shall
never go wanting.
Nothing can trouble,
nothing can frighten.
God alone fills us.

And let us pray for/with one another.

Michael
Michael McGarry, C.S.P.
Director, the Paulist Center

Along with Patty, Chuck, Susan, Peter, Dorothy, Barbara, Rob, Alvaro, and Sal. Please feel free to call upon your Pastoral Ministers if you wish.

I will be sending out something every Thursday or Friday as the “shut down” continues.