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bulletin – November 18

Sunday, November 18th, 2007

TODAY WE ARE CELEBRATING THE FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF THE DEDICATION OF OUR NEW CHURCH

ANNOUNCED MASSES

Date Time Intentions
Nov. 20 9:00AM ANTHONY ARRIGO req Anne & Family
Nov. 22 9:00AM BILL EVANS req Jack & Margaret Murray
Nov. 23 9:00AM ARMANDO & WALTER DI NARDO req Family
Nov. 24 4:30PM MICHAEL PALAZZO req Val & Family

SUNDAY COLLECTION: November 10/11, 2007

Total: $9,549

–>

4:30 8:30 10:30 12:30
Loose
Env. $
Total $2,334 $1,807 $3,073 $2,335
# of Env. 115 100 146 108

NOVEMBER IS THE MONTH OF ALL SOULS

There will be a book of Remembrance placed on the altar for the month of November. You are invited to write the names of your deceased relatives and friends in this book. They will be remembered at all the Masses celebrated in November.

TUESDAY NIGHTS AND WEDNESDAY MORNINGS ARE LEARNING TIMES

The topics we have chosen are varied – a mixture of church history, church teachings and scripture. You are welcome to join us whenever you can. For further information call Mary Landry at 416-221-8866 ext 224.
Next meetings:
Tuesday evening, November 13th at 7:30 PM
Wednesday morning, November 14th at 10:30 AM.

A NEW MINISTRY!

The parish is looking to establish a new ministry to serve elderly parishioners and others with special needs who might require transportation to and from Church on Saturdays/Sundays, and to medical appointments. First we would like to ascertain the need of the community in this regard. At the same time, we are seeking volunteers who would like to participate in this ministry. Any parishioners who would like to avail themselves of such a service OR who can volunteer to help, please contact Fatima Lee at 416 221-8866 ext 228.

END OF LIFE ISSUES FROM A CATHOLIC PERSPECTIVE

Have questions regarding end of life issues: euthanasia, pain and suffering surrounding death, palliative care, withdrawal of treatment or dignity of the dying?

Please join us for a lecture series presented by the Canadian Catholic bioethics Institute (CCBI) here at our parish. The lectures are scheduled for four consecutive Wednesdays beginning on November 14th from 7:30 to 9:30 PM.

The topics are:
Nov. 21st – Advanced Directives, Power of Attorney and Ethical issues at the End of Life
Nov. 28th – Euthanasia, Assisted Suicide, Palliative Care and Spiritual Issues
Dec. 5th – A Christian Spirituality of Suffering and Death

Guest speakers will be Dr. Moira McQueen, the Director of the CCBI, and Dr. Barry Brown. At the end of each lecture, there will also be an opportunity for questions and discussion. Suggested donation is $40 for the series; or $10 per lecture; or whatever your means allow. For further information and to register, please call the parish office at (416) 221-8866.

CASSEROLES FOR THE GOOD SHEPHERD CENTRE

Your prepared chicken rice casseroles (frozen please) will be collected at the Masses next weekend for delivery to the Good Shepherd Centre. More volunteers are encouraged to get a copy of the casserole recipe and a pan and give it a try. For more information, please contact Irene Albrecht at 416 221-2791.

ALTAR SERVERS

This is a reminder to all servers or their parents to pick up the new schedule December 2007 to February 2008 on the bulletin board beside the Sacristy.

CHRISTMAS SERVICE FOR THOSE WHO MOURN

This Ecumenical Service is sponsored by the Bayview-Sheppard Ministerial Group (including Chaplains of North York General Hospital and Seniors’ Health Centre) with the hope that the light of Christ will bring peace and comfort to people in the North York community who are bereaved or troubled, or for whom Christmas may be a difficult time. This will take place in Auditoriums 1 and 2 at North York General Hospital, 4001 Leslie Street (at Sheppard) on Tuesday, December 11th at 7:30 PM.
Free Parking
Refreshments following the Service.

CATHOLIC CHILDREN’S AID SOCIETY
“HOPE FOR CHILDREN FOUNDATION”

We are inviting families to assist us in providing some little extras, such as new clothing, new toys, food vouchers, and/or gift certificates to bring the joy of the season to one of our families. If you are willing to adopt-a-family or provide a donation, please call 416 395-1634 or email hopeforchildren@ccas.toronto.on.ca For more information about the Christmas Program or a list of gift suggestions please visit www.ccas.toronto.on.ca/HopeForChildren/Christmas.html

SOCIETY OF ST. VINCENT de PAUL

Your donations to the poor boxes after Mass throughout the year are very important in enabling us to help those in need. At this time of the year, we try to provide a little extra for families and others that we help. Your generosity as you leave the Church would help us add something to their Christmas celebration.

ARCHDIOCESE OF TORONTO

The Catholic Office of Religious Education and Liturgy is sponsoring one workshop that may be of interest to you.

Saturday, November 24, 2007
The Church’s Teaching on Marriage
St. Luke’s Parish
39 Green Lane, Thornhill, ON
(905) 881-2786

SCARBORO MISSIONS INFORMATION DAY

on Saturday, November 24, 2007 at Scarboro Missions, 2685 Kingston Rd., Scarborough.
We welcome those who feel they may be called by God to be a priest or lay missioner. We invite you to walk with us…it may change your life forever! To register please contact us at (416) 261-7135 or lmo@scarboromissions.ca

BLESSED TRINITY CWL

is having a Wine and Cheese Social on Tuesday, November 20th at 7:00 PM in their Parish Hall. There will be a brief general meeting followed by refreshments and socializing.

MARRIED COUPLES RETREAT

Archbishop Adam Exner, OMI, will preach a weekend retreat for Married Couples at Queen of Apostles Renewal Centre in Mississauga on November 30th to December 2nd. The theme of the retreat will be “REFLECTING THE FACE OF CHRIST IN MARRIAGE AND FAMILY”. To register or to obtain more information, contact the Centre at 905 278-5229.



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homily – November 11

Sunday, November 11th, 2007

Confirmation

I want to say a few words of our first reading from the Book of Maccabees and what it has to say to what we will be doing after the homily.

We have a powerful telling of the story of seven brothers and their mother who were willing to die rather than abandon their faith. King Antiochus from Antioch has ravaged Jerusalem and especially the temple and its treasures. He has left behind officials to subdue the Jewish people and force them to reject their customs and their God. This mother and her seven sons are killed for their faith in the God of life Who will raise them to a higher life, because they have remained faithful to living faithfully while on earth.

I hope you find the time to read a piece in the bulletin about the Passionist Bishop Eugene Basilkov from Bulgaria. Today is the 55th anniversary of his execution by the communists. He was imprisoned and pressured into establishing a national church which would be controlled by the government. Being faithful to his faith and the church he refused. He was shot and buried in a common grave. Like the Macabean mother and her seven sons Bishop Eugene was a martyr, a witness to the faith.

These two events, our first reading and this anniversary of Bishop Eugene’s death have much to say to the ceremony that follows the sermon. We will be having the enrollment ceremony for those young people of the parish who are asking to be confirmed.

Confirmation is that sacrament which is meant to strengthen, reinforce, and fortify the life into which we were born at Baptism. In the first centuries of the church most baptisms were adult baptisms and immediately after a person was baptized they were anointed with oil to strengthen them to live a faith which could cost them their lives. Then they received their first communion which was meant to nourish and sustain them in living out their commitment to Christ.

Confirmation is not an automatic thing. Students are not confirmed because they are in grade eight. Students must ask to be confirmed and there are certain things they are expected to do such as helping in the different ministries in the parish, to prepare themselves for this sacrament.

Personally I find this a very frustrating sacrament. The school and the parish go through so much to prepare these students for confirmation and often we wonder if it ever ‘takes’. Once they hit high school coming to Mass isn’t ‘cool’, they have better things to do and often they don’t have the example of their parents to follow. I was talking with a Rabbi a few years ago and he expressed the same frustration. He said, “We see Bar Mitzvah as an entrance into our community. But after the ceremony and the party our young people see it as an exit from the community.

Few of us remember our baptisms. Our parents and Godparents spoke on our behave stating our belief in God and our rejection of evil. But every Easter Sunday, which in the early church was ‘the’ day of baptisms, we are invited to speak in our own names and commit ourselves once again to trying to live fully the life that is ours through the passion, death and resurrection of Christ.

Today as these good young people prepare themselves for the sacrament of Confirmation, and with the powerful witness of faithfulness to their faith given us by a brave mother and her seven sons, the witness of a faithful shepherd Bishop Eugene – we pray for these students that they appreciate what they doing – that they always remain open to the love of God proven to us in the cross they receive – that they be faithful to that love. We can pray for ourselves that we be confirmed and strengthened in our faithfulness to Christ, Who was faithful to us, even to dying on the cross for us.



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bulletin – November 11

Sunday, November 11th, 2007

Some parishioners are concerned about the coming of the Flu season and our practice of shaking hands
for the Greeting of Peace. If someone does not offer their hand to you, please do not take it personally,
they may not want to pass their cold onto you.

Today marks the 55th anniversary of the execution of Passionist Bishop Eugene Bossilkov by the
Communists. The Passionists have been ministering in northern Bulgaria since the 1700s. Eugene
joined the Passionists in 1920 and eventually was ordained bishop of Nicopolis in 1947. Bulgaria joined
the Axis during the Second World War and was eventually invaded by the Russians who established a
Communist government in the country. Bishop Bossilkov refused to work with the government to
establish a ‘national’ church free of the influence of Rome. He was arrested and tried for treason and
was executed on this day in 1952 and was buried in a common grave. Bishop Eugene was beatified
by Pope John Paul II on March 15, 1998.

Fr. Paul

ANNOUNCED MASSES

Date Time Intentions
Nov. 13 9:00AM SYD SEDGWICK req Bernie & Family
Nov. 15 9:00AM NARCISA TALAVERA req Belen Huarte
Nov. 16 9:00AM PERRY TANG req Family
Nov. 17 4:30PM GINO GERARDI req Family

SUNDAY COLLECTION: November 3/4, 2007

Total: $9,920

–>

4:30 8:30 10:30 12:30
Loose
Env. $
Total $2,729 $2,264 $3,128 $1,799
# of Env. 112 88 149 95

SHEPHERDS’ TRUST COLLECTION

The Shepherds’ Trust is an archdiocesan retirement program that provides elderly and infirm priests with the financial support they require to lead a dignified life after their many years of service to us. This collection will take place in our parish the weekend of November 17th/18th. The contributions received from our parish plus other ‘religious order’ parishes will be allocated to each order’s retirement fund. Please note that all contributions are tax-deductible. Thank you for caring for those who always cared for us!

NOVEMBER IS THE MONTH OF ALL SOULS

There will be a book of Remembrance placed on the altar for the month of November. You are invited to write the names of your deceased relatives and friends in this book. They will be remembered at all the Masses celebrated in November.

TUESDAY NIGHTS AND WEDNESDAY MORNINGS ARE LEARNING TIMES

The topics we have chosen are varied – a mixture of church history, church teachings and scripture. You are welcome to join us whenever you can. For further information call Mary Landry at 416-221-8866 ext 224.
Next meetings:
Tuesday evening, November 13th at 7:30 PM
Wednesday morning, November 14th at 10:30 AM.

A NEW MINISTRY!

The parish is looking to establish a new ministry to serve elderly parishioners and others with special needs who might require transportation to and from Church on Saturdays/Sundays, and to medical appointments. First we would like to ascertain the need of the community in this regard. At the same time, we are seeking volunteers who would like to participate in this ministry. Any parishioners who would like to avail themselves of such a service OR who can volunteer to help, please contact Fatima Lee at 416 221-8866 ext 228.

END OF LIFE ISSUES FROM A CATHOLIC PERSPECTIVE

Have questions regarding end of life issues: euthanasia, pain and suffering surrounding death, palliative care, withdrawal of treatment or dignity of the dying?

Please join us for a lecture series presented by the Canadian Catholic bioethics Institute (CCBI) here at our parish. The lectures are scheduled for four consecutive Wednesdays beginning on November 14th from 7:30 to 9:30 PM.

The topics are:
Nov. 14th – What is Bioethics and what are the issues?
Nov. 21st – Advanced Directives, Power of Attorney and Ethical issues at the End of Life
Nov. 28th – Euthanasia, Assisted Suicide, Palliative Care and Spiritual Issues
Dec. 5th – A Christian Spirituality of Suffering and Death

Guest speakers will be Dr. Moira McQueen, the Director of the CCBI, and Dr. Barry Brown. At the end of each lecture, there will also be an opportunity for questions and discussion. Suggested donation is $40 for the series; or $10 per lecture; or whatever your means allow. For further information and to register, please call the parish office at (416) 221-8866.

JUST COFFEE:

Fair trade organic coffees will be on sale after all the Masses next weekend.

Regular ground coffee: $5
Decaffeinated: $6
Whole Beans: $5
Chocolate Bars: $4 incl. taxes
Hot Chocolate and Cocoa: $4.50
Teas: $3.25 to $4 by variety

Fair trade products are appreciated as Christmas presents. Please let us know of your Christmas order at
next week’s sale so that we can have sufficient quantities for the December sale.

ARCHDIOCESE OF TORONTO

The Catholic Office of Religious Education and Liturgy is sponsoring two workshops that may be of interest to you.

Saturday, November 17, 2007
Praying With Children
St. Rose of Lima Parish
3216 Lawrence Ave. East
Scarborough, ON (416) 438-6729

Saturday, November 24, 2007
The Church’s Teaching on Marriage
St. Luke’s Parish
39 Green Lane
Thornhill, ON (905) 881-2786

The CATHOLIC RADIO STATION, HMWN (Holy Mother World Networks)

has begun a new outreach program of talks throughout the Archdiocese of Toronto to bring the message of joy and hope to the laity, especially families. On November 17, 2007 at 10:00 AM, Prof. Donald DeMarco will talk about The Architects of the Culture of Death. All the lectures, which are free of charge, will be held at St. Bernard de Clairvaux Hall located at 1795 Lawrence Ave. West, Toronto. For more information, you may call the station at (416) 245-0200 or email at info@hmwn.net.

SCARBORO MISSIONS INFORMATION DAY

on Saturday, November 24, 2007 at Scarboro Missions, 2685 Kingston Rd., Scarborough. We welcome those who feel they may be called by God to be a priest or lay missioner. We invite you to walk with us…it may change your life forever! To register please contact us at (416) 261-7135 or lmo@scarbormissions.ca



Posted in Bulletin | Comments Off on bulletin – November 11

homily – November 4

Sunday, November 4th, 2007

Wisdom 11:22-12:2

A couple of weeks ago someone sent me an e mail with an attachment titled,” A Fascinating Zoom In”. It was produced by NASA and we are invited to travel with NASA from the biggest to the smallest distances in the universe.

Our journey starts 10 million light years away in vast expanse of space. We work our way down through the light years into our own galaxy of the Milky Way. We journey 100 light years, then 10 light years and finally at 1 light year we catch sight of our sun. At 100 billion km we begin to see our solar system, at 10 billion km we see our solar system and at 100,000 km we see planet earth, much at the first astronaughts saw it. At 1000 km we zero in on Florida, at 10 km we can make out streets and lakes – and golf courses – at 100 km we can see what we might see from a helicopter – at 10 cm we see leaves on a tree – at 1 cm we see the structure of a leaf – at 100 microns we see the cells that make up the leaf and at 1 micron we can see the cell itself. We continue the journey, at 1000 angstroms we see the chromosomes of the cell and at 100 angstroms we see the DNA chain of the leaf. At 1 nanometre we see the atom of carbon, the basis of all life and at 10 picometres we see the atom orbit of the electrons and at 100 fermi we see the inner anaton. At one Fermi we see the surface of the neutron and our journey which started in the outer reaches of space ends at 100 atom metres where we see the quark.

To tell you the truth I don’t understand any of these terms and in a way the whole things sounds like the Negro spiritual, ‘your toe bone’s connected to your foot bone and your foot bone’s connected to your ankle bone’… and so on.

To watch this ‘fascinating zoom in’ is awesome. The author of our first reading had no such insight into cosmology as we have today but he could still look to an unpolluted sky and marvel at it all. Yet he knew that compared to the awesomeness of God the wonder before his eyes was like a speck that tips the scales, like a drop of morning dew that falls to the ground. He would say this not to belittle creation but just to keep things in perspective.

In the 4th century the church condemned a heresy called Manichaeism which taught that creation was divided into good and evil, light and darkness and the material creation was evil. In condemning this world view the church echoed the words of today’s first reading, “Lord you love all things that exist and detest none of the things you have made.” In other words all creation is good and all creation from the quark to the galaxy is loved by God.

Today we’ve come to know that all creation is connected, inter-related. No being, especially the human being stands alone, apart from other human beings apart from the rest of God’s good creation. We are one living body and when one part of the body suffers, we all suffer. We can see this as we witness the diminishment of planet earth. As I’ve mentioned before, we did not weave the web of life, we are a strand in the web and what we do to the web we do to ourselves. The earth does not belong to us; we belong to the earth and what we do to the earth we do to ourselves.

There’s not a day goes by that we don’t hear of some weather disaster or environmental crisis, glaciers melting, deserts spreading. It’s depressing. We can’t pray for a healing of the earth, we are the healers. In our own little way we can make a difference as we examine our own life styles, our consumerism, our buying habits, our trashing.

Planet earth will survive. This is not the first crisis it has had to deal with in its 5 billion years of existence and we will survive as well if we can just catch the truth of our first reading -Lord, you love all things that exist, you spare all things for they are yours, you who love the living.

As we continue to celebrate this Eucharist we can pray for ourselves and for each other that we be blessed with a deeper reverence and respect for all God’s creation, that we celebrate its wonder and appreciate its fragility.



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bulletin – November 4

Sunday, November 4th, 2007

Thanks to the great people of our Youth Group who provided the children of the parish with their annual ‘Haunted house’. They put a lot of work into this and provided the children with a great treat!

I promise this will be the last you hear of my birthday!!!! Thanks, thanks, thanks to those who arranged the reception after the 12:30 Mass on Sunday the 23rd of September. Many, many thanks to those who worked so hard to pull off a wonderful party this past Saturday evening. What a wonderful turn out of people – some I have not seen in years. Thank you for the cruise and the new ‘senior’ golf clubs. Thank you also for the many personal gifts from so many people.

God bless you all
Fr. Paul

HOLOCAUST EDUCATION WEEK

For many years St. Gabriel’s Parish has participated in the annual Holocaust Education week. On Wednesday evening, November 8th at 7:30 PM there will be a showing of a documentary ” A Debt to Honor”, narrated by Alan Alda, describing how 30,000 Jewish men, women and children evaded the Nazis with the help of Italian citizens. Our guest speaker will be Ms. Esther Bem who was sheltered by an Italian family. We hope that the Italian Counsel General will be with us to speak on the same subject.

ANNOUNCED MASSES

Date Time Intentions
Nov. 6 9:00AM JOAN RUEST req Ron & Family
Nov. 8 9:00AM RICHARD & NICKIE ROSANOVA req Frank & Sylvia Leaver
Nov. 9 9:00AM GRACE & CHRIS LEAVER req Frank & Sylvia Leaver
Nov. 10 4:30PM GEORGE V. LEWIS req Winnie & Family

SUNDAY COLLECTION: October 27/28, 2007

Total: $9,898

–>

4:30 8:30 10:30 12:30
Loose
Env. $
Total $2,616 $1,359 $4,409 $1,514
# of Env. 116 89 181 77

NOVEMBER IS THE MONTH OF ALL SOULS

There will be a book of Remembrance placed on the altar
for the month of November. You are invited to write the names of your deceased relatives and friends in this book. They will be remembered at all the Masses celebrated in November.

CONFIRMATION ENROLLMENT CEREMONY

will be held on SUNDAY NOVEMBER 11TH AT 12:30 PM MASS
During the 12:30 PM Mass all confirmation candidates will be acknowledged at the altar. All confirmants who attend St. Gabriel’s School, the Children’s Faith Program and Private Schools are invited to attend. Please note that registrations for Confirmation will not be accepted on or after this date.

A NEW MINISTRY!

The parish is looking to establish a new ministry to serve elderly parishioners and others with special needs who might require transportation to and from Church on Saturdays/Sundays, and to medical appointments. First we would like to ascertain the need of the community in this regard. At the same time, we are seeking volunteers who would like to participate in this ministry. Any parishioners who would like to avail themselves of such a service OR who can volunteer to help, please contact Fatima Lee at 416 221-8866.

TUESDAY NIGHTS AND WEDNESDAY MORNINGS ARE LEARNING TIMES

The topics we have chosen are varied – a mixture of church history, church teachings and scripture. You are welcome to join us whenever you can. For further information call Mary Landry at 416-221-8866 ext. 224. Next meetings:
Tuesday evening, October 30th at 7:30 PM
Wednesday morning, October 31st at 10:30 AM.

END OF LIFE ISSUES FROM A CATHOLIC PERSPECTIVE

Have questions regarding end of life issues: euthanasia, pain and suffering surrounding death, palliative care, withdrawal of treatment or dignity of the dying?

Please join us for a lecture series presented by the Canadian Catholic bioethics Institute (CCBI) here at our parish. The lectures are scheduled for four consecutive Wednesdays beginning on November 14th from 7:30 to 9:30 PM.

The topics are:
Nov. 14th – What is Bioethics and what are the issues?
Nov. 21st – Advanced Directives, Power of Attorney and Ethical issues at the End of Life
Nov. 28th – Euthanasia, Assisted Suicide, Palliative Care and Spiritual Issues
Dec. 5th – A Christian Spirituality of Suffering and Death

Guest speakers will be Dr. Moira McQueen, the Director of the CCBI, and Dr. Barry Brown. At the end of each lecture, there will also be an opportunity for questions and discussion. Suggested donation is $40 for the series; or $10 per lecture; or whatever your means allow. For further information and to register, please call the parish office at (416) 221-8866.

A letter from the Good Shepherd Centre

Dear Good People;

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for generously participating in our 2007 Thanksgiving Food Drive. We had an overwhelming response this year with over 70 schools and parishes participating.

With your help we were able to fill our storage area with non-perishable food items that will allow us to prepare hot and nutritious meals for Toronto’s homeless and hungry. Your thoughtful donations will help our meal program to serve upward of 750 meals and snacks daily.

Your ongoing support makes a real difference in the lives of some of the most vulnerable members of our community. You enable us to convey our values of respect, faith, dignity, integrity, recognition, empathy, compassion, acceptance, trust and hospitality to everyone we serve. Alone, we cannot provide a solution to homelessness; together we are able to make great strides to help people find their way.

Thank you for your care and concern for the homeless and disadvantaged. Wishing you all the best throughout the year ahead.

Sincerely,
Leanne Tanaka
Fundraiser, Events and Resources



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