September 4th, 2011
Welcome back! In this week’s bulletin, RCIA nights, Children’s Faith Program, and the Eco-sabbath begin. Also, the official archdiocesan pilgrimage and Theology on Tap.
We hope you have had an enjoyable and relaxing summer. For those young people who are off to university, we wish you every success as you begin a new stage of your life. For those students and teachers in our community returning to elementary and secondary school, we wish you a very positive and rewarding year.
Please check to make sure that you good people are registered as Separate School Supporters. If you have moved recently, you will have lost your Separate School Supporter status and must apply to be reinstated. If you are not sure, please check your tax assessment form or call the Toronto Catholic District School Board at 416-222-8282. Forms can be obtained online at tcdsb.org or at the TCDSB Offices at 80 Sheppard Avenue one block east of Yonge Street.
Our journey of life and journey of faith are meant to converge at an early age. For many of us, however, we tend to grow physically, mentally, psychologically etc., but remain at a childish level of understanding our faith. The following information is for those who wish to keep growing, to be able to enjoy the Good News of God’s love for us as members of God’s Church.
Monday Nights are R.C.I.A. Nights
R.C.I.A. (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults) meetings begin on Monday, September 19th at 8:00 PM. These evenings are for persons interested in learning about the Catholic Faith. Because the Parish Community itself is considered the official teacher and guide for potential new members, it is important that some parishioners participate by being present and by sharing their Faith in various ways. It is also an opportunity for “Born Catholics” to deepen their understanding of the faith. Adult Catholics who wish to celebrate the Sacrament of the Eucharist and/or Confirmation are welcome. For more information, please call Mary Landry at 416 – 221 – 8866.
If you have, or know of, school-age children (age 7 to 14) who wish to prepare for Baptism, please contact the Parish Office, or Fatima Lee directly, at (416) 221-8866. Classes for them will begin this fall.
The Children’s Faith Program for children attending private or public schools will begin on Sunday, September 11th at 10:00 AM at St. Gabriel’s School.
September 5th – September 10th, 2011 MONDAY – LABOUR DAY NO 9:00 AM MASS TUESDAY – ANTHONY & MARGARET TOSONI Requested by Marie Tosoni WEDNESDAY – GLADYS DURNFORD Requested by Nora Kerr THURSDAY – DR. OLU OGUNMEKAN Requested by Wai Chin & Paul Hwang FRIDAY – DECEASED MEMBERS OF THE CHUCHRA & WROBEL FAMILIES Requested by the Families SATURDAY – GORDON OATWAY Requested by the Family
The Parish Family of St. Gabriel’s would like to welcome:
All received the Sacrament of Baptism during the months of July and August. Congratulations!
Sunday, September 11th at 11:30 AM in the Gabriel Room
Eco-Sabbath, usually held on the first Sunday of each month, will resume on Sunday, September 11th at 11:30 AM. The Passionist Centre for Ecology and Spirituality facilitates a 30 minute reflection and discussion prompted by the readings for that Sunday’s liturgy. The guided reflection brings an ecological perspective to the readings. All are welcome.
Monday September 5th is Labour Day. The Parish Office will be closed. There will be no 9:00 AM Mass on Monday.
The “Pre-Authorized Giving” Plan (PAG), authorized and supported by the Archdiocese of Toronto, is a direct debit program. It allows parishioners to make their regular offertory donations by automatic monthly bank withdrawal on or about the 20th of each month. Participation in the PAG provides a regular dependable cash flow of contributions to the parish and enables us to better manage the Parish finances. PAG brochures and sign-up forms are available in the Parish Office. We thank you for your generosity and support.
Our operating expenses average $14,000 per week.
Last week’s collection: Loose Change – $1,120 Envelopes (402) – $8,166 Weekly Portion of Pre-Authorized Giving (160) – $3,156 Total – $12,442
Rev. Fr. Benedict Mwangi, a priest from the Muranga Diocese in Kenya will be preaching at all the Masses next weekend. The diocese is facing major financial difficulties. Donations will be used to support two diocesan hospitals and two homes for the aged, to help in the formation and education of seminarians and to pay the salaries of the Catechists.
Thank you to the volunteers who prepared casseroles for the Good Shepherd Centre during the summer, 33 for July and 57 for August. For September, your prepared casseroles (frozen please) will be collected at the Masses on the weekend of September 24/25 for delivery to the Good Shepherd Centre. More volunteers are encouraged to become active in helping to feed our less fortunate sisters and brothers. If you require more information or would like to get a copy of the recipe and a casserole pan, please contact Irene Albrecht at 416-221-2791.
Please keep our Iraqi Refugee family in your prayers. We had been expecting them to arrive in June but recent events in Syria, where they are currently, appear to have slowed the immigration process. Our parish has raised $21,800.00 towards our target of $35,000.00 needed to support this family of 4 adults and 1 child for a year. Thank you for your continued support!
Thank you so much for your overwhelming response to our appeal for old or unused eye glasses. Initially glasses collected were sent to Ghana Rural Integrated Development, the Canadian counterpart of the Northern Empowerment Association which is based in Ghana, West Africa Eyeglasses donated after August 15th were sent to Dr. Andrew Simone. His organization, Canadian Food for Children, sends food, clothing and other supplies to developing countries all over the world. Please visit www.canadianfoodforchildren.org for more information.
Do you speak French… even a little bit? The French Conversational Group will be meeting on Thursday mornings from 11:00 to 12:00 AM in the Library. Anyone interested is very welcome.
50TH INTERNATIONAL EUCHARISTIC CONGRESS DUBLIN IRELAND, 2012
The Archdiocese of Toronto is organizing a pilgrimage to the 50th Annual Eucharistic Congress that will take place in Dublin, Ireland from June 10th, 2012 to June 17th, 2012. There will be an option for an extended stay in Ireland highlighting the religious and historic sites from June 18th to June 25th.
For package information, registration forms and to view the itinerary, please visit www.archtoronto.org/iec or email the Archdiocese at iec@archtoronto.org. The pilgrimage is limited to 120 people. The deadline for registration and deposit is November 1st, 2011.
The Wonderful Imperfect in All of Us September 26th from 7:00 to 9:00 PM Duke of York Pub 39 Prince Arthur Ave (near Bloor St W & Avenue Rd)
Join us for an evening of thought-provoking conversation on theological topics! Our special guest will be Fr. Philip Chircop, S.J. Fr Philip considers himself a seeker, exploring and employing new, fresh and creative ways to proclaim the Good News in the hope of helping fellow pilgrims and seekers to embrace real and radical changes that will lead to conversion and transformation. Munchies will be provided, cash bar available. Come and bring a friend! For more information, contact Vanessa Nicholas-Schmidt by phone at 416-222-1426, Ext.276 or by email at faithconnections@csj-to.ca.
| Posted in Bulletin |
August 28th, 2011
I’d like to say a few words on our second reading, especially the advice St. Paul offers to all of us: “be not conformed to this world,” in other words ‘let the example and the teaching of Jesus be the guidelines by which we live our lives, not the secular values that permeate our society.’
These words brought to mind something that happened to me just recently. I had a funeral and was going to the cemetery afterwards. A young, newly licensed funeral director was doing the driving. As usual on these occasions we were doing small talk. We talked about how quickly the summer went and about our vacations. I told her I’d been down home to visit the family and asked if she’d taken her vacation yet. She told me she was going to Ethiopia in October with Habitat for Humanity to help build homes. In the past her vacations were to India and Pakistan with the same organization.
She told me she does this to keep in touch with reality. The homes they build are very simple but they are palaces compared to what other people live in. She told me her experience with Habitat makes her appreciate the blessings in her own life and she is committed to live a very simple life style. She is not into ‘shop til you drop’ mentality. Most her friends think she’s crazy, a fanatic. The truth is her values are an affront to them because she does not buy into what is so important to them: the good life.
There are so many good young people who have made themselves aware of and care about the under-privileged in our city, our country and around the world. They are sensitive to the injustice of the economic systems of the world and the widening gap between the haves and the have-nots. They are not conformed to the values of this world. Many of them suffer for this. They are resented by their peers.
I don’t know this young woman’s religion, I don’t know if she even goes to church. I do know she is a woman of principle and she will not conform to the consumerism and wasteful lifestyle around her.
In the gospel Jesus speaks in demanding words, “If anyone wants to become my follower let them deny themselves, take up the cross and follow me.” He asks us the question, “what does it profit anyone to gain the world and lose oneself, one’s integrity.” I think when we hear the word ‘cross’ we think about illness or some other misfortune or struggle in our lives. Maybe we could think of the cross as our personal challenge to be faithful to the values to which our Catholic faith calls us.
Along this line someone once wrote, “you work for peace and people accuse you of being unpatriotic. You stand up for the poor and people write you off as a naïve dreamer. You work for nonviolent change like Martin Luther King and they shoot you.” There is a cost of discipleship; it will cost us for being faithful to the teachings and example of Jesus.
Remember Matthew’s description of the judgement we will face at the end of our lives? I was hungry and you gave me to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was naked and you clothed me, sick and in prison and you visited me. As often as you did these things to the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did them to me. When all is said and done we will be judged by who we were and how we were to one another. Could we imagine that taking up the cross is a challenge to each of us to try as best we can to avoid being conformed to the values of the world? Our cross is in the challenge to be aware of and do something about the unfairness and the injustice in the society in which we live, a society unmoved by hungry children and homeless families and good men and women who cannot find work. Our cross is the challenge to avoid being sucked into the consumerism and wastefulness of our society. Our cross challenges us to work toward a healing of the earth and the healing of society. Our cross, challenges us to do what we can, in any way we can to make our society and our church more just and inclusive.
As we continue this Mass in which we celebrate the reality of Christ’s life giving love for each of us, may we accept the cross of living in such a way that our lives live out the challenge of Christ, “love one another as I have loved you – whatever you do to or for the least of these brothers and sisters of mine you do to me.”
| Posted in Homily |
August 21st, 2011
Today’s gospel is familiar to all of us: “You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” As Roman Catholics we see this promise kept in the ministry and service of the Bishop of Rome, the Pope. Other Christians have a different understanding of Christ’s words to Peter. Lutherans would maintain that the power of the keys, to bind and loose belong to the whole church while the Orthodox Churches and the Anglican communities say the power given to Peter is shared by all the bishops of the church, not just the bishop of Rome who they consider to be the first among equals, with the emphasis on ‘equal.’
For us Catholics the Pope takes on a life of his own. He is the Holy Father, the Supreme Pontiff. We dare not question his authority. For some people anyone who questions the Pope’s words or decisions is a bad Catholic.
When Jesus called Peter a ‘rock’ I think he has his tongue in his cheek. Jesus knew Peter better than Peter knew Jesus. Jesus knew Peter was quicksand more than rock. Jesus would build his community, the church, on the rock of human weakness and frailty. It would be Christ’s presence to the church that would sustain it through the troubled centuries of its life. The church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord.
St John Chrysostom was a great theologian in the early church. He eventually became the Patriarch of Constantinople. He died in the year 404. Listen to his reflections on today’s gospel.
“Now Peter was inclined to be severe, so if he had also been sinless, what forbearance would he have shown toward those he instructed? Peter’s falling into sin was thus a providential grace to teach him from experience to deal kindly with others.”
Just think who it was whom God permitted to fall into sin—Peter himself, the head of the apostles, the firm foundation, the unbreakable rock, the most important member of the Church, the safe harbour, the strong tower; Peter, who had said to Christ, ‘Even if I have to die with you I will never deny you;’ Peter, who by divine revelation had confessed the truth: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.
Now, as I said before, the reason God’s plan permitted Peter to sin was because he was to be entrusted with the whole people of God, and sinlessness added to Peter’s severity might have made him unforgiving toward his brothers and sisters. He fell into sin so that remembering his own fault and the Lord’s forgiveness toward him; he also might forgive others out of love for them.
He to whom the Church was to be entrusted, he, the pillar of the churches, the harbour of faith, was allowed to sin; Peter, the teacher of the world, was permitted to sin, so that having been forgiven himself he would be merciful to others.” John Chrysostom did not see Peter as a rock; he knew Peter shared in the quick sand of humanity. As I mentioned before from the bottom to the top we, the church, are all mistake-making beings, sinners struggling to be saints.
You are Peter and upon this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. This text, understood both in terms of papal primacy and the church’s durability, surely challenges the faith of the contemporary Catholic. Many good people in the church today are hurting, angry and disillusioned. The scandals in many of the local dioceses in too many countries, including our own are hard to cope with. Civil investigations are exposing what church investigations refused to face; the cover up of the sexual abuse of children by priests and bishops, a cover up meant to protect the image of the church rather than expose the crimes of its leaders. Bureaucrats in Rome are involved in some of these cover-ups. Here in Canada we have the shame of our churches involvement in the government’s residential schools as well as these other issues of abuse.
We believe in the holy Catholic Church. Our church is holy in its founder and in its teaching. Our church is holy in us, its members. Our church has produced countless numbers of holy men and women. Through the centuries our church has been responsible for centres of learning, places of healing, the orphans and widows. Our church stands for the rights of workers to a living wage, it teaches the dignity of life from the womb to the tomb. All this is so because the Spirit of Christ guides us and saves us from our sinfulness and failures. The gates of hell will not prevail. A famous French convert was convinced of the validity of the church because as he said, ‘not even its priests could destroy it.’
As we continue this Mass we pray for our church, that we admit our weaknesses and give thanks for our blessings and in our own personal lives may we recognize Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the Living God.
August 14th, 2011
There is a fellow who keeps sending me e-mail jokes. Some of them are good, many are not. I find some of these jokes to be offensive. They put down people on welfare, new immigrants, people seen as the ‘Freddy Freeloaders’ of society. I think he might be a clone of Sarah Palin or of one of our local politicians. The victims of many of these ‘jokes’ are men and women seen as outsiders, on the fringe of society, those different from ourselves. I think we all have difficulty dealing with some thing or some one we see as different, out of the ordinary.
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August 7th, 2011
A number of years ago we had a priest helping in the parish on weekends. He preached the sermon one Good Friday. He told me before hand not to get nervous; he knew what he was doing. He went to the pulpit after the reading of the Passion and stood there in absolute silence. We waited and waited for him to begin. He finally said, “we’ve just had a minute of silence.” He asked, “how many of you were uncomfortable, uneasy, and unsure of what was going on?” I think the whole church was. But then he spoke about the silence of Calvary and how we really find it hard to deal with silence.
Founded by St. Paul of the Cross, every Passionist takes a special vow to spend his or her energies in promoting remembrance of the sufferings of Jesus, the memory of the Cross, and reflection of the meaning of the Cross for the world.
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Companion for the Walk of the Stations of the Cosmic Earth
St. Gabriel’s Garden – Guided Sensory Reflective Walk