COMMUNITY BILLBOARD

PARISH ITEMS

CATHOLIC TIMES SUBSCRIPTIONS: February is Catholic Press Month, and also the time when you may renew or begin a subscription to our diocesan newspaper, The Catholic Times.  Subscription envelopes are included in your February collection packet. For $15 per year, subscribers receive a Catholic perspective on the world around us.  Local, national, worldwide and Vatican news, as well as diocesan, parish, and school stories, articles and events are delivered right to your home.  Bishop Campbell encourages every Catholic family to subscribe to The Catholic Times.  Look for your envelope and sign up for, or re-subscribe to the newspaper of our diocese.  We send the diocese our revised subscribers list in early March.

ADORATION OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT: Each month, we have an opportunity to join others in the Day Chapel on the First Friday and Saturday.  The prayer intention for March 7 & 8 is for all in need of physical or spiritual healing.  Your prayers are truly appreciated!  

LENDING A HELPING HAND:  Our Food Pantry Collection to benefit local residents is held the first weekend each month.  Please bring your donations of foodstuffs to the Gathering Space on March 1 & 2. 

OUR CONGRATULATIONS to two school alumni ('04) who were inducted into the Central Crossing HS branch of the National Honor Society.  Their names are Michelle Meyer and Thomas Myers.  Also, these students at St. Charles Preparatory School are on the second quarter Honor Roll: Brian Baker, Alexander Bastoky, Samuel Powell, Matthew Sova, and Ola Williams.  Bernardo Morales is on the Merit Roll.

JUST A NOTE OF THANKS to the three wonderful men – Mr. Ritterbeck, Mr. Ellis and Mr. McGue -- who came to my assistance at the 9:30 Mass on December 16.  Due to their quick help and knowledge, everything turned out well.  Also all the wonderful prayers from all the people in church that day certainly helped a lot too. Thanks also to our wonderful priests, Father Eilerman and Father Brosmer, for their prayers and assistance!  It’s a great comfort to have such good people in our parish that can help us and pray for us. These get us through the small crises like the one I had, but I’m doing well. Thanks you all and God Bless you!

ELSEWHERE

WORLD MARRIAGE DAY is celebrated this year on February 10.  Plan to celebrate this special day at St. Elizabeth Church, 2-4:30 P.M.  Reverend Rod Damico, Parochial Vicar at St. Paul the Apostle Parish and Spiritual Director at SS. Peter and Paul Retreat Center, will be the presenter. Father Damico’s topic will be And God Said: Biblical Foundations for the Married Life. Light refreshments will follow. Contact the Marriage and Family Life Office at 241-2560 or FLOMAILBOX@colsdioc.org to register or for additional information.  There is no registration fee; a freewill offering will be taken.

THE 1^ST ANNUAL CATHOLIC WOMEN’S CONFERENCE has Forgiveness and Healing as its theme.  It will be held on Saturday, February 16; 8 a.m. – 2 p.m. at St. Andrew Church.  Keynote Speaker is the internationally known television and radio host, author, and speaker Johnnette Benkovic.  Other speakers will be Joyce Shea and Colleen Marshall.  Bishop Frederick Campbell will be the celebrant.  $25 for women; $15 for students includes a light lunch.  Register online at www.columbuscatholicwomen.com.  Pamphlets with more information are in the literature rack below the bulletin board. In our Gathering Space.

LENT AND RCIA

“The period of purification and enlightenment, which the rite of election begins, customarily coincides with Lent.  In the liturgy and liturgical catechesis of Lent the reminder of baptism already received or the preparation for its reception, as well as the theme of repentance, renew the entire community along with those being prepared to celebrate the paschal mystery, in which each of the elect will share through the sacraments of initiation.  For both the elect and the local community, therefore, the Lenten season is a time for spiritual recollection in preparation for the celebration of the paschal mystery.”  (138, Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults)

The rite of election will be celebrated by Bishop Campbell on the afternoon of the First Sunday of Lent (February 10) at St. Edward the Confessor Church, in Granville.  The catechumens and candidates will be presented to the St. Cecilia Church at the 9:30 a.m. Mass to ask for our community’s recommendation to the Bishop.

During the Masses on the following Sundays, liturgical rites will be celebrated to “purify the minds and hearts of the elect as they search their own consciences and do penance.”  The first of these, a Penitential Rite for those already baptized, will take place at the 5:00 p.m. Mass on February 16.  The scrutinies for those who have not been baptized are scheduled for 7:30 a.m. February 24, 9:30 a.m. March 2, and 12:00 noon March 9.  These liturgies are an opportunity for renewal of the entire community, also, as we search our own consciences and do penance.

Lent, with its three disciplines of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, is a good time for us to give some thought to developing our consciences, particularly as it relates to the poor.  Parish Path through Lent and Eastertime has this to say about almsgiving:  “It is to remake the world, or, rather, to restore it.  It has to do with time and space, with money and goods.  It is about the wholeness of things and people, the right relationships of those who dwell on the earth to the earth and to each other.  It aims to right the maldistribution caused by greed or power or whatever else.  It ignores neither the world nor what is in front of one’s face.  Like fasting, almsgiving is a year-round habit, but being who we are, we need a Lent to put ourselves in this shape.”

Here are some points about our responsibilities to the poor and vulnerable which the Bishops of the United States gave us in their November statement, “Forming Conscience for Faithful Citizenship.”

51. Pope Benedict XVI has taught that “love for widows and orphans, prisoners, and the sick and needy of every kind, is as essential to [the Church] as the ministry of the sacraments and preaching of the Gospel” (Deus Caritas Est, no. 22). This preferential option for the poor and vulnerable includes all who are marginalized in our nation and beyond—unborn children, persons with disabilities, the elderly and terminally ill, and victims of injustice and oppression.

The Bishops point out these rights of all people:  Jobs for all who can work, with decent working conditions and just wages (“Workers, owners, employers, and unions should work together to create decent jobs, build a more just economy, and advance the common good.”); Welfare policy which will reduce poverty and dependency, strengthen family life, and help families leave poverty; Social Security’s provision of adequate, continuing, and reliable income in an equitable manner for low- and average-wage workers and their families and their survivors when a wage-earner dies; Affordable and accessible health care; Safe, affordable housing; An agriculture policy providing food security for all, a just return to the farmers and farm workers for their labor as well as safe and just working conditions and adequate housing.  (“Supporting rural communities sustains a way of life that enriches our nation.”); a quality education.

The Bishops say, “The work for justice requires that the mind and the heart of Catholics be educated and formed to know and practice the whole faith. …  What faith teaches about the dignity of the human person and about the sacredness of every human life helps us see more clearly the same truths that also come to us through the gift of human reason. At the center of these truths is respect for the dignity of every person. This is the core of Catholic moral and social teaching…”

Saint Cecilia Parish has just launched its website with a whole new look and improved organization and information. Visit the website at www.saintceciliachurch.org.  If any of the parish groups would like to provide additional and/or updated information to their page, please contact Marcy Gifford, marcy@tmgdesigns.com.