Weekly Bulletin 11-29-09

Greetings,

1.  Our Thanksgiving Mass will be at 9 am on Thursday.  There will be no
Wednesday evening Mass this week.  Remember to bring an offering of food
for the Pantry (cereal, jam) and an item of food for your own
Thanksgiving meal for a blessing.  The offering collected at this Mass
will go to the work of the St. Vincent de Paul.

2.  A gift of Time:  we are looking for a few people to help change out
the Breaking Bread books on Friday morning (9am).  If you can help,
please reply to this message.

3.  This coming Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent, the beginning of
the church year:  happy new year!  We will have Advent candles for sale
($5 a set) and they will be blessed at the Sunday Mass.

4.  The Giving Tree tags are up.  Plan to pick up a tag (or more) to
help us give our families in need.  Though there are not tags for this,
gas cards are always appreciated by every one of our families.  At this
point we have 130 families on our list.  If history repeats itself, we
expect an additional 20% before Christmas.  Thank you for your most
generous support!

Gail

Weekly Bulletin 11-22-09

Greetings to All,

1.  Thank you to all who have returned their Living Stones cards.  We
want as many names as possible on the “stones” in the church.  Even if
you are unable to pledge an amount at this time, please return a card so
we can put your name up as participating!  You can go to the web site,
holyinn.org, and download a pledge to fill in.

2.  Adult Confirmation — if you are over the age of 18 and have not
received the Sacrament of Confirmation, sign up after Mass or call the
office to register for our Adult Confirmation Program.  The first
session is Monday, Nov 23, at 7 pm.  There are six sessions and we will
celebrate the Sacrament of Confirmation on January 31 at the 10:30 am
Mass.
Confirmation strengthens you to live out your Christian life.  It is
required for Godparents, and in our Archdiocese, strongly recommended
for those who wish to marry in the Church.

Gail

GIFT INTENTION FORM

Click to open and print a Word document so that you are able to return your Gift Intention Card for the Living Stones campaign in this Sunday’s collection basket.

Weekly Bulletin 11-15-09

November 14, 2009
Will I ever get this posted? Either there is no electricity, no internet, or I’m too heat sick to even look at a computer. At least we have water (one of the other volunteers doesn’t even have that). We were running very low on water and hadn’t washed clothes for two weeks. However, God took care of that – we ended up with 3 days of rain that filled not only the well but every empty bucket (and an old washing machine besides). Unfortunately, it came with a lot of humidity and I’ve had a headache for the past 4 days.

So, what have I been doing the past two weeks (besides complaining)? On Friday, Nov. 6th, I met Bambi (another volunteer who is leaving in December) at the Basilica in Caacupe, a town about 80 Kilometers from Coronel Oviedo. We pass through this town often on our way to Asuncion but have never been inside the basilica. I actually arrived before Bambi had even started from Asuncion so decided to take a look to see if it was worth the journey for her. I walked up the hill to the church and found a table by a side door where I had to pay G 2 mil (about 40 cents). Naturally, I was highly indignant that I should have to pay to go into a church and I was muttering not very nice thoughts to myself as I started toward the sanctuary (or at least the direction I thought the sanctuary was located). The girl called me back and told me that I was supposed to go in a hidden doorway and up some circular stairs (like lighthouse stairs). I thought this was a bit odd but starting climbing and climbing and climbing. By now I’m beginning to think that I’m going up to the bell tower. However, the spiral leveled out and I was now on ordinary stairs accompanied by paintings on the wall. It was the story of the Virgin of Caacupe! It showed how the Franciscans came to Paraguay and converted one group of Indians. However, another group of Indians didn’t want to be converted and enjoyed capturing and killing all the other Indians. One day a Christian Indian was being tracked by the bad Indians. He prayed to our Lady and promised that if he was saved, he would carve a statue in her honor. The other Indians never found him and he carved not only one statue of Mary but two. About a hundred years later both statues had been lost but in a time of a flood, the other statue came to light and many people were rescued from the flood. So the bishop decided to build a church honoring Mary. On the feast of the Immaculate Conception (December 8th) people walk for many miles to the basilica. Some of the other volunteers in my group are going to do this (walking from Asuncion – about 50 kilometers or 35 miles). Since there will be tens of thousands of people also doing this, since it will be over 90 degrees and who knows what humidity, and since bathroom facilities are sketchy at best, I will definitely not be doing this pilgrimage. I prefer my visit to be quiet and simple and uncrowded.

The wonderful thing about the walk up the stairs (and we were actually going to the roof of the basilica) is that you get to walk around the edge of the dome inside. The view of the church below is magnificent! It was truly a most enjoyable experience. Unfortunately, the batteries on my camera were fading fast so I couldn’t take as many pictures as I would have liked.

I was all excited to buy a rosary as a souvenir of Paraguay. Unfortunately the rosaries they were selling in the shops were a bit expensive and not a good quality (and very ugly and plastic). I did purchase a statue of the Virgin (still very ugly and tacky but it was for my house Mom, Digna). As I was looking, I found a statue of St. Rose of Lima. I bought it for Rosa, Eddy’s wife. She was delighted as she had never seen a statue of St. Rose before. Also, she was excited to find out that my Mom’s name was Rose and that my middle name was Rose. It made quite a hit with her.

Watermelon is now in season and I bought my first one last Saturday. And yes, it meant going to Coronel Oviedo. Across from the supermercado in the Plaza a farmer was selling watermelon for G 10 mil (about $2). I brought my sack and told him to pick out one for me that would fit in the sack. This was definitely a case where smaller was better. Unfortunately, they do not have seedless watermelon here. And, of course, I had all my other groceries with me. I persuade the conductor to put everything under the bus so I wouldn’t have to deal with it while standing the 30 minutes to Carayaó. After they let me off at the police station, I called Digna to send Milo. Unfortunately, he was nowhere to be found so I hiked the two blocks, watermelon in my arms, groceries in my backpack and made it home without dropping the watermelon. Carlos met me at the gate but no way was I going to let him get the credit for carrying my prize. It was a delicious watermelon and we’re already talking about our next watermelon adventure.

Digna’s birthday was Thursday. It turned into quite an event. The minute that she left for the cooperative, I was baking a carrot cake and oatmeal cookies. I had bought balloons and had Evy and Milo blow them up and make them into an arc. This was a very good thing because Digna was home before 10 a.m. because it was going to rain (which it did – deluge might be a better word). She was quite pleased with the decorations and the cake. In fact, she spent all day answering messages on her cell phone and telling everyone that we wouldn’t let her lift a hand and did everything for her all day (she is saying this as she prepares lunch, cleans the house, etc.) We ended up with a BBQ when Apolonio and Reina brought over their grill and cooked beef. The problem, of course, was that we were supposed to eat at 8 p.m. They didn’t bring the grill over until 8:30. We made potato salad and ate hot dogs. By the time the meat was done it was almost 10:30. It was quite a successful party. Digna was absolutely delighted, the cake turned out great and she guarded the cookies as if they were gold (Each person got one cookie each and one cookie only).

When I started baking the cookies I discovered that we had no more eggs and I asked Digna if I could send Milo to the local almacén. “No need,” she replied. “We have eggs. Let me show you.” And sure enough, we took a trip to the outside kitchen where a hen was setting on her nest. We lifted her up and there were 3 eggs! The hen wasn’t exactly happy when we took the eggs but now I know where to get eggs when we’re short!

Well, I’m off to treat my family to an all American dish – deviled eggs. I’ll let you know whether or not they like them in my next blog.

Greetings and Salutations,

This Sunday, bring your appetites and your smiles (and your Living
Stones Card) Our Knights are preparing their usual mouth watering
pancake breakfast after both masses…come hungry!  In addition, the
Ladies Aux has invited “Santa” to join us for pictures in the Blue
Room.  For a  $10 donation you can have a color picture taken  of you -
kids – or your pets) taken with Santa and it can be forwarded to you via
E-mail or it can be printed on the spot.

Children’s Faith Formation won’t be gathering this Sunday morning so
they can eat and get their pictures taken….but we will be looking for
all those same happy faces on Sunday, November 22.

Those in preparation for their First Reconciliation will be meeting on
Sunday afternoon at 4:30pm.

Adult Confirmation Preparation will begin on November 23 for anyone over
18 who has not yet received this Sacrament.  Confirmation will be
celebrated with Bishop Tyson on Sunday, January 31.

Please plan on attending our Advent Evening of Reflection for Adults on
Monday, Nov. 30 from 7 to 9pm with Fr. Roger O’Brien.  No registration
required….and it will be a very special opportunity to deepen your
understanding but even more your appreciation of all that Season of
Advent can do to enrich our faith.

We are so incredibly appreciative to all those who have already returned
their Living Stones Gift Intention cards.  We are on the edge of our
seats waiting to hear from those of you who are still discerning…..Our
goal is to have a every household’s name listed on a brick…..so please
return your card – no gift is too BIG or too small -  really – take a
step in faith and return that card!

Hugs and Kisses (Gail told me I had to say that)

Many, Many Blessings,

Jennie Caldwell
Pastoral Assistant for Faith Formation

http://www.holyinn.org/current-volunteer-schedules-808/

Weekly Bulletin 11-8-09