Bulletin: 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time 7/14/24

SAINT CHRISTOPHER CATHOLIC CHURCH

39 West 200 South, Kanab UT 84741

Office: (435) 644-3414 [Please leave a message and we will respond as quickly as possible]

stccc@kanab.net

WEBSITE: kanabcatholicchurch.org

Sacramental Minister: Rev. Richard T. Sherman, Kanab, UT

SATURDAY VIGIL MASS 5:30 PM (Suspended Indefinitely)

SUNDAY MASS 9:00 AM

MASS DURING THE WEEK MONDAY – SATURDAY 8:00 AM

CONFESSIONS BY APPOINTMENT

NOTE: If you have a sacramental emergency after parish office hours, please call 435-673-2604 for assistance.

This week:  Annual Collection for Pastoral Solidarity with the Church in Africa   Thank you in advance!!

Social Hour after Sunday Mass – Coffee, juice and bagels or muffins are served up along with some fabulous conversation.

Our next OPEN-DOOR SATURDAY is July 20, 2024 from 10:00 AM-Noon.  If you have friends or relatives that are interested in the Catholic faith, or are thinking of returning to the Church, please tell them about us and have them stop by. We would love to meet with them!  OPEN DOOR is scheduled every first and third Saturday of the month.

FINANCIAL REPORT:  July 7, 2024: Offertory: $1018; Donations Mail: $100; R&I: $100. Thank you!

Development Drive (DDD) for 2024.  We are getting there!!  Our goal this year is once again $8800.  We have $6158 pledged with $4835 paid in!!  Eleven households have participated.  PLEASE JUMP IN AND JOIN THE FUN!!  Thank you all who have already given so generosity.

You can also donate on-line at kanabcatholicchurch.org

PRAY FOR HEALING:  Victims of Natural Disasters, Warfare Casualties. Our Wounded Veterans.  If you have specific prayer requests, please leave us a phone message or send us an email.  We will get your intentions on the list.  We also remember all the sick and infirm at our daily Masses.

Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament: Thursday from 4 to 5:00 PM.

Community Rosary:  After the Monday morning Mass

Religious Items:  While enjoying the fabulous conversation and refreshments during our social hour, take some time and browse our extensive selection of religious gifts including some amazing.  New items on the way!

 Diocese of Salt Lake City Marriage & Family Life Office Newsletter-June 2024 (cloud.microsoft) (New and Improved:  Go to our website and click on this link).

Suggested Memory Verse:

“In him we were also chosen, destined in accord with the purpose of the One who accomplishes all things according to the intention of his will.” (Ephesians 1:11)

Homily Reflections:  ———————————————————-

1/  Amos was called to be a prophet by God and sent to the group of people he least wanted to talk to.

When did you find yourself standing in the ‘wrong’ place and were somehow convinced that YOU had to do something or say something?  How did you respond to the demands of the situation?  How had you been prepared prior to the experience?  How did the experience affect your position in the community in the immediate future?  Six months in the future?  Years into the future?

2/  Amos was called by God after Israel had been bitterly divided for centuries and his homeland of Judah was also suffering from internal dissonance.  Religious leaders were putting more of their trust in civil authority than they were in God’s guidance.  Eventually, the people had difficulty understanding from where legitimate authority was originating.  Through all this confusion, Amos responded because he was chosen despite his unlikely credentials as a mere laborer with no pedigree as from a line of prophets. 

How might this period of Amos’ prophecy speak to our own times?  To what extent might we be more influenced by political ideologies, cults or other popular movements than we are by our Catholic faith?  Which ideological persuasions are most influencing you now?  How could you research the best Catholic position or teaching on a complicated social issue?  (Hint:  see end of this reflection)

3/ Psalm 85: 

Kindness and truth shall meet; justice and peace shall kiss.
Truth shall spring out of the earth, and justice shall look down from heaven.

Biblical scholars claim that in Israel or biblical parlance there is no clear distinction between one who is personally righteous and virtuous and others who are strong public advocates of social justice.  One begets the other.  In our modern times do we get the sense that a meeting between kindness and truth is bringing about more peace and justice?  Is it possible to be kind and passionate about justice?  How peaceful do we actually feel when we are advocating for a cause of justice?  Consider how often politicians speak of Americans needing to fight other Americans for the sake of achieving justice.  Is this method working?  Can an unkind, minimally virtuous person effectively advocate for true justice?

4/ In Ephesians 1:11 St. Paul tells the Corinthians: “In him we were also chosen, destined in accord with the purpose of the One who accomplishes all things according to the intention of his will, so that we might exist for the praise of his glory…”

What part of your Catholic religious formation most effectively taught you to take seriously your personal mission in the Church?  Who helped you hear your calling and prepare for your mission?  What new gifts did you discover and how did you develop those gifts?

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Catholic social teaching is a central and essential element of our faith.”  Catholic social teaching emerges from the truth of what God has revealed to us about himself. We believe in the triune God whose very nature is communal and social. God the Father sends his only Son Jesus Christ and shares the Holy Spirit as his gift of love. God reveals himself to us as one who is not alone, but rather as one who is relational, one who is Trinity. Therefore, we who are made in God’s image share this communal, social nature. We are called to reach out and to build relationships of love and justice.  https://www.usccb.org/offices/justice-and-peace/catholic-social-teaching

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“Faith means battles; if there are no contests, it is because there are none who desire to contend.”

St. Ambrose of Milan