Bulletin: 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time: 10/22/23
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.
Social Hour after Sunday Mass – Coffee, juice and bagels or muffins are served up along with some fabulous conversation.
World Mission Sunday Annual Collection: This week.
On World Mission Sunday, we join our Holy Father in supporting his missions. As we pray and respond here at home, we share in those celebrations taking place in every parish and school throughout the world. Together, through our prayers and financial support, we bring the Lord’s mercy and concrete help to the most vulnerable communities in the Pope’s missions.
Our next OPEN-DOOR SATURDAY is November 4, 2023 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: October 15, 2023: Offertory: $1155. Thank You!!
You can also donate on-line at kanabcatholicchurch.org
Diocesan Development Drive –. Our parish goal this year is $8,800 and we have now paid in $5883 with an additional $971 pledged: 78%. 15 out of a total 57 households have participated. We only have $1946 to go. Thank you!
PRAY FOR HEALING: Msgr. Terry Moore, Doug Ingram, Victims of Natural Disasters. 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
October is Pro-Life Month and during the month we will be exploring many of the social factors that have led us to this point where aborting children is ‘normalized’. The Office of Marriage, Family Life and the Respect Life Commission have many ways to help us change our deadly culture. See their website: https://www.dioslc.org/offices/marriage-and-family/marriage-and-family-resources.
Parking Lot Repairs – As mentioned in previous bulletins, St. Christopher’s is planning on some repairs and improvements to our parking space around the church and rectory. These improvements are necessary due to just normal wear and weathering but especially to help facilitate easier and safer access to those having mobility issues. Cost estimates have come in at $72,000 range. Please talk to Fr. Rick if you think you may be able to help with this project.
Intermountain Catholic Newspaper Renewal.
The renewal envelope should be in your most recent Intermountain Catholic issue. The cost is still ONLY $30 for the whole year! We should pay for our prescription for the diocesan paper for the same reason that we contribute to the Diocesan Development Drive (Bishop’s Fund): We simply don’t have an identity outside of the Diocese and the larger global Church. St. Christopher’s gets charged $1000 per year whether you pay or not, so your participation is very much appreciated.
Knight’s Roundtable Meeting Oct 29: Following Mass on October 29th, the Knights will be meeting in the library. If there are any men in the congregation that are interested in the Knights Program, please come. You are welcome. The meeting usually lasts an hour. District Deputy 8 Mike Townsend from Cedar City will be present.
Fifth Sunday Collection next week. We will be taking up the customary collection for our local Community Outreach Fund. Generally, the majority of our local outreach has been focused on helping to keep the local foodbank stocked, especially with fresh meat. Please help out as you are able.
Catastrophe and Refugee Assistance – Catholic Relief Services https://www.crs.org/
CRS is actively involved in the most impoverished and war ridden places in the world, including the Holy Land. To learn more about our Catholic efforts throughout the world and to donate, please click on the above link.
Homily Reflection – Ceasar and God Are Not Mutually Exclusive
Of course, our primary allegiance always goes to God and the Church that Jesus established. JESUS is the Way, the Truth and the Life, but we live in a country that is governed by civil, not religious authority. We want it that way. Theocracies (nations governed by religious authority) do not have a particularly good track record. Religions usually spawn as many sects and special interest groups as civil authority and the inevitable chaos is even more destructive and hateful. Take a moment right now and see if you can think of any religious groups that just never seem to stop fighting. Hmmm…
The American systems of democracy and capitalism seem to be working as well or better than other governing systems. People from all over the world still want to move here and live here. We live in relative peace even with a very diverse population with many competing interests. Of course, any ongoing stability depends on the population having a common sense of morality. What are the basic principles of justice and decency that all people can agree on? How do we temper ourselves and check our appetites for wealth, power and pleasure? This is the role of the Church; to guide the civil authorities through with God’s wisdom, understanding, knowledge and strength. We need to teach each other with our daily lives lived in prudence, temperance, generosity, kindness and all the other fruits of the Holy Spirit. We must continue to renew and review our core beliefs and understand them in the changing times. The Eucharistic prayer today reminds us to ‘read the signs of our times by the light of faith.’
Our religious formation process should prepare us to be the moral guides and models for our civil authority and diverse populations. To help guide our ongoing process of pastoral planning and faith formation Bishop Solis has given us these three questions to consider. Please take some time in the next couple of weeks and write out some answers to these questions and pass them along to me. How do we use our faith to help guide and shape the world our grandchildren inherit?
- What do you understand by “comprehensive faith formation” in your parish(es) and mission(s)?
- What reasons can you affirm or add that make comprehensive faith formation important in the contemporary U.S. context and particularly in the Utah context?
- What are keys to success in establishing and maintaining comprehensive faith formation in your parish/mission setting(s)? What next step can you take? What assistance do you need from the Diocese?
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“A man who governs his passions is master of his world. We must either command them or be enslaved by them. It is better to be a hammer than an anvil.” St. Dominic