FAITH AND VALUES:

Imagine the impact you can have when you give a deserving student a Catholic Education. Next weekend, a special parish appeal, the Faith and Values Appeal for Education, will be held to raise funds to help provide tuition assistance to needy students and their families right here in our own diocese. Please be generous in your support of Catholic school students. Envelopes for this special appeal are included with your parish envelopes. You can also make a secure donation online at or call Karen Joyce at 216-696-6525, ext. 1910. 

ONE WORLD DAY

Sunday, August 27, from 11:00am to 7:00pm, all are invited to attend the annual “One World Day” festival at the Cultural Gardens in Rockefeller Park. The day will feature performances, delicious food, and activities for young and old, hosted by each nationality, including the Lithuanians. The event is free and free parking is available at the VA Hospital garage (Magnolia & E. 105^th St.), with shuttle bus transportation to the gardens. Hope to see you there!

LITHUANIAN MARTYR

Archbishop Teofilius Matulionis, the Lithuanian archbishop who was martyred during Lithuania’s Soviet occupation, has been declared “Blessed” by the Church making him Lithuania’s first martyr from the Communist era to be beatified, and the first Lithuanian beatified on native soil. Archbishop Teofilius Matulionis died in 1962, three days after being beaten by the Soviet secret police during a search of his apartment and having been given a lethal injection. The beatification ceremony was held on June 25^th in Vilnius, Lithuania.
       You will find more information about his life and a prayer for his beatification at the entrances to the Church. Stop into the Meditation Room (opposite the Book Room at the main entrance to the church) to view banners describing his life. We ask everyone to pray for his canonization.

The bishops of Lithuania proclaimed 2017 to be the year of
Blessed Teofilius Matulionis.

“The Truth shall make you free.”(John 8:23)

     We celebrate the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Tuesday, August 15^th. This is a Holy Day of Obligation. Masses here to fulfill this obligation will be celebrated on Tuesday, August 15^th at 7:30am and 7:00pm.

     The Catholic Church teaches that the Virgin Mary “having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heaven glory.” This doctrine was defined by Pope Pius XII on Nov. 1, 1950 in the document Munificentissimus Deus. Whether or not Mary experienced a physical death has not been dogmatically defined by the Church. We celebrate the feast of the Assumption of Mary on August 15 as a holy day of obligation.

     The Eastern Rites of the Catholic Church celebrate the Dormition of the Theotokos (“the falling asleep of the God-bearer”) on the same day. This Eastern Catholic tradition holds that Mary experienced a natural death, upon which her soul was received by Christ. On the third day after her death, her tomb was found empty. Bishop Kallistos of Diokleia in 1969 wrote in Festal Menaion (The Menaion refers to the annual fixed cycle of services in the Orthodox Church): “Mary has passed beyond death and judgement, and lives wholly in the Age to Come. The resurrection of the Body ... has in her case been anticipated and is already an accomplished fact. That does not mean, however, that she is dissociated from the rest of humanity and placed in a wholly different category, for we all hope to share one day in that some glory of the Resurrection of the Body which she enjoys even now.”

     I thought you might find this interesting.

God Bless!   Fr. Joe Bacevice

PLEASE PRAY

We ask you to remember in your prayers the souls of Josephine Speck, Anthony Focarett, and John Minor who died recently and were buried through out parish. May they have eternal rest in the peace of God’s kingdom.

PANCAKE BREAKFAST

Come to our pancake breakfast THIS Sunday, August 13^th, from 8:30am to 1:30pm. Adult tickets - $7, and children 12 and younger - $4. Spend some time with your fellow parishioners, enjoy tasty pancakes and filled crepes, support your parish.

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

As the new school year approaches, parents are reminded that their children of grade school age should be receiving formal religious training, either in a Catholic school, or in a parish PSR program. Two years of Catholic instruction is required for First Communion, and Confirmation is administered in the eighth grade. Families with children who need to enroll in our PSR program, are asked to contact the parish office as soon as possible to register.