SUPPORT OUR FESTIVAL

            Our parish festival will be held this Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  The festival is one of the greatest events of our parish life, and serves to build community as well as to provide fund raising for the ministries of our parish.  I hope that all of you will help to make our festival a great success by volunteering to work, inviting friends and neighbors to attend, and spending lots of money on food, rides, raffle tickets and games. 

            Thanks to Ed Jacob (our festival chairperson) and all of the team who work with him to make our festival so wonderful.

FEAST OF ST. BENEDICT

            Saturday of this week, July 11, is the Feast of St. Benedict.  St. Benedict is very significant in the history of the Church, but is especially important in our times, as he is the patronal saint of Pope Benedict XVI.  We want to lift up our Holy Father in prayer as we celebrate this feast.

St. Benedict lived in Italy from 480 to 547 AD.  He is known as the founder of Western Christian Monasticism.  Benedict was born in Nursia and had a twin sister, St. Scholastica, with whom he founded the religious orders for Benedictine men and women.  As a young man he went to live on Mount Subiaco, just south of Rome, seeking solitude there.  It became known that he was there, living as a hermit, and people began going to him seeking spiritual guidance.  Some began setting up hermitages around him, and out of this grew the beginnings of the Benedictine order.

The first monastery that Benedict set up was on Monte Cassino. (History buffs will recall that the Nazis took over Monte Cassino during World War II, and American bombers destroyed it.  It was rebuilt after the war and is a beautiful monastery today.)  In all, Benedict would found twelve communities in his lifetime.

The Rule of St. Benedict is, perhaps, his most lasting contribution to the Church, for it has strongly influenced every founder of religious life and monastery since his time.  It seeks to establish a rule of life for those who wish to dedicate their lives to serving Christ faithfully within religious community.

MASS TIME CHANGE

            Please take note that we will change the time of our 11:00 AM Sunday Mass to 10:45 AM on Sunday, June 19.  We often have traffic flow problems between the 11:00 AM and 12:30 PM Masses, and the extra fifteen minutes should eliminate that difficulty.  Pass the word on to those who are, perhaps, on their summer vacation from Mass.

CLOSING OF THE PAULINE YEAR

            Last Sunday Pope Benedict XVI presided at the official closing of the Pauline Year.  The year began on June 29, 2008 (the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul), and closed at First Vespers for the Feast on June 28, 2009.  Over this past year, which marked the 2000^th birthday of St. Paul, the Church has reflected on the writings of St. Paul, and on the man himself.  Paul is one of the two great pillars established by Christ to sustain and strengthen the Church he left behind. 

What IHM Means to Me....

Immaculate Heart of Mary parish means everything to me it is my second home. I love being there everybody is so welcoming it is just like my extended family. During many occasions I could just come and talk to Christ when I was in time of need or just needed to come thank Him for something that meant so much to me. Whenever I come here I feel like I'm Home. Some things here maybe simple but they hold so many memories and mean so much I always feel safe and secure when I'm there.

Amanda Felix