Memorial Masses

Saturday, February 23, 4:00 PM: Eleanor Govone

Sunday, February 24, 11:00 AM: Jean Mary Mercier

Saturday, March 1, 4:00 PM: Sister Catherine Ann Tauer

Sunday, March 2, 11:00 AM: William Hull

 

 

 

 

The Samaritan woman said to him, "How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?" Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God and who is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him and he would have given you living water." - Jn 4:9-10

 

 

“…hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts…” Adult: How do you experience the love of God? Child: How does Jesus’ love for you make you a stronger person?

Question of the Week !

 

 

 

CHURCH DECORATIONS – SYMBOLS: Thanks to the Art & Environment Committee (Sandy Coy and Brenda Whitenett) for the Lenten decorations! The Lenten gospels determined what symbols they would use: sand and rock for the 1^st Sunday, the mountain shape for the Transfiguration, the pitcher for the woman at the well, clay for the healing of the blind man, burial bands for the raising of Lazarus, and a plate to symbolize the hunger in the world and perhaps our giving. The empty font can remind us of the great gift of baptismal water and how we would be lost without it and help us appreciate it when it is returned at Easter.

ST. ANGELA SCHOOL THANK YOU: “My sincerest thanks to St. Zepherin Parish parishioners for the $1000 check sent to our school. Your gift is a blessing for us. At this time of year when our school bills begin to mount – especially the heat – we are in great need of assistance! Thanks to your parishioners our teachers will be able to provide a Catholic education to our Haitian, Caribbean and Afro American students in a warm, comfortable, educational building. On behalf of all of us at St. Angela School I thank you!” (Sister Gail Donahue CSJ, Principal)

CHRISTIAN SERVICE & JUSTICE AND PEACE COMMITTEE: Meeting on Monday, March 25, at 7 p.m. in the rectory.

 

 

Financial Update

Periodically parishioners question the cost of operating the parish. One item that may be of interest is the cost of heating the church. The two month period beginning on November 19, 2007, and ending on January 20, 2008, cost $6950. The Property Committee recommends that thermostat settings be lowered by several degrees. As a result you may find it cooler in the church when attending Mass. The goal is to be more cost effective in the use of your offertory contributions.

 

The offertory collection for the weekend of February 16/17 amounted to $0000. Thank you for your gifts.

 

 

Easter flower envelopes have been placed at the entrances to the church. To donate towards the Easter flowers “In Memory Of” and have names appear in the Easter Bulletin, all donations must be turned in to the rectory office no later than Friday, March 14^th. You may turn in your envelopes as early as you wish.

 

 

Invitation to Our Parish Soup Suppers

On the Fridays of Lent (except Good Friday) we will have soup suppers at 6:00 PM in the parish center. We encourage parishioners of all ages to join together for these simple meals. Children are welcome. We have a meal together followed by a brief prayer. Donations each Friday are gathered for the Heifer project. Please come if you can on any or all of the Fridays.

 

 

 

Salvation Army Volunteers

     Monday, February 25: Sean Boyle, Carol Coco, Paul & Lynnell Connolly, Quinto Ferretti, Nancy McCarthy, Grace Prestera.

     Tuesday, February 26: Susan Carson, Ann Crowley, Pat Hughes, Cindy MacLean, Paul McElearney, Anita McLean, Muriel Sypek.

 

If you are unable to come on your assigned day, please obtain a substitute.

 

 

Now that we’re at the third week in Lent, you will have noticed that much of the music has changed. Choosing music is always a delicate balance of selecting familiar music sung in years past and finding new music that is good, singable, and hopefully lasting. As always, I welcome your feedback and suggestions; please come talk with me at any time.

 

Lent is a good time to look at where we’ve been, where we’re going, and how we’re doing so in the process. It’s a good time to look at how and what we do in church, and how we might become more involved and engaged. As one involved in music ministry, I would invite you to consider what role music plays in your life in church. Are you actively involved in singing? Let me encourage everyone to come to church early to pray, to participate in our weekly music rehearsals before Mass, and then participate as fully as possible during Mass. Lent is a journey to Easter, and music can help accompany us on that journey. Music is always a source of comfort and encouragement to me in life…and I hope and pray it might be the same for you.

 

The Adult Choir recently resumed practices and will meet this Tuesday, February 26, at 7:00pm. Call, e-mail, or come talk with me if you’d like to sing with the choir. If you play an instrument and would like to play in church, please come talk with me.

 

See you in church! Kirk Hartung, Director or Music Ministry.

 

 

Families are needed to make soup and help out at the March 14^th Soup Supper from 5-7pm. Please let Mrs. O’Day know if you would like to volunteer.

 

All Cluster children have received information about making a donation box and saving money during lent for the mission of Casa Corazon, a home for orphaned children with HIV/AIDS, in Honduras. Boxes may be dropped off anytime during cluster or at the rectory before Easter. Thank you for your generosity. Extra material will be available in the Center

 

There will be an important meeting for First Eucharist parents only on Thursday Feb. 28^th at 7:15pm in the Parish Center. Please call or email the rectory if you will be attending.

 

First Eucharist Children should be doing the lesson on Sharing a Meal p. 58-65 in the Gold Book during the month of March with their parents. Our next Mass together will be on March 9^th at 9am. Other events coming up in March are the Pot Luck supper on March 29^th at 5:30 and the practice for First Reconciliation on Monday March 31 at 4pm. Mark your calendars.

 

Fr. Ron is doing his home visits now. Every First Eucharist Family should have received a postcard with the date and time of his visit. Please make sure your Gold Book is up to date to show Father.

 

The Children’s Safety Program for grades K-1 will be held on Saturday March 1^st and March 15^th from 9:30 – 10:30am in the Center. The Safety Program for grades 2-5 will be held on Tuesday March 4^th and March 11^th from 3:30-4:30 in the Center.

 

Every Family will be receiving a letter with end of the year information. Please return the form if you want your children to attend a Good Friday lesson from 10-11am on March 21.  Please return the registration for the April 13^th Instructional Mass as well.

 

 

There are Reflection books on Lent available for you to take at the main entrance to church for your personal reflections and prayers. There are also rice bowl that you make take for donations to the Catholic Relief Service

 

 

Aluminum Tab Collection to Benefit Shriners Hospital – We are asking all of our parishioners, young and old, to help us raise money for Shriners Hospital by saving your aluminum tabs from sodas and other cans. Save them at home in a container then bring them to church or the parish center with you to drop off in the large containers you will find marked for Shriners. Thank you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

February Vacation

 

LIFT

LIFT is a great evening of music and a talk for high school students. This month’s speaker is Bob Rice, who is an awesome and entertaining Catholic speaker. We will be going on Tuesday, February 19, leaving around 6PM and returning around 10PM. Call Joyce to sign up – you only need a permission slip!

 

Pizza and a Movie – MS Kids

We will be watching Chronicles of Narnia and eating pizza on Wednesday, February 20. Call Joyce to reserve a slice or two. HS “chaperones” welcome!

 

Lector

Interested in becoming a lector? Please contact Joyce at joyceatstz@comcast.net or at the rectory 508-653-8013.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1RELIGION BEYOND POLITICS

 

“If religion is all about peace, why is it always caught up in war?” one of the first year students remarked when we were reading Luke-Acts several weeks ago. The first century religious and political tensions between Jews and another religious group based on the Mosaic Law, Samaritans, lie just below the surface in today’s gospel (John 4:4-42).  The Samaritan woman begins with divisions: a Jewish man should take anything from a Samaritan woman, the Jews had burned the Samaritan temple in Mt. Gerezim (ca. 129 BC), the Samaritans expected their own messiah.

 

By the end of the story, she and her village are willing to accept a Jewish messiah (Jesus) as a world Savior. But he has rejected the claims of the Jewish temple authorities to be the only representatives of God’s truth. God wants a different sort of worshiper, “in Spirit and Truth” – not bricks and mortar or national sovereignty.  And certainly not with guns and violence.

 

Pope Benedict XVI is as concerned with the upsurge of violence alleged to be in God’s name as the perplexed student. Christians had centuries of religious wars to learn the lesson that violence is not the way to peace. Do other parts of the world have to repeat that history?  Or can religious and political leaders find an effective way to put down the hostilities and engage the warring parties in a new political, social, religious order?

 

An essay by John Gray in the January Harper’s Magazine (“Faith in Reason. Secular fantasies of a godless age,” pp. 85-89) assigned to my students surveys recent books on the relationship between religion and our “secular” society.  Recent events as well as the overall religious tenor of American society challenge a common assumption that the more scientifically advanced and rational a society becomes, the less religion has to do with it. The “secular era” has to do with the fact that we no longer use religion to explain everything which happens in the world. But it’s also the case that Islamic terrorists are not reestablishing pre-modern cultural values. They are, he argues, closer to Marx or Lenin, seeking to make the world conform to a universalist vision not rooted in the inherited traditions of Islam (p. 88).

Pheme Perkins

 

 

 

 

 

Future

          Events

 

 

 

 

Join us for a Middle School Information Night, March 4, St. Paul School Parish Hall. Come and learn about: Curriculum, High School Acceptances, Scholarship Awards, Enrichment Programs, Special Middle School Events. Saint Paul School educates students in grades K-1 through grade 8. We service families from many communities including: Wellesley, Natick, Newton, Sudbury, Medway, Medfield, Holliston, Hopkinton, Wayland, Needham, Norfolk and Norwood.

 

 

St. Zepherin Church Parish Directory

Fr. Ron Bourgault, Pastor

   fatherronatstz@comcast.net

 

Fr. John Mandile, SJ

   Assisting Priest (mid-week)

 

Marjory R. O’Day

   Religious Education (Grades K-5)

   Pastoral Associate

   Marge_oday@comcast.net

 

Joyce Pinney

   Youth Ministry (Grades 6-10)

   joyceatstz@comcast.net

 

Kirk Hartung

   Director of Music Ministry

   kirkatstzmusic@comcast.net

 

Gloria McCarthy

   Parish Manager

   stzepherin@comcast.net

 

Sacrament of Forgiveness/Reconciliation

   Saturdays, 3:15-3:45 PM, and by appointment

 

Sacrament of Baptism

   3^rd Sunday of each month. Please call the Pastor

 

Sacrament of Marriage

   By appointment. Please call the Pastor

 

Sacrament of Sick/Communion Calls

   Please call the Rectory Office

 

Food Collection

   2^nd & 4^th Sundays of each month

 

St. Zepherin Cemetery, Bent Avenue, Wayland,

   Please call the Rectory Office

 

Persons physically unable to access Communion are invited to tell the Presider or the Liturgy Coordinator before Mass. Arrangements can be made to bring Communion to you in your pew.

 

 

PLEASE REMEMBER: ITEMS FOR THE WEEKLY BULLETIN ARE DUE IN THE RECTORY OFFICE NO LATER THAN NOON EACH MONDAY.