May 6, 2007

Fifth Sunday of Easter

Sisters and brothers, with grateful hearts we worship God for the gifts so generously bestowed on us through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In him, all things are made new.

MASS SCHEDULE

May 05 4:30PM Amadeo Volpe………………….….By Wife

John & Raffaela DeMatteo………By Family

May 06 10:00AM The Pidgeon Family…………….Mary Pidgeon

Silvio Tremante……………The Schaeffer Family

May 10 12:15PM Novena to the Miraculous Medal

May 12 4:30PM Lawrence Hebert………………Margaret Hebert

Marguerite Ciarmiello…………By Daughters

May 13 10:00AM Elizabeth Delafano…………..Betty, Mike & Michael

Alvah P. & Dorothy McCoy…Nancy Adams & Family & B. Formichelli

EUCHARISTIC MINISTERS

05/05:   S. Abeel & R. Abeel 05/06:   M. Sieder, D. Duggan & M. Perrella

05/12:   A. Lotano & T. Lotano 05/13:   C. Mastan, D. Lessard & S. Hedman

COMMENTATOR & LECTOR

05/05: C. Kiszkiel & E. Feuerstein 05/06: J. Scheib & C. Hajjar

05/12: W. Chura & B. Nicolella 05/13: J. Scheib

ACOLYTES

05/06: Emi Carosella & Kristen Perrella 05/13: TBD

BISHOPS APPEAL – This weekend is in pew sign up. Your Parish Council and I are hoping for full participation. Lynn Lucas

June 16tH Rummage, BBQ and Bake SALE - Start cleaning out your attics and cellars – Our rummage sale will be here before you know it.  Please be sure your rummage is in good condition, clean, if electronic – in working order etc…  Label your boxes whenever possible. If you’d like to put a price on your items – please do so using masking tape. You can drop off Rummage Sale items anytime Mon-Thurs. 8:30 to 2:30.  For larger items that need to be picked up, call and leave a message at the rectory 374-9148 anytime.  We need a lot of sorters, bakers, and day of sale volunteers!  Be sure to get involved and have some fun. 

Donna Lessard & Fred Simone

Relay for LIFE - at Scotia/Glenville High School on June 15^th and 16^th from 7PM to 7AM. This is a community gathering where everyone can participate in the fight against cancer. Relays are an overnight event (because Cancer never sleeps) but it is not required to stay overnight. For more information go to website: www.ascevents.org/relay/ny/scotiaglenville or contact Claudia McLaughlin at 388-9198. Parents are needed to chaperone for this event, if you would like to volunteer call Donna Simone (346-2097) or email: dasimone@aol.com.

THANK YOU FROM THE RELAY FOR LIFE TEAM! –last weekend’s bake sale raised a total of $139.72! Many thanks to all who baked bought luminaries or made donations! You may still make donations, (cans are located in the front entrance of the church) or purchase luminaries (in honor of a cancer survivor or in memory of a loved one whose life was lost to cancer) from a team member.

CROP WALK: This Sunday, May 6, 2007. Please support our walkers in this event for the local hungry.

ACOLYTES – If anyone is interested in serving as an acolyte at the Closing Liturgy at St. Joseph’s Church on May 13^th, please contact Donna Simone 346-2097 (home) 374-3382 (work) or email dasimone@aol.com

First Communion and SCHOOL OF RELIGION Closing Liturgy - at St. Joseph’s Church on Sunday, May 13^th at 10:15 a.m. Liturgy. All students are requested to attend with their parents.

CONFIRMATION –Confirmation will be held on Monday May 7^th at 6PM at St. Luke’s Church. Congratulations to our Confirmandi: Emi Carosella, Kevin Kurtzner, Brittany Mazur, Kristen Perrella and Courtney Schaeffer.

SALVATION ARMY SOUP KITCHEN – On April 13^th we served 143 people! Many thanks to our youth helpers: Emi Carosella, Sarah & Kristen Perrella. Our next date to serve is Friday May 11^th. We are in need of cash donations and as always, helping hands.

GUARENTEED ENRICHMENT! -  "Who Do You Say That I Am" is this year's theme for Spring Enrichment, an extraordinary opportunity for faith formation offered in our Diocese each Spring for over 30 years.  Scores of mini-courses (most only two hours long) on a broad assortment of religious topics will be offered this year from May 14-17, at the College of St. Rose, taught by some of the most knowledgeable and inspiring teachers in the Diocese.  Get the details from Donna Simone [346-2097] dasimone@aol.com or Walt Chura [456-3201] wwchura@yahoo.com or go directly to the Diocesan website:  www.rcda.org  Click on "34th Annual Spring Enrichment."  Courses offered mornings, early and late afternoons and evenings.  Walt Chura is teaching courses on the Liturgy of the Hours and on Christology & Thomas Merton.

SCHOOL OF RELIGION –Classes are scheduled for May 6^th and the last class will be May 13^th followed by the closing liturgy at St. Joseph’s at 10:15AM.

Spring/Summer Clothing Sale SUCCESSFUL UPDATE - Thank you to all who donated sorted and worked the day of the clothing sale.  It went very well. We will be selling what we had left over at the rummage sale.  HOWEVER, we will not be accepting any other clothing for the rummage sale.  In the fall we will have our Fall/Winter Clothing Sale.  Again, thank you all very much for your generous clothing donations and giving of your time for this community event. Also, a big thank you to Mary Pidgeon and Norma Bright for the delicious cookies!!!   If you still need to pay for clothing or shoes etc…. you can put your money in an envelope marked “Spring/Summer Clothing Sale.    Thanks, Donna Lessard

P.S. Don’t forget to mark you calendar for our Annual Rummage Sale – Sat. June 16^th!!!

Parishioner Seeks Apartment -  One bedroom or large efficiency. Section 8 qualified.  Contact Walt Chura:  456-3201. 

MEETING DATES

THURSDAY May 10th Bible Study 11:00 AM in the Parish Center

MONDAY May 14th Parish Council 6:45PM in the Parish Center

OFFERTORY COLLECTION: The offertory collection for the weekend of 4/29/07 was $2,033.00. Needed to meet weekly expenses is $2,000.00 Our “Raise the Roof” collection is at $19,103.00. "Remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth." Deuteronomy 8:18

Rev. Michael T. Schmitt – Sacramental Minister

Administrative Assistant –Eileen Mazur

Parish Office Hours 8:30AM-2:30PM Monday through Thursday 374-9148 Closed Friday

Parish Center Email: sjb@albany.net Web Site: www.albany.net/~sjb/

Saturday Mass taped for Channel 16 – Shown: Sunday 2 PM & Monday 2 PM

St. John the Baptist Mission Statement

Dedicated to Celebrating Christ’s Love in

Worship, Works of Charity and Fellowship

Masses: Saturday 4:30 PM and Sunday 10:00 AM Thursday 12:15 PM Novena to the Miraculous Medal

Sacrament of Reconciliation: by Appointment

Sacrament of Anointing: by Appointment

MEDITATION for the Fifth Week of Easter:

Faith of course tells us that we live in a time of eschatological struggle, facing a fierce combat which marshals all the forces of evil and darkness against the still invisible truth, yet this combat is already decided by the victory of Christ over death and over sin. The Christian can renounce the protection of violence and risk being humble, therefore vulnerable, not because she trusts in the supposed efficacy of a gentle and persuasive tactic that will disarm hatred and tame cruelty, but because she believes that the hidden power of the Gospel is demanding to be manifested in and through her own poor person. Hence in perfect obedience to the Gospel, she effaces herself and her own interests and even risks her life in order to testify not simply to "the truth" in a sweeping idealistic and purely platonic sense, but to the truth that is incarnate in a concrete human situation, involving living persons whose rights are denied or whose lives are threatened."

Thomas Merton. Faith and Violence: Christian Teaching and

Christian Practice. Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press, 1968: 18-19