Serving Hyde Park’s Catholic Community since 1869

February 7, 2021 Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time Parish Offices: Hours: Weekdays: 7am-3pm, Mon.-Fri. Located at 55th & Woodlawn 5472 S. Kimbark Avenue Chicago, IL 60615-5297 Phone: (773) 324-2626 Fax: (773) 891-0602 [email protected] Fr. Dan Costello Extension 107 Deacon: Deacon Kurt Davis hey brought to him Parish Office: all who were ill Lisa J. Couch, secretary (773) 324-2626 or possessed Parish Voicemail box, ext. 0 T by demons. Director of Parish Operations Paula Jones, ext. 109 He cured many Music Ministry Matthew Merz Liturgist who were sick... Jennifer Davis ~Mark 1:32, 34 Bulletin Editor Lissa Romell Parish School Erin Monahan, Principal 5467 S. Woodlawn Avenue St. Thomas the Apostle Parish Chicago, Illinois 60615-5299 telephone: (773) 667-1142 Mass Schedule Confession Fax: (773) 891-0602 Sunday Saturdays, 2:30-3:30pm. www.stapostleschool.com 8am & 10am Baptism Monday-Friday Please contact the Parish Office. 8am Marriage Saturday Please make arrangements eight months in advance. 8am & 4pm Membership Holy Days Please register at the Parish Office or online at 8am www.stapostleparish.org under “Contact Us”. Please don’t forget the poor boxes. Come visit us at www.stapostleparish.org Page 2 St. Thomas the Apostle Parish Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time

We’re so glad you’re here and invite you to journey If you or a loved one in faith with us. We believe the church is the wish to receive a sacrament of God’s saving presence in the world. telephone visit from a Our goal is to provide a spiritual home where all minister of care—to are welcome, where the healing, reconciling, pray or simply talk— liberating love of God flows through us to all people. please call Lisa at 773- If you have any questions about our parish, 324-2626, & she will please call or email our parish office. arrange for a Minister of Care to call.

Today’s Readings Job 7:1-4, 6-7  Psalm 147:1-2, 3-4, 5-6  1 Corinthians 9:16-19, 22-23  Mark 1:29-39 Valerie Denise Holloway, Sharon Dobbs (speedy recovery)

We encourage you to prepare yourself for next weekend’s liturgy by reading and praying the scriptures (visit www.usccb.org).

Next Sunday’s Readings Leviticus 13:1-2, 44-46  Psalm 32:1-2, 5, 11  1 Corinthians 10:31—11:1  Mark 1:40-45 Weekday Mass Intentions

Weekly morning masses are being live-streamed at 8am, Monday-Saturday, via our Facebook page. Please join us! Please remember those listed below in your prayers this week. MONDAY, February 8 WEDNESDAY, February 10 FRIDAY, February 12 Readings: Gn 1:1-19  Ps 104:1-2a, 5- St. Scholastica Readings: Gn 3:1-8  Ps 32:1-2, 5, 6, 7 6, 10 & 12, 24 & 35c  Mk 6:53-56 Readings: Gn 2:4b-9, 15-17  Ps 104:1-  Mk 7:31-37 In the beginning,...a mighty wind 2a, 27-28, 29bc-30  Mk 7:14-23 “Ephphatha!” (“Be opened!) Mk 7:34 swept over the waters. Gen 1:1-2 Nothing enters one from outside that Tomasito Villarin Anthony Gomes can defile that person. Mt 7:15 (birthday thanksgiving) John Brinkman Clarence Williamson SATURDAY, February 13 TUESDAY, February 9 THURSDAY, February 11 Readings: Gn 3:9-24  Ps 90:2, 3-4abc, Readings: Gn 1:20—2:4a  Ps 8:4-5, 6- Readings: Gn 2:18-25  Ps 128:1-2, 3, 4- 5-6, 12-13  Mk 8:1-10 7, 8-9  Mk 7:1-13 5  Mk 7:24-30 The man gave his wife the name “Eve,” God blessed the seventh day and “Lord, even the dogs under the table eat because she was the mother of all the made it holy. Gn 2:3 the children’s scraps.” Mk 7:28 living. Gn 3:20 Diana White (speedy recovery) Dr. Herman Neal Thanksgiving for prayers answered

Carlos Navarro Marian Williamson deceased

Please Make Your Gift to the 2021 Annual Catholic Appeal

Come, follow me … and bring hope to the World

We invite you to spend some time this week reflecting on the Annual Catholic Appeal materials you should have received in your bulletin or in the mail. The Annual Catholic Appeal is much different than a one-time special collection: It is a pledged commitment to make a gift over time. Your pledge can be made payable in installments. Each pledge makes a difference because all parishes participate in the campaign and the gifts of many enable our archdiocese to deliver needed ministries and services to answer the call of Jesus to “Come, follow me … and bring hope to the world.” If you received your pledge form in the mail, please complete it and mail it back. This year, we also encourage our parishioners to make their Annual Catholic Appeal gifts online or via text message: annualcatholicappeal.com or text the word “ACA2021” to 345345. St. Thomas the Apostle Parish Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time Page 3 Thoughts from Fr. Dan Costello Parish Administrator Dear Parishioners & Friends place each year on the fourth Sunday in July, close to of St. Thomas the Apostle the feast of Sts. Joachim and Anne, the grandparents Parish, of Jesus. How often have we used the expression of someone Recalling the upcoming feast of the Presentation “having the patience of Job.” of Jesus in the Temple – when the elderly Simeon Well, our first reading gives and Anna encountered the child Jesus and us just a glimpse of Job’s real recognized Him as the Messiah – Pope Francis -life troubles, perhaps not so foreign from our own. said, “the Holy Spirit even today stirs up thoughts The Book of Job is probably one of the most unique and words of wisdom in the elderly.” The voice of literary masterpieces ever the elderly “is precious,” written. It is not a he said, “because it transcript of historical sings the praises of God events, but a literary and preserves the roots composition of the of the peoples.” The problem of the suffering elderly, he continued, of the innocent. The Book “remind us that old age of Job does not is a gift and that definitively answer the grandparents are the link problem of the suffering between the different of the innocent, but generation, to pass on to challenges readers to the young the experience come to their own of life.” understanding. In a nutshell, all we know about Job is that he was a wealthy landowner who was stripped of The Holy Father said he instituted the World Day everything without warning and his faith was severely of Grandparents and the Elderly because tested. The whole book is about a two-hour read; “grandparents are often forgotten, and we forget this perhaps a noteworthy goal to accomplish during the wealth of preserving roots and passing on” what the first week of Lent? Job’s troubles, his conversations elderly have received. He emphasized the importance with his friends, the evil one, and then with God end of grandparents and grandchildren getting to know with a message of hope; he becomes humbled by one another, because “as the prophet Joel says, God’s greatness and, in the end, enjoys God’s grandparents seeing their grandchildren dream,” awesome generosity. “The Lord giveth and the Lord while “young people, drawing strength from their taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord!” grandparents, will go forward and prophesy.”

God bless our Grandparents and Elderly and we are grateful for their love, guidance, and prayers. A little news from Pope Francis: Following the Angelus on Sunday (January 31), Pope ~Fr. Dan Costello Francis announced the institution of World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly, which will take Page 4 St. Thomas the Apostle Parish Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time

Dates to Remember

February 12 E-Learning Day for All Students - Teacher In-Service Day

February 15 No School—President’s Day

February 18 State of the School Meeting at 6:00 pm on Zoom

February 19 End of Trimester 2

February 26 Black History Month Dress Down Day ——————–————————

STA’s Website:

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Online Reviews

We appreciate the encouraging words we have received from our community. Thank you for your support! In an effort to continue Admissions for the 2021-22 School Year showing our STA pride and come together as a community, please consider leaving an online review Admissions for the 2021-22 school year is open! Interested families for STA on one of the available with children in grades Pre-K 3—8th are encouraged to take a virtual outlets. These include: Facebook, Google Reviews, Niche, Great tour of the school with STA’s Admissions Coordinator, Schools and Private School Tareema Jean-Baptiste ([email protected]). Review. Thank you! After your virtual tour, you will complete an online application. Once you receive notice of acceptance, you begin the online registration process. Families who apply and register by April 1, 2021 will receive a discount on the registration and materials fees! Schedule your tour today to learn more! St. Thomas the Apostle Parish Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time Page 5

February is Black History Month Black history is Catholic history

In this Feb. 21, 1946, file photo, students at St. Augustine School in Washington, led by the Oblate Sisters of Providence, participate in Negro History Week; the precursor to Black History Month, observed each February. (CNS photo/courtesy Oblate Sisters of

Providence)

In 1949, famed Harlem Renaissance writer Langston Hughes celebrated Negro History Week (the precursor to Black History Month) with members of the Oblate Sisters of Providence and their students at the all black and Catholic St. Alphonsus School in Wilson, North Carolina. "The Negro nuns had an assembly of tiny youngsters who did all by themselves a fine Negro History program," Hughes wrote in The Chicago Defender one week later. And of whose labor and sales built the early American church, they particular delight to the esteemed poet had been the students’ also recognized how essential teaching black Catholic history apt recitation of his protest poem, "Freedom’s Plow" (see was in the fight against racism in their church. page 6). Despite the herculean efforts of the black sisterhoods and "Who is America?" the students chanted. "You, me! those who followed in their footsteps, the teaching of black We are America!" and black Catholic history outside of predominantly black Originally published in 1943, "Freedom’s Plow" charted Catholic institutions remains rare in the contemporary church. the long African American struggle for freedom, justice and In the United States, where the roots of many black equality from slavery to the present. During World War II, the Catholics predate those of the vast majority of white and poem had also served as a call to action for African white ethnic Catholics by at least three centuries, popular Americans struggling against fascism abroad and at home. and scholarly discussions and depictions of the American That students at the St. Alphonsus School had studied Catholic experience rarely include the church’s black and memorized this poem as part of their curriculum for faithful. At best, black Catholics are presented as historical Negro History Week in 1949 is more than noteworthy. It anomalies. At worst, they are altogether erased. stands as a powerful testament to the visionary leadership As one major consequence, recent calls for the Catholic of the nation’s black Catholic sisterhoods and their Church to confront and make reparation for its long- pioneering commitment to black historical truth telling standing histories of slavery and segregation have been within church boundaries. met with genuine shock and confusion by far too many During the Jim Crow era, schools administered by the Catholics, religious and lay alike. There are also still many African American sisterhoods became the first Catholic people who sincerely believe that there are no African institutions to teach and celebrate black history and art in the American Catholics. United States. Perhaps of no great surprise, these black sister- These realities stand as searing indictments of the led Catholic schools were also the first American educational church’s enduring failure to tell the truth about itself and institutions to teach and champion black Catholic history. teach accurate and inclusive accounts of Catholic history As a part of their annual Negro History Week in its schools, seminaries and parishes. celebrations, students at schools led by black nuns As we mark this [95th] annual celebration of black routinely performed skits documenting the pioneering history during February, I encourage all Catholics history of black Catholics in the United States. On the high interested in justice, reconciliation and peace to commit to school level, students often wrote essays exploring the learning about the central place of black people in the long and rich history of black Catholics in the church, church’s long and complex history. especially in Africa, which became home to the world’s Black history is and always has been Catholic history. earliest Catholic churches and monasteries in the third and It is time for the church to embrace this fundamental truth. fourth centuries. ~Shannen Dee Williams Like Carter G. Woodson, the founder of Negro History Week, black nuns understood the subversive power of black Copyright ©2020 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference history in the face of rampant discrimination, of Catholic Bishops. misrepresentation and erasure. Because many black nuns were the descendants of the free and enslaved black people Page 6 St. Thomas the Apostle Parish Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time

Freedom’s Plow Pope’s Prayer Intention By Langston Hughes for February

When a man starts out with nothing, The Pope Video for February (available at https:// When a man starts out with his hands thepopevideo.org/) contains a powerful message against the Empty, but clean, violence that millions of women suffer daily. He asks us to When a man starts to build a world, pray for the victims, “that they may be protected by society He starts first with himself and have their sufferings considered and heeded by all. And the faith that is in his heart- “It’s shocking how many women are beaten, insulted, and The strength there, raped,” says the Holy Father. Indeed, the statistics compiled by UN Women, updated in November of 2020, are stunning: The will there to build. each day, 137 women are killed by members of their own First in the heart is the dream- family; adult women make up nearly half of the victims of Then the mind starts seeking a way. human trafficking identified worldwide; and globally, one in His eyes look out on the world, three women have experienced physical or sexual violence at On the great wooded world, some point (and 15 million adolescent girls worldwide aged On the rich soil of the world, 15 to 19 have experienced forced sexual relations). What’s On the rivers of the world. more, last year there was the aggravating factor of the pandemic: the restriction of movement, social isolation and The eyes see there materials for building, economic insecurity made women globally even more See the difficulties, too, and the obstacles. vulnerable to violence in private environments. The mind seeks a way to overcome these obstacles. Together, we pray. The hand seeks tools to cut the wood, To till the soil, and harness the power of the waters. Resources to Learn More Then the hand seeks other hands to help, A community of hands to help- about Black Catholic History Thus the dream becomes not one man’s dream alone, But a community dream. Not my dream alone, but our dream. Not my world alone, But your world and my world, Belonging to all the hands who build. …

A long time ago, An enslaved people heading toward freedom Made up a song: Keep Your Hand On The Plow! Hold On! The plow plowed a new furrow Across the field of history. Into that furrow the freedom Learn about several Black Catholics who are in the seed was dropped. process of becoming saints at https:// From that seed a tree grew, is www.nbccongress.org/black-saints-and-martyrs.html growing, will ever grow. A Timeline of Black Catholic History from the That tree is for everybody, National Black Catholic Congress is available at For all America, for all the world. https://www.nbccongress.org/history-of-black- May its branches spread and catholics.html shelter grow Recommended reading from the USCCB about inspiring Until all races and all peoples African Americans is available here; https:// know its shade. www.usccb.org/committees/african-american-affairs/ KEEP YOUR HAND ON THE recommended-reading-about-inspiring-african-americans. PLOW! HOLD ON! Explore Black Catholic saints highlighted by the [Read the complete poem here: National Catholic Register here: https:// https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/freedom-s-plow/] www.ncronline.org/feature-series/black-saints/stories St. Thomas the Apostle Parish Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time Page 7

Public Masses are held on Saturdays at 4pm and Sundays at 8am and 10am. Given the current restrictions on attendance (up to 20% capacity of our church), please use Sign-up Genius, an online tool, to reserve space for you and those in your household for Mass St. Thomas the Apostle (https://www.signupgenius.com/ LIVE Mass on go/9040448A9AA2CA0F49- Facebook reservations). To help ensure that everything runs as smoothly and peacefully as possible, please review the Parishioner Reopening guide online (https:// We continue to stream Mass stapostleparish.org/parish-life/reopening-our-parish/) and contact us with any live daily on Facebook at 8am. questions at 773-324-2626. Visit https:// www.facebook.com/ St.ThomastheApostleHydePark A convenient way to give to St. /live/ for the livestream and to Thomas the Apostle Parish— watch previous Masses. especially in this time of Covid-19—is through online donations via GiveCentral. You can use this website OFFERINGS to make donations to STA using your credit card, debit card or electronic checking January 16-17, 2021 payments. You can make both one-time and recurring donations. To take advantage of this convenient option, visit www.givecentral.org/location/136. We are grateful Sunday Offertory $3,482.00 for your support, now more than ever. Thank you. Give Central $3,362.00 Christmas $625.00 Cover art: Healed by Roederick Vines. Building Fund $20.00 Misc. Donation $504.90

Total $7,993.90 Please Remember in Prayer: Parishioners & friends who are ill: January 24, 2021

Jenny Aniceto, Estrella Alamar, Dorla Allen, Lucas Allen, Sunday Offertory $1,401.00 Romulo Barreno, Betty Black, Dorothy Bonds, Emil F. Give Central $2,822.00 Coccaro, Romy Crena, Esther Dionisio, Sr., Marilyn Epps, Mass Offering $60.00

Sebastian Farmer, Fr. Jack Farry, Joseph Foley, Joan Gallagher, Total $4,283.00 Lina Garcia, Fr. Karl Gersbach, David Giles, Pamela Graniczy, Alyce Hammonds, January 31, 2021 Kathleen Holden, Wm. G. Howard, Maria Jimenez, Olga Jimenez, Carolyn Jones, Connie Sunday Offertory $781.00 Jose, Charlie King, Mary Lerps, Mark Lewis, Corrine Lipinski, Linda Loggins, Give Central $3,898.00 Mankowski Family, Maridel Moffett, Anastacia I. Mebane, Clara Morgan, John Moore, Mass Offering $10.00 Chris Mureiko, Caridad Neal, Carmen Orendain, Edmond Peirre, Agnes Pelt, Sr. Jamie

Total $4,689.00 Phelps, David Nathaniel Robinson, Dick Russel, Nelson R. Sample, Elizabeth Scott, Zahari Simmons, Bobby Sims, Olustee Smith, Coletta Tinley, Charles Walker, Sr., Jo Washington, Julia Washington, Terrance Watson, Richard West, Mavis Willis, Marie Thank you!! Bijou Wong, Joan Yedinak Funds needed weekly to sustain our parish: $8900 For those who have died.

Sign up for May God grant them eternal joy and peace. GiveCentral.org today!

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