The Second Sunday of Advent December 4, 2016

Mark Your Calendars— This Thursday, December 8th, is the Feast of the Immaculate At 8th and N Streets NW Conception. It is a holyday of obligation. There will be masses here at Church at 8:30 am and 12:15 Washington DC pm. If you are unable to attend here, please attend mass on that

day at a convenient . Office The Service of Lessons and Carols 4002 53rd Street will be held next Sunday, Bladensburg, MD 20710 December 11th at 7:30 pm. Please join us on Gaudete Sunday 202-999-9934 for this joyous time of meditation on the Coming of our StLukesOrdinariate.com Saviour. The service will be followed by a wine and cheese reception. We encourage all parishioners to attend and donate wine, cheese, and crackers for our guests. The Very Rev. Fr. Mark W. Lewis  Pastor Next weekend is the close of our current

[email protected] Corporal Work of Mercy: Christmas Toys We are almost done collecting Christmas toys for children. The Welcome to St. Luke’s toys will be delivered to St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church, at Immaculate Conception. where they will be given to kids at a Christmas party We are delighted to have you with us. on December 21. Father Michael Kelley, pastor of St. Martin of We are a parish of the Tours, says that most of the kids served by the parish are mostly

Personal Ordinariate of African-American; thus, dolls—always popular gifts for little the Chair of Saint Peter, girls—should reflect this. Basketballs and other items that which was established on January 1, 2012 by Pope Benedict XVI in response to appeal to city children are also popular choices (footballs are repeated requests by Anglicans not popular). Toys should be purchased with infants and seeking to become Catholic. children up to the age of thirteen in mind. Tweens, Father

Ordinariate parishes are fully Catholic Kelley said, particularly love arts and crafts kits to decorate while retaining elements of purses or bracelets. The usual amount spent on a gift is $10 to their Anglican heritage and traditions, including liturgical traditions. $15. We will collect the toys in the vestibule or after Mass at coffee hour. If you are visiting, Do not wrap the gifts, as they will be wrapped by volunteers at please make yourself known to church on December 19. Father Kelley emphasized that

Fr. Mark Lewis and join us for refreshments volunteers for wrapping are especially needed. Last year seventy after the Mass in the school auditorium. volunteers wrapped around 1500 gifts. The gifts will be given out on December 21 at a Christmas party complete with Santa Masses are Sunday through Friday, and digital pictures to help kids create Christmas memories. If 8:30 am you would like to volunteer, the church is located at 1908 North Capital Street, NW, Washington, D.C.

Keep in touch with St. Luke’s! The Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter Friend us on Facebook at facebook.com/StLukesOrdinariate Follow us on Twitter at @StLukesDC

That we all may be one Or join our mailing list for the Friends of St. Luke’s by emailing [email protected], or filling out a form at

StLukesOrdinariate.com Prayers for the Sick Request a Mass Intention  Those who have asked for our prayers: JoAnn Lewis, Doris You are invited to make an offering in honor of a deceased or Johnson, J.D. Ruff, Charles Sommerkamp; and all who are sick living loved one, a person’s birthday, anniversary, or any another and all caregivers who minister to the sick. special occasion. These mass intentions will be offered by Fr. Please call or email the office to add a name to the prayer list. Before calling, Lewis at our 8:30 am masses. Forms for mass intentions [as well as please be sure you have spoken to the person [or a member of his family] about mass cards to share your intention] are available on the adding the name—we do not want to inadvertently disregard someone’s desire information table at coffee hour; requests also may be emailed to for privacy. [email protected] usual mass stipend is $10. Names of those who are sick or injured will be kept on the list for 3 weeks An offered mass will give both spiritual support for your loved unless you specifically request a shorter period of time or call to ask that the ones and material support to our fledgling parish. name be removed. Names added this week will appear in boldface type. This Week Serving Next Sunday, December 11th 4 December  John Damascene, Priest and Doctor of the Church Ushers  Charlotte Hays, Tim Frank 6 December  Nicholas, Bishop Lector  Mark Arbeen 7 December  Ambrose, Bishop and Doctor of the Church Coffee Hour Host  NO COFFEE HOUR  THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION OF THE BLESSED 8 December VIRGIN MARY Patronal Feast of the United States of America  9 December Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin 10 December  John Roberts, Priest and Martyr 11 December  Damasus I, Pope Know Your Faith The Immaculate Conception, according to the teaching of the Catholic Church, is the conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the womb of her mother, Saint Anne, free from by virtue of the foreseen merits of her son Jesus Christ. The Church Parish Ministries teaches that Mary was conceived by normal biological means, but God acted upon her soul (keeping her “immaculate”) at the time A volunteer is still needed to act as a coordinator for our of her conception. Although the belief that Mary was sinless and Hospitality ministries. Please contact Fr. Lewis if you would be conceived immaculate has been widely held since Late Antiquity, willing to assist in taking on this ministry. the doctrine was not dogmatically defined until 1854, by Pope Pius Also, consider becoming an usher or a coffee hour host. It is a IX in his papal bull Ineffabilis Deus. The proclaimed Roman great way to support our ministry of fellowship. Contact Susan Catholic dogma states “that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the White at the email address below. first instance of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege Administrative manager  Susan White granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the [email protected] Saviour of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin.” Therefore, being always free from original sin, the Evangelization  Heide Seward doctrine teaches that from her conception Mary received the Programs [email protected] sanctifying grace that would normally come with baptism after  Liturgy Programs Randy King birth. [email protected] Stewardship Programs  David Lewis Some have misunderstood the doctrine to assert that, by her [email protected] immaculate conception, Mary did not need a saviour. When defining the dogma in Ineffabilis Deus, Pope Pius IX explicitly Christian Formation  James Guinivan affirmed that Mary, rather than being cleansed after sin, was [email protected] completely prevented from contracting Original Sin in view of the  Mission and Outreach Patrick Rothwell foreseen merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race. In

[email protected] Luke 1:47, Mary proclaims: “My spirit has rejoiced in God my Music Programs  Patrick Delaney Saviour.” This is referred to as Mary's pre-redemption by Christ. [email protected] Although “no direct or categorical and stringent proof of the Lectors & Ushers  Ada Okafor dogma can be brought forward from Scripture,” the idea of [email protected] Mary's complete sinlessness and concomitant exemption from  Altar Servers David Lewis any taint from the first moment of her existence was a doctrine

[email protected] familiar to Greek theologians of Byzantium, beginning with St. Gregory Nazianzen [329-390 AD]. This doctrine of Mary's DC Metro Catholic News Immaculate Conception appears only later among Latin (and particularly Frankish) theologians, but it is claimed that the Fall Theology on Tap: Finding Inner Peace Among the Chaos - doctrine is implicitly contained in the teaching of the Fathers. December 6 @ 6 pm 8 pm - Their expressions on the subject of the sinlessness of Mary are, it Speaker: Jim McNulty, Owner, Executive Writer Producer/ is pointed out, so ample and so absolute that they must be taken Creative Director of Wurdsmith Creative and Founder of The Upper to include original sin as well as actual. Thus in the first five Room peer support group for survivors of trauma - centuries such epithets as “in every respect holy,” “in all things Join other young adults (ages 21 39) at Buffalo Billiards in Dupont unstained,” “super-innocent,” and “singularly holy” are applied to Circle for our 4 week happy hour and speaker series on “Beyond her; she is compared to Eve before the fall, as ancestress of a Politics: Working through Conflict to Build a Peaceful World,” - redeemed people; she is “the Tuesday evenings Nov. 15 Dec. 6. This fall we have encountered earth before it was accursed.” daily examples of conflict in politics, violence on our streets and The well-known words of St. across borders, and in our own lives. How do we make a change Augustine (d. 430) may be to build peace in our world, communities, and in our hearts? Hear cited: “As regards the mother from our speaker lineup featuring a priest, professor,

of God," he says, "I will not communications director, and hostage survivor. - allow any question whatever All young adults (21 late 30s) are invited for Happy Hour specials - - of sin.” from 6 7pm with a talk and Q/A to follow from 7 8pm. Must have valid 21+ ID to enter In the end, Pope Pius IX

defined the dogma of the Marian Tour in Honor of the Immaculate Conception – Immaculate Conception “not December 8, 2016 @ 1 pm 2 pm at the Franciscan Monastery of

so much because of proofs in the Holy Land [1400 Quincy St NE] COST: Free Scripture or ancient This tour focuses on the seven joys of the Blessed Mother, visiting tradition, but due to a the replicas in the Church and the Gardens associated with these profound sensus fidelium joys. It also includes the Marian Chapel and Marian artwork and

and the Magisterium.” images in the Monastery Church. The 45 minute tour ends with a visit to the replica of Lourdes in A feast of the Conception of the lower garden. It our hope that meditating on these spiritual the Most Holy and All Pure joys will ease your burdens and lighten your heart. Mother of God was The seven joys of the Blessed Mother are the basis for a version of celebrated in Syria on 8 a called the Franciscan Crown, a rosary of seven decades in December perhaps as early as honor of Our Lady’s seven joys. the 5th century. By 750, the The seven joys are: the Annunciation, the Visitation, the Nativity, feast of her conception was the Adoration of the Magi, the Finding of Jesus in the Temple, the widely celebrated in the Appearance of the Risen Christ to the Blessed Mother, and the Byzantine East, under the Assumption and Coronation of the Blessed Mother. name of the Conception (active) of Saint Anne. In the West it was known as the feast of the Conception (passive) of Mary, and was God’s Servant First associated particularly with the Normans, whether these The Life and Legacy of Thomas More introduced it directly from the East or took it from English usage. Over 60 relics and artifacts bring to life the courageous witness of In 1476, Pope Sixtus IV authorized those dioceses that wished to a great man in a special exhibit, God’s Servant First: The Life and introduce the feast to do so, and introduced it to his own diocese Legacy of Thomas More. This original exhibition features of Rome in 1477. In 1708, Pope Clement XI made the feast of the treasures from the Stonyhurst College Collections in England and Conception of Mary a Holy Day of Obligation. The existence of is available to view only at the Saint John Paul II National Shrine. this feast since the early centuries of the Church is a strong Some of the featured items include a hat used by St. Thomas indication of the Church's traditional belief in the Immaculate More; a religious garment embroidered by Katherine of Aragon, Conception. the first wife of King Henry VIII; the pectoral cross and saddle chalice that belonged to John Carroll, the first Catholic bishop in - OnLine Giving the United States; and first class relics of Saints Thomas More and John Fisher. St. Luke’s now provides Online Giving, a safe and convenient way The exhibit will be open daily from September 16, 2016 until to support St. Luke’s. March 31, 2017, at the Saint John Paul II National Shrine [3900 — Getting started is easy just visit our website and follow the simple Harewood Road NE, Washington DC]. instructions. StLukesOrdinariate.com/online-giving/ Bulletin Deadline Questions or concerns? Contact Susan White at All bulletin announcements and inserts must be submitted no later than 10 days before the publication date. Submissions should be made by email [email protected] for information or assistance. to [email protected].