ST. THOMAS AQUINAS CATHOLIC CHURCH 324 NE Oak Street, Camas, WA 98607 Telephone (360) 834-2126 Fax (360) 834-5106 Office@Stthomascamas.Org

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ST. THOMAS AQUINAS CATHOLIC CHURCH 324 NE Oak Street, Camas, WA 98607 Telephone (360) 834-2126 Fax (360) 834-5106 www.stthomascamas.org [email protected]

JULY 25, 2021 MASS SCHEDULE

17TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME Sunday Masses Daily Masses Saturday Vigil: 5:00pm Tuesday: 6:00pm Sunday: 8:30am & 11:00am Wed-Sat: 8:30am

SACRAMENT OF RECONCILIATION Tuesday after the 6:00pm Mass and Saturday after the 8:30am Mass or by appointment with Fr. Jim

PRIVATE PRAYER The church is open for private prayer Monday through Friday: 9:00am - 4:30pm

EUCHARISTIC ADORATION Tuesdays after 6pm Mass until 9:30pm Actively expanding hours; contact office

PARISH OFFICE HOURS Walk-ins welcome Mon-Thu: 9:00am-12:30pm, 1:00-5:00pm By telephone on Fri: 9:00am - noon Closed weekends and holidays

MISSION STATEMENT

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, to the close of the age.” Matthew 28:18-20

HIGHLIGHTS:

Help us welcome friends, family, and neighbors back to Mass! Most Covid-19 restrictions have now been removed. See inside for an updated summary of how this impacts Mass at STA

Wednesday night movies on the field began Jul 21 (thru Aug 18). Gather at 8pm, movies start at dusk, see flyer Parish listening sessions, Jul 25 (12:15pm) & Jul 27 (6:30pm). Please join us to share your ideas on how our parish can adapt, change, and grow to better live out our Catholic Faith. Mark your calendars: Summer Parish Mission Aug 7 & 8 led by Abbot Marion Nguyen, OSB

1 From the desk of Lorrie Conway PARISH OFFICE (360) 834-2126 Brothers & Sisters PASTORAL COORDINATOR ..….….……..Lorrie Conway, ext. 208

P ………………………..….Rev. Jim Mylet, MM, ext. 205 After the inferno that we experienced a couple of weeks ago, I hope you have RIEST P ASSOCIATE…………...………Ted Meany, ext. 215 all been enjoying these perfectly beautiful summer days and evenings. There ASTORAL PA LITURGY & MUSIC……..Kristin Yoshimura, ext. 212 is nothing like the nice long summer evenings that allow us to be out and FOR C ’S FAITH FORMATION...... Denice Twyman, ext. 202 about more and this year we are so happy that we can offer Summer Movies HILDREN ADMIN ASSISTANT…………..…….... Terese Dayton, ext. 203 on the Field again. A special shout-out to Denice Twyman who has been M ………………..…..……..Ryan LaFave, ext. 282 working hard to organize that for our parishes and neighborhood to enjoy and AINTENANCE SECRETARY……….………………….Audrey Hockett, ext. 0 to Ryan LaFave who has helped with set-up—it is a little drive for Star of the Sea folks, but it promises to be a fun evening with great entertainment so we OFFICE SECRETARY EMAIL: [email protected] hope you will consider joining us on Wednesday evenings. PARISH WEBSITE: www.stthomascamas.org

In addition to Movies on the Field, many of our groups are beginning to meet again and as our parish and mission are starting to come alive with activities, I would like to encourage you to attend one of the parish Listening Sessions to CALENDAR OF UPCOMING SPECIAL EVENTS help make your thoughts and dreams for our communities known. They will be

Sunday, July 25th, after the 11 a.m. Mass, or Tuesday, July 27th, after the 6 Jul 25: Parish Listening Session, 12:15pm p.m. Mass in the Hall. Jul 27: Parish Listening Session, 6:30pm

As I read this wonderful story of the multiplication of loaves and fishes, it made Jul 28: Movie on the Field, 8pm me think of my great-grandmother Mabel. Mabel was the epitome of frugality, Jul 29: Funeral Mass for Eugene Xavier perhaps borne out of having lived through the Great Depression, but whatever Aug 7&8: Parish Mission - Abbot Marion Nguyen, OSB the case may be, she definitely prescribed to the theory of waste not, want not. In fact, I am fairly certain that when she met Jesus, she commended him for saving all those pieces of fish and bread and then proceeded to give him about a hundred different ways to preserve, pickle, smoke, or if all else failed, turn them into jam! After all, you never know when the next Great Depression is going to happen, and you might need to draw on those well-preserved foods MASS INTENTIONS that you have tucked away in your pantry. Always better to be prepared. Sun Jul 25 8:30am STA Volunteers For the most part, I think Shaun and I are pretty simple people and things have never been a real high priority for us, but it is amazing how when you reach a 11:00am Pro Populo certain age, you look around and realize just how much you have Mon Jul 26 No Mass accumulated. In my life, material items feel like an oppressive weight, so we Tue Jul 27 6:00pm Emi & Harumi Yato † (twin sisters) try to adopt the less is more attitude about our lives and we are continually on a path of divesting ourselves of unnecessary accumulation. However, just like Wed Jul 28 8:30am Mabel, I cannot say that the same is true when we talk about food. I find a Thu Jul 29 8:30am Randal & Kristin Yoshimura (anniversary) good deal of comfort in having a stocked pantry. I was raised in a farming Fri Jul 30 8:30am family and we lived in a very small rural community where provisions during the winter time were limited. We were a good thirty-mile drive from the Sat Jul 31 8:30am Amor Dela Cruz (birthday) nearest substantial grocery store and often road conditions were treacherous, 5:00pm so I grew up learning that you put provisions aside to be prepared in times of Sun Aug 1 8:30am Pro Populo need. We always had a big garden and canned and froze all kinds of fruits and vegetables for the winter and the freezers were always stocked with home 11:00am Angel Torres † -grown meats and poultry. My parents made certain we were prepared in case of extended winter weather, so still to this day, I find reassurance in a well-stocked pantry. My husband still teases me mercilessly about how, as a SAVE THE DATES! young bride, our first autumn together I was feverishly stocking up on canned goods and supplies even though we were within walking distance of Fred PARISH LISTENING SESSIONS Meyer! Please join us for one or both sessions. I was giving some thought to the feelings around abundance of food and contemplating how it reflects some aspects of my spiritual life; the comfort that I feel from a well-stocked pantry appropriately reflects the comfort I feel when I Sunday, July 25th, 12:15pm Immediately have an abundance of spiritual food that I need to grow closer to Christ and following the 11am Mass how by storing it up in times of bounty I will have it when the faith roads become treacherous and difficult to navigate. Tuesday, July 27th, 6:30pmImmediately following the 6pm Mass I know there have been times in my life where the spiritual roads are treacherous to travel and I have found myself feeling lost and hungry, but when I experience those times, I try to remember how if I follow Christ and listen to his teachings - just as the thousands did in today’s gospel - He will We will gather in the Parish Hall for an feed me more than I need and when I am feeling hungry for his guidance and opportunity to share ideas on how our parish can feel alone, I need nothing more than to look in the faith-pantry of my heart to adapt, change, and grow to better live out our find what I need-HIM! Catholic Faith.

In Christ+ Please come with your ideas and thoughts. Lorrie 2 THE POPE'S PRAYER INTENTIONS for July MASSES AT ST. THOMAS

Social Friendship: A general dispensation from the Sunday Mass obligation We pray that, in social, economic and political situations of continues to remain in place due to the pandemic. conflict, we may be courageous and passionate architects of Washington State removed most of its Covid-19 restrictions on dialogue and friendship. Jun 30 and the Archdiocese has provided updated guidance. Here is a summary of how this impacts Mass at St. Thomas:

We are so grateful for those who advertise in our bulletin and make General guidance: this publication possible. Please give them your support and business!

Please stay home if you are not feeling well. This week we want to highlight:

Please wash your hands frequently. Gunderson Tire Please respect the section designated for those who wish to remain socially distanced (in the middle of the right side). Thank you for helping support our parish communications! Please know that masks are optional but the CDC recommends masks for people who are not vaccinated. FIRST SATURDAY ROSARY Mass Come join Circle of Love prayer group on August 7th right after The 8:30am Sunday Mass will continue to be live streamed for Mass on Mary's side, for the joyful mysteries of the Holy Rosary those who cannot be with us in person (visit the parish being offered for the St. Thomas Aquinas families and for our Facebook page (an account is not required; recordings sister parish in Uganda. All are welcome. available on our Vimeo channel). Continue to fill in all available pews from the front of the church If you would like to have breakfast together after this at Smittys, so later arrivals do not have to hunt for a space. please call Claudia Heacock at 360-834-2848 by Friday, so she Communion: can reserve a seat for you. Come forward in two simultaneous lines from each side Receive the Eucharist on the hand or on the tongue Precious Blood will not yet be distributed Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion will be assisting AQUINAS GUILD—NO RUMMAGE SALE 2021 Collection will be taken during Mass. Pending guidance from the Archdiocese regarding large Several practices are expected to be restored later this gatherings and erring on the side of caution, the Aquinas Guild summer, including: holy water, congregational singing, has sadly decided to cancel the 2021 Rummage Sale. If you physical exchange of a sign of peace, offertory procession, have gathered items for our sale, we thank you. If you cannot and use of the cry room. More to follow as updates become hold your donations until 2022, you might consider the following available. organizations for your donations: Salvation Army or Goodwill. Please help us spread the word!

RCIA @ STA

Please pray for the three Inquirers in our parish RCIA program: Marinna, Leticia, and Heather. May the Lord continue to draw them to himself and may they know the consolation and guidance of the Holy Spirit in their lives. May we be motivated by their active desire to know, love and serve the Lord and to grow each day in the habit of prayer. Who could you invite to join this group? We’d love to answer your questions about the Faith and the Catholic Church as we build intimate and lasing relationships with Jesus. RCIA is the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults; it is a fourstage process for helping inquirers learn more During this Holy Year of St. Joseph: about the Church and prepare for the Easter Ite ad Joseph! Sacraments. Contact the parish office for more info.

3 4 5 Abbot Marian to Preach Mission, August 7 & 8 On the weekend of August 7 & 8, 2021 our parish will host Abbot Marian for the Alliance for International Monasticism (AIM USA). Once a year, as part of the Missionary Cooperative Plan throughout the United States, each parish in the diocese welcomes a member or an associate of a religious community involved in missionary work. Abbot Marion QuiThac Nguyen from Saint Martin’s Abbey in Lacey, WA is this year’s representative who will share with you some of the work of AIM USA. AIM USA has formed an alliance between 140 US and Canadian monasteries with over 400 Benedictine and Cistercian monasteries in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and Latin America. These Benedictine and Cistercian women and men form centers of prayer, education, health and agriculture in some of the poorest regions of the world. Please respond to this appeal with openness and generosity.

6 Invest just five minutes a day, and your faith first American martyr, pray that you, too, might be a sign of Christ’s love will deepen and growNa day at a time. to the people close to you, even when it comes at a cost.

TODAY'S READINGS: Exodus 34:29-35; Matthew 13:44-46 (403). “When he finds a pearl of great price, he goes and sells all that he Sunday, Jul 25, 2021 has and buys it.” SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Celebrate mom-and-pop operations Thursday, Jul 29, 2021 However few dollars there are, parents make them MEMORIAL OF MARTHA stretch until payday. However uncertain the way Lesson learned ahead, they shoulder the decision-making for their brood. However Any memorial honoring Saint Martha includes a well-deserved nod to dark the night and scary the storm, parents hug their little ones through those who quietly serve. But Martha's role in salvation history goes well it. Today our nation celebrates Parents' Day, honoring the grownups beyond her hospitality to Jesus and lies in the example of her maturing who make children's lives safer, happier, and healthier. While they may faith. When Jesus admonished her about her anxiety, Martha listened. not multiply loaves and fishes quite like Jesus, parents do perform She grew in wisdom and understanding, so much so that when her minor miracles of sufficiency every day across this country. They take brother Lazarus dies, she runs to meet Jesus and declares: “Lord, if you imperfect human love and weave a blanket of protection and possibility had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know for their tribe. Support your local parents! that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.” Martha provides an TODAY'S READINGS: 2 Kings 4:42-44; Ephesians 4:1-6; John inspiration to all of us to persevere in knowing God, loving Christ, and 6:1-15 (110). "Gather the fragments left over, so that nothing will serving others. be wasted." TODAY'S READINGS: Exodus 40:16-21, 34-38 (404); John 11:19-

27 or Luke 10:38-42 (607). “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and Monday, Jul 26, 2021 worried about many things. There is need of only one thing.” MEMORIAL OF JOACHIM AND ANNE,

PARENTS OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY Friday, Jul 30, 2021 Family ties Open the door to your own ministry Jesus’ ancestry through Joseph is extensively traced in two of the Do you ever think about your daily activities as a ministry? No activity is gospels, but there’s nothing there about his maternal line. The names outside the realm of a possible ministry. Take Blessed Solanus Casey, of his grandparents—Mary’s parents—aren’t mentioned in scripture, for example. One of Solanus’ jobs was as a porter, that is, a door keeper. but tradition has dubbed them Joachim and Anne. Whatever their Open/shut case, right? Not at all! Solanus understood his simple job as names were, they had to have been remarkable people to have raised being a true ministry, service of God through service of others. He did not the mother of God. The courage and faith they passed on to Mary is a merely answer the door; he opened his heart to everyone who entered. precious gift all parents can pass to their children. Treasure your own In doing so, Solanus was able to reflect God’s love and healing to others intergenerational bonds. in a way that truly made a difference. How do you open your heart to TODAY'S READINGS: Exodus 32:15-24, 30-34; Matthew 13:31- others during your daily routine? 35 (401). “The birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches.” TODAY'S READINGS: Leviticus 23:1, 4-11, 15-16, 27, 34b-37;

Matthew 13:54-58 (405). “Is he not the carpenter’s son?” Tuesday, Jul 27, 2021

Parables for the people Saturday, Jul 31, 2021 Jesus is famous for his use of parables—short metaphorical stories MEMORIAL OF IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA, PRIEST featuring people, places, and things utterly familiar to ordinary Book your biblical excursion listeners—to get his often-countercultural point across. Typically, his Never underestimate the power of a book to change lives or history. parables are about the kingdom of God, which stands in stark contrast Ignatius of Loyola was a young Spanish soldier from a prominent military to the current world of his audience. For example, Matthew 13—which family. While recovering from a serious war injury, he came upon Vita contains more parables than any other chapter in the Bible— Christi, a spiritual biography of the life of Christ by 14th-century German contradicts conventional wisdom by pointing out how small things in Catholic monk Ludolph of Saxony. In the book he found the meditative this life—seeds and weeds, for example—are actually very big things. technique of immersing oneself in a biblical scene from the life of Jesus. The parables of Jesus still teach us. Choose one to meditate on, The book changed Ignatius’ life, and the technique became foundational rediscovering something wise to enlighten your day. to the development of Ignatian spirituality and the famed Spiritual TODAY'S READINGS: Exodus 33:7-11; 34:5b-9, 28; Matthew Exercises. Try the technique: Open a gospel, read a story, and place 13:36-43 (402). “Whoever has ears ought to hear.” yourself at the scene. Really be there. See what happens.

TODAY'S READINGS: Leviticus 25:1, 8-17; Matthew 14:1-12 (406). Wednesday, Jul 28, 2021 “This fiftieth year you shall make sacred by proclaiming liberty in the Stay the course land for all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you.” Father Stanley Rother is one step away from canonization and being named publicly as a saint of the Catholic Church. Born in Oklahoma in 1935, ordained a priest in 1963, missioned to Guatemala in 1968, ©2021 TrueQuest Communications. TakeFiveForFaith.com; Rother immersed himself among the Tz’ufujil Mayan communities. [email protected]. All rights reserved. Noncommercial reprints When civil war broke out and his name appeared on a death list, after permitted with the following credit: Reprinted with permission from briefly departing he decided to return, saying, the “shepherd cannot TakeFiveForFaith.com. Scripture citations from the New American Bible Revised Edition. For more information about TAKE FIVE and our regular run." On July 28, 1981, three men entered the rectory where he lived contributors, go to PrepareTheWord.com. Free daily email and app and killed him. Now recognized as a martyr for the faith, Rother was available online at TakeFiveForFaith.com/subscribe. beatified by the Vatican in 2016. As we await the canonization of this

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