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Home , Ave Regina caelorum, Sacrament of Penance

ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST 833 Main Street Agawam, MA 01001

www.stjohnagawam.com [email protected] Office Phone: 413-786-8105 | Fax: 413-455-3100

Welcome! No matter what your present status in the , No matter what your family or marital situation, No matter what your past or present religious affiliation, No matter what your personal history, background, race or other, No matter what your own self-image or esteem, You are invited, welcomed, accepted, loved and respected here at St. John’s.

EUCHARIST: Lord’s Day : Saturday 4:00 pm, Sunday 8:00 am, 10:30 am Weekday Mass: Monday-Tuesday and Thursday-Friday at 8:00 am & Wednesday at 6:00 pm | Adoration: Wed. 12:00 - 6:00 pm

CONFESSION: Saturday 2:45 to 3:45 pm, Wednesday 4:30 to 5:30 pm, or by Appointment. : Please call the office to schedule. MARRIAGE: To be arranged at least one year in advance. Please call the parish office. : Is available in the every Saturday or see Father after Mass. If you or a loved one needs Father to come to you, please call the parish office. CONFIRMATION: Takes place in 11th Grade, please contact the Director of Religious Education to enroll in classes. If you are an adult and need to make your Confirmation, please contact the same office and ask about the RCIA program. : Are you thinking about a vocation to the priesthood or religious life? Please call Fr. Pierz at the parish office, or call the Office of Vocations at (413) 452-0811. PARISH MISSION STATEMENT: We are a community inspired by the Holy Spirit to follow the example of our Lord and Savior Christ by sharing, growing and spreading God the Father’s love through our parish ministries, and by coming together as a community in meaningful prayer and worship to celebrate that love.

Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time—September 5, 2021 23rd SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME Thoughts from from the the Rectory Rectory … …

The advent of the age of is upon us: the Dear friends of St. John the Evangelist, deaf hear, the blind see, and those bowed down are “Say to those whose hearts are frightened: Be strong, raised up. The kingdom is made manifest around the Eucharistic table, where rich and poor alike are fear not! Here is your God, he comes with vindication; invited to feast. with divine recompense he comes to save you!” These are most welcome words to hear right at the outset as we begin the Liturgy of the Word in the celebration of

PARISH OFFICE HOURS the Mass. So poignantly and providentially are do Monday-Thursday - 9:00 am - 3:00 pm they come to us this weekend. “Be strong, fear not”! Friday - Closed From the anxieties felt across our lands with Hurricane Henri in the Northeast to Hurricane Ida on Pastor: Fr. Michael Pierz the Gulf Coast; from the fires in forested mountain sje.@gmail.com lakes, to the earthquakes on sea-enclosed islands.

Parochial Vicar: Fr. John Hurley From the worries of variants and concerns about [email protected] expirations. From the tragedies of fleeing Afghans and : Deacon Dave Picard the grief of military moms, dads, and veterans alike. [email protected] From all the anxieties we have felt over the past few weeks alone, there is much to fear. Priest in Retirement: Fr. John Lis As much as there is for us to fear, there is so much to Office Manager: Andreana Perkins entrust in the power of the Lord. “Be strong, fear not! [email protected] Here is your God, he comes with vindication!” the Parish Secretary: Debbie Whitehead Prophet Isaiah is called to exclaim to the people of Reception Volunteers: Mary Talarico, God. The threat of evil appears to ensnare us, yet the Patricia Brown, Shirley Cusluski power of faith and prayer affirms to encourage us. Pastoral Ministry to Sick & Homebound: “Here is your God”. Francesca Brandt In faithful prayer and action, that is, the [email protected] capacity for us to be in communion with God, we may Director of Religious Education: Claire Riberdy learn of Him, hear His voice, and be confirmed in [email protected] peace. In the words of St. Bruno’s Order of Director of “In the Beginning” , “As the world turns, the Cross stands Pre-School Ministry: Claire Riberdy (Interim) firm” (Stat crux dum volvitur orbis). Christ, who [email protected] suffered and died for us, calls us to ever live with Him. Many challenges and changes fall upon us, even Pre-School Teachers: Isabel Dunn crash upon us. Faith and trust leads us to know not Director of Music Ministry: Isabella Manning fear, but to live in courage. [email protected] There is much for which we are called to pray. The Maintenance Supervisor: Beth Thomas Lord instructs the Prophet Isaiah to lead His people in [email protected] prayer. The Lord instructs each of us to lead His Child Advocate: Mary Beth Swindell people in prayer. In our own communion and in our Private Line: (860) 386-6009 own prayer, God gives us the words and actions to lead those whom we meet to peace, to trust, to Finance Council: courage, to hope. Do not be afraid to pray! Do not be David Ross (Chair) Dale Marie Breault afraid to trust! Do not be afraid to lead your families, Cecile Fragoso Suzanne Lamkins friends, strangers and neighbors alike to be women Ted Muszynski and men of faith, hope, and courage in love! Pastoral Council: St. John the Evangelist, pray for us! Cecile Fragoso (Acting Chair) Megan Baillargeon Fr. Pierz Luke Hollwedel Jeffrey Kraus Dorota Maliszewska Leo Marinak As we pray together for an increase of hope and trust, Jessica Pokora Jane Seaver please remember those suffering today due to natural Jane Trevethan Cara Waterman disaster, political turmoil, illness of body or soul, abuse

in all its forms, especially the most vulnerable. Please Bulletin Submissions are due 9 days to print also pray for the Church that she may always respond Email: [email protected] lovingly, faithfully, honestly, and promptly. I ask that 23rd SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME Saturday, September 4th SANCTUARY LAMP September 4-11 4:00 pm—Maria & Stanislaw Romanowski  Will Be Lit in Memory of Requested by the Family Sunday, September 5th The Souls in Purgatory Requested by 8:00 am—Marie Sibilia  Requested Husband Jerry & Family A In Christ If you would like to request the Sanctuary Candle to 10:30 am—James & Bella Manning be lit in honor of or in memory of someone, Requested by The Seaver Family please contact the parish office.

Monday, September 6th 8:00 am—Una Dobek  Requested by Her Family Please remember in your prayers: Tuesday, September 7th Please pray for the sick and dying of 8:00 am—Ed Calabrese  our parish. Remember all who are in Requested by The Muscus Family hospitals, nursing homes and homebound. Pray for the hungry, the Wednesday, September 8th—Nativity of the unemployed and under-employed. Blessed Mary Pray for an end to abortion and a true 6:00 pm—Lorraine Maniscalchi  respect for all life, from conception to Requested by Her Daughter natural death. Pray for peace. In a concrete way we pray for all those who have died Thursday, September 9th—St. Peter Claver, Priest and all the deceased members of our parish and 8:00 am—Joseph Stempel  , especially Theresa Oliver and Jacques Requested by Virginia Stempel Beaulieu. Friday, September 10th 8:00 am—Mrs. Una Dobek  grant unto them, O Lord. And let perpetual light shine upon them. Requested by The Beck Family May they rest in peace. Amen.

May their souls and the souls of all the faithful 24th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME departed, through the mercy of God, rest in Saturday, September 11th peace. Amen. 4:00 pm—Rev. Charles Edmund Hayes OP Requested by Jim and Mikie Cook If you would like to include someone who has recently passed away, please call the parish office Sunday, September 12th or email: [email protected]. 8:00 am—Marie Kelly  Requested Jim and Mikie Cook IN MY MOTHER’S ARMS  10:30 am—Edna Lavoie PRAYER LINE: —39th Anniversary If you have a serious intention Requested by Daughter Annette that you need prayers for: surgery, sufferings, medical, you remember finally the Task Force on the diocesan illness, cancer treatment, a sick Response to Allegations of Sexual Abuse on which I child, or anything like that, have been asked to serve these past few years with our please give Pat (786-3023) or completed report soon to be published. In all our Mary (786-9671) a call and you efforts as men and women of God, may we always will have countless and prayers. authentically, lovingly, and courageously face the If anyone else is interested in being a prayer tragedies that too often surround us. partner, please call Pat or Mary. O, COME LET US ADORE HIM! Feast of the Every Wednesday 12:00pm — 5:45pm Nativity of the with Confessions at 4:30-5:30pm, Blessed Virgin Mary and Holy Mass at 6:00pm

Sign up for an hour of adoration of the Blessed September 8th ! We are in need of people to cover all hours, Adoration & Mass especially 3pm-4pm. Come celebrate our For more information, please contact the parish office, Blessed Mother’s 786-8105. Your time is so appreciated! birthday! Marian Did you know? … After daily Mass each day, our wonderful community sings in veneration of Mary. Often we Immaculate, her praises we sing! Holy Mother Church celebrates songs of St. Mary, especially throughout the various liturgical seasons. To grow more familiar with the rich treasury of Christian hymnody, we will soon begin singing some of these Marian Antiphons after the 6:00 pm Wednesday Masses. Each liturgical season has its proper Marian hymn! Late Ordinary Time: CCC Part“Salve II, Chapter Regina” Two,(“Hail, Article Holy Queen4 ”) The Sacrament ofAdvent & Christmas:and Reconciliation “Alma ” VI. THE(“ SACRAMENTKindly Mother OFof the PENANCE Redeemer ”)AND RECONCILIATIONEarly Ordinary Time & Lent 1440:“Ave SinRegina is before caelorum all else” (“ Hail,an offense Queen against of Heaven God,”) a rupture of communion :with him. At the same time it damages“,communion laetare with” (“Queen the Church. of Heaven, For this Rejoice reason”) conversion entails both God’s forgiveness and reconciliationSong sheets withwill be the made Church, available which at arethe expressedchurch andentrance. accomplished In preparation, liturgically you can by learn the the sacrament tune and of Penanceview lyrics and Reconciliation.at youtube.com (search: “Salve Regina simple tone”). Want to learn more? Get a Copy You can read the remainder of section 1 by: of Byrne’s  searching “CCC 1440” online “5 Things” Book  purchasing a Catechism of the , Signed! available online, or for a $10 offering from the Bishop William Byrne Parish Office while supplies last. will celebrate the 75th Anniversary Mass of St. John the Evangelist Church, Sunday, Sept. 26th, at 10:30 followed by a picnic! Pre-purchase a copy of his famous “5 Things” book and have it signed during the picnic. Copies can be purchased at the office for $15 “” each. All proceeds will go towards Sung from Pentecost to Christ the King our Pre-School Ministry!

MINISTRY TO THE SICK & HOMEBOUND From the Desk of Francesca Brandt Pastoral Your continued generosity of free will offerings to the St. John’s Food Assistance outreach has enlightened hope in the hearts and minds of many local single mothers, especially as I help guide them in a meaningful plan to lean on Jesus and His Beloved Mother. I have had the privilege to introduce people to the , some of whom have not traditionally prayed alone, and could not recall the Hail Mary prayer. Each packet for our local friends in need contains a prayer card with a note as to why I chose that particular saint for them. As we resume activities, I thank you for your continued support for those in need in our own community. Below is information for you should you or a loved one require pastoral care. PASTORAL MINISTER CONTACT/HOURS 786-8105, x105; Monday—Thursday, 9 am—1 pm Calls received after hours and weekends will be returned the following Monday. Be sure to leave your name, phone number with area code, and a brief message. Callers with an urgent spiritual request requiring a priest may leave a message on the parish Emergency extension (786-8105, listen for prompts). Again, be sure to leave your name and phone/cell phone number including area code. HOSPITAL VISITS: HIPAA Medical Law restricts access to patient admittance information. Emergency transport of a loved one to a local area hospital do have a CATHOLIC priest in residence. Be sure to ask, upon Holy Water Available! admittance, for a Catholic priest to visit your loved one for an emergency anointing. Stop by the Sacristy after Mass with your Holy Water bottle brought from HOME VISITS: If your loved one is confined at home home and one of our Sacristans will fill due to illness and is anticipating surgery, call the parish office to request a priest visitation for anointing. Fr. Pierz it for you, or you can come to the Parish or Fr. Hurley will respond to the request. Office during the week and one of the staff members can fill your container for Holy FOLLOW-UP VISITS: Upon request by contacting Water the pastoral minister, a follow-up visit will be made to the you. Holy Water bottles are available for home post-surgery. purchase as well. HOLY COMMUNION FOR THE SICK AND HOMEBOUND: Genesis Healthcare Facilities (Heritage Hall North, South, East, West) is once again COMING UP AT ST. JOHN’S permitting visits to distribute holy communion to Daily Mass Times: 8 am (M, T, Th, F) 6 pm (W) confined Catholic residents. Contact Francesca if you are Times: Wed. 4:30 pm, Sat., 2:45 pm interested in volunteering. Tuesday, September 7th BEREAVEMENT: If you have experienced loss and 2:00 pm Loaves & Fishes (Kitchen) are in need of spiritual counseling, please call Francesca, 5:30 pm Dance Open House (PC3) 786-8105, x105. ALL CALLS ARE CONFIDENTIAL. 6:00 pm St. John’s Guild (FJR) PRAYER SHAWLS: If you need have a family 7:00 pm Spiritual Life Commission (PCO) member, friend, or know someone who could benefit Wednesday, September 8th from a bit of extra comfort, please contact Francesca who 10:00 am Knitting Club (FJR) will pass on the information to the Prayer Shawl Ministry. Saturday, September 11th Each shawl includes the name of the prayer shawl angel 8:00 am RCIA Info Session (FJR) who crafted the shawl with prayerful love. Please note, Sunday, September 12th the shawl must be picked up and delivered by the person 8:00 am Take and Eat (Kitchen, FJR) who submitted the request. 6:30 pm Scouts (PC3) ______For Inspiration: Mark 6:34-40 (Feeding of the 5,000)

2022 Mass Book & RELIGIOUS EDUCATION NEWS Sanctuary Lamp Intentions Registration is open for Fall 2021 enrollment at St. John The 2022 Mass Book & the Evangelist Church’s CCD Sanctuary Lamp Intentions Program! A parent meeting will open on Thursday, will be planned for late September 23rd, September, and classes will this year. begin early October. In order for everyone to be able to schedule Masses for their intentions and loved ones, only Download a registration from one weekend and two weekday Masses our website, can be booked for the first three weeks the Mass Book is open. www.stjohnagawam.com (click About Us, Downloadable Forms)

LABOR DAY HOLIDAY Mail in your completed form with a check to cover the Please note that the Parish registration fee, or drop off to the Parish Office. Offices will be closed on $55 per child, $100 for two or more children. Monday, September 6th, in observance of Labor Day. May God bless all of our workers. If you are interested in volunteering your time as a catechist, please reach out to: Claire Riberdy, Director of Religious Education Hot Dog Donations needed [email protected] or 413-786-8105, ext. 103 Please bring ALL-BEEF hot dog donations to the Parish Office Monday through Thursday, 9 am—3 pm. Thank you for helping feed the homeless through our “Loaves & Fishes” Ministry!

St. John’s provides a meal on the first Tuesday of every month. Please note that we cannot use pork, turkey, or meat combination (wiener) hot dogs.

Weekend of August 15th “Pray, brethren, that my sacrifice and yours may be acceptable to God, the almighty Father” Weekly: $4,086 Maintenance: $208 Fuel: $839 Loose: $339 Loan Repayment: $391 Online Giving: $1,497 Total: $7,360 “May the Lord accept the sacrifice at your hands for the praise and glory of His name, for our good and the good of all His holy Church.”

PASTORAL CONSTITUTION ON THE CHURCH IN THE MODERN WORLD GAUDIUM ET SPES PROMULGATED BY HIS HOLINESS PAUL VI ON DECEMBER 7, 1965

PART II, CHAPTER I: FOSTERING THE NOBILITY OF MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY 48. The intimate partnership of married life and love has been established by the Creator and qualified by His laws, and is rooted in the conjugal covenant of irrevocable personal consent. Hence by that human act whereby spouses mutually bestow and accept each other a relationship arises which by divine will and in the eyes of society too is a lasting one. For the good of the spouses and their off-springs as well as of society, the existence of the sacred bond no longer depends on human decisions alone. For, God Himself is the author of matrimony, endowed as it is with various benefits and purposes. All of these have a very decisive bearing on the continuation of the human race, on the personal development and eternal destiny of the individual members of a family, and on the dignity, stability, peace and prosperity of the family itself and of human society as a whole. By their very nature, the institution of matrimony itself and conjugal love are ordained for the procreation and education of children, and find in them their ultimate crown. Thus a man and a woman, who by their compact of conjugal love "are no longer two, but one flesh" (Matt. 19:ff), render mutual help and service to each other through an intimate union of their persons and of their actions. Through this union they experience the meaning of their oneness and attain to it with growing perfection day by day. As a mutual gift of two persons, this intimate union and the good of the children impose total fidelity on the spouses and argue for an unbreakable oneness between them. Christ the Lord abundantly blessed this many-faceted love, welling up as it does from the fountain of divine love and structured as it is on the model of His union with His Church. For as God of old made Himself present to His people through a covenant of love and fidelity, so now the Savior of men and the Spouse of the Church comes into the lives of married Christians through the sacrament of matrimony. He abides with them thereafter so that just as He loved the Church and handed Himself over on her behalf, the spouses may love each other with perpetual fidelity through mutual self- bestowal. Authentic married love is caught up into divine love and is governed and enriched by Christ's redeeming power and the saving activity of the Church, so that this love may lead the spouses to God with powerful effect and may aid and strengthen them in sublime office of being a father or a mother. For this reason Christian spouses have a special sacrament by which they are fortified and receive a kind of in the duties and dignity of their state. By virtue of this sacrament, as spouses fulfil their conjugal and family obligation, they are penetrated with the spirit of Christ, which suffuses their whole lives with faith, hope and charity. Thus they increasingly advance the perfection of their own personalities, as well as their mutual , and hence contribute jointly to the glory of God. As a result, with their parents leading the way by example and family prayer, children and indeed everyone gathered around the family hearth will find a readier path to human maturity, salvation and holiness. Graced with the dignity and office of fatherhood and motherhood, parents will energetically acquit themselves of a duty which devolves primarily on them, namely education and especially religious education. As living members of the family, children contribute in their own way to making their parents holy. For they will respond to the kindness of their parents with sentiments of gratitude, with love and trust. They will stand by them as children should when hardships overtake their parents and old age brings its loneliness. Widowhood, accepted bravely as a continuation of the marriage vocation, should be esteemed by all. Families too will share their spiritual riches generously with other families. Thus the Christian family, which springs from marriage as a reflection of the loving covenant uniting Christ with the Church, and as a participation in that covenant, will manifest to all men Christ's living presence in the world, and the genuine nature of the Church. This the family will do by the mutual love of the spouses, by their generous fruitfulness, their solidarity and faithfulness, and by the loving way in which all members of the family assist one another. Authentic conjugal love will be more highly prized, and wholesome public opinion created about it if Christian couples give outstanding witness to faithfulness and harmony in their love, and to their concern for educating their children also, if they do their part in bringing about the needed cultural, psychological and social renewal on behalf of marriage and the family. Especially in the heart of their own families, young people should be aptly and seasonably instructed in the dignity, duty and work of married love. Trained thus in the cultivation of chastity, they will be able at a suitable age to enter a marriage of their own after an honorable courtship. (. GAUDIUM ET SPES. Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, 7 December 1965, 48) What’s Happening around the Parish …

40 Days for Life Campaign Sept. 22-Oct. 31 Catholic Women’s Club Please consider volunteering. Resumes Monthly Meetings Your witness will make a difference. THE CATHOLIC WOMEN'S CLUB will meet Monday, The 40 Days for Life is a semi-annual, ecumenical September 13, 2021, in the parish center. Refreshments campaign focused on changing hearts and minds on will begin at 6:30, and the business meeting will follow at abortion through three components: 7:00. The evening’s program will follow which will be a Prayer and Fasting: join with parishioners for 40 days slide show, presented by club member Julie Smist, on the of fervent prayer and fasting for an end to abortion October 2019 Pilgrimage to the HOLY LAND which was led by Fr. Pierz. All Catholic Women living in Agawam/ Peaceful Vigil: stand for life through a 40-day peaceful Feeding Hills or who are members of any of the town public witness outside the local Planned Parenthood Catholic Parishes are welcome to attend this special League of Massachusetts at in Springfield evening. Members will be able to pay their annual dues at “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and this meeting. MA Covid-19 mandates will be pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land” (2 followed. For further information, please leave a message Chronicles 7:14) with the Parish Office.

What’s Happening around the Diocese and beyond…

Catholics for the Unborn Our Lady’s Prayer Vigil

PRAYER VIGIL FOR THE UNBORN takes place the second Thursday of each month. Join us Thursday, September 9, 10 AM, at St. Michael’s Cathedral, 254 State St., Springfield. Exposition, recitation of the rosary, Divine Mercy Chaplet, adoration, Benediction at 12 pm, and Mass at 12:10 pm. Please contact the Parish Office if you would like to be in touch with the pro-life coordinator.

St. Peter Claver BLUE MASS TO COMMEMORATE THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF 9-11 Feast Day: September 9th September 12, 10:00 am, St. Michael’s Cathedral Slave of Slaves Forever Please join Bishop William D. Byrne for the Annual Blue Mass to honor all first responders, firefighters, state and local police, paramedics, corrections Clearway Clinic’s ClearPast officers, federal law enforcement and those serving in the military. Post-Abortive Counseling th This year’s Mass will commemorate the 20 For almost two decades, ClearPast, a program of anniversary of the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. As Clearway Clinic, has provided free abortion healing a church community, we come together to remember support. Many team members have walked in your those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country shoes. Let us help you clear up your past to clear the and to lift up the thousands of families nationwide way for your future. who suffered unimaginable loss on that day.

Families are invited to attend and the Mass will also Contact: be televised live on “Chalice of Salvation,” on Clearway Clinic WWLP-22 News. 1259 E. Columbus A brief march and will proceed Mass. Avenue, Springfield, MA Attending officers and personnel are asked to wear 413-216-5446 dress uniforms and gather in the parking lot by 9:45 ClearwayClinic.com a.m.