ST. STEPHEN PROTOMARTYR PARISH May 24, 2020  The Ascension of Our Lord

If you are new to St. Stephen Protomartyr Parish or just visiting — WELCOME! Visitors, please sign the Guest Book found near the main entrance to the church. If you would like to register in the parish, please call or email the parish office. Welcome to the neighborhood and parish community!

PARISH Father Ron Hopmeir, Pastor 3949 Wilmington Avenue [email protected] St. Louis, MO 63116 314-481-1133 … 314-481-6036 fax Mrs. Mary Regan, Pastoral Associate [email protected] [email protected] www.saintstephenstl.org @sspstl Mr. Stephen E. Jones, Music Director ststephenprotomartyr.flocknote.com [email protected] youtube.com/StStephenProtomartyr Mrs. June Tessin, Office Manager / Bookkeeper [email protected] Chapel of Sts. Mary and Joseph 6304 Minnesota, St. Louis, MO 63111 Mrs. Michel Wendell, Principal @stsmaryandjosephchapel [email protected]

SCHOOL Mrs. Mary Paule, Child Safety Coordinator / Secretary 3929 Wilmington Ave., St. Louis, MO 63116 [email protected] 314-752-4700 … 314-752-5165 fax [email protected] Ms. Stephanie Oehler Wobbe, Communications Coordinator @SSPCatholicSchool [email protected] St. Stephen Protomartyr Parish www.saintstephenstl.org STEWARDSHIP: SHARING TIME, TALENT, TREASURE, and PRAYER

“I am praying for them…” (John 17:9)

Prayer is the foundation of our Faith and the foundation of Stewardship. Pray in good times and in bad. Prayer is always the first best option in any situation, not just the last resort. Pray for friends and family and for those who don’t treat you very well. Pray to give praise, to thank, and to ask God for help. Pray to see what God wants you to do with the gifts He has given you.

SUNDAY CONTRIBUTION A NOTE FROM FR. RON: PUBLIC MASSES

May 17 Contribution $ 3,763.95 After the recent release of guidelines from the Online giving contribution $ 3,117.00 Archdiocese in reference to resuming public Masses, I Total weekly contribution $ 6,880.95 met with our parish Liturgy Committee (representative lectors, cantors, ushers, and Eucharistic ministers) to R & I $ 231.00 outline a safe and prayerful way to go forward. Tuition Assistance $ 1,069.00 The Archdiocesan guidelines are understandably Catholic Communications $ 81.00 thorough and stringent. It is no small task to determine Seminary $ 25.00 how they will be specifically observed in our worship and St. Vincent de Paul, SSP $ 543.00 what (and who) will be needed to make that possible. It will take planning and understanding by all of us. Special collection in May is for Catholic Communications. Archbishop Carlson's initial letter to all clergy opened with these words: "The decision to begin holding THIS WEEK’S READINGS public Masses is at the discretion of each parish pastor." The Archbishop realizes that each parish is Monday: Acts 19:1-8; Ps 68:2-3ab, 4-5acd, 6-7ab; different and will implement a plan that works best for Jn 16:29-33 them. This process will look different parish to parish. Tuesday, St. Philip Neri: Acts 20:17-27; Ps 68:10-11, We must keep open minds and pray that the Lord will 20-21; Jn 17:1-11a guide us as a people of faith in this time of adjustment. Wednesday: Acts 20:28-38; Ps 68:29-30, 33-35a, Know that your well-being is front and center for me. 35bc-36ab; Jn 17:11b-19 We will resume our celebration of public Mass on Thursday: Acts 22:30, 23:6-11; Ps 16:1-2a & 5, 7-8, Sunday, June 7, at 9 a.m. At this time, we will plan to 9-10, 11; Jn 17:20-26 celebrate one public Mass each weekend on Sundays at Friday: Acts 25:13b-21; 103:1-2, 11-12, 19-20ab; 9 a.m. Attendance will be limited to ensure safe Jn 21:15-19 distancing, and everyone will be required to wear a mask. Saturday: Acts 28:16-20, 30-31; Ps 11:4, 5 & 7; I assure you that I, along with the Liturgy Committee, Jn 21:20-25 will do my best to adjust and improve our gatherings as Feast of Pentecost: Acts 2:1-11; Ps 104:1, 24, 29-30, needed as we embark on this new walk in faith. I will be 31, 34; 1 Cor 12:3b-7, 12-13; Jn 20:19-23 communicating more specifically as we approach June 7. Please note that dispensation from the Sunday Mass RECONCILIATION obligation has been extended until further notice. We will continue to share a recorded Mass each weekend. Father Ron is available for the sacrament of reconciliation We are looking forward to gathering again! It will be by appointment. Please call him at 314-481-1133, Option different for a while. We will be learning together how to #1. If he is unable to answer when you call, please leave worship with some new rituals, which ultimately are a message; he will get back to you as soon as possible. outward signs of our love and care for one another. Confessions are made face-to-face, keeping the recommended six feet of distance. In the interest of Peace, everyone’s health and safety, Father Ron wears a mask, and penitents are also asked to do so. May 24, 2020 The Ascension of Our Lord PARISH MISSION STATEMENT Following the example of our patron St. Stephen, we are called to be witnesses of God’s love and to be a faith-filled, reconciling parish.

OUR GRADUATES PICNIC

Our Parish Picnic, which was scheduled for June 10, has been cancelled due to the pandemic of COVID-19 and resulting restrictions on activities involving large groups of people. Cancelling the picnic means we won’t enjoy our traditional day of eating, game playing, and rides, but we Congratulations to the St. Stephen’s Class of 2020, are attempting to engage all of you in a different type of whose time together had a different ending from what picnic experience this year. they’d been anticipating for nine years. They celebrated We know many of you have experienced hardships their graduation with a car parade through the recently and we do not take those lightly, but we also neighborhood on May 20, cheered along by friends and know that so many of you continue to show your neighbors, followed by simultaneous home viewing of a generosity towards SSP and we would love to encourage few collaborative videos to remember and celebrate. that in the following ways: Best wishes in high school to our newest alumni! The Grand Raffle is ON with the help of Dan and Jenny West. Tickets are $100 each for a chance at cash prizes Brian Bessire De Smet Jesuit High School of $10,000, $3,000, and $2,000. If you have purchased a Keira Dawson Notre Dame High School ticket in the past, you will be contacted by your previous Zeke Esswein St. Louis University High School seller. If not, please contact Dan West at 314-518-7357. Gabrielle Fournelle Nerinx Hall We invite everyone to consider a donation, in any Cecilia Hickey Rosati-Kain High School amount, to compensate for the cancellation of this event Aidan Jenney Chaminade College Prep School and to attempt to reach our goal of $45,000. Please Grayeson Knapp St. Louis University High School consider the amount of money you spend on a typical Kathryn Lueke Nerinx Hall picnic day and make a donation to SSP in that amount. Christine Mattingly Please use the donation form in this bulletin or visit https://forms.gle/W1BcyKnNpryzuwWn9. Zachary Mohr Bishop DuBourg High School

Eleanor Mullgardt Nerinx Hall Matt & Ann Marie Guntli Donny Pham Gateway Academy 314-368-9704 Colby Quinn De Smet Jesuit High School [email protected] Zoe Rector Nerinx Hall Mariah Reeves Bishop DuBourg High School BLOOD DRIVE Lily Reinert The SSP Boy Scouts are hosting their semi-annual blood James Rowe Bishop DuBourg High School drive to benefit the American Red Cross. Adrian Rubio St. Mary’s High School The drive will take place Sunday, May 31, 2020, from Erica Smith Nerinx Hall 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in our Parish Center. Etalemahu Tamene Notre Dame High School Donors must make an appointment at Caitlin Thode Notre Dame High School www.redcrossblood.org or on the ARC's Blood Donor Honora Thode Notre Dame High School App. Search for sponsor code StStephenP. Due to stringent safety measures, walk-ins cannot Aaron Venneman Bishop DuBourg High School be accepted. Visit the Red Cross website for a full Luke West St. Louis University High School explanation of their safety protocol. Alexander Yezbick St. Louis University High School If you have questions or issues registering online, Evan Zarbo Lindbergh High School please call Scoutmaster Michael Lohff at 314-591-9575. St. Stephen Protomartyr Parish www.saintstephenstl.org

OUR GRADUATES FROM HIGH SCHOOL, COLLEGE, AND BEYOND

It’s graduation season! Let’s congratulate those in our community who are celebrating the completion of high school, college, advanced education, or have achieved other educational or career milestones! Thanks to all of you who shared your good news with us. Madeline Broekelmann graduates from with a master’s degree in Speech Language Pathology.

Megan Martin Jacqueline Broekelmann graduates from the University of -St. Louis with a bachelor’s degree in Science Administration with an Marketing emphasis. Michael Smith graduates from the Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California. He was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to teach English in Bulgaria. Megan Martin graduates from with a bachelor's degree in Public Health with a minor in Pre-Nursing. She played on Lindenwood's field hockey team all four years. In the fall, she will be entering the Goldfarb School of Nursing.

Ethan Joly Kate Borgmeyer graduates from , having been a member of the National Honor Society and earning high honors for eight consecutive semesters. Kate will be entering Trinity University's Environmental Studies program in the fall. Ethan Joly graduates from St. Louis University High School. He was chosen by his classmates to receive the Hinck-Hereford Award for excellence in leadership, scholarship, and athletics. He was captain of the varsity soccer team this past year. He will be entering the Accountancy Program at the -Columbia. Trey Kirgan graduates from St. Mary's High School, where he was a member of the lacrosse team. Trey will be studying cybersecurity at Maryville University in the fall. Max and Gabe Manalang graduate from St. Louis University High School. Both Max and Gabe will be studying at Boston College in the fall. Sam May graduates from high school and in June will be heading to Texas for four months of combat medic training with the Missouri National Guard. When he returns, he plans to attend community college and is considering a career in the paramedic or Max and Gabe Manalang nursing fields. Adam Meyer graduates from Bishop DuBourg High School. Adam will be studying at St. Louis Community College in the fall in the A+ Program. Max Reinert graduates from Kirkwood High School. Max plans to study Popular and Commercial Music at Loyola University New Orleans. Jenna Sciaroni graduates from Cor Jesu Academy. She will be heading to the University of Missouri-Columbia in the fall. Alex Venneman graduates from Bishop DuBourg High School. Alex will be studying at in the fall, having received a Dean's Scholarship and Catholic High School Award. Zoey Vogel graduates from Notre Dame High School summa cum laude and as the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Scholar-Athlete of the Year for Notre Dame. Zoey will be studying in 's pre-dentistry program in the fall and playing soccer Sam May for the university. May 24, 2020 The Ascension of Our Lord

A REASON FOR OUR HOPE Perhaps many of you know this feeling because of what the coronavirus quarantine orders have done. Since When I was younger, I many of us are not able to go to church, we might feel lost remember going to a or even abandoned by the Lord. All the creative friends’ house to swim in measures that priests have come up with during this their pool during the season are helpful, but it’s nothing like being able to go to summer months. All the the church, sit in the pew alongside other members of the parents were on the deck, community, and celebrate the Mass. enjoying the company, … [I]t is clear that our desire has grown and while the kids were intensified during these months that we have not been splashing around gleefully able to go to church. It’s kind a like a game of hide-and- in the pool. seek, but with one significant difference. In the game of Once in a while we hide-and-seek, or in the Marco Polo game of my would play a pool game called Marco Polo. It’s kind of like childhood, there is a fear of not being able to find the the game hide-and-seek, but in a pool. I never really liked others. This is not the case in our relationship with Jesus. playing this game, especially when I was Marco because We don’t need to always look on the outside for him, I was afraid of never being able to find anybody while because he already lives within us. Because of our blindfolded in the pool. My fear was, for the most part, Baptism and Confirmation, we are made temples of his unfounded, but nevertheless it arose time and again living presence. When we love others, especially when we would play this game. sacrificially, Jesus is with us. When we read the text of I remembered this childhood event while I was the Scriptures, Jesus is with us in his Word. When we meditating on this feast of the Ascension of the Lord. It share in healthy Christian fellowship with others, Jesus is had struck me as odd for the longest while that Jesus also there. himself would say that he was going to go away. After all, I have one more “secret” to share: If we look at the he had risen from the dead recently so it’s not like he feast of the Ascension in light of next week’s feast of couldn’t stick around for as long as he wanted. Pentecost, we see that Jesus has not really left us as all! Even while trying to meditate on the second decade Our Baptism and Confirmation ensure sacramentally that of the Glorious Mysteries of the rosary, I had a hard time Jesus and the Holy Spirit are with us always (Mt 28:20). trying to understand why this is a significant event in the St. Paul even says, “Who can separate us from the love life of Jesus. of Christ Jesus?” (Rom 8:35). And when I was on pilgrimage to the Holy Land in So, while it may seem as though Jesus is hiding from 2017, we found ourselves in a small church which has a us, he really is never far away, as we are able to open up marbleized footprint on the ground, commemorating the our hearts to his presence already living within. Maybe all last step of Jesus as he was lifted up into the sky. we need to do is close our eyes, breathe deeply, and I was still confounded. learn to recognize the Divine Presence in our hearts amid Maybe through a stroke of creative imagination, or the jungle of strong emotions, sharp thoughts, and inspiration, I decided to thumb through the pages of The inflamed passions. Song of Songs in the Bible. It’s only eight chapters long Br. John-Marmion Villa and provided for me a much-needed insight in LPI Connect! understanding this feast a little more deeply. It’s clear from a reading of the text that there is a sort of hide-and-seek game going on between the lovers. But Lord, help me to get comfortable it is also clear that the desire of the beloved increases in n the quiet, still moments. her search to find her lover, whom she thinks she has Show me the importance of stopping and removing distractions lost. And this single idea was so helpful as an interpretive to spend time in Your presence. key to help me understand the feast of the Ascension I don’t want to talk over You but because it is almost as if the Lord is playing a game of help me to discipline myself long enough hide-and-seek with us, because he knows that, in his to hear what it is temporary absence, the desire in our hearts will grow and that You have to say. intensify. Amen. St. Stephen Protomartyr Parish www.saintstephenstl.org May 24, 2020 The Ascension of Our Lord MASS INTENTIONS Mass intentions have been scheduled at all of our regular Mass times for the next several months. Parish Office 314-481-1133 Father Ron does continue to celebrate Mass privately every day. He will offer those private Masses in The office will be closed until further notice, with most staff remembrance of your already-scheduled intentions working from home most of the time. The phone lines will offer unless you let us know otherwise. If you prefer to a few options when you dial either the church or school office reschedule your Mass intentions once we are able to numbers. When you select one of the options, your call will be celebrate Mass publicly again, please call the parish office at 314-481-1133 and speak to or leave a message forwarded to the cell phone of the person assigned to that for Mary Paule (Option #4). option. Option 1: In Case of Emergency ...... Fr. Ron Hopmeir Monday, May 25 Private Mass — Mike Letz Option 2: Comms / Pastoral Care ...... Mary Regan Option 3: Finance ...... June Tessin Tuesday, May 26 Option 4: Protecting God’s Children ...... Mary Paule Private Mass — John & Cecelia Hopmeir Option 5: To leave a general parish-related voicemail message Wednesday, May 27 Private Mass — Magdalen Mike PLEASE NOTE: There is a bit of a lag between when you Thursday, May 28 select the option and the call being forwarded, so it might seem Private Mass — Martha Grega as if the call has ended. Please stay on the line, and leave a Friday, May 29 message if the person you are trying to reach is not available. Private Mass — Helen Stader

Saturday, May 30 Bulletin Article Deadline Private Mass — Roland Keeton Monday at 12:00 p.m. prior to the weekend bulletin. Sunday, May 31 Infant and Child Baptism Private Mass — Nancy Marty, Ronnie Ulrich Baptisms are celebrated at any weekend liturgy or on the last Sunday of the month following the 10:30 am. Eucharist. Parents are asked to call the parish office to PLEASE PRAY arrange a Baptism. for our sick and recovering ... Adult Initiation / Reception into the Catholic Church Any adult who would like to know more about our Catholic Suzie Beck Paul Heidbrier Lois McClellan faith, and/or who is interested in becoming a member of the Liz Bentrup Thomas Lorenz Steve Moylan Catholic Church, please call the parish office. Ann Dosenbach Joe Mahfood Grace Phillips Erin Goedeker Bob Marx Laurie Rahn Marriage Jan Haffer Evelyn Matt Virginia Zenthoefer Please contact at least six months prior to the planned date of marriage. for our homebound ... Anointing of the Sick Jack Heffernan Albertine Honious Art Petersen We have a communal celebration of this sacrament at the weekend liturgies in the fall and in the spring. for family members serving in the military ... If you would like to be anointed before entering the Derek Hirtz Ryan O’Neil Dylan Schulte hospital or if you are homebound, please call the office. Tristan Moylan Brian Schoellhorn Mitch Sollmann Parish School of Religion PSR formal classes in our Catholic Faith DEVOTIONS Children: 4 yrs. through 8th grade and high school Please contact the parish office if you would like to pray Located on the campus of St. John the Baptist Parish. privately in the church. Call the PSR Director at 314-773-3070. CHIPPEWA ANIMAL HOSPITAL Bruce H. 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