Welcome to St. George Church A Parish with Spirit and Heart!

74 Old Glenwood Rd. West Falls, NY 14170-9704 Web: www.stgeorgercchurch.org Email: [email protected] Parish Office: (716) 652-3153 Fax: (716) 687-1336 Sr. Lori High, SSMN, Parish Administrator Msgr. Jim Wall, Sacramental Minister Kathy Kita, Director of Faith Formation

Week of November 13, 2016

Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Pope Francis recently made a public appearance to mark a 500th anniversary in what has become known in history as the Protestant Reformation. While the splintering of the Catholic Church is regarded as a human flaw in the one flock of Christian believers called for by Christ, Pope Francis acknowledged that the Church is always in need of reformation. As an institution with both Divine and human components, our human ingredient can, occasionally, thwart and/or re-direct God's design. Our faith enables us to trust God's plan, which does indeed triumph in the end, despite whatever human limitations we introduce. A prized ritual of unity in our Roman Catholic experience is our celebration of the Eucharist. It is the same ritual throughout the world, marking our universality as Catholics. Some years ago, we experienced several changes to the wording in our prayers at Eucharist. While this was uncomfortable, it was done in an effort to help our English language version of the prayers to be the same as the translation of our prayers in other languages around the world. It was done to mark the universality of our Eucharistic ritual. At St. George Parish, since the time of Fr. Walt, I believe, we have added a prayer toward the end of the Eucharistic ritual. Initially, I believe, it was a prayer for vocations and then it became a prayer for our Living the Eucharist faith formation experience. As we enter our new liturgical year on the First Sunday of , we will have new Breaking Bread hymnals and we will no longer be adding an extra prayer to our weekend liturgies. The prayers of the Eucharist are to be the same everywhere in the world, and adding particular local prayers within the Eucharistic liturgy is to be avoided. This is not done to limit personal prayer and intentions. Please, continue to pray for vocations and for hearts to be open to the Spirit. We simply hope to be more closely aligned with the universal experience of the Eucharistic ritual. Sister Lori

MASS INTENTIONS FOR THE WEEK Saturday, November 12 5 pm Vincent Camuto, by the Camuto family Sunday, November 13 8:30 am Souls to be remembered from All Souls’ Day Sunday, November 13 11 am Erma Blemel, by Michael J. Blemel Monday, November 14 8 am In thankfulness for life, love and forgiveness. Tuesday, November 15 8 am Mass Honoring the Deceased members of our Rosary Altar Society (Chapel) Wednesday, November 16 8 am Communion Service & Novena Thursday, November 17 8 am Communion Service Friday, November 18 8 am Souls to be remembered from All Souls’ Day Saturday, November 19 5 pm Dennis Grabianowski, by the Family Sunday, November 20 8:30 am Souls to be remembered from All Souls’ Day Sunday, November 20 11 am Bob Tuttle, by Norm & Donna ` The next First Friday Mass is December 2nd at 8:00 am in the Chapel. Confessions: Saturdays from 4:00 - 4:30 pm

LET US PRAY FOR… Doris Ellis, Don Murray and Ann Marie Price.

Thank you for your generous response to our Thanksgiving Food Drive! Come enjoy refreshments, help assemble the food donations and decorate the Thanksgiving GIFT boxes at our Parish Faith Fest next Sunday, November 20th at 9:40 am in the parish hall. All are welcome!

CLEAN DRINKING WATER BENEFIT FOR HAITIAN FAMILIES Tickets for our annual Clean Drinking Water Cash Raffle are being sold November 12-13 weekend in the Gathering space. Tickets are $5.00 each or 3 for $10.00 with cash prizes of $500.00 (1st), $250.00 (2nd) and $100.00 (3rd). The drawing will take place in the parish hall on Saturday, December 3rd, following the 5 pm Mass, and you don’t need to be present to win! (Winners will be notified by phone.) To purchase tickets, call Donna at 713-3563. Sponsored by the WNY Haiti Connection.

UPCOMING COLLECTION FOR ST. VINCENT DE PAUL The weekend of November 19-20 is the annual collection for the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. Please be as generous as your particular situation permits. Remember our ongoing appeal to teach your children a lifelong lesson of giving to God's Poor. This is a wonderful opportunity to have them join you in helping us to help others. Your past donations to the Haiti and Bread of Life efforts are truly a blessing for our parish. See our Annual Report insert in this weekend’s bulletin. Thank you and God bless.

NEXT WEEKEND, THE ANGEL TREE WILL BE READY in the Gathering Space - just in time for you to pick an Angel for your shopping list! Your gifts make it a brighter Christmas for families at the Bread of Life Outreach Center, Gerard Place and Harvest House. Yellow angel gifts are to be unwrapped, and kindly have your gifts in by Dec. 11th.

ROSARY ALTAR SOCIETY’S MASS FOR ITS DECEASED MEMBERS will be celebrated Tuesday, November 15th at 8 am in the chapel, with a potluck breakfast to follow in the parish hall. P.S. If you haven’t already done so, please bring along your donations for the December Bake Sale cookie & soup gift jars. Thank you!

ALTAR FLOWERS THIS WEEKEND are “For our children and grandchildren”, donated by Jim & Nancy Sojka. Thank you, Jim & Nancy, for enhancing our worship with the beauty of God’s flowers!

CHRISTMAS FLOWER OFFERINGS AND INTENTIONS Kindly have your Christmas Flowers offering envelopes and intentions in to us by the end of November, and please PRINT clearly—we make every effort to avoid misspelling your loved ones’ names in the Christmas Flowers bulletin insert! If you don’t receive offering envelopes, but would like to dedicate Christmas Flowers, simply enclose your offering along with your name and the name of the intention clearly printed in a sealed envelope marked “Christmas Flowers”, and place it in the offering basket at any Mass. Thanks very much!

Join us for an ECUMENICAL THANKSGIVING SERVICE at Bread of Life Outreach Center, Tuesday, November 22nd at 7 pm. Light refreshments and fellowship to follow. All are welcome! Let us gather together to give thanks and celebrate our many blessings with our neighbors!

RHYTHM DRUM CIRCLE! Please join us on Sunday, November 13th at 7 pm in the parish hall. All ages and experience levels are welcome. Drums/rhythm instruments are provided or bring your own. Walk-ins are welcome, but please sign-up ahead of time, especially if you need to reserve a drum. For more info, call Lisa at 597-5894 or email [email protected].

EVERYONE IS WELCOME TO OUR CHRISTMAS LUNCHEON AT SALVATORE'S, Tuesday December 6th! Reserve your space now for this annual treat! We meet at Salvatore’s Italian Gardens at 11:30 am, with lunch served at noon. Entrée choices are (these were incorrect in last week’s bulletin, sorry!): Filet Mignon 7 oz, $32.00; Salmon with Dill Sauce, $19.00; or Chicken Francaise, $18.00. Your meal includes Caesar salad, twice-baked potato, chef’s vegetables, and cheesecake with raspberry sauce. Send your entrée selection, along with your check made payable to St. George to Diane Marts, 5134 Alder Ct., Hamburg, NY 14075 by November 26th.

OUR MISSION OF MERCY We ask our St. George family to be generous as possible, so we can fulfill our mission of mercy as we journey in faith together. Last week’s Sunday Offerings totaled $3,406.00. Offerings for Maintenance & Capital Improvements were $606.00, and offerings for All Saints totaled $201.00. The total received for Catholic University was $249.00. Thank you for your generosity!

We hope that all who attended our Remembrance Service last Wednesday found comfort and healing for their grief after losing a loved one. During the month of November, the REMEMBRANCE BOOK will be in the back of the church. All are welcome to write the names of your deceased loved ones in this book.

PARENTING PERSPECTIVE "The Spirit of truth will guide you to all truth." (John 16:13) We humans may be tempted to lie, or at least bend the truth, when we are afraid. Talk with your child about times when it might be hard to tell the truth. Perhaps share a time that was difficult for you.

ALTAR SERVERS ARE NEEDED!! If you’ve made your First Holy Communion and you’re interested in participating at Mass in a whole new way, become an Altar Server! We especially need servers for the Saturday Masses. Please call the office at 652-3153.

LECTORS ARE NEEDED, TOO! Reading from the Word of God is central to the Mass and effectively communicates God's grace and love to everyone in the church. Lectors are especially needed at the 11 am Mass on Sunday mornings. If you would like to be a part of this ministry, please contact Tricia at [email protected] or call the office at 652-3153.

ADVENT HOLY VESPERS AT CHRIST THE KING SEMINARY You’re invited to celebrate Advent Sunday Vespers, the Church's Solemn Evening Prayer, on Sunday, December 4th at 4 pm in St. John Vianney Chapel. A free-will offering will be received and a reception will follow the service. For more information, visit https://goo.gl/HpZRsu, call the Seminary Music Office at 652-6565, or call Gayle Mann at 805-1438. Don’t miss this very special event!

UPDATE YOUR PARISHIONER INFORMATION ONLINE Do you have a name, address, email address or phone number change we should know about? Let us know! Visit stgeorgercchurch.org/update and fill out the online form. If you’re not yet registered with our parish, please call the office at 652-3153, stop in during office hours, or email [email protected].

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