ST. ANGELA MERICI Catholic Church Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston December 27, 2020 ~ The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph Weekday Mass Office Hours Monday: 9:00 a.m. Monday- Friday Wednesday: 9:00 a.m. 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Friday: 9:00 a.m. Rosary Office Phone: 281-778-0400 Fridays following 9:00 am Mass Fax: 281-715-5646 Weekend Mass Saturday: 5:00 p.m. Mailing address Sunday: 8:00 a.m.,10:00 a.m. 6140 Hwy. 6 PMB 99 and 12:00 p.m. Missouri City, Texas 77459 Reconciliation Monday, Wednesday and Friday www.stamericigh.com following 9 a.m. mass Email: until 11:00 am [email protected] Saturdays 4:00 p.m. ~ 4:45 p.m. Bulletin announcements must be print Adoration ready & submitted to of the Blessed Sacrament [email protected] Wednesdays 10:00 am - 11:00 am no later than noon on Friday (9 days) (following 9:00 am Mass) before the Sunday of publication. 9009 Sienna Ranch Road/Sienna Parish mission statement “St. Angela Merici Catholic Church in Missouri City, TX is a diverse community, united in the Mission of Christ through the Eucharist, proclamation of the Gospel and service to the people of God.” Directory and stewardship Pastor: Rev. John Cahoon [email protected] Parochial Vicar: Rev. Joy Thomas [email protected] Deacon: Deacon Jim Wright [email protected] Parish Administrator: Margaret Myers [email protected] Dir. of Liturgy & Music: Dir. of Family Life Ministry: Alicia Quintanilla [email protected] Dir. of Faith Formation: Faith Formation Admin: Yvonne Laschon [email protected] Dir. of Youth Ministry: Merrie Guerra [email protected] Coord. of Youth Ministry: Dorothy Godines [email protected] Director of Mother’s Day Out: Meredith Canny [email protected] Bulletin Editor: Tracy Ardoin [email protected] Recording Secretary: Mary Brown [email protected] Receptionist: Linda Cruz [email protected] Bookkeeper: Darla Goolsby [email protected] Ministry Scheduler: Colin Kiernan [email protected] Spiritual Direction: Kathleen Messina [email protected] Communications Coord.: Lisa Jones [email protected] Facilities Coordinator: Omar Mata [email protected] Parish Council Chair: Todd Coutee [email protected] Finance Council Chair: Monica Agostinelli [email protected] Stewardship Council Co-Chairs: Cory Burkhalter/Heather Reichert [email protected] Welcome Visitors! Please visit our website at: www.stamericigh.com Parish registration forms are located on our website, at the parish office, or at the Church. Our community—1815 households Parish Financial Report - December 2020 BUILT ON FAITH Growing Together As One Month to Date Offertory $14,825.78 Faith Direct Month to Date ~ CAPITAL CAMPAIGN ~ Total Contributions $14,825.78 Saint Angela Merici Catholic Church If you forgot your offertory envelope, or missed the DIOCESAN SERVICES FUND 2020 offering basket and would prefer not leaving cash without GOAL $40,000.00 your name attached...We now have offertory envelopes Pledged $35,145.00 available for your convenience at the front desk. Collected $33,167.50 Rebate to Parish Upon signing up for e-giving through Faith Direct, we will remove your name from auto- 2nd Collection—Priests Retirement Fund $574.00 matic mail outs for future offertory envelope packets unless you noti- FINANCIAL UPDATE NOT AVAILABLE fy the parish office. AT TIME OF PUBLICATION You may enroll by visiting faith.direct/TX744 PARISH AND COMMUNITY LIFE The Parish Office will be closed on: December 31st and January 1st and will re-open Monday, January 4th. The parish staff wishes the Lord’s gift o f p e a c e a n d j oy t h i s C h r i s t m a s s e a s o n ! ! Parish and community life Family Life CHRISTMAS SEASON December 27—Feast of The Holy Family “The Feast of the Holy Family is of recent origin. In 1663, Barbara d'Hillehoust founded at Montreal the Association of the Holy Family; this devotion soon spread and in 1893 Pope Leo XIII expressed his approval of a Feast under this title and himself composed part of the Office. The Feast was welcomed by succeeding Pontiffs as an efficacious means for bringing home to the Christian people the example of the Holy Family at Nazareth, and by the restoration of the true spirit of family life, stemming, in some measure, the evils of modern society. These motives led Pope Benedict XV to insert the Feast into the Universal Calendar, and from 1921 it has been fixed for this present Sun- day.” (Cf. https://www.salvemariaregina.info) January 1, 2021—Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God (Holy Day of Obligation) The Doctrine of the Church: “…, the Council of Ephesus affirmed in AD 431 that Mary was truly the Mother of God (Theotokos), because “according to the flesh” she gave birth to Jesus, Who was truly God as well as truly man from the first moment of His conception by Mary. The Council defined Mary as the Mother of God both to honor her and to safeguard the dogma that Jesus Christ is not just truly God but also truly man. The Nestorians … taught that Christ was two in one: the man Jesus and the Divine Son of God. This view was condemned at the Council of Ephesus (431 AD), which insisted that Jesus is one Person with two natures, Divine and human. The most emphatic way they could say this was to affirm that Mary was not just the mother of the man Jesus, but that she was the mother of God. This was to say that Christ was one person, not two. The word used was Theotokos (Greek for “God-bearer”). … Twenty years later, in AD 451, the Council of Chalcedon affirmed the Divine Motherhood of Mary as a Dogma, an of- ficial doctrine of the Holy Catholic Church. Since Jesus is God, and Mary is his mother, she is the Mother of God, the Mother of the Messiah and the Mother of Christ, our Divine Savior. … ” (Cf. https://www.amormeus.org) “The Gregorian and Roman calendars of the 7th century mark the Christmas octave day with a strong Marian emphasis. However, eventually in the West, the eighth day of the octave of Christmas was celebrated as the Feast of the Circumci- sion of Jesus. The push for an official feast day celebrating Mary's divine maternity started in Portugal, and in 1751 Pope Benedict XIV allowed Portugal's churches to celebrate Mary's divine maternity on the first Sunday in May. The feast was eventually extended to other countries, and by 1914 was being celebrated on October 11. The feast of Mary's divine maternity became a universal feast in 1931. However, following Vatican II, Pope Paul VI decided to change the feast of Jesus' Circumcision to the Solemnity of Mary Mother of God to reclaim the ancient Western Marian emphasis at the end of the Octave of Christmas. Celebrat- ing Mary's divine maternity during the Christmas octave makes complete sense in that the celebration is connected closely to Christ's birth. Pope Paul VI gave his reasoning for the change: In the revised arrangement of the Christmas season, we should all turn with one mind to the restored solemnity of the Mother of God. This feast was entered into the calendar in the liturgy of the city of Rome for the first day of January. The purpose of the celebration is to honor the role of Mary in the mystery of salvation and at the same time to sing the praises of the unique dignity thus coming to "the Holy Mother...through whom we have been given the gift of the Author of life." This same solemnity also offers an excellent opportunity to renew the adoration rightfully to be shown to the newborn Prince of Peace, as we once again hear the good tidings of great joy and pray to God, through the inter- cession of the Queen of Peace, for the priceless gift of peace. Because of these considerations and the fact that the oc- tave of Christmas coincides with a day of hope, New Year's Day, we have assigned to it the observance of the World Day of Peace (Paul VI, Marialis Cultus, Feb. 2, 1974, no.5).” (Cf. https://prayerist.com/motherofgod.html) PARISH AND COMMUNITY LIFE Stewardship Prayer Dear Heavenly Father, My parish is composed of people like me; I help make it what it is. It will be friendly, if I am. Its pews will be filled, if I help fill them. It will do great work, if I work. It will make generous gifts to many causes, if I am a generous giver. It will bring other people into its worship and fellowship, if I invite and bring them. It will be a parish of loyalty and love, of fearlessness and faith, and a parish with a noble spirit, if I, who make it what it is, am filled with these same things. Therefore, with Your help, O God, I shall dedicate myself to the task of being all things that I want my parish to be. Amen. Author unknown KNIGHTS of COLUMBUS Annual Dues for 2021 Dues statements have been sent out requesting payment for 2021 membership dues. Because of restriction imposed by the Corona Virus, we have added a no contact method to collect dues using our Council store website. We en- courage members to take advantage of this method. You can access this site using the QR Code shown below. The site is the same one we use for Square transactions such as bris- ket and turkey sales and is secure.