St. James Mission 10600 S. Archer Avenue | Lemont, Illinois 60439-9344 | (Ph) 630.257.7000 | (Fx) 630.257.7912 Email: [email protected] | Website: www.historicstjames.org Facebook: https://Facebook.com/Saint James At Sag Bridge Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Mass Schedule July 12, 2020 WEEKENDS: Saturdays: 9:00am. Sundays: 9:00am, & 11:00am. WEEKDAYS: Weekday Masses Monday, Tuesday & Thursday at 8:15am. Wednesday 7:00pm & Fridays 6:00pm. ADORATION: Adoration on Wednesday 5:00pm. CONFESSION SCHEDULE: Wednesday 6:15pm & Saturday 9:30-10:00am. Otherwise by appointment. BAPTISMS, WEDDINGS & FUNERALS: Contact the rectory office. SICK & HOMEBOUND PASTORAL CARE: Please notify rectory. RECTORY OFFICE HOURS: Wed, Thu & Fri: 9:00am to 2:00pm. CLERGY: Rev. Waldemar Stawiarski, Pastor Fr. Tom Koys, M.A.,S.T.L., Rector Fr. Edward Gleeson, Pastor Emeritus Deacon John Wilkinson (ReƟred) Deacon Doug Szarzynski SECRETARY: Ann Noonan KEEP THE FAITH!!! We live in a time of confusion and uncertainty. We have lost the comfort of our usual routines. We have trouble remembering what day it is. We are struggling to make sense of it all. Hopefully you can find peace and comfort in your faith. Most of us spent years learning about the power of prayer. Now is the time to rely on all the promises made by Our Blessed Virgin Mary. The Altar & Rosary Society encourages you to embrace the Rosary and believe in its power. Pres: Barbara 708.257.9129 V.P. Linda 630.257.8252 Sec: Judi 630.243.9414 Treas: Chris 708.330.5216 Page Two July 12, 2020 FROM THE DESK OF, FR. THOMAS KOYS, M.A.,S.T.L., PASTOR ANTI-CATHOLICISM SPIKES IN contended that it would be useless to do so because CALIFORNIA “those who are perpetrating looting and violence Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on would probably ignore the curfew anyway.” But in the status of Catholicism in California: early April he said it may be permissible to have the police disperse church-goers if they assembled in Anti-Catholicism is sweeping California. Attacks on prayer. Catholic statues, public complaints about Catholics attending Mass, the selective enforcement of executive Meanwhile, public officials in San Francisco are now orders on religious gatherings, and politicians seeking doing a headcount of Catholics attending Mass. The to intimidate priests and bishops, are commonplace. San Francisco city attorney, Dennis Herrera, says he has received complaints that more than 12 Catholics A mob of anti-Catholics celebrated the 4th of July by have been seen at a Mass. He sent a cease-and-desist destroying a statue of St. Junípero Serra in Sacramen- letter to the Archdiocese of San Francisco ordering it to, the state’s capitol. The statue was set on fire and to stop indoor religious services. smashed with sledgehammers. Though Serra did more to defend the rights of Indians in the 18th century Herrera did not say whether he has done a headcount against Spanish colonizers than all the protesters have of Protestants going to church, Jews going to syna- ever done for American Indians today, Serra is a de- gogues, or Muslims going to mosques. But we do mon. That is why statues of him were previously de- know that his office is fielding complaints from the stroyed in San Francisco and Los Angeles. public that one Catholic church actually held six Masses in one day! Why Herrera did not send in a What’s feeding this frenzy? Citing COVID-19 con- SWAT team remains a puzzle. cerns, restrictive measures on religious gatherings have been mandated throughout the state. The tone has We know who is contacting Herrera’s office, and we been set by politicians: There is one rule for people of know they are not public health fanatics. Moreover, faith and another for protesters. This has not been lost we wouldn’t be surprised to learn that some of them on the anti-Catholics. Protesters by the thousands, were among the 1,300 doctors and health care workers many of them violent, have been allowed to march in who signed the letter giving the protesters a pass while big cities across California—without a permit—as condemning everyone else who refused to abide by public health officials and politicians said nary a word. their highly politicized directives. According to the New York Times, 1,300 epidemiolo- gists and health workers from across the nation recent- ly signed a letter saying that those who protested stay- at-home orders were “rooted in white nationalism and run contrary to respect for Black Lives Matter.” But when it comes to the protesters, they said, “we do not condemn these gatherings as risky for Covid-19 trans- mission. We support them as vital to the national pub- lic health.” The mayor of Sacramento, Darrell Steinberg, shares the same position. He said in late May that he support- ed the Sacramento City Council’s refusal to impose a curfew after two nights of violence and looting. He Fifteenth Ordinary Sunday Page Three comed new health and safety guidance from the Irish Government for places of worship, which removed a 50- person limit on Mass attendance for churches large enough to maintain sufficient social distancing. The Archbishop had previously criticized the attendance cap, arguing that it “would mean turning many people away or having them remain outside”. Under new health and safety measures, the normal bas- ket collection during the offertory has been replaced by a permanent collection box positioned at the entrance CATHOLIC CHURCH DONATIONS IN IRELAND of each church. PLUMMET BY 80 PER CENT DURING PANDEMIC The Archdiocese of Dublin recently announced that church donations have fallen by up to 80 per cent dur- ing the coronavirus pandemic and that priests have had to agree a 25 per cent cut in their personal allowance. Between March and June of this year, the Archdio- cese’s “common fund” collection for priests was down by 70 per cent in comparison to the same period in 2019, whilst the “support for share” fund fell by 80 per cent over the same period. As reported by the Irish Times, the Dublin Archdiocese said that church closures have had “very serious conse- quences” for church revenue and that a financial re- ST. JUNÍPERO SERRA STATUE DESTROYED AT structuring strategy will be drawn up over the coming CALIFORNIA STATE CAPITOL months to address “this urgent situation”. On the evening of Independence Day, a crowd in Sacramen- This restructuring will include the new clergy income to tore down a statue of St. Junipero Serra, set fire to it, and measures as well as a voluntary redundancy scheme beat it with sledgehammers. for up to a third of the 82 diocesan support staff and The statue, on the grounds of California's state capitol, was parish pastoral workers currently working in the archdi- the third figure of the missionary saint to be torn down by ocese. crowds in California in recent weeks. Sacramento’s bishop responded by saying that Serra worked to promote the digni- “Each staff member is being offered support and advice ty of indigenous people. mechanisms to guide staff members at this time, paid for by the diocese,” the archdiocese announced. “The A large crowd gathered around the statue in Capitol Park at process is ongoing. Diocesan staff are in receipt of the around 9 p.m. on July 4, according to media reports. [Irish Government’s] Temporary Wage Subsidy One man burned the face of the Serra statue with an ignited Scheme.” spray from an aerosol can, before it was pulled from its base In a separate statement, the Irish Catholic Bishops’ using tow straps. After the statue fell, members of the crowd struck the statue with a sledgehammer and other objects, Conference said that “lay and clerical pay has been re- dancing and jumping upon it. The statue was installed on the duced across the country, with lay redundancies also in state capitol grounds in 1965. At the base of the statue is a play. This reduced pay/wages is expected to continue map of the 21 missions founded by Franciscan missionaries into 2021.” to California in the eighteenth century. Serra helped to con- Masses in Ireland resumed on June 29, over two weeks vert thousands of native Californians to Christianity and earlier than previously planned, after the Irish Govern- taught them new agricultural technologies. Serra’s defenders ment announced in early June that it would “accelerate” say the priest a was actually an advocate for native people its plans to lift church lockdown restrictions provided and a champion of human rights. They note that he often that the country’s infection rates remained low. found himself at odds with Spanish authorities over treatment of native people, and the outpouring of grief from native com- On Friday, Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin wel- munities at his death. Our weekly Offertory collection from July 5, 2020 was $3,077. Our Maintenance collection was $2,282. Online giving (Give Central) for regular and maintenance collections totaled $1,525. OUR MANY THANKS TO OUR REGISTERED FAMILIES USING ONLINE GIVING, ENVELOPES & THE CASH-AND-CARRY FOLKS. VOTIVE OFFERINGS FOR THE WEEK OF 7/12/2020 St. James Altar & Rosary Society All the Poor Souls in Purgatory All the Sick & Departed Souls from COVID-19 Health & Healing for Chelsea Stein Our beautiful bouquets of flowers surrounding our altar were made available by THE PARISHIONERS OF ST. JAMES AND IN LOVING MEMORY OF DANIEL STARHA Mass Intentions MONDAY, JULY 13TH ST. HENRY 8:15 AM In Thanksgiving to the Holy Trinity TUESDAY, JULY 14TH ST. KATERI TEKAKWITHA 8:15 AM Birthday Blessings David Henze In Thanksgiving to the Holy Trinity WEDNESDAY, JULY 15TH ST.