July 12, 2020 Fifteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time Kateri Tekakwitha - Lily of the Mohawks Kateri Tekakwitha, know as the Lily of the Mohawks, is the first Native American to be recognized as a saint by the Catholic Church. She was an Algonquin– Mohawk laywoman born in 1656 in the Mohawk village of Ossernenon, on the south side of the Mohawk River in present-day New York state. Tragically, at the age of four she contracted smallpox in an epidemic which took the lives of all her family members. As a youth, her face became a source of humiliation for her as she sustained extreme scars from the disease. Kateri converted to Catholicism at age nineteen, and was baptized in honor of Catherine of Siena. She was given the name Kateri at baptism which is the Mohawk form of Catherine. She pledged her life to Jesus Christ and refused to marry. Scorned by others, she left her village and moved for the remaining five years of her life to the Jesuit mission village of Kahnawake, south of Montreal on the St. Lawrence River in New France, now Canada. Tekakwitha took a vow of perpetual virginity. Upon her death at the age of 24, witnesses said that minutes later her scars vanished and her face appeared radiant and beautiful. She is the fourth Native American to be venerated in the Catholic Church and the first to be canonized. Under the pontificate of Pope John Paul II, she was beatified in 1980 and canonized by Pope Benedict XVI at Saint Peter's Basilica on October 21, 2012. Various miracles and supernatural events are attributed to her intercession. Her feast day is July 14th. She is the patroness of ecology and the environment, people in exile and Native Americans. Pictured is the striking sculpture of Kateri Tekawitha created by Mike Capser. Her statue is located in the sanctuary of our church. Nearly 1,500 people are signed up to get St. Pius X’s Flocknotes. It’s the best way to stay up-to- the-minute on parish news. To sign up text "spxblg" to 84576 to automatically receive our Flocknotes! Note that they come with an 817 area code. We send out a Flocknote via text or email approximately once per week or less. You may stop them at any time. Blood Drive July 21 Like You, Does St. Pius X Are you ready to become a Tithe? hero? Are you willing to take an hour Our fiscal year has come to a close as of or less out of your day to save a life, June 30, 2020. The Christian Service or three? St Pius X Church and the Commission of St. Pius X, guided by the Knights of Columbus are hosting a Corporal Works for Mercy, would like to parish blood drive on Tuesday, update parishioners regarding who July 21 from 2:15 to 5:30pm in the received our tithing this past year. The Fellowship Hall. They will utilize total Christian Service budget equaled masks and social distancing. Sign- $56,150 and was used for: up and make an appointment online at www.kofc9976.org. If you have Local appeals for not-for-profit agencies which help the poor and any questions, please contact Bob underserved Holbrook at Family assistance for parish & non-parish families [email protected] or call The Christmas Angels project (406) 671-5694. Please save a life! The Parish Nursing program Ministry to the sick and dying of our parish Toiletry Collection to Educational materials for grief and encouragement Benefit Two Agencies Support to Peruvian Missions operated by Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth On July 18-19, St. Pius X will be collecting hygiene items for Tumble- Counseling referral for parishioners unable to pay weed to distribute to homeless youth Our commitment to Family Promise of Yellowstone Valley on the streets or those who abruptly arrive in foster care without any A portion of the funds were used to buy backpacks and headphones at personal possessions. The toiletry a greatly reduced out-of-season price for the 2019 and 2020 Pak-A-Kid drive will be shared with St. Vincent for School Drive. DePaul as well. SVDP creates hygiene kits and distributes them to These funds also helped four non-profit agencies on a monthly basis those in need on a regular basis. who serve the poor and at-risk in our community: St. Vincent dePaul, See list below: please, only new or Montana Rescue Mission, Family Service, Inc. and Angela’s unopened items. Piazza: Women’s Drop-In Center. Travel or regular size toothpaste, lotion, shampoo, conditioner Additionally, the following non-profit agencies which also serve the poor and vulnerable in our community received a one-time donation during Deodorant, combs, brushes, this fiscal year: toothbrushes, razors, acne medi- cation Youth Dynamics, Therapeutic room/board locally Feminine hygiene products Habitat for Humanity Aloe vera Billings Senior High Holiday Gift Card Drive Sunscreen LaVie Foot powder ChildBridge, Billings office City of Billings MET Transit—bus passes for Tumbleweed youth Flag Flying High! Friendship House of Christian Service Thanks to Fr. Wayne Pittard, a Warrior Wishes of Montana flag is once again in the breeze along Veteran’s Meat Locker Broadwater Ave. This flag flew over Tumbleweed McCord Air Force Base in Tacoma, WA to honor his father, Dick Pittard, So as you can see, like you, our parish has a long history of tithing. Any on October 23, 1988. Dick was questions about our charitable disbursements for the past fiscal year honored for 28 years, 9 months, and may be directed to parishioner Erin Buyske or Shelly Greenfield (parish 14 days of military service. office). Thank you, St. Pius X parishioners, for your generosity to the Fr. Wayne says his dad visited weekly collection which makes all this financial support possible! him at every parish he resided except St. Pius X as Dick died before he Your Christian Service Commission members are: Christy Rider, Kay could visit here. It’s a close connec- Kappel, Richard King, Shelly Greenfield, Nancy Rigg, Doug Dierenfield, tion for Fr. Wayne to see this particu- Gail Kleman, Walt Niemi, Steve Lattimer, Don James, Cherry Baum- lar flag aloft. Thanks, Fr. Wayne for gardner, Venieta Cox, Mike Paquette and Erin Buyske (Chair). We your poignant donation! thank them for their service to our parish community! Everyday Stewardship: Why Do Catholics Recognize God in your Baptize Babies? Ordinary Moments Answer: For adults who want to be baptized, the celebration only takes Focus on the Good place after a long, guided, and When I was a child, my mother had a set of sculp- thoughtful process through the Rite tures resembling three human heads. One head had of Christian Initiation of Adults. This is also true for many hands over the ears, one had hands over the eyes, Protestant Christians, who are baptized later in life, often and one had hands over the mouth. Of course, they after a personal, transforming religious experience. So, it depicted the phrase, “Hear no evil; see no evil; speak seems fair to ask why our Catholic tradition includes infant no evil.” I have seen these images repeated many baptism. After all, if we make adults who want to become times since then, usually as the monkey heads from a Catholic wait months and even years as they grow in their Japanese proverb, which would have probably seemed understanding of Christ and his teachings, why should a little less creepy to me when I was a small child. babies — who “do nothing” — be baptized? Apparently, there is no consensus about the full mean- ing or certain origin of these three images nor the Our custom of infant baptism dates back to the earliest days phrase. At the very least, it causes us to reflect on the of the Church, when St. Paul baptized entire households, need to avoid evil and look for the good in things. including, we presume, children (see Acts 16:15, 33; 18:8). As I have lived my life, I have come to believe That had become common practice by the second century. there are more people who live their lives in a contrary When Christianity was legalized 200 years later, infant manner to these images. It is not that they seek evil, baptism became the normal practice throughout the but it is as if they “see no good, hear no good, and Church. speak no good.” Gossiping is the way they pass the time, and they always seem to find the negative in We recognize that in Baptism, we are given the grace to people and situations. Being a good steward certainly overcome original sin — the human tendency to choose means that we do not seek evil, but more than that, it ourselves and our own wills over God — and to become means that we see the abundance of good things all members of the Church. This is the gift we give to infants in around us. These gifts of God are big and little, Baptism. profound and ordinary. By seeing the world in this way, we begin to change our personalities and our In its essence, the baptism of infants also reminds us adult overall disposition. We always need to follow a new Christians that the gift of salvation and membership in the proverb: see all the good, hear all the good, and speak Church (i.e., the Body of Christ) is God’s initiative. It is freely offered to us, regardless of where we might be in about the good. Amen. — Tracy Earl Welliver, MTS ©LPi life’s journey.