The Battle of Lepanto Transfiguration exists to lead all those in the East Metro to Christ, the Source and Summit of our daily and eternal lives. October 7 is the Feast Day of Our Lady of the Rosary. I suspect that it is because of this commemoration that the whole month of October is dedicated to the time-tested and massively powerful prayer of the Rosary. In honor of this important feast day, I Check our website reprint here an article by Father Steve Grunow and published on the popular “Word on Fire” blog. (A full copy of the article may and myParish App for be found here: www.wordonfire.org/resources/blog/our-lady-of- the most up-to-date the-rosary-and-the-battle-of-lepanto/1220) schedule of our On October 7, 1571, a fleet of ships assembled by the combined forces of liturgies. Naples, Sardinia, Venice, the Papacy, Genoa, Savoy and the Knights Hospitallers fought an intense battle with the fleet of the Ottoman Empire. The battle took place in the Gulf of Patras located in western Greece. Though outnumbered by the Ottoman forces, the so-called “Holy League” possessed of superior firepower would win the day. This victory would 6133 15th Street North Oakdale, MN 55128 severely curtail attempts by the Ottoman Empire to control the Mediterranean, causing a seismic shift in international relations from East to Monday-Thursday: West. In some respects, and I do not want this claim to be overstated, the 8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. world that we know came into being with this victory. This event is known Friday: 8:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. to history as the “Battle of Lepanto.” Phone: 651-738-2646 After-hours Emergency: Pope Pius V, whose treasury bankrolled part of this military endeavor, 651-501-2250 ordered the churches of Rome opened for prayer day and night, [email protected] encouraging the faithful to petition the intercession of the Blessed Virgin [email protected] Mary through the recitation of the Rosary. When word reached Pope Pius of the victory of the Holy League, he added a new feast day to the Roman Liturgical Calendar- October 7th would henceforth be the feast of Office: 651-501-2220 Attendance Line: 651-501-2255 Our Lady of Victory. Pope Pius’ successor, Gregory XIII, would change the name of this day to the Feast of the Holy Rosary. [email protected] PASTOR Fr. John Paul Erickson 651-738-2646 [email protected] Baptisms are held on Sundays at noon; however, there will be no ASSOCIATE PASTOR Baptisms scheduled on the first Sunday of the month. Prior to Fr. Brian Lynch 651-738-2646 scheduling a baptism, parents must complete a baptism class. [email protected] To register for a class or schedule a baptism, please call our parish DEACON office at 651-738-2646. Deacon Dan Brewer 651-738-2646 [email protected] PARISH ADMINISTRATOR Praise God for the gift of new life in Jesus Christ given to Erin Ethier 651-501-2209 Brooklen Amy Meuwissen, daughter of Peter and Whitney. [email protected] SAFE ENVIRONMENT COORDINATOR / PARISH SECRETARY If you would like to celebrate your wedding at Transfiguration, Martha Praska 651-738-2646 [email protected] please contact the Parish Office at least nine months in advance. ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT Kathy Weed 651-738-2646 [email protected] FINANCE ASSISTANT & TADS Kim Connolly 651-501-2208 [email protected] SCHOOL PRINCIPAL Andy Jacobson 651-501-2216 [email protected] DIRECTOR OF SACRED MUSIC Mary Demko 651-501-2224 [email protected] LITURGY COORDINATOR Shantel Schallenkamp 651-501-2206 [email protected] DIRECTOR OF PARISH FORMATION Justin Kortuem 651-501-2207 [email protected] CONFIRMATION COORDINATOR Justin Shay 651-501-2219 [email protected] September 27 Fiscal YTD PARISH LIFE & YOUTH FORMATION Total Budgeted Collection $ 22,000 $ 297,000 COORDINATOR Melissa Phinney 651-501-2202 Weekend Collection 20,196 289,961 [email protected] Surplus/(Deficit) (1,804) (7,039) COMMUNICATIONS COORDINATOR % Above/(Below) Budget -2.37% Michelle Jwanouskos [email protected] Big-Ticket Capital Improvement Fund MAINTENANCE SUPERVISOR Amount Collected September 27 $ 335 Phil Stoffel 651-501-2245 [email protected] Balance in Big-Ticket Savings Account 96,395 AFTER HOURS PASTORAL Long-Term Debt for Fiscal Year ending June 30, 2021 EMERGENCY NUMBER: 651-501-2250 Amount Collected/Principal Payment $ 1,115 VICTIM/SURVIVOR SITE & HOTLINE safe-environment.archspm.org 651-291-4475 Balance on Long-Term Debt 4,237,718 Interest Paid on LT Debt Since 7/1/20 44,129 2 Monday, October 5 Our contemporary sensibilities might make us stir uncomfortably at the 8:00 a.m. – Mass association of the Mother of the Prince of Peace with the memory of 5:30-6:00 p.m. – Confessions* warfare, strife and the troubled history that preceded and followed the Tuesday, October 6 Battle of Lepanto. But the fact of the matter is that this feast was first 8:00 a.m. – Mass understood as a celebration akin to what we commemorate on the Fourth Noon-12:30 p.m. – Confessions* of July or D-Day. Pope Pius V (later Saint Pius V) interpreted the event as Noon-1:00 p.m. – Church Open for Prayer** the movement of Providence in favor of the Church and European 5:00 p.m. – Mass civilization. He had no qualms in the assertion that the triumph properly Wednesday, October 7 belonged to the Mother of God and that, in the midst of the rancor of 8:00 a.m. – Mass battle, her intercession had moved the “Holy League” to victory. Such Thursday, October 8 warlike associations with Christian Faith and culture likely cannot be 8:00 a.m. – Mass sustained today. Some find all this to be offensive to genuine Christian Noon-12:30 p.m. – Confessions* sensibilities. Noon-1:00 p.m. – Church Open for Prayer** Friday, October 9 Thus, the true history of this day has receded into the obscuring mists of 8:00 a.m. – Mass the past. In our present circumstances we celebrate the prayer of the Saturday, October 10 Rosary, not the battle of Our Lady of Victory. We recall its efficacy as a 8:00 a.m. – Mass, live-streamed only source for meditation and contemplation and encourage its practice. If (no congregation) there is reference to a battle at all, it is made to the conflicts of our interior Sunday, October 11 - 28th Sunday in Ordinary lives, particularly in our desire to pray without the burden of distractions. Time 7:30-7:55 a.m. – Confessions* And yet I find my thoughts turned towards Our Lady of Victory, of the 8:30 a.m. – Holy Mass Mother of the Messiah, who proclaimed God mighty and victorious in her 10:30 a.m. – Holy Mass Magnificat, and in these words spoke of the strength of His arm to cast 6:00 p.m. – Holy Mass down the mighty and exalt the lowly. I think of all those precursors of the Distribution of Holy Communion following Mother of God – Miriam, the prophetess, who took a timbrel in hand and 10:30 a.m. Mass. Parishioners and visitors who cannot on the shores of the Red Sea, singing songs in praise of the God of Israel’s attend Mass inside and are present to listen to Mass triumph over the army of Pharaoh; of Judith and Deborah and the fire that (on car radio, 89.1 FM, or through Facebook on your burned within their hearts for justice and the sword that they raised against smartphone) in the parking lot may receive Holy Communion in front of the school entrance; please wait the enemies of God’s people; of Rahab and the spies and the fall of for a signal from staff before you leave your vehicles. Jericho; of Esther the Queen, who risked her own life so that her people * Confessions will be offered Sundays 7:30-7:55 a.m., might be saved. The Bible is a book of battles. There is properly a peace- Mondays 5:30-6:00 p.m., and Tuesday & Thursdays making quality to our Biblical Faith, a hope for a restoration of the noon-12:30 p.m. Please ring the door buzzer to be concord that the Creator intended between himself and humanity. But admitted. there is also a properly oppositional quality to our Faith, the recognition ** On Tuesdays and Thursdays for confession and private that in knowing what we stand for, we also know what we stand against. prayer, please ring the door buzzer to be admitted. We can no more excise conflict from the Bible than we can deny its reality All times subject to change. Please check in our own history. We have been placed in the midst of a fallen world, not our parish website daily for time changes. merely to surrender to its failure to love, but to live in defiance to that which opposes God. Resist we must, but to do so, we attempt to imitate, not the fallen powers of this world, but Christ the Lord, who wrested power away from the powerful, not by force of arms, but in the strength of “The stone the builders rejected has become the his will to love us unto death. He is triumphant, but there still are battles left for him to fight in all the Lepanto’s that rage within our own troubled corner stone…” - MATTHEW 21:42 souls. In the midst of these battles I know that Christ the Lord fights for Jesus was rejected by the religious and us still, and that the Lady of Victory is at His side.