Operation Rice Bowl
As a way of helping people work their own way out of poverty, many non-governmental organizations and donors in developing countries offer small loans as start-ups for micro-finance projects. These are self-employment and household enterprises that allow an individual or small group to begin earning a livelihood. Micro-financing is beneficial for women and poor women in particular. With a little education and the loan, women are often able to begin a business that will sustain their families. They are usually very conscientious about repaying their loans.
Catholic Relief Services supports micro-financing as a way of providing the ability to work to poor people who might never otherwise be able to secure a loan.
How often do you stop by the ATM machine to make a withdrawal or make a deposit? This Week: Pay your Rice Bowl an additional ATM fee of $2.00 each time you stop at a cash machine.
Please remember to bring your Rice Bowl money for this season of Lent to the Holy Thursday Mass. Give it in the collection at Mass. In the spirit of global solidarity, Catholic Relief Services will use our money to assist the poor in countries named during this Lenten season.
Holy Thursday Adoration Schedule
The following organizations are asked to have representatives of their groups present for Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament following the Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord’s Supper:
8:00-8:30pm - Legion of Mary/ Friends of Jesus Christ
8:30-9:00pm - Secular Franciscans
9:00-9:30pm - Pastoral Council/ Parish Social Ministry
9:30-10:00pm - Filipino Catholic Club
10:00-10:30pm - Youth Group/ One ‘Ohana
10:30-11:00pm - Heritage Committee
11:00-11:30pm - Knights of Columbus
11:30-12:00am - Liturgy Committee
Operation Rice Bowl—Holy Thursday Offering
The Holy Thursday monetary offering will be for the Rice Bowl collection. The collection will be taken up during the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on April 1st at the 7pm Mass. Please place your offering in an envelope marked “Rice Bowl” and place it in the collection basket. Thank you.
Holy Land—Good Friday Offering
On Good Friday, our parish will take up the annual Good Friday Collection for the Holy Land. Your financial contribution helps to support the struggling Christian community and to protect Christianity’s holiest places. Please be generous.
Holy Week and the Paschal Triduum
Sunday, March 28th to Sunday, April 4th, 2010: “The days of Jesus’ life-giving death and glorious resurrection are approaching, the hour He triumphed over Satan’s pride, the time we celebrate the great event of our redemption” (Preface of the Lord’s Passion II, Sacramentary). Thus the Church begins the one week of the year that we formally designate as “Holy.” Simplerituals can link the domestic Church to parish Church and Church universal.
Enthrone Sunday’s palms where you pray, behind the family crucifix, even as part of front door decorations: “Christ reigns here,” they proclaim; “all are welcome!” During the first three days of Holy Week, ready Easter clothes, prepare festal foods, clean the house, beautify the yard. Late Holy Thursday afternoon, share Lent’s final meal before the Lord’s Supper Mass. Pitcher, bowl, and towel make a fitting centerpiece; perhaps conclude the meal by washing each other’s feet. On Good Friday, observe the paschal fast from food—from TV and computer, too! Then come to Holy Saturday’s Vigil with mind clear, stomach empty, and heart full of “holy anticipation” that bursts into living flame when the new fire is kindled.—Peter Scagnelli, © Copyright, J.S. Paluch Co.
Phone Book Recycling Contest
Hawaiian Telcom will hold their Phone Book Recycling Contest from May 1st through 30th. Please ask your families and friends to save those books for St. Joseph Elementary School! Once we know where the drop-off place for Kona will be, we will let everyone know. Thank you for your continued support of the only Catholic elementary school on the Big Island.
Swing for St. Michael
We will have the St. Michael’s Easter Golf Tournament on Saturday, April 10th. The tournament will start at 7:30am at the Kona Country Club (Mountain Course). The entry fee is $125 per person, which includes golf, lunch, and some prizes. The proceeds from this tournament will go towards our Building Fund. At the same time, we hope this event will foster the ohana spirit between our parishioners and the Kona community as a whole.
We are inviting all golfers of our parish as well as your golfing buddies to join the tournament. We are also seeking parishioners who can donate prizes or solicit donations from establishments for hole sponsorships and prizes. We will also need volunteers on the day of the tournament to handle registration, set-up, witnesses for possible hole-in-one plays, etc.
Entry forms and volunteer sign-up sheets will be available after all the Masses on the weekends of March 28th and April 4th. For more information, please contact any of the following: Peter Callahan-315-7609, Lito Ilagan-322-4969, Scott Unger-960-5324, Joann Ahlswede-433-8334 or Ann Marie Muramoto-896-0274.
First Holy Communion Preparation Schedule
March 24th – 6pm: First Reconciliation at St. Michael’s during the Parish Reconciliation Service (see below)
~ Please attend the One ‘Ohana Class on Sunday, April 11th as part of the preparation for First Eucharist. ~
March: No Sacramental Preparation Classes
April 4th - Easter – No class
April 18th - Mandatory Eucharist preparation: 10am
May 2nd - Mandatory Eucharist preparation: 10am
May 16th - Mandatory Eucharist preparation: 10am
June 5th - Mandatory Eucharist prep/practice: 8am
June 6th - First Holy Communion: 9am Mass
One Catholic ‘Ohana
The One Catholic ‘Ohana will be gathering on Sunday, April 11th at 12noon in St. Michael’s tent. We encourage all members of our community to join us for life-long, whole community faith formation, rooted in the traditions of the Roman Catholic faith. This month we will be focusing on God’s Creation and developing a better understanding as to how we can use what the Bible and what our Church teaches in our daily lives. Come and join our One Catholic ‘Ohana to Gather, Learn, Reflect and Serve.
Infant Baptism Session in April
The next session will be in April (none during Lent).
Baptism Session: (Mass, then Class)
Sunday, April 18th – 10:45am: arrive for the 11am Mass at St. Michael’s; please sit in the front row
Sunday, April 18th – 12:15pm: attend Baptism class in Kamiano Hall (approx. one-hour long)
Sat/Sun, April 24th or 25th: Baptism weekend
The Baptism form and a copy of your child’s Birth Certificate must have arrived in the office no later than Thursday, April 15th. If your paperwork is not in by that date, you must wait until the next session to have your child baptized.
If godparents are not parishioners, they must attend a Baptism Class at their parish, and have a letter from their priest stating they attended the class sent to the parish office, along with the Baptism form and baby’s Birth Certificate. Questions? Call Susan at the office.
Ministers Needed for Sunday 11am/4pm Masses
We have one person who answered our plea for help—thank you! However, there are still not enough people to cover the Eucharistic Ministers for the 11am or 4pm Masses, or an alternate Sacristan for the 4pm Mass. Won’t you please help? In order to give a break to those who already serve in those ministries, we would need at least three more Eucharistic Ministers to step forward, and at least one more Sacristan to give the current Sacristan a break every other week.
Please pray about this and consider offering your service to your parish. The season of Lent would be a good time to offer a few extra minutes on Sundays to help be a part of the Mass. Instructions and training will be included. Thank you for your prayerful consideration.
Essential Reduction— “All my theology is reduced to this narrow compass: Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.” —Archibald Alexander
Fr. Bill Burton – DVDs
A number of you inquired about Fr. Bill Burton’s DVDs. Father sent one set for people to see. They are $40 plus a $6 shipping charge. These 3 DVDs offer a total of 6.5 hours of introduction to the Bible. You may either visit www.biblicist.net to download the order form or pick up an order form at the Gift Shop. Don’t forget that Fr. Bill will be returning in November to prepare us for reading the Gospel of Matthew in the next Liturgical Year. Mark your calendars. Father will arrive on Nov. 18th and will be with us until Thanksgiving.
Reflecting on the Gospel
This Sunday is unusual for so many reasons: we begin the holiest of Christian weeks; we wear red vestments even before we put away for another year the red-violet ones of Lent; we fill the sparse environment of Lent with fresh greens; we have two Gospel proclamations; we carry palms in procession; we proclaim a passion account. But perhaps most unusual is that in Luke’s passion account Jesus hands Himself over, not to His executioners, but to His Father: “Father, into Your hands I commend My spirit.” This is utter confidence of an innocent man.
On five occasions in Luke’s passion account Jesus is declared innocent (three times by Pilate, once by the Good Thief, once by the centurion at the foot of the cross). Jesus died, not because of guilt, but because of His infinitely compassionate love for us. Even in the midst of great suffering, He extended His compassion to others (to the servant whose ear was cut off, to the weeping omen, to the Good Thief). His compassion was so total that He willingly emptied Himself “to the point of death” (2nd Reading). We enter into this holiest week of the year, praying that our self-emptying for the good of others could be so total! We pray that our compassion might increase and abound so that we have the same utter confidence in God’s presence and care as did Jesus.
The 1st Reading from Isaiah challenges us to allow the word to “rouse” us. The word that rouses us is no less than the power of innocence and compassion. As we’ve moved through the Lenten season we’ve been invited to lay aside more and more of our sinful ways, repent and change our lives, and so come to a new innocence before God and each other. The 2nd Reading reminds us that Jesus laid aside His divinity and even His life for our sake. Jesus lays down high standards for us!
Jesus’ innocence conditions how He approaches others with compassion. His innocence is an invitation and challenge for us to take up our own cross and participate in self-emptying dying—not just during this holiest of weeks, but during every week of our lives. The real pity of this Holy Week would be that we miss the opportunity to empty ourselves, take up our own crosses, and follow Jesus through death to new life. The real triumph of this week would be that we are roused to self-emptying, humility, obedience, mercy, and compassion that confess in our everyday lives and in all our actions that “Jesus Christ is Lord” (2nd Reading), and thereby witness to and glorify God (Passion Gospel). - Living Liturgy™ 2010, © 2009 by Order of St. Benedict, Collegeville, Minnesota. All rights reserved.
Stewardship Report: Week of March 20th-21st
|
|
# of Attendees |
Total Contributions |
|
St. Michael’s |
|
|
|
Saturday 5pm |
187 |
$1,475.00 |
|
Sunday 7am |
291 |
$2,436.00 |
|
Sunday 9am |
359 |
$3,160.00 |
|
Sunday 11am |
210 |
$1,009.00 |
|
Sunday 4pm |
98 |
$512.00 |
|
Sunday 6pm |
221 |
$530.00 |
|
Immaculate Conception |
62 |
$407.00 |
|
Holy Rosary |
54 |
$529.00 |
|
Building Fund |
|
$950.00 |
|
Totals = |
1,482 |
$11,008.00 |
