Our Parish Community rejoices because we will celebrate the “Rite of Welcome” at the 9:00 a.m. Mass on Sunday, Dec. 4th for the following individuals: Bill Baggett (Catechumen) and the candidates Rebecca Baggett, and Annette Sanchez,. Please keep these participants in the RCIA program in your prayers throughout the year.
We have five candidates in the RCIA program that will need sponsors as they continue through the process. A sponsor is a mentor, who through example assists the candidate in learning more about the Roman Catholic faith. If you would like to become a sponsor for one of these candidates, please call Deacon Don at 742-0785.
The Community of Sant’t Egidio began in Rome in 1968 and is today, a movement of more than 50,000 members, dedicated to evangelization and charity, in Rome and in more than 70 countries throughout the world. They have designated Nov. 30th as the day for cities around the world to illuminate a monument or building as a protest against the death penalty. In the United States Nov, 30th could possibly be the day for the 1000th execution since the reinstatement of the death penalty in this country.
Earlier this month, the Bishops of the United States published a document entitled “A Culture of Life and the Penalty of Death”. In this document, they state: “During recent decades, we have seen that the death penalty is unnecessary and unjustified, undermining respect for human life and dignity and supporting a culture of death.” In “A Culture of Life and the Penalty of Death”, the bishops call for our nation to abandon the use of the death penalty as we move one step closer to building a culture of life.
Knowing also what St. Matthew’s Gospel says in Chapter 25—“I was in prison and you cared for me”—, St. Mary’s Intercessory Prayer Group will conduct a Holy Hour on Tuesday, Nov. 29th, from 6:00-7:00 pm to pray for the success of this initiative for the sanctity of all life. Before the Blessed Sacrament, exposed on the altar, we will pray the Rosary and end with Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament.