December 18 Weekly News
Wreaths Across America, Saturday, December 19 at 1:00pm. Please join the Knights of Columbus
Council #10100, in St. Mary's cemetery for the ceremony.
Holiday Food Projects 2020. Thanks to everyone who made donations to our Thanksgiving and Christmas Food projects. Your generosity enabled us to serve our local families and to restock St. Mary's Pantry. A special thanks to the volunteers who helped move the groceries over to the Mason-Dixon Community Services office in Delta on December 15th.
Our families and the MDCS staff are extremely grateful for the support from St. Mary's.
St. Mary's Food Pantry is open Saturday, December 19 from 10:00 - 11:30 AM.
Keep Christ in Christmas Posters - Due Sunday.
Christmas Decorating Sunday after 11:30 Mass. We need help decorating the church and the hall after the 11:30 Mass next Sunday, December 20.
New Year's Resolutions. St. Mary's offers many opportunities to grow spiritually through prayer and service. Read the article below for ideas of how to include your spiritual growth and service to others in your New Year's resolutions.
The 2021 Our Prayer Book, usually displayed near the altar, is not accessible for parishioners to enter their own prayer intentions. St. Mary's Care Ministry would be pleased to add names and dates as you would like them to appear. Please send names and dates to peane13@verison.net.
Around the Parish is a special section of news from Father Kunkel, staff, and the Parish Council. Check it out below.
Christmas and Year End Giving: Year end gifts for the year 2020 must be in the office by December 18, 2020 to be recorded as a gift for this calendar year. Again, thank you for all you do for St. Mary's.
Christmas Eve
December 24, 2020
4:00 PM Church and Hall
4:00 PM Church and Hall
6:00 PM Church and Hall
8:00 PM Church and Hall
Christmas Day
8:00 PM Church and Hall
Christmas Day
December 25, 2020
10:00 AM Church and Hall
10:00 AM Church and Hall
Livestream Masses
Christmas Eve
4:00 PM & 6:00 PM
10:00 AM.
Weather permitting, communion will be distributed outside the church at the 4:00 p.m. Mass on Christmas Eve.
Editor's Note. The newsletter will be published on Wednesday for the next two weeks. Deadline for submissions will be Tuesday, December 22 and 29.
Around the Parish
Activity on Campus!
We want to let you know of the current projects going on at the parish. In the parish center new LED lights are being installed. American Energy Corporation and Delmarva offered the church an incentive to replace the lights and we could not pass it up. The total cost of the project is $37,051.00 with an incentive of $32,130.00. Our cost is $4,921.00. This will also save on energy.
We want to let you know of the current projects going on at the parish. In the parish center new LED lights are being installed. American Energy Corporation and Delmarva offered the church an incentive to replace the lights and we could not pass it up. The total cost of the project is $37,051.00 with an incentive of $32,130.00. Our cost is $4,921.00. This will also save on energy.
All the surfaces of our facility (rectory, church and parish center) have been disinfected with an EPA-approved disinfectant for SAR-CoV-2 (AKA COVID-19). In addition to being sanitized, all of our surfaces have had Vytis Shield Surface Barrier Coatings applied to them. Vytis Shield Surface Barrier Coatings have been hospital proven to reduce microbes on surfaces by 99.13% throughout the year and in between cleaning. All we will have to do is our regular cleaning, wear our mask and respect social distancing (6 ft).
Parish Council Report
This Report comes from Jim Edwards, who serves as Council President, on behalf of the St. Mary’s Parish Council. As you may know, the Council is not a legislative body, and we do not adopt rules or policies for the Parish. Those prerogatives remain with our Pastor, Fr. Kunkel, and his staff. Nonetheless, the Council does serve as a trusted advisor to our Pastor and Staff, and we meet monthly with Fr. Kunkel and the staff to discuss matters relating to the welfare of our Parish and provide our thoughts and counsel.
The current pandemic has produced many changes for all of us, our families, and the organizations for which we work and to which we belong. This is certainly true for St. Mary’s. Like most other groups, the Council now holds its meetings by videoconference. As you might expect, in the last 10 months, we have focused almost exclusively on the Parish’s response to the pandemic. While the Liturgy Committee takes the lead as to Liturgy, we have been a sounding board and advisor as to Outdoor Mass and other liturgical functions, including the live-streaming of Mass for those who cannot attend in person, and, at our most recent meeting, how to handle the Christmas Masses given the limitations on capacity in the Church and Hall.
As to that point, we echo other Parish communications that ask our Parishioners to avoid attending the 4:00 Christmas Eve Mass, if possible, which is always the most crowded and will present our greatest challenge again this year. With plans to live-stream multiple Masses, attending via the St. Mary’s Live-Stream also offers a safe alternative this year. We also extend our deep appreciation to Eric Rhodes, who has handled the technical aspects of the St. Mary’s Live Stream at almost all Masses with great skill and in a way that is wholly selfless: thanks to Kelly and his family as well.
Finally, in the months leading up to the pandemic, the Parish Council started an initiative to encourage the formation of small faith sharing groups in the Parish. These have been invaluable to many Parishioners who have been fortunate enough to have this experience in growing closer to the Lord by sharing our faith with our Catholic Christian brothers and sisters. Faith sharing groups have also been at the center of many of our large group activities, including ChristLife, That Man is You, and Walking with Purpose. Unfortunately, just as these groups were forming and getting started, the pandemic interfered. If anything, however, the isolation that has been forced upon so many of us by the pandemic has created a greater hunger for fellowship. Indeed, in recent months, during the pandemic, a new small group has formed in the Parish and is meeting by videoconference.
To that end, if you believe that fellowship with others would be of assistance to you now and in the wake of the pandemic, please consider reaching out to fellow parishioners who might consider joining with you to form a small faith sharing group. We can provide you with both the training you would need to conduct you conferences now by video, materials that you could review and consider as the basis for discussion in your small group, and facilitator training for the individual(s) who might lead your discussion. If interested, please contact Jim Edwards at jedwards@bakerdonelson.com or 410-404-5323.
May the blessings of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you and your families in abundance this Advent and upcoming Christmas Seasons.
Peace, Jim
Community Outreach
Our Daily Bread. Our next collection of casseroles will be on January 12th.
St. Mary's Food Pantry is open on Saturday December 19 10-11:30 AM.
Thanks for contributing to St. Mary's Outreach efforts. If you have any questions, contact Bob at crhoopert@zoominternet.net
Respect Life
Spiritual Adoption of Unborn Children
December – 2nd month
Merry Christmas from St. Mary‘s Respect Life Ministry! As we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, please remember to pray for the pre-born baby you spiritually adopted in October. Your spiritually adopted child is now two months old in gestation and needs you to pray that his/her mother awaits the birth of her child with trust in God, just as Mary awaited the birth of her Son.
Second Month (size: about 2 inches)
The developing baby is now called a ‗fetus‘ which is Latin for ‗Little One‘. She is making rapid progress developing all her external and internal organs. During the second month baby teeth form; fingers and toes are developing. Ears, nose, lips, and tongue can now be clearly seen. Brain waves can be recorded. The skeleton changes from cartilage to bone. Forty
muscle sets begin their first exercises. This Little One can now suck her thumb. By 8 weeks all body systems are present.
Merry Christmas from St. Mary‘s Respect Life Ministry! As we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, please remember to pray for the pre-born baby you spiritually adopted in October. Your spiritually adopted child is now two months old in gestation and needs you to pray that his/her mother awaits the birth of her child with trust in God, just as Mary awaited the birth of her Son.
Second Month (size: about 2 inches)
The developing baby is now called a ‗fetus‘ which is Latin for ‗Little One‘. She is making rapid progress developing all her external and internal organs. During the second month baby teeth form; fingers and toes are developing. Ears, nose, lips, and tongue can now be clearly seen. Brain waves can be recorded. The skeleton changes from cartilage to bone. Forty
muscle sets begin their first exercises. This Little One can now suck her thumb. By 8 weeks all body systems are present.
“Heavenly Father, we love you very much. We beg you spare the life of the unborn baby that we have spiritually adopted who is in danger of abortion.”
2021 March For Life - Friday January 29, 2021
Together Strong: Life Unites
Preparing for Your New Year's Resolution
If you are starting to think about resolutions for 2021, St. Mary's offers numerous opportunities for prayer, service, and spiritual growth. Consider adding adding one of these to your list.
- Join the Prayer Chain and receive notices of special intentions and requests for prayer from parishioners and others. Contact Mary Washburn to be added to the email list, marywashburn123@zoominternet.net
- Participate in a small faith group. Currently these groups meet virtually. Training in leading virtual meeting is available as are materials to start discussions, Contact Jim Edwards (410-404-5323) for information on how to start or join a group. Group Leaders must be Virtus trained.
- Volunteer as an usher or lector for weekend Masses. You may notice the same faces every Saturday and Sunday greeting you and reading. We welcome new volunteers for these critical ministries. These volunteers must be Virtus trained. Contact Sharon Alasandro for more information. slalasandro@gmail.com
- Offer to cantor at Mass. We are always on the look out for new singers to offer their voices in praise of God. Adult cantors must be Virtus trained. Teens must complete Worthy of the Call. Contact Nic Zurowski for more information. nzurowski@stmstc.org
- Assist with the Food Bank. The pantry operates for two hours, one Saturday each month. Adults must be Virtus trained. Teens must complete Worthy of the Call. Contact Sue Pardo for more information. parfrm1@verizon.net
- Bake casseroles for Our Daily Bread. Watch the bulletin and the newsletter for collection dates and links to approved recipes. Contact Bob Hoopert for more information. crhoopert@zoominternet.net
- Support or volunteer for the Respect Life Committee. There are numerous ways to provide support to the efforts to respect life from conception to natural death. You can volunteer for Birthright or the Gabriel Network, write letters to elected officials advocating for the protection of human life, attend the March for Life in January, or provide financial and material support to those whose lives are threatened. Contact the parish office for more information.
News from the Archdiocese
Deaconate Information Sessions:
How is God calling you to follow?
To ensure an understanding of the commitment of formation, applications are only available to those who attend an information session, or after special consideration with a member of the formation team:
- Fr. Mike Triplett (mtriplett@archbalt.org),
- Deacon Larry Matheny (lmatheny@e-stignatius.org),
- Deacon Scott Lancaster (slancaster1@stlouisparish.org).
Information sessions
- Thursday, January 7 at 7p.m. at Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Ellicott City
- Sunday, January 10 at 3 p.m. at St. Ignatius, Ijamsville
- Wednesday, January 27 at 6p.m. at St. Bernadine, Baltimore
- Wednesday, February 10 at 7p.m. on Zoom
Please assist the formation team by registering with Kristine Arata, Kristine.Arata@archbalt.org. Registering allows us to contact you if adjustments must be made to the schedule.
Weddings and Funerals
Masses for weddings and funerals are permitted outside, or inside with limited attendance. Please check with the parish office for further guidance.
Canceled Events and Activities
The parish buildings are still closed to the public except for religious services and education. All public events and most parish activities are canceled or postponed.
Sacraments
- Contact the Parish Office to arrange for Baptisms and the Sacrament of the Sick (Anointing).
- The Sacrament of the Sick for in-patients is available through the hospital chaplains.
Volunteering for the Parish
Volunteers are the backbone of the parish and we welcome new volunteers with open arms. However, in the world today we must do everything we can to protect all people of all ages, the church and also yourself.
If you are ready and willing to give of your time and talent, to be a part of one or more of our many ministries, please contact Barbara Sadler, Extension 22 or Barbara_stmarys@yahoo.com for the information and guidance of the required Virtus training. The training will provide insight for the protection of all age groups and the responsibilities. DON’T WORRY!! It is an easy procedure.
Contact Information
Parish Office: 410 879-4015
410 838-7471
410 452-5166
www.stmaryspylesville.org
1021 St. Mary's Road
Pylesville, MD 21132
Deadline for Submissions:
Thursday 12 Noon
Send to Newsletter Editor:
Jackie Seneschal
jackieseneschal@gmail.com
