WEEKDAY MASS SCHEDULE Monday, February 9th - 9:00 a.m. Deacon Doug Oltsher - Small Faith Groups John & Lisa Vlemmix - The Family 9:35 a.m. - Rosary Tuesday, February 10th - 6:30 p.m. St. Scholastica, virgin Diana Gillam - Diane Reintjes John Van Rysywck - The Family FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME FEBRUARY 8, 2015 If you have Envelope #42 or #50 for 2015 could you please call the office as soon as possible at 519-485-1802 as we do not know who these envelopes belong too and would like to know so that we can give you a tax receipt for 2015. Thanks! 6:00 p.m. - Rosary - Sorrowful Mysteries th Wednesday, February 11 - 9:00 a.m. World Day of Prayer John Larabie - Elida Franchetto John Tops - Peter Tops 6:45 p.m. - Cenacle (Rosary & Divine Mercy) Thursday, February 12th - 6:30 p.m. Joe Palmeri - Rachel & Kim Oliver Caroline Wylie - Barb Hanlon 7:05 p.m. - Divine Mercy Friday, February 13th - 9:00 a.m. Joe Daneluzzi - Elda & Family Dec. Members of Daneluzzi & Piasentin Fulvio Fogolin - Bianca & Family 9:35 a.m. - Rosary Saturday, February 14th 10:00 a.m. - Respect for Life Prayer Hour 5:00 p.m. - Mass with Traditional Choir __________________________________ Sunday, February 15th 10:00 a.m. Mass with Traditional Choir 6:00 p.m. - Mass with Contemporary Choir Sunday Collection Loose Collection Building Fund PAR COLLECTION for the week of Feb. 1st $3,387.00 (133) $ 67.00 $ 180.00 (9) $1,855.00 (38) K. OF C. ACTIVITIES SOCIAL - will be held on Monday, Feb. 9th in Henderson Hall beginning at 7:30 p.m. FAMILY BREAKFAST - will be held on Sunday, February 15th in Henderson Hall following our 10 a.m. Mass. Everyone is welcome! Free will offerings gratefully accepted. NURSING HOME VISITS - The Knights of Colombus is responsible for the Nursing Home Visits on Sunday, February 22nd beginning at Woodingford Lodge at 1:30 p.m. Everyone is welcome! The Sacred Heart Church in Saanich, British Columbia, has initiated a Sacred Heart Hymn Composition Competition with a focus on contemporary hymns that would resonate with the youth. The competition is open to all. The first prize is $1,000, second is $500 and the third is $250, thanks to a grant from the Catholic Foundation of Vancouver Island. Entry deadline is Friday, April 24, 2015. Ee-mail: sacredheartvictoriabc@gmail.ca. for application. PLEASE PRAY FOR THE SICK - at homes and in the hospital - Fred Pember, Norma Skinner and others who are ill. May the Lord grant them strength and healing. FOR THE RESIDENTS OF THE NURSING HOMES/RETIREMENT HOMES - Pat Lunt, Trudy Jongerius, Anna Bajer, Shirley Muirhead, Isabelle Fountain, Johanna Antonissen, Pauline Ormerod, and Maggie McCabe, Catherine McElhone, Josita Hawley, Leonore Evans. REMEMBER ALSO THOSE WHO HAVE DIED Eternal rest grant unto them O Lord, and may perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in the peace of Christ. Your child’s journey in Catholic education begins here! Registration is now taking place at St. Jude’s Catholic School in Ingersoll for full-day Junior and Senior Kindergarten for children born in 2010 and 20111. Please contact the school at 519-660-2786 to arrange an appointment for a tour and registration. Required documents for registration include the following: ü Birth Certificate ü Roman Catholic Baptismal Certificate (either the child or one of the parents) ü Immunization Record ü Proof of Address (ie Driver’s License, Utility Bill) AND French Immersion is available in London (at St. John and St. Anthony) St. Thomas (St. Anne’s) and Woodstock (Holy Family - 519675-4414). Call your nearest school for details. Registration goes until February 6th. The London and District Catholic School Board - Inspired by Christ. Learning together. Serving together UPCOMING CURSILLO WEEKENDS: February 26 to March 1, 2015 (Men's Weekend) and March 5 to March 8, 2015 (Women's Weekend). Weekends are held at the Michaelite House in Melrose Ontario. Cursillo is a 'short course on Christianity'. The goal of the Cursillo Movement is to share with the community the essence of Christianity and Christian values and by doing so gradually transform the community from within. For more information contact Jeff & Wilma DeBruyn 519-485-2679. 26TH ANNUAL DINNER THEATER - Embro & Zorra Agricultural Society presents the comedy “Kitchen Witches” on th February 28 , March 1st, 5th, 6th, 7th. Tickets are $20.00 - $40.00. For tickets or more information please call Mary Ellen Garner at 519-475-4437. NET MINISTRIES DO SOMETHING AMAZING! Come out to NET's DSA Retreat at St George, London (1164 Commissioners Rd. W.) on March 13 and 14. Learn about what a year in the life of a Netter looks like, experience prayer, fellowship and discern where the Lord is calling you to Evangelize! For any questions or registration, contact Emma & John, NET Ministries Canada, at recruit@netcanada.ca or 613-841-4141. Retreat fee is $25. Bring a friend and both of you do not have to pay the $25 retreat fee. Attendance on both days is preferred but if you can't attend both days let us know. Join us Sunday February 8th 1:30pm – 4:30pm To hear more about the Pilgrimage to Walk the Camino de Santiago de Compostela With Fr. Stephen Savel Tues. July 7 – Tues. July 21, 2015 Catholic Parish of St. Mary's Upper Hall 211 Union Street (at Queen Street), Simcoe, Ontario 519-426-0887 Refreshments WHAT FUN FUNDRAISING EVENT takes place Saturday February 28, at Westminster United Church hall??? Trivia Challenge -yes!!! Bring a team of 8 for $160 or call to join a team at $20 per person. We challenge friends, family and teams from last year(s) to exercise your brain and have loads of fun! Prizes! Refreshments and finger foods included! Get your table reserved now, first 14 paid team entries accepted! USED STAMPS - The stamps we collect were delivered to Windsor in mid-January — a sizeable box had been collected. Mrs. McCarthy, secretary for the Redemptorist Mission Stamp Burse has written that in the last little while $3,000 has been raised, that she has almost $600 currently in the bank, and that the buyer is due in early February to purchase the stamps on hand, which includes our latest donations. Amazing that “waste” can be so productive and helpful for the poor. She sends her THANKS and hopes we will be able to keep up the good work. From the Pastor’s Desk, SHARING CHRIST VIDEO SERIES We will resume our video series program with a 7 week series entitled SHARING CHRIST. The first session will be on February 11th and will again begin with dinner and then a 35 minute video presentation. The event will be on all the Wednesday evenings of February, 11th, 25th, and March 4th, 11th, 18th and 25th. The last session will be on April 1st. We will not meet the third Wednesday of February as this is Ash Wednesday but will resume on the 25th of February. I am quite excited about this program as it provides the last installment of our three set video series which included the DISCOVER CHRIST series and the FOLLOWING CHRIST series which we have shared already. I would encourage as many as possible to attend as many of the sessions as possible. AUXILIARY BISHOP NAMED FOR THE DIOCESE OF LONDON On last Saturday, Pope Francis named Father Joseph Dabrowski auxiliary bishop of London. He was serving as Pastor of St. Mary’s Parish in London and was also the Superior of the Michaelite Fathers in North America. He is a native of Poland and is 50 years old. He is fluent in English, Polish and Italian. He also studied Russian, Latin and Spanish. He will be ordained a Bishop on April 14th and is well known among the priests of our diocese and we welcome him in his new role and new responsibilities in our diocese. TAX RECEIPTS FOR 2014 The tax receipts for the calendar year 2014 will be available this weekend. We would ask that you take the time to pick up your tax receipt as soon as it is convenient to do so at the parking lot entrance. I would hope that we can avoid mailing out these receipts to avoid the cost of postage. Thanks again to all of you who have contributed to the parish. We will publish an accounting of the revenues and expenses so that you are aware of the use of these funds. LENTEN DEVOTIONS The annual Ecumenical Lenten Devotions hosted by the Ingersoll Ministerial will take place in our parish Church this year. The devotions will begin at 12:10 and conclude at 12:30 every Thursday beginning on February 19th the day after Ash Wednesday and continue every Thursday until the end of Lent. The Devotions will be followed by a light lunch of soup and bread prepared by the Catholic Women’s League of our parish in the parish hall. There is a small charge for lunch. WELCOME TO ALL Established in 1838, we have strived to recognize the Presence of Jesus Christ in our midst. If you are visiting with us, please know that you are most welcome, and thank you for praying with us. If you are new to the area, we are glad that you have decided to become part of our worshiping community. If you have been searching for a spiritual home, please consider joining us Sunday after Sunday. To register, please pick up a yellow welcome brochure located in each pew and drop the completed form in the collection basket. Please introduce yourself to Father Simard, the pastor. If you have young people in your family who are high school age, we have a very active High School Youth Ministry program that meets every other Sunday night following the Sunday evening liturgy. Please call the office or check out our website for more details. Leanne, our youth ministry leader would welcome any who are interested in joining us. We hope you will find a true spiritual home here at Sacred Heart. OUR VIDEO LIBRARY Please take a look at our selection of titles and make use of this valuable resource to help in the on-going faith development which is offered in this library. This week, we would like to bring to your attention a CD entitled THE NEW CONVERSATION: CHANGING HEARTS AND MINDS ON ABORTION. Stephanie Gray is a passionate and uncompromising defender of the Catholic Faith, as well as an advocate for those who cannot speak for themselves. She frequently travels across Canada and the United States speaking on issue related to the humanity of the unborn, utilizing her unique ability to speak to people on either side of a pro-life issue. In this presentation given at a Students for Life conference, Stephanie talks about the dignity of the human person through a biblical lens as she seeks the truth regarding today's pressing Life issues. A suggestion: After you have listened to the CD it might be a good idea to give it away to someone who you believe would benefit from the knowledge and insight that you have gained by listening to the CD. Just an idea. RE-CYCLING OF ALUMINUM CANS This is an on-going project with the local Knights of Columbus in our parish. It helps to contribute to the financing of various projects in our community. You are invited to leave any aluminum cans in the black bin located next to the garage or if you have a large container of cans, you may place them next to the black bin at any time. We are grateful for your assistance with this project. We receive aluminum cans on an almost daily basis as a number of people drop them off whenever it is convenient. Thanks again for your help. OUR COFFEE SUPPLY IS ALWAYS AVAILABLE My thanks to all of you who continue to purchase the coffee from our source in Nicaragua. With every purchase of our coffee we donate a portion of the sale price to a charity to help improve the lives of those involved in harvesting and processing of our coffee. You are making a difference in the lives of the people in the valley where our coffee is grown. The coffee can be purchased at the office or if office hours are not convenient, please call ahead to make sure someone is there and we will arrange a time to be here when you are able to make it. GATHERING OF PALM BRANCHES As we anticipate the arrival of Lent which begins on February 18th we are reminded of our need for palm branches in order to make the ashes used for Ash Wednesday. There will be a container at each entrance of the Church and we encourage you to place the palm branches in these containers. Please remember that the last weekend for the collection of palm branches is February 15th as we will need time to burn the palms before February 18th. Ash Wednesday falls on the 18th which marks the beginning of Lent this year. Thank you for your help in this project. PRAYER SHAWL GROUP will meet Thursday, February 12th from 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Oxford Retirement Home. For further information contact Faye Brekelmans at 519-285-5321. WOODINGFORD LODGE is always looking for ways to entertain and engage our residents. Should you be willing to share talents, travel slides or treasures (special collections) we would appreciate hearing from you. Beyond providing a program, your presence will help our residents maintain a connection with your community at large. Please feel free to contact Jen at 519-4857053 (ext. 2309). LAY READERS /COMMENTATORS NEEDED! We are in need of Lay Readers /Commentators for Saturday evening and Sunday evening. If you would like to volunteer please call the office at 519-485-1802. It is a commitment of once every 5 weeks. Thanks! STATIONS OF THE CROSS SCHEDULE FOR LENT Fridays @ 7:00 p.m. Feb. 20th 27th Mar. 6th 13th 20th 27th Fr. Simard C.W.L. K. Of C. Small Faith Groups Seniors 55+ Traditional Choir PREPARING FOR LENT Anything worth doing is worth preparing for. Just imagine that this Lent is going to be different from every other Lent we've experienced. Imagine that there will be many graces offered me this year. Let's even imagine that God is going to help transform our lives, with greater freedom, greater joy, deeper desires for love and service. If we want it, we will choose it. Lent will be this wonderful season of grace for us if we give ourselves to it. And, we will give ourselves to it to the degree we really want it badly. So, in these days before Lent, we need to prepare our hearts. We need to prepare by realizing how much we want to grow in freedom, how much we need to lighten our spirits and experience some real joy, and how much some parts of our lives really need changing. So, preparing our hearts is a process of preparing our desires. This means practicing our sense of anticipation. If I imagine Lent as an "ordeal" or a time I dread in some way, then I've already pre-disposed myself to not get very much out of it. These days before Lent are a time to start anticipating something wonderful that is about to happen. Our Focus: On what God wants to give us.