Embracing Inclusiveness
Advocating Mercy
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November 24, 2024
Announcements- Our normally scheduled Thursday Spanish Mass will occur on Wednesday Nov. 27th at 7PM.
- No Daily Mass on Friday, Nov. 29th.
- Our office will be closed: Thursday, November 28 & Friday, November 29.
“The parish recently had its fall clean up of the St. Paul grounds on a cool Saturday morning. Special thanks go out to the Caballeros de Colon, the
Knights of Columbus Council #762, and several parish families that provided tools, equipment, trucks, and their time. We are proud of our church, and it shows well.”- John WorkmanProperty Committee
Reminders
This is your last chance to donate to our One in Christ - 2024 Diocesan Annual Appeal! We have surpassed our percent participation goal, and we continue to work toward our monetary goal. Please help us reach our monetary goal and visit this page to donate. - Parking Reminder: Due to the generosity of LV Harkness and Greentree Antiques, Saint Paul Parishioners are now able to park in their parking lot at 531 West Short Street for Sunday Masses, provided they are not renting their parking lot for a downtown event. Click here for more details.
- Christmas Children's Choir: Interested in joining our choir? Please contact Kelly Curry at [email protected]. Our children's choir rehearsals will begin soon!
- Christmas Plant Memorials: If you would like your loved ones memorialized in our Christmas bulletin and on our parish website this Christmas, please fill out the red form found at the side entrance of the church. A ten-dollar ($10) donation for each family name you would like listed is appreciated, as you are able.
Follow our Laudato Si' Care for Creation page as we continue making updates in the coming weeks for more info on meeting our Parish Action Plan goals.
Events
Synod LogoParish Conversation in the Spirit: Wednesday, December 4 - 6PM to 8PM, Ave Maria Building- Everyone is invited to take part in our Parish Conversation in the Spirit, a fruit of the synodal process. Please join us for this opportunity to dialogue with one another as we plan our future at St. Paul.
- Bible Study will continue Tuesday, December 3rd at 6PM in Brossart House.
- We are using The Great Adventure program: "Unlocking the Mystery of the Bible" by Jeff Cavins and Sarah Christmyer published by Ascension Press.
Drives and Fundraisers
This is your last week to participate in our 3rd annual Sleeping Bag drive for the Catholic Action Center. Consider donating an adult size/0°F sleeping bag by December 1st to help keep our homeless neighbors warm and safe this winter.- Our Winter Coat Drive is ongoing! We need coats and jackets, hats, gloves, scarves, and blankets. The collection barrel is in the narthex, by the stairs to the choir loft.
- The 7th annual Steeplechase Dinner Fundraiser - a five-course dinner with a flight of wine at Tony's of Lexington - is Monday, January 20, 2025 at 5:30pm. Tickets available now.
MESSAGE OF THE WEEKDear Friends and fellow Christians,
In an election season bereft of joy, I did see one yard sign that made me laugh. The sign said "Presidents are temporary. Wu-Tang is forever." The sign is a shout out to the Wu-Tang Clan, a hip hop group that first rose to fame in the 1990's.
The sign made me laugh at first, until I looked through my old albums to see if the Wu-Tang Clan had any forever-type of wisdom buried in their music. Unfortunately, I came across the song, Cash Rules Everything Around Me, which came out in 1993. Thirty-one years later this statement still holds true, cash does rule everything around us; it's the economy, stupid.
Of course, as Christians, we do not want this to be the case. It's disturbing to us that people care more about money than they do about one another. It's disturbing that people consistently make decisions by weighing economic outcomes rather than human ones. This isn't how we think the world should be. We want God to rule everything around us, we want the Holy Spirit to inspire everything around us, we want Jesus to be the King. But Jesus is not the king out there in the world around us. Cash is the king out there in the world, cash rules everything around us.
It is okay, though. It really is. Jesus knows it is this way.
Things are the way that Jesus explains in the Gospel today: "My kingdom does not belong to this world." This is why we declare Jesus Christ to be King of the Universe, because his kingdom is not here on this earth. And once we shuffle off this earth we will be in His Kingdom, where there will be great rejoicing, great joy, great love and communion.
But until then, we live in a world ruled by cash. And our job is to tell others about Jesus and show them through our actions that there is another way, the way of Jesus. We tell them and we show them, not to change the world here, but so that they may join us in heaven where Jesus is truly King. What a day of rejoicing it will be!
Peace,
Dcn. SteveMinistries/servicesOpen Door Lunch Ministry
For the month of October, we gave out 773 lunches!
Thank you to all who have volunteered and donated
If you would like to donate, we accept lunch related items such as: water, chips, cookies, soft fruit (bananas, grapes, oranges), cupped fruits, crackers, snack bars, etc. You may bring these donations to the office between 9:00 AM —4:00 PM Monday-Friday or when you come to Mass on the weekend.The Little Mountain School
We have raised $32,747.05 with our coffee sales for the Little Mountain School in Guatemala.
To learn more about The Little Mountain School in Joya Honda, Guatemala, and how you can help provide an education for the children, access their website at guatemalaneducationaloutreach.org.
Please keep The Little Mountain School in your prayers.HELP FEED Your Neighbors AT the CATHOLIC ACTION CENTER
St. Paul purchases and prepares a meal for 150 people on the third weekend of every month. Contact Susan Brown to help: [email protected] | 859-536-0571