Church of the Immaculate Concept ion
Pastor: Rev. James J. Ward
Rectory office: 9 a.m.-1 p.m., Closed Wed. 570-325-2791
[email protected] / iccjimthorpe.org / WCC: [email protected] / Finance: [email protected]
St. Joseph Regional Academy, Jim Thorpe: 570-325-3186
Diocesan Victim Assistance Coordinator: Ms. Wendy S. Krisak, M.A., NCC, LPC Confidential: 800-791-9209
Diocesan Safe Environment Coordinator: Sr. Meg Cole, S.S.J., 610-332-0442 ext. 19
Fifth Sunday of Easter
May 3, 2015
Let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth. -- 1 John 3:18
Special Prayer Intentions-these are the people for whom we will be praying at Mass:
Sat.
Sun.
May 2
May 3
Mon.
Tues.
Wed.
Thurs.
Fri.
May
May
May
May
May
4
5
6
7
8
4:30 pm
9:00 am
10:30 am
8:00
8:00
8:00
8:00
8:00
am
am
am
am
am
Jessica Heaney Brown/5th Anniv. (Peggy & Dave Brown)
Jack Dever (Roush Family)
For the 2015 First Communicants and their Families
Edward J. Shirar (Lucas Family)
Edward & Sis McElmoyle (Ned)
William Quinn (wife, Patricia)
Missa Pro Popula-Living & Deceased Parishioners
Mary Krajcirik (Krista Miller & Dani)
Sixth Sunday of Easter
Sat.
May 9
4:30 pm Bertha Ballas (Nick & Neen Kuzo)
Sun.
May 10 9:00 am All Mothers
10:30 am Mary Behan (John & Janet Kane)
Lay Ministers for the Weekend of May 9/10
Ministries:
Saturday 4:30 p.m.
Sunday 9:00 a.m.
Sunday 10:30 a.m.
Lector
Laura McArdle
Riley Carroll
Brian Meckes
E.M.
Ken McArdle, Jr.
Hugh & Maggie Dugan
Altar Servers
McArdle Children
Lisa Whitehead
James Novak, R. Reese
Kayla Reese
Regan & Kelsey Carroll
Rui Na & Jian Qui Gentile
Joanne Donnelly
Abigail Meckes, J. Dehaven
Megan & Katie Aaron
RESPONSORIAL PSALM ~ I WILL PRAISE YOU, LORD, IN THE ASSEMBLY OF YOUR PEOPLE.
ALL CANDLES BURN in Honor of our 2015 First Communicants.
THE FLOWERS ON THE MAIN ALTAR are in Honor of our 2015 First Communicants.
THE FLOWERS ON THE BLESSED MOTHER ALTAR are in Loving Memory of Jack Dever (By, Roush
Family)
CONGRATULATIONS to our young
people who received First Communion
this weekend. Please keep them and
their families in your prayers
MAY CROWNING will take place next
Sunday at the 10:30 am Mass. All
First Communicants are invited to be
in procession in their First Communion
attire.
THE SECOND COLLECTION this weekend is for
Capital Campaign/New Building Fund.
WCC QUESTION OF THE WEEK
Gospel: John 15: 1-8
When as a family have you had to make a tough
decision, and who helped you to make it?
WHOLE COMMUNITY CATECHESIS NEWS
The dates for the two week summer WCC program
(Religious Education, formerly PREP or CCD) will be
semester A – July 27-July 31 and Semester B –
August 3 –August 7, from 9 am to 1 pm both
weeks. Students must attend Semesters A & B to
complete a full year. Registration for the program
will begin in May. Please contact Mrs. Merkel at
570-325-2791 if you have any questions. The
program is for students grades 1-8 in the fall of
2015 who do not attend a Catholic Elementary
School.
SJRA DUCK DERBY ~ Saturday, May
9th, at the Jim Thorpe Sportsman Club
on Flagstaff Road just off W.
Broadway. There will be Children’s
Games & Food from 1-3:30 pm and at 3:30 pm all
ducks will waddle their way up to the starting line
at Mauch Chunk Creek & they're off! Race benefits
St. Joseph Regional Academy. You need not be
present to win! Purchase your duck chance from
any SJRA Student, at the Derby May 9, from The
Treasure Shop or Mauch Chunk Pharmacy. Tickets
will be sold after Masses this weekend.
WOMEN’S CLUB BAKE SALE will be
held on the weekend of May 16 & 17 in
McGinley
Hall
after
all
Masses.
Donations of baked goods & monetary
contributions are greatly appreciated. Please drop
off your baked goods before each mass & mark all
baked goods with a suggested price. As always,
thank you for your support of the Women's Club!
BISHOP’S ANNUAL APPEAL~Many thanks to
those who have made a pledge to the Bishop’s
Annual Appeal. Making a six-month pledge to the
Appeal allows you to maximize the amount that
you may give by making monthly payments. For
example, a $120 gift to the Appeal may be
setup
with
six
$20
installments.
Remember, every gift counts, no
matter how small. Your generosity
funds the annual budget for important
Diocesan ministries in our area. You
can make your gift online at
www.2015baa.org.
WOMEN’S CLUB MAY SOCIAL GATHERING will
be held on Thursday, May 21 at 6pm at Mollie
Maguire’s. All women of the parish are invited.
Please call Judy at 570-325-3310 if you are
interested.
COME JOIN US FOR OUR SPRING GATHERING,
SUNDAY MAY 17th! We will be really thinking
spring & talking about St. Isidore patron saint of
farmers. If the weather holds we will have this
gathering outside at Immaculate Conception,
beginning at 3pm. If the weather is bad we will
begin in McGinley Hall. This would be a great
gathering for the youngest members of our
parishes. Please either call the WCC office at 570325-2791, ext 18, to register or email Mrs. Merkel
at [email protected]. We will need to have numbers
for registration in order to have enough materials
for all. The registration fee for families is $5. Those
over 55 are free, however must be registered,
registrations must be in by May 10th.
A MOTHER’S DAY ENVELOPE is
included in your packet. There is a
space on the back of the envelope to
write in the name of a loved one (living
or deceased).
These envelopes will be
placed on the altar for the month of May and will
be remembered at all the Masses.
MEMORIAL
DAY
WEEKEND
–
Remembering our Loved Ones Who
Served: If any parishioners have
pictures of loved ones who served in the
service you may place them on the back
table in church, or drop them at the
Rectory, to be part of the Memorial Weekend
Masses.
C.Y.O. NEWS~ Our year end banquet is
scheduled for Thursday, May 21st from 6-8pm @
the Jim Thorpe HS commons..
Our next mtg. is scheduled for Tues., May 12th,
6:30pm @ SJRA. All are welcome to attend.
St. Joseph’s CYO would like to express our
sincerest condolences to the Sofranko family for
the loss of Jim Sofranko and our grateful
appreciation for thinking of us in their time of grief.
We would like to thank everyone who gave
donations to our organization in memory of Jim,
who was a huge part of St. Joe’s CYO for many
years. Thank You!
GOD'S WORD TODAY~The familiar
passage
proclaimed
in
today's
Gospel reminds us that we are branches on
the vine and the vine is Jesus Christ. At the
moment of our baptism we were grafted
onto that vine, and from that moment
on much has been expected of us. The
closer we are to Christ the vine the more others
will learn to recognize Christ through our own
actions. To find out what those actions need to be,
look no further than today's second reading. There
Saint John tells us to love one another just as
Christ commanded us. As you sit in church today,
look around and see the other grafts on the vine-those sitting around you. Pray that the vine and its
branches will be strengthened so that Christ's love
will be shown to others all the more.
From Saint Margaret Sunday Missal, ©J. S. Paluch Company