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Our Lady of Mercy Church
Park Ridge, New Jersey 07656
December 28, 2014
The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph
New Year’s Eve Mass Schedule
5:30pm
New Year’s Day
10am & 12 noon
Rev. Charles P. Granstrand, Pastor
Rev. Robert T. Ulak, Parochial Vicar
Rev. Msgr. James C. Turro (Weekends)
Rev. Msgr. Carl D. Hinrichsen (In Residence)
Rev. John Chadwick (Weekends)
Joseph Romano, Deacon
Gary Tankard, Deacon
John Rokoszak, Pastoral Associate
Debra Wyka, Minister of Music
Amy Ballanco, Religious Education Coordinator
Jennifer Kavanagh, Youth Minister
Donna Quinn, Business Manager
RECONCILIATION
Saturday: 9-9:30AM & 1-1:30PM
Monday: 7-7:30PM
MASS SCHEDULE
Saturday Evening: 5:30PM
Sunday: 7:30AM, 9:30AM, 11:00AM, 12:30PM
Daily: 6:30AM, 8:30AM
Saturday: 8:30AM
BAPTISM
The Sacrament is celebrated one Sunday every month.
Parents should contact the rectory prior to the birth of
their child for dates of Baptism Preparation Sessions.
MARRIAGE
Couples planning to be married should contact the rectory
at least ONE YEAR PRIOR to the wedding date.
Rectory
Websites
School
201-391-5315
UROLM.org
201-391-3838
2 Fremont Ave. OLMAcademy.org
SCHOOL
Our Lady of Mercy Academy
2011 National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence
25 Fremont Avenue, Park Ridge, NJ 07656
Laraine Meehan, Principal
CATECHETICAL MINISTRY
Grades K-6: 4-5PM Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday
Grades 7-8: 3:45-5:15PM Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday
Catechetical Center
201-391-3590
201-802-1771
Music Minister
E-Mail
201-358-2994
[email protected]
[email protected]
OUR LADY OF MERCY PARISH MISSION STATEMENT
Our Lady of Mercy Parish is a Catholic community that worships God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit,
celebrating Mass, proclaiming the Gospel Message and uniting in prayer. We strive to welcome all and to educate
ourselves and others in the Good News of Jesus Christ. We support one another in times of joy and sadness and
attempt to serve each other by reaching out to those in need in our community and beyond. We are imperfect people
on a journey. Our goal is that the life of each person leads to the Lord.
MASS SCHEDULE
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 27
5:30
Barbara Levinson
The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 28
Sir 3: 2-6, 12-14/ Col 3: 12-21/ Lk 2: 22-40
7:30
Joseph Higgins
9:30
People of the Parish
11:00
Aldo Boccher
12:30
June DeTitta
St. Thomas Becker
MONDAY, DECEMBER 29
1 Jn 2: 3-11/ Lk 2: 22-35
6:30
Carol Kopeck
8:30
Margaret Todd
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 30
1 Jn 2: 12-17/ Lk 2: 36-40
6:30
Edward Coppola
8:30
Catherine Karp
St. Sylvester I
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 31
1 Jn 2: 18-21/ Jn 1: 1-18
6:30
Patricia Cullen
8:30
John & Evelyn McNamara
New Year’s Eve
5:30pm Olympia Argento
Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God
THURSDAY, JANUARY 1
Nm 6: 22-27/ Gal 4: 4-7/ Lk 2: 16-21
10:00
Edna Del Prete
12:00
Corey Nagle
Saints Basil the Great & Gregory Nazianzen
FRIDAY, JANUARY 2
1 Jn 2: 22-28/ Jn 1: 19-28
6:30
N. Mellas
8:30
David Emerick
8pm
Joseph Ferrara
The Most Holy Name of Jesus
SATURDAY, JANUARY 3
1 Jn 2: 29—3:6/ Jn 1: 29-34
8:30
Joseph Farinelli
5:30
June DeTitta
The Epiphany Of The Lord
SUNDAY, JANUARY 4
Is 60: 1-6/ Eph 3: 2-3a, 5-6/ Mt 2: 1-12
7:30
Marie Pansini
9:30
Salvino Eannone
11:00
People of the Parish
12:30
Joe Sangallo
LET US PRAY
In your love and kindness please pray for the sick
especially: Ella Gamble, Pat Eichenlaub, Brian Long,
Colleen Strabone, Fr. Peter Funesti, Teresa Hurd, and
Claire Mangieri.
Please also remember the deceased of our parish and
their families, especially: Sophie Przezdziecki, Barbara
DePalma, James Strabone, Dominick Calabro, and
Deborah Kay.
Please join with us in praying one OUR FATHER
per day for all those who have no one to pray for
them.
THE SANCTUARY LAMPS burn this week in memory
of: Sam O. Tarrant III, Laura Mizii, and for Thomas Kirk.
If you would like more information about reserving
a Sanctuary Lamp in memory of a loved one or for
a Special Intention, please call the rectory office at
201-391-5315.
GOD’S PLAN FOR GIVING – Tithing
December 14 Collection:
$18,771
The collection totals for December 21 and Christmas
will be posted in a future bulletin.
Tithing is God’s plan to support His Church. Full
tithing means 10% of gross income to God. We ask
half of this, or 5%, for your Parish church. The other
5% goes to your favorite charities.
SCRIPTURE SHARING GROUP with Deacon Gary
Meets every Monday after the 8:30am Mass in the
Gathering Space. As has been the custom, the scripture
reading of the Mass of the day will be used. All are
welcome.
THE FAMILY OF GOD PRAYER GROUP meets every
Tuesday at 7:30PM in the chapel to praise God and
pray for special intentions.
ABUNDANT LIFE PRAYER GROUP meets Thursday
mornings at 9:30am in the Chapel.
THE MIRACULOUS MEDAL NOVENA will be recited
each Saturday in the Sacred Heart Chapel immediately
following the 8:30AM Mass.
ARCHBISHOPS ANNUAL APPEAL—If you have an
outstanding balance on your pledge, please make sure
to send it in before December 31st.
THE RECTORY OFFICE will be closed December 31
and January 1.
PASTOR’S COLUMN
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
As I write we are still in Advent but you are reading
this bulletin on the Sunday after Christmas, the Feast of
the Holy Family.
I certainly hope your Christmas
celebration was a great one. I thank all those in our
parish who helped us to prepare the church by setting
up the trees, the Nativity scenes, and arrange the
flowers. I am grateful to all those who share their
talents with us in a variety of liturgical ministries. We
are blessed with Eucharistic ministers, lectors, ushers,
altar servers and a wonderful mix of choirs, cantors,
and instrumentalists to help us praise God in many
ways. Every Christmas since I have been at Our Lady
of Mercy I marvel at the great numbers who come to
participate in the Masses for the Nativity of the Lord.
And the thought that always follows is “wouldn’t it be
great if every Sunday we had a similar number joining
in the great prayer of the Eucharist”. Please make it
one of your prayer intentions that each one of us be an
ambassador for Christ by living the Gospel of Jesus in
such a way that others want to be part of Christ’s
Body, the Church.
Even though the rush of Christmas shopping is now
over, and probably the Christmas music which seemed
to start before Thanksgiving is finished as well, we
Christians are invited to continue observing the
Christmas Season until the Baptism of the Lord on
Sunday, January 11. Please keep open space in your
busy lives to marvel at this great mystery of the
Incarnation. In this Sunday’s bulletin we are including
a reflection on the Holy Family taken from the monthly
“Give Us This Day” for December, pages 301-2.
May God bless all our families and the parish family
of Our Lady of Mercy!
Peace in the Lord,
Reflection
Sacred Family Portraits
Sons, tender toward their fathers, and obedient to
their mothers. Children, flourishing like olive plants,
gathered around a table. Long life and blessings rain
down on those who honor their families; their prayers
are heard, even their sins forgiven. Like layers of oil
paints laid with exquisite care on canvas by a
Renaissance master, today’s readings produce a lush
and tender picture of the Holy Family. And one that
seems unattainable to the uncanonized.
My mother, raising six children without recourse to
angelic advisors or prophetic counsel, was known to
look at her squabbling offspring gathered around the
table and sigh, “Mary had just one child and He was
God.” She wondered, as do I, how to bridge the gulf
between the sacred family portrait we are invited to
imitate and the messy realities of family life, short of
divine intervention.
Continued in next column
But I wonder if the message of this feast is that divine
intervention is precisely what it takes to live as a holy
family. Let God’s Word dwell richly in us, suggests
Paul, let Christ well up from deep within, washing away
bitterness, pushing away grievances. Walk, as the
psalmist suggests, in awe of God, keenly aware of
Christ playing not just in a thousand places but of
Christ dwelling right here, looking at us through the
eyes of the people with whom we share homes and
neighborhoods and streets.
My mother needn’t have despaired; though she had
six children to Mary’s one, we were indeed a holy
family, for God dwelt within each one of us.
Michelle M. Francl-Donnay
TEACH US TO PRAY
Praying with the Holy Family
Fr. James Martin, S.J.
We think of them as nearly perfect, and perhaps
they were. After all, Jesus was fully human and fully
divine, Mary was conceived without sin, and Joseph
was a saint. But we also need to remember that the
Holy Family was a human family living in difficult times.
This means they faced many of the same struggles
that families do today—worrying about money, to begin
with. The Greek word the Gospels use for Joseph’s
profession (tekton) means not only carpenter but, more
precisely, craftsman. That meant working with wood,
of course, but also building walls, and often scrounging
for work. Mary had to undergo the physical pains of
childbirth and, later, mourned the death of Joseph.
(He’s not present at the crucifixion, so we can presume
that he had died by then.)
And there were
misunderstandings in this family too. When Jesus was
“lost” in the temple, his parents were frantic with worry
about their young son. “I was in my Father’s house,”
Jesus assures them.
“But they did not
understand” (Luke 3:48-50). The next time you think
your family is the only one that deals with
misunderstandings, think again.
Praying with the Holy Family may mean imagining
sitting in the presence of the three and remembering
that their lives were not without difficulties. In this way,
they are more like our own families or religious
communities than we might think. But they met all their
trials with love, hope, and trust. Can we?
R.C.I.A The group will meet after the 9:30 Mass in the
Parish Center on January 11, 25, February 8, March 8,
22, May 3, June 7. For more information, or if you are
unable to make a Sunday Session, please contact
John Rokoszak at 201-391-3590 or call/text 201-2646376 or email [email protected]
UN-TRIM THE CHURCH - If you would like to help untrim Our Lady of Mercy Church on January 12th at
7p.m., please call the Rectory. This is an ideal service
project for High School students and Confirmation
candidates.
CHILDREN’S LITURGY—Join us during the 9:30 Mass
as we gather the children in the chapel after the
Opening Prayer. They will listen to the same liturgy as
the regular Mass, but in a way they can understand
with stories, coloring, and songs. The children will then
return to the church during Offertory. Best for ages 3 to
8 years old, but older siblings are welcome to help out.
N.I.C.E.
“Liturgy of the Word With Special Needs”
SESSIONS CALENDAR 2014-2015
JANUARY
11, 18, 25
FEBRUARY
1, 8, 22
MARCH
1, 8, 15, 22
No sessions on Palm Sunday or Easter Sunday
APRIL
12, Last Session
(Autism Awareness Month)
A resource table will be set
up in the Gathering Space
ALL DATES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE. If you are
coming for the first time, please call to be sure we are
in session and for further instructions. Religious
Education Office 201-391-3590 Amy Ballanco/DRE
No fee required. Donations accepted.
OUR LADY OF MERCY ACADEMY
PRE SCHOOL OPEN HOUSE
Our Lady of Mercy Academy Preschool fosters an
environment where children are encouraged to bring
their enthusiasm for discovery, excitement for learning,
and passion for creativity. We encourage our children
to become problem solvers, to express themselves
thoughtfully and grow in self-confidence. Join us on
Wednesday, January 7th from 9:30-11am, 1-2pm and 78:30pm to see for yourself. Bring your child or come
alone. We offer a full-day, five day kindergarten
readiness program for four-year olds. Specialized
instruction is offered in art, music, library, technology
and physical education. Before & After school care is
available. Visit our website at www.olmacademy.org or
call the school office at 201-391-3838 for more
information. Our Lady of Mercy Academy is a National
Blue Ribbon School of Excellence and is located in
Park Ridge NJ.
THE SCHOLARSHIP FUND for inner-city children
which provides partial tuition scholarships for low
income students in grades K to 12 to attend Catholic
schools, will hold its 12th annual High School
Basketball Festival on January 2 and 4 at Kean
University in Union.
The teams playing include;
Paramus Catholic, St. Joseph’s Regional, St. Anthony
HS, Roselle Catholic, Hudson Catholic, Seton Hall
Prep, Mt. St. Dominic, St. Benedict’s Prep, Marist,
Union Catholic, St. Dominic’s Academy. For complete
game schedule, times and information on ordering
tickets, please visit www.sfichoops.com or call 973-497
-4279.
HACKENSACK SOUP KITCHEN—
Walk in Dinner Program—
Volunteers are needed to help serve dinner at
the Soup Kitchen in Hackensack on Thursday, January
8th. Bulletin boards will be set up in the Gathering
Space and in the main entrance of the church
indicating the food and the supplies needed. As the
number of those we serve are increasing, please
consider donating a much needed dinner item. Food
and supplies should be delivered to the Parish Center
on Thursday, January 8th before 2:30pm. Please call
Elaine Hart 201-391-5051 or Dolly Diffendal 201-2478102 if you wish to volunteer.
SAVE THE DATE - The Acoustic Café Music Series
at OLM is looking forward to our first show of the year
on Saturday, January 24th when we welcome critically
acclaimed singer/songwriter Ellis Paul! Ellis has won 15
Boston Music awards, has 19 record releases, a
documentary film, a book of poems & short stories, an
award winning children's book project, as well as songs
featured on Hollywood soundtracks. More info about
Ellis here:www.ellispaul.com Special guest 17 year old
emerging artist Hayley Reardon will open the show.
Proceeds benefit the Vallieres, Haiti Scholarship
Fund. 8 PM in OLM Academy. Get your tickets now $20 advance online, $22 at the door.
www.cafeacoustic.org 201-573-0718 Refreshments,
accessible.
ADVENT GIVING TREE—THANK YOU!
Thanks to the generosity of Our Lady of Mercy
parishioners, close to $24,000 was collected and
delivered to local charities.
EUCHARISTIC ADORATION—Here at OLM we are
blessed to have Eucharistic Adoration, starting after the
8:00pm Mass, every First Friday and continuing
throughout the night ending at 6:30am, on Saturday.
Everyone is encouraged to come and visit. Date:
January 2-3. Any questions, please call 201-3910657.
The ROSARY SOCIETY will attend the
8:30am Mass on Saturday, January 3rd
followed by recitation of the Rosary.
THE ARCHDIOCESAN RESPECT LIFE OFFICE and
the Pro-Life Commission will host a Pro-Life Mass at
noon on January 18th at the Cathedral Basilica of the
Sacred Heart, Newark. January 22, 2015 marks the
42nd anniversary of the legalization of abortion in this
country. By attending this special Mass, those who wish
to stand up for life but cannot attend the March for Life in
Washington DC or the rally in Trenton can still show
their support and defend those who cannot defend
themselves. For more information please contact Cheryl
Riley at 973-497-4350 or at [email protected]