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Sixth Sunday of Easter
17 May 2009
Dear Friends in Christ,
Three items for your attention:
1. This coming Thursday, 21 May, is the fortieth day since Easter, and it should therefore be the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord. Sadly, the bishops of most dioceses in the United States have decided to transfer this feast of the sacred liturgy to the Sunday following the customary observance, and the five dioceses in the Province of Atlanta follow this novel custom. Accordingly, this Thursday is not the Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord for Latin Rite Catholics in the Carolinas and Georgia (and therefore not a holy day of obligation), and next Sunday we will observe the Ascension rather than the Seventh Sunday of Easter. Happily, this ridiculous transfer of the Ascension of the Lord is not practiced by our Maronite brethren, and so Father Bart will be celebrating the Divine Liturgy for the Ascension of the Lord here in the church for the people of St. Rafka on Thursday evening at 7 pm. 2. Although the responsibility to teach, sanctify, and govern a parish church belongs solely to the parish pastor under the authority of the diocesan bishop, each pastor is assisted in discharging his three-fold office by the parish staff, by the various groups in the parish, and by two councils of parishioners: the Finance Council which advises the pastor in all financial matters and the Pastoral Council which advises the pastor in all other matters that relate to the pastoral care of the parish. It is time to renew the membership of our Pastoral Council, and any parishioner who is interested in serving on the Pastoral Council is invited to write to me by email or at the parish office to express your interest. Only those who are registered, active, supporting members of the parish and who are in full communion with the Church are eligible to serve, and in your letter you should indicate how long you have been a registered member of the parish and something about your background or interest in this service. Those who are interested in serving should contact me before 15 June 2009, and soon after that the names of the new councillors will be announced. 3. Bishop Guglielmone made his first visit to Greenville last Sunday to attend the annual celebration of the Vietnamese community held this year at Our Lady of the Rosary Church. Since he was in the neighborhood, the Bishop decided to stay in Greenville Sunday night so that he could celebrate Mass for the children at St. Paul’s School in Spartanburg on Monday morning and at our school on Monday afternoon. He thoroughly enjoyed his visit to our school and hopes to visit the parish during another stay in the Upstate this summer. Bishop Guglielmone is making every effort to travel around South Carolina as quickly as possible, especially to see our Catholic schools during this academic year, to help him understand the length and breadth of this vast diocese.Father Newman