Parish Office Hours: Monday - Friday 8:00am to 4:00pm Website: http://stmary.irelandindiana.com

St Mary Church - 812-482-7041

Fr. Joseph F. Erbacher, “Fr. Effie”, Pastor, Ext 33 …………………………………………………......jerbacher@evdio.org

Dianne Gogel, Secretary, Ext. 21………...dgogel@evdio.org

Sherri Hartley, Secretary, Ext. 22….…..chartley@evdio.org

Stan Heim, Property Manager, Ext. 36...sheim@evdio.org

Martha Schmitt, PCL, Ext. 45……......mjschmitt@evdio.org

Charlene Sermersheim, Music…..………..…….812-482-7837

Annette Weidenbenner, Cleaning ………..…..812-630-7870

Parish Contacts

Altar Server Trainer, Stan Vollmer……………..812-630-2990

Bereavement Meals, Sherri Hartley……….....812-482-7041

Church Decorations, Janet Schitter……..…....812-482-3500

Finance Council, Audrey Wehr…..…….……....812-639-3393

Ireland K of C, Grand Knight, Adam Hopf…..812-639-6347

Ireland K of C Building Rental, Allen Reckelhoff ………………………………………………………….……...812-631-4449 .

Parish Council President, Pat Gress…………...812-639-0795

Prayer Line, Bev Himsel……………………….......812-639-1384

St Anne Society President, Patty Sermersheim ………………………………………………………………....812-630-5967

St John Bosco Youth Ministry, Jacqueline Ripberger, …………………………………………..……….……….......812-481-2442 812-639-4227

St. Mary Mission Statement:

St. Mary Church is a community of faith united in Eucharist and committed to seeking God through prayer; sharing our gifts of time, talent and treasure; providing formation and education for children and adults; responding to the needs of people by sharing our faith and resources. We are dedicated to living and proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

March 18, 2018

St. Mary Church

P O Box 67 • Ireland, Indiana 47545-0067 2829 N 500 W • Jasper, Indiana 47546

Most Reverend Joseph M. Siegel, D.D., S.T.L., Bishop of the Diocese of Evansville, Indiana

Fr. Joseph F. Erbacher, “Effie”, Pastor

Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord - April 5, 2020

Bulletin deadline is 10:00am on the Monday before the upcoming weekend.

Mass Intentions Effective March 18, 2020 and until further notice - all public Sunday and weekday Masses throughout our Diocese are suspended - as decreed by Bishop Joseph M. Siegel, DD, STL

Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord Sat-April 4 Larry & Jane Mehringer Private Confessions 3:30-4:15pm Sun-April 5 Caroline Mehringer

Tues-April 7 Leonard, Elizabeth & Dave Fleck Wed-April 8 Edward & Virginia Heim Private Confessions 12:00 noon-1:00pm

Holy Thursday Thurs-April 9 Dewayne & Carol Chappell

Good Friday Fri-April 10 Private Confessions 5:00-6:00pm

Holy Saturday Sat-April 11 Members of St. Mary Parish No Private Confessions Easter Sunday Sun-April 12 Leroy & Dorothy Schnaus Lillian Murry Fr. Erbacher will continue to celebrate Mass privately for the intentions shown above on the scheduled day even though you cannot attend. Call the parish office if you have concerns or questions.

Happy Birthday to the following parishioners who will be celebrating their Birthday April 4 to April 10:

April 4: Karen Altmann, Virginia Kapp, Moren Merkley, Steve Oser, Mackenzie Sadler, Kim Schmitt, Phyllis Schue, Carol Stetter

April 5: Lisa Kreilein, Brian Seibert

April 6: Andrew Fleck, Jan Flynn, Betty Jenkins, Marilyn Nicholson, Bev Schmitt, Kylie Seibert, Donald Steinhart, Beverly Weyer

April 7: Matt Bueltel, Bradley Gehlhausen, Kevin Jacob, Kyle Kordes, Charlene Leinenbach, Bridgett Linette, Jennifer Poteet, Dylan Young

April 8: Logan Kempf, Brad Leinenbach, Katelyn McCain, Joyce Schulte, Danna Sermersheim, Walker Swan, Tom Wagner

April 9: Brooke Kendall, Molly Mehringer, Virginia Nowakowski, Terra Seger

April 10: Breanna DeKemper, Judy Jeffries, Laura Renner

Congratulations!

If your name was omitted or we have the incorrect date, please call

the parish office so we can get our records updated. Also, if your son

or daughter has moved from this area or are back in the area, call and

let us know that too. Helps to keep everything up to date. Thanks!

Church Support Budgeted Weekly Operating Costs: $14,000.00 Collection for the weekend of March 28 & 29

Weekly donations can be mailed to “St Mary Church, PO Box 67, Ireland, IN 47545” or dropped in the slot in the parish office front door. Thank you for your stewardship to our parish.

Weekend Collection…………………………...……..……….$ 4,295.00 Average Electronic Weekly Giving for March…..….$ 4,006.60 Total Collection…………………..……………………...………$ 8,301.60 Short.………………………………………………………………….$ 5,698.40

Year-To-Date-Budget (7-1-19 to current)…..……….$ 546,000.00 Year-To-Date-Total..……………………….………………….$ 483,398.64 Year-To-Date-Difference………….…………………………$ (62,601.36)

Campaign Goal………………….…………………………….....$ 6,000,000.00 Amount in Pledges (as of 03-31-20)…………………....$ 5,752,552.00 Cash Collected to date (as of 03-31-20)……......…...$ 5,360,116.00

Thank You!!

You can do your tithing electronic. This can be by electronic check payment from your bank or by ACH through the parish office. This is an easy way to make your donations on a recurring basis and save St. Mary the expense of sending tithing envelopes.

As the virus may have a real impact on people’s ability to attend

Mass at our parish, we express our heartfelt gratitude for the

continued financial support of all our ministries during this trying

time. If you would like to sign up for ACH, call me at the parish

office at 812-482-7041 or email me at dgogel@evdio.org and I can

help you get set up for automatic withdrawals from your bank.

Another option could be to go to the Evansville Diocese Site. The

diocese has established an Online Sunday Collection Giving Page on

their website for the benefit of each parish in the diocese.

Go to: http://www.evdio.org

At the top of the menu on the main page go to: “Sunday Collection

Giving”

This will take you to a donation page:

Enter the amount of desired contribution and the date you wish

to contribute

Click “Continue”

Enter personal payment information

Select payment option: Credit Card, Debit Card, Checking or

Savings (ACH)

Select “St Mary Church, Ireland 54”

Follow the remaining on-screen instructions and the donation is

made

Donor information remains confidential

Parishioner can repeat this process as often as desired (recurring

payment options may be available in the future)

The Diocese of Evansville will distribute these contributions to St.

Mary in a timely manner. Thanks for your stewardship to St. Mary.

Thanks, Dianne

St. John Bosco Youth Ministry

St. John Bosco Catholic Youth Ministry reaches out to youth in

grades 6 through 12 from St. Mary, Holy Family, Precious Blood,

and St. Joseph. Check out more Bosco info and announcements at:

https://saintjohnboscoyouthministry.wordpress.com. 812-481-2442

Catholic Heart Work Camp registration is now open on the Bosco

website. Open to youth 8th grade and older. Check the website for

more information.

Bosco Scholarship for high school seniors is open. Applications

can be found on the Bosco website.

Bosco is using the free app “Remind” to keep families in the loop

regarding middle and high school youth events. To be added to

Bosco’s “class”, text@bosco20 to 81010.

March 29, $100 Irish Sweepstakes Raffle Winner

is John Wehr.

Congratulations!

Places to find online and televised Mass

St. Joseph Church, Jasper:

11:00am Sunday WJTS (Channel 18-televised)

Holy Family Church, Jasper:

Live-streamed at holyfamilyjasper.com

8:00am Tuesday-Friday

6:00am Wednesday

5:00pm Saturday

8:30 & 10:30am Sunday

Precious Blood Church, Jasper:

Available on Precious Blood Catholic Church-Jasper Facebook page

8:00am Monday-Friday

4:00pm Saturday

8:00am Sunday

WITZ

Mass on air 8:30am Sunday

WTJW 93.1 - Catholic Radio

Lots of various Catholic programs

EWTN: (cable channel 44, not sure satellite channel)

8:00am, 12:00 noon, & 7:00pm Sunday

Thirty-One - One of St. Mary’s parishioners, Kelli Schmitt, is throw-

ing a Thirty-One Fundraiser for “Building For Our Future”. Proceeds

from what she makes will be donated to our new church. Go on line at

MyThirtyOne.com/KelliSchmitt and go to “My Parties” and select

“Building for our Future”. Catalogues can be found in the back of

church. If you have any questions, please call Kelli Schmitt at 812-639

-9789. Deadline for ordering is April 27. Great way to order Easter

gifts, graduation gifts, wedding/shower gifts….

GOSPEL MEDITATION

ENCOURAGE DEEPER UNDERSTANDING

OF SCRIPTURE

April 5, 2020 - Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord

Human beings are united in their suffering. When we find ourselves in a painful moment, our first reaction is “why me?” as if we are the

only person on earth who ever encountered this challenge. Going through life with a “why me” attitude only finds us wallowing in the

mire of self-pity and never seizing opportunities or graces. We walk in solidarity with every human being in the experience of suffering.

Believing that the goal of life is the elimination or avoidance of suffering is simply an illusion that keeps us entrenched in a collective

myth. This myth distorts us and limits us.

There are living witnesses among us showing how courage and determination can overcome any degree of hardship, pain, loss, or

tragedy. Folks finding the normalcy of their lives suddenly torn asunder are faced with options: opportunity or despair, stay or leave.

Jesus stands before us as the prime example of endurance and perseverance. He is the One who showed humility through both the

triumphs of life (by learning to be humble) and the tragedies and injustices (by learning how to be obedient). To secular ears, this may be

perceived as nonsense. But to those with the eyes of faith, they are pearls of great price.

True humility tempers the temptation we have to become complacent and prevents an excessive relishing of life’s successes and

affirmations. Learning obedience keeps us faithful to our relationship with God so that we can find the courage to endure any depth of

hardship, disappointment, betrayal, or agony. While we may want our cup of suffering to be taken away, it simply cannot be. Somehow

and somewhere in the seemingly opposing experiences life can deal us, God is present with His reassuring, compassionate, empowering,

and persevering love. To be true to who we are and who God is, we must take up the cross of suffering, even when it’s the hardest and

most apparently senseless thing to do.

Only our soul can understand these things, but our minds cannot, so they continue to run to secular ideas and solutions to pain and hard-

ship. It goes without saying that we need to do all we can to eliminate as much senseless, unjust suffering as possible. Hunger, violence,

abuse, exploitation, rejection, prejudice, homelessness, disrespect for life, and a whole host of other sins all result in suffering that is

within our control. Then, when we face the uncontrollable kind of suffering or find ourselves the victim of injustice, what do we do?

Front of church looking

toward the Sacristy (3-31-20)

This Week’s Parish Events Effective March 18 and until further notice, all public Sunday and weekday Masses throughout our diocese have been canceled.

Sunday - Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord [4/05]:

No Mass will be celebrated until further notice.

Wednesday [04/08]:

Private Confessions 12:00 noon-1:00pm. Holy Thursday [04/09]

Good Friday [04/10]: Catholics 14 years of age and up are obligated to

abstain from meat on Fridays during Lent.

Private Confessions 5:00-6:00pm.

Holy Saturday [04/11]: No Mass will be celebrated until further notice.

Easter Sunday [04/12]: No Mass will be celebrated until further notice.

Be sure and check out the table in the back of church. Lots of take home materials for you and your family.

Upcoming Parish Events

April 26: St. Mary Parish First Communion at Noon. April 30: American Red Cross/St. Anne Blood Drive in the Community Center Cafeteria 2:00-7:00pm May 2: St. Mary Parish cooks and serves the Community Meal. June 15-19: VBS - Signup will be happening soon. June 28: New Church dedication at 1:00pm. The date has been set with Most Reverend Joseph M. Siegel, DD, STL Jul 18, 19 & 20: TEC (Teens Encounter Christ) here at St. Mary August 1: St. Mary Parish cooks and serves the Community Meal. September 13: St. Mary Church Picnic - Mark your calendar.

75th Anniversary Prayer of Diocese of Evansville

Almighty, ever-living God, in your goodness, you sent your only

Son to bring salvation to all people through your Church.

For seventy-five years, your sons and daughters in the Diocese of

Evansville have strived to live as a community of faith, hope and

charity, rooted in Christ.

Pour forth your Holy Spirit on this local Church, that we may

continue the saving work of Jesus Christ through Word,

Sacrament, and Service.

May everything we do, both now and in the years to come, be for

your glory and for the sanctification of all.

We ask this through your Son, Jesus Christ, who is Lord

yesterday, today and forever. Amen

Holy Mary, Mother of God - Pray for us.

Our prayers and sympathy to the family Carol M.

Herbig who passed away March 26. May they be

comforted by our prayers.

Holy Trinity Catholic School-2020 Jeep Wrangler Raffle

Holy Trinity is selling raffle tickets for a chance to win a 2020 Jeep

Wrangler. Tickets are $25 limited to 7500 tickets. Raffle ticket

forms can be found in the back of church. Proceeds from this raffle

will help support our efforts of making Catholic education in Dubois

County affordable for all. Call 812-482-4461 or email holytrini-

ty@evdio.org for more information.

Thank You!! This bulletin is furnished to the Parish without charge. The advertisements that appear completely defray all publishing costs with which the church would otherwise be bur-dened. Please patronize these sponsors as a “Thank You” for their generosity.

Do you want to make your marriage stronger? Attend a Worldwide

Marriage Encounter Weekend and find out how you can make this

happen. Future Marriage Encounter Weekends will be at Our Lady of

Fatima Retreat House, Indianapolis, April 24-26 and November 6-8.

Visit www.wwme.org for more info.

Prayer of Pope Francis

O Mary, you shine continuously on our journey as a sign of salva-

tion and hope.

We entrust ourselves to you, Health of the Sick.

At the foot of the cross you participated in Jesus’ pain, with stead-

fast faith.

You, Salvation of the Roman People, know what we need.

We are certain that you will provide, so that, as you did at Cana of

Galilee, joy and feasting might return after this moment of trial.

Help us, Mother of Divine, Love,

To conform ourselves to the Father’s will and to do what Jesus

tells us:

He who took our sufferings upon Himself, and bore our sorrows to

bring us, through the Cross, to the joy of the Resurrection. Amen.

We seek refuge under your protection, O Holy Mother of God.

Do not despise our pleas - we who are put to the test - and deliver

us from every danger, O glorious and blessed Virgin.