our lady of the valley churchaug 16, 2020 · beauty of the world, queen of life, ladder of heaven,...
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Remember Our Lady of the Valley Church in Your Will
Our Lady of the Valley Church
973-694-4585
Summer Parish Office Hours Monday through Thursday
9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. 1:00 pm. - 5:00 p.m.
Sacrament of Reconciliation
Saturday - 12:00 p.m. in Church or by appointment
Sacraments of Baptism, Marriage & Personal Appointments
Please call the Parish Office
Summer Schedule of Masses
Weekdays Monday - Friday 9:00 a.m.
Weekends Saturday: 5:00 p.m.
Sunday: 8:00 a.m. and 12:00 Noon
“The Church is Holy, not just because all are welcome. The Church is Holy, because all belong.”
Timothy M. Matovina University of Notre Dame
(paraphrased by Pope Francis at General Audience)
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Rev. Peter VB. Wells, Pastor Ext. 7246 - [email protected]
Rev. Duberney Villamizar, Parochial Vicar Ext. 7204 - [email protected]
Deacon Vincent Cocilovo [email protected]
Sister Dorothy Dee, SSJ, Pastoral Associate Adult Formation/Ministry of Consolation Ext. 7245 - [email protected]
Judi Cocilovo, Director of Faith Formation / Youth
Ext. 7208 - [email protected]
Office of Faith Formation / Youth Ext. 7248 - [email protected]
Alyson Suchar, Parish Secretary Ext. 7200 - [email protected]
Barbara Mennella, Office Assistant Ext. 7203 - [email protected]
John Peragallo III, Director of Music Ministry
Irene Luberto, Parish Financial Administrator Ext. 7243 - [email protected]
TRUSTEES OF THE PARISH Marie Armenio
Mark Peischl [email protected]
Pastoral Advisory Board [email protected]
OUR PARISH IS SERVED BY
Monday, August 17 9:00am Theresa Suchar
Tuesday, August 18 9:00am Daniel Chagnon (Special Intention) Tony Trapanese (Special Intention)
Wednesday, August 19 9:00am Barry & Marcia Collins
Thursday, August 20 9:00am Shirley & Frank Schmitt
Friday, August 21 9:00am For the People
Saturday, August 22 5:00pm Donald Frech, Sr. Matthew Rugel
Sunday, August 23 8:00am Daniel Nevins Gertrude Peischl Ed Tumminello
12:00pm John Iapochino Carmela & Victor Liguori Carol Pugliesie Jim Pugliesie Raymond J. Ross
WEEKLY MASS INTENTIONS
Weekend of August 22 - 23:
Our Lady of the Valley 5:00pm Father Wells 8:00am Father Duberney 12:00 Noon Father Duberney
Holy Cross 10:00am Father Wells
PRESIDER SCHEDULE
ACT OF STEWARDSHIP
Attendance August 8/9: 185
Stewardship totals are not
available. We prayerfully
request considering WeShare
during this time or mailing
envelopes into the office.
As each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God’s varied grace. m(1 Peter 4:8-10)
PRAYER OF POPE FRANCIS FOR
PROTECTION AND HELP
O Mary, you always shine on our path as a sign of salvation and of hope. We entrust ourselves to you, Health of the Sick, who at the cross took part in Jesus’ pain, keeping your faith firm. You know what we need, and we are sure you will provide so that, as in Cana of Galilee, we may return to joy and to feasting after this time of trial. Help us, Mother of Divine Love, to conform to the will of the Father and to do as we are told by Jesus, who has taken upon himself our sufferings and carried our sorrows to lead us, through the cross, to the joy of the resurrection. Amen.
TWENTIETH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - AUGUST 16, 2020
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We encourage you to call the parish office for Mass cards so we can have your request ready prior to your arrival to limit the time you spend indoors. We also encourage you to pick up Mass cards from the back porch which is open even when the office is closed.
Requests for sponsor forms or other meetings will require an appointment.
For everyone’s safety, when entering the parish office, faces masks and signing in are required.
PARISH OFFICE UPDATE
“Is anyone among you suffering? They should pray…Is anyone among you sick? They should summon the presbyters of the church,
and they should pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord.”
(James 5:13,14)
Pray for the Sick:
PARISH SACRAMENTAL & PRAYER LIFE
This week the Sanctuary Lamp which burns as a reminder of the Lord’s presence in the Blessed Sacrament and the bread and wine offered at the Altar, which become the Body and Blood of Christ, are given in memory of:
Sadie Scavone
From her Loving Daughter, Linda Campiglia
WEEKLY REMEMBRANCE
Gregory Bertoline Kathy Corrao Barry Koerber Marie Moore Jenny Moskal Debbie Sleeman Gary VanSteyn Pat VanSteyn Al Soltis
Gerard Anthony Gagliano
Paul Wilczewski Michael Waldinger Ronald Maggio Roger Rigolli Edward LaBarre Aldo Giordano Gloria Dykstra
Indeed for your faithful, Lord, life is changed, not ended,
and when this early dwelling turns to dust, an eternal dwelling is made ready for them in heaven.
(Roman Missal, Preface I for the Dead)
Pray for the Dead:
Patrick Lyons
Menandro (Andy) Malonzo
UPDATED NOTE: In order to be added to our
prayer list, a member of the immediate family should
request a person’s name be added. The current
names will remain on the list until the beginning of
September.
@olvwayne
The Diocese of Paterson Development Office (Clifton) is seeking a part-time data entry applicant for seasonal employment. Hours are flexible and not to exceed 30 hours per week. Responsibilities include accurate data entry of campaign pledges and payments and other pertinent donor information into donor database. Computer skills and advanced typing skills are a plus. Any interested parties should contact the Development Office at (973) 777-8818, ext. 218 for further details.
DIOCESEAN DEVELOPMENT OFFICE
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PARISH REGISTRATION
Parish Registration is necessary for all individual persons and families who worship with us on Sundays and who intend to participate in the life of our parish with their time, talent and treasures. For more information, please contact the Parish Office or log onto our website. Registration is necessary to celebrate Marriage and Baptism here, as well as for receiving Sponsor Certificates.
SOCIAL MINISTRY
Do you have a family member or friend who is gay or lesbian? Would you like to have a better understanding on the church’s teachings on this? Would you like resources to learn more about this topic? If you’ve answered “yes” to any of these questions, or have additional questions about the LGBT community and the Catholic Church, you are invited to call Deacon Vince at 862-264-2134. All calls/inquiries will be strictly confidential.
PRAYER SHAWLS
Prayer Shawls can be given to anyone for many reasons! Comfort, illness, occasions, friendship & joy. If there is anyone that would like to receive a shawl or request one for someone, please contact Sister Dorothy at 973-694-4585 x7245.
Couples, were you married in 1995? The Diocese of Paterson invites you to celebrate your 25
th wedding
anniversary during a special Mass to be offered at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Paterson, NJ. Bishop Sweeny will serve as main celebrant on this joyful occasion to be held: Sunday, November 8, 2020 at 3:30 p.m.
Arrangements can be made by
contacting the parish office. The
deadline to register is Thursday, October
1, 2020. You will receive additional
information from the Office of Family Life
once your registration has been
processed.
Congratulations on this joyous occasion!
SILVER WEDDING ANNIVERSARY MASS
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On the evening of August 21, 1879 Mary McLoughlin, the housekeeper to the parish priest of Knock, County Mayo, Ireland, was astonished to see the outside south wall of the church bathed in a mysterious light; there were three figures standing in front of the wall, which she mistook for replacements of the stone figures destroyed in a storm. She rushed through the rain to her friend Margaret Byrne's house.
After a half hour Mary decided to leave and Margaret's sister Mary agreed to walk home with her. As they passed the church they saw and amazing vision very clearly: Standing out from the gable and to the west of it appeared the Blessed Virgin, St. Joseph and St. John. The figure of the Blessed Virgin was life-size, while the others seemed to be neither as large nor as tall. They stood a little away from the gable wall about two feet from the ground. The Virgin was erect with her eyes toward Heaven, and she was wearing a large white cloak hanging in full folds; on her head was a large crown.
Mary Byrne ran to tell her family while Mary McLoughlin gazed at the apparition. Soon a crowd gathered and all saw the apparition. The parish priest, Archdeacon Cavanaugh, did not come out, however, and his absence was a disappointment to the devout villagers. Among the witnesses were Patrick Hill and John Curry. As Patrick later described the scene: 'The figures were fully rounded, as if they had a body and life. They did not speak but, as we drew near, they retreated a little towards the wall.' Patrick reported that he got close enough to make out the words in the book held by the figure of St. John.
An old woman named Bridget trench drew closer to embrace the feet of the Virgin, but the figure seemed always beyond reach. Others out in the fields and some distance away saw a strange light around the church. The vision lasted for about three hours and then faded.
The next day a group of villagers went to see the priest, who accepted their report as genuine; he wrote to the diocesan Bishop of Tuam; then the Church set up a commission to interview a number of the people claiming to witness the apparition. The diocesan hierarchy was not convinced, and some members of the commission ridiculed the visionaries, alleging they were victims of a hoax perpetrated by the local Protestant constable! But the ordinary people were not so skeptical, and the first pilgrimages to knock began in 1880. Two years later Archbishop John Joseph Lynch of Toronto made a visit to the parish and claimed he had been healed by the Virgin of Knock.
In due course many of the witnesses died. But Mary Byrne married, raised six children, living her entire life in Knock. When interviewed again in 1936 at the age of eighty-six, her account did not vary from the first report she gave in 1879.
The village of Knock was transformed by the thousands who came to commemorate the vision and to ask for healing for others and themselves. The local church was too small to accommodate the crowds. In 1976 a new church, Our Lady Queen of Ireland, was erected. It holds more than two thousand and needs to, for each year more than a half million visitors arrive to pay their respects to the Blessed Virgin.
The Church approved the apparition in 1971 as being quite probable, although it has never been formally stated. The Shrine at Knock is opened year round. In 1994 three life-sized statues were erected of Our Lady, St. Joseph and St. John.
OUR LADY OF KNOCK, FEAST DAY AUGUST 21
PRAYER TO OUR LADY OF KNOCK, IRELAND Eleventh Century Irish Litany of Mary
Great Mary,
Greatest of Marys, Greatest of Women,
Mother of Eternal Glory, Mother of the Golden Light,
Honor of the Sky, Temple of the Divinity,
Fountain of the Gardens, Serence as the Moon,
Bright as the Sun, Garden Enclosed,
Temple of the Living God, Light of Nazareth,
Beauty of the World, Queen of Life,
Ladder of Heaven, Mother of God.
Pray for us.
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Food for Dogs? Sunday’s Gospel can give a headache both to preachers and to people in the pews. Jesus refuses to hear a woman because she is, in his metaphor, one of the “dogs.” OUCH. You know the story. The Canaanite woman cries out for help and Jesus at first will not even talk to her. The disciples demand that he send her away because she is a trouble-maker, and he seems to agree with them. “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” he says. She is from Canaan, not Israel. Finally the poor woman walks right up, does “homage” to Jesus and says, “Lord, help me.” Jesus would never ignore such words, at least so we Christians and Catholics believe. Nor should we ever be deaf to words like this in our own daily lives. However, he says to her, “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” Ouch indeed. This is the line that is so hard for us to understand. So un-Jesus-like. There are clues. She first called out to him with the words “Son of David.” This is a term hallowed by use in the ancient Hebrew scriptures, always referring to the Messiah. She is a Canaanite, and they did not believe in any Messiah-to-come, especially not one that would descend from David. Yet this woman, against her whole background, seems to have belief in Jesus as Messiah. She calls him “Lord.” In Matthew’s Gospel this is an explicit admission that Jesus and God are one. Going just on her language, this is proof that she believed in him as the Savior. Surely he sensed this. But Israelites and Canaanites had long been in strife. How could “they” with their strange gods produce a woman who believes in the one God and in Jesus as the Christ? Is it possible that Jesus was drawing her out, teasing her in order to strengthen her belief? Perhaps he was quoting the word “dogs” as a reference to names the two peoples called each other. Something like this: “my people of Israel believe in the one God and your people do not. How can I give their food to you ‘dogs,’ as we call you?” The woman’s quick wit provides a wonderful, humble, bantering response that wins the day. “Even dogs eat scraps that fall from their master’s table,” she says. It is a riposte, a parry, a counter-thrust, and Jesus loves it. She is saying, “It does not matter what a person’s status is as long as they believe. And I do believe.” I’ll bet Jesus smiled a great smile as he told her how great her faith was. Maybe he laughed at her fast repartee. And of course he gladly gave her what she asked; he cured her daughter. Doesn’t Christ’s Holy Spirit smile within you and me when we ask for what we need? When we let nothing stand in the way, like our own origins, our status in life, our sins, and maybe even our rejection by others? Remember when we approached Communion and held out our hands and said in effect, “Son of David, have pity on me.” This is a paraphrase of the Canaanite woman. Our response is “Amen,” which means “I do believe,” just like the woman. Let us mean it this Sunday, whether we attend a virtual or a real Mass.
John Foley, SJ
SPIRITUAL REFLECTION