ST MARY STAR OF THE SEA

PARISH

MASS SCHEDULE

ST. MARY STAR OF THE SEA CHURCH—208 BALTIMORE AVE. (CLOSED FOR THE RENOVATIONS) HOLY SAVIOR CHURCH—1705 PHILADELPHIA AVE. FOLLOWING MASSES ARE STREAMED LIVE ON FACEBOOK

MONDAY THRU THURSDAY: 8:30AM SATURDAY: 5:15PM SUNDAY: 10AM

PARISH OFFICE — HOURS Parish office is closed until further notice. Please email or leave a phone message and we will respond as soon as possible. Phone: 410-289-0652 Fax: 410-289-1026 Address: 1705 Philadelphia Ave. Ocean City, MD 21842 Parish Administrator: Rev. John Solomon pastor@stmarystaroftheseaocmd.com

Administrative Assistant: Mrs. Donna Santoni office@stmarystaroftheseaocmd.com

Faith Formation: Mrs. Rita Danhardt Religioused@stmarystaroftheseaocmd.com 410-289-7038

Music Director: Mr. Jordan Pantalone jspantalone1018@gmail.com

Facilities Manager: Mr. Tony Dicken maintenance@stmarystaroftheseaocmd.com

Website: Stmarystaroftheseaocmd.com

Facebook: st mary star of the sea/holy savior parish in ocean city, md

SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

May 17, 2020

Confessions / Sacrament of Reconciliation Saturday: 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. and anytime by appoint-ment.

Baptism Baptisms are held on Saturdays by appointment or the 2nd & 4th Sundays of the month. Please contact Rita Danhardt for additional information.

Matrimony Please contact the Parish Office at least one year in ad-vance of desired date and prior to making any arrange-ments for the wedding reception.

Confirmation Please contact Rita Danhardt for information. Confirmation is conferred in the Tenth Grade.

R.C.I.A. If you feel you are being called to join the Catholic Church, please contact Rita Danhardt.

Anointing of the Sick Please inform the Parish Office about parishioners who need this sacrament as soon as their illness becomes seri-ous or before surgery.

Holy Orders If you believe you are being called by God to serve the Church as a priest, deacon or religious brother or sister, contact Fr. Solomon.

“Guard the good treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in

us.” (2 Tim 1:14) “Guard the good treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in

us.” (2 Tim 1:14)

From the Administrator’s Desk…….

As we continue in lockdown the world is slowly changing. There are physical changes (there is grass growing in St. Peter’s Square!) and there are spiritual ones as well. Below is an article from Bishop Barron on what might seem like a technical point, but I think the distinction he makes is help-ful. This article isn’t an attempt to pick political sides nor slander anyone, but merely to point out that subtleties in language do speak to an underlying philosophy. Bishop Barron shows that even everyday good is connected to God. That doesn’t mean that everyday evil is, that’s what God allows, not what He desires, but that’s for another arti-cle. Know of my prayers as we continue through this and hopefully we’ll be able to open church soon, even if it’s just for visits initially.

Governor Cuomo and God’s Noncompetitive Transcendence

Bishop Robert Barron 22 April 2020

Last week, Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York, made a rather interesting theological observation. Com-menting on the progress that his state has made in fighting the coronavirus, and praising the concrete efforts of medical personnel and ordinary citizens, he said, “The number is down because we brought the number down. God did not do that. Faith did not do that.” I won’t waste a lot of time exploring the hubris of that remark, which should be obvi-ous to anyone. I might recommend, out of pastoral concern, that the governor read the first part of Genesis chapter eleven. What I will do instead is explain the basic intellectual confu-sion that undergirds Cuomo’s assertion, one that, I fear, is shared even by many believers. The condition for the possi-bility of the governor’s declaration is the assumption that God is one competitive cause among many, one actor jos-tling for position and time upon the stage with a coterie of other actors. On this reading, God does certain things—usually of a rather spectacular nature—and creaturely causes do other things, usually more mundane. Thus, we can clearly parcel out responsibility and credit—some to God and some to finite agents. But this account is deeply unbiblical and alien to the Catholic theological tradition. To understand the scriptural sense of the play between di-vine and human causality, it is helpful to consult the cycle of stories dealing with King David in first and second Samuel. What strikes the attentive reader is that nothing obviously “supernatural” takes place in these accounts. Practically everything that happens to David could be adequately ac-counted for on psychological, historical, military, or political grounds. However, throughout the narrative, God’s activity and involvement are assumed, for the author takes for granted the principle that the true God works not typically in an interruptive way but precisely through a congeries of secondary causes.

Mind you, it is not the case that some explanations of David’s story are political or psychological and some prop-erly theological; rather, everything is, at once, natural and supernatural—precisely because God’s causality is operat-ing noncompetitively, on a qualitatively different level than creaturely causality. If you want a one-liner summary of this distinctively biblical perspective, you could not do better than this, from the prophet Isaiah: “O Lord, it is you who have accomplished all that we have done” (Isa. 26:12). Now, why should this be true? Here it would be helpful to turn to the Church’s greatest theologian, St. Thomas Aqui-nas. For Thomas, God is not the supreme being (ens sum-mum in his Latin), but rather ipsum esse subsistens, which means “the sheer act of to be itself.” In a word, God is not one more instance of the genus “being,” one thing, however exalted, among others; instead, he is the self-explaining source of existence as such, that great font of being in and through which all finite things subsist and act. Therefore, God does not compete for space, so to speak, on the same ontological grid as creatures; a zero-sum game does not obtain in regard to God’s activity and creaturely activity—the more we ascribe to one, the less we have to ascribe to the other. Allow me to ground this rather abstract rhetoric with a very homely example. If one were to ask what is necessary to make a bicycle, the response would be something like this: “tires, brake pads, a chain, a metal frame, the skill of the builder, perhaps a schematic to guide the building process, etc.” No one would ever be tempted to respond as follows: “tires, brake pads, a chain, God, a metal frame, the skill of the builder, etc.” And yet, a smart religious person, upon finishing the project of constructing that bike, would quite legitimately say, “Thank God!” The prayer would be a hum-ble acknowledgement, not that God in a fussily invasive way interfered with the building process, but that God is responsible for the entire nexus of causes and behaviors that made up the process. The upshot is that the two di-mensions of causality—one finite and the other transcen-dent—operate simultaneously and noncompetitively: “You have accomplished all that we have done.” All of which brings me back to Governor Cuomo. To claim that “God did not do that” because we did it is simply a category mistake. What brought the coronavirus numbers down? It is perfectly accurate to say, “The skill of doctors and nurses, the availability of hospital beds, the willingness of so many to shelter in place, etc.” But it is also perfectly valid to say that God brought those numbers down, pre-cisely by grounding the entire complex of creaturely causal-ity just referenced. This relationship holds at the metaphysi-cal level, but it is perhaps even clearer when it comes to the psychological motivation of those dedicated physicians and nurses. Why ultimately were they willing to do what they did? I would be willing to bet a large percentage of them would say that it was a desire to serve others and to be pleasing to God. So we should thank all of the good people involved in bet-tering our current situation, and we shouldn’t hesitate, even for a moment, to thank God as well. There is absolutely no need to play the zero-sum game proposed by the governor of New York.

SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER Our friends at the Grace Center who help expectant mothers and their newborns is having their annual Bottles of Blessings campaign starting on Mother’s Day through Father’s Day. Unfortunately, nothing is normal this year so instead of

handing out bottles after Mass, we are asking that, if you still would like to do something for the Grace Center you forward a donation to the Grace Center 10226 Old Ocean City Blvd.. #2, Berlin, MD 21811. Thank you for your generosity!

Keep an eye out for your Raffle En-velopes. They wwere mailed out last week. This year we continue with the 50/50 Raffle for our Christmas Bazaar, however, this year, the tick-ets are $5 each and 5 for $20. If you

do not receive a packet and want to participate, please call Donna at the office 410-289-0652 X10 and let us know and we will get them out to you. Thank you so much for your support of your parish.

A MISCONCEPTION AMONG some Catholics is that the priest has an ideal job: he works one day each week, Sunday. They forget that the other six days a week, the priest works long and hard behind the scenes: bringing com-munion to the sick and elderly, counseling

troubled families, visiting school classes, preparing individu-als for sacraments. Often the job is frustrating, exhausting and thankless, but always of vital importance. Take some time this week and express appreciation to your priests for the difficult work they do If you think God is calling you to be a priest, religious or deacon, contact Fr. Norm Car-ro l l vocat ions@cdow.org 302-573-3113 www.vocations@cdow.org

It’s Safe, It’s Simple, It’s Convenient!

Support our parish today using your debit or credit card or checking or savings account. 1. Visit www.stmarystaroftheseaocmd.com,

choose donate section and press “Click here to donate online”.

2. Select the collection or event of your choice.

3. Set up donation payment.

That’s It!!

Readings for the week of May 17, 2020 Sunday: Acts 8:5-8, 14-17/Ps 66:1-3, 4-5, 6-7, 16, 20 [1]/1 Pt 3:15-18/Jn 14:15-21 Monday: Acts 16:11-15/Ps 149:1b-2, 3-4, 5-6a and 9b [cf. 4a]/Jn 15:26—16:4a Tuesday: Acts 16:22-34/Ps 138:1-2ab, 2cde-3, 7c-8 [7c]/Jn 16:5-11 Wednesday: Acts 17:15, 22—18:1/Ps 148:1-2, 11-12, 13, 14/Jn 16:12-15 Thursday: Acts 18:1-8/Ps 98:1, 2-3ab, 3cd-4 [cf. 2b]/Jn 16:16-20 Ascension: Acts 1:1-11/Ps 47:2-3, 6-7, 8-9 [6]/Eph 1:17-23/Mt 28:16-20 Friday: Acts 18:9-18/Ps 47:2-3, 4-5, 6-7 [8a]/Jn 16:20-23 Saturday: Acts 18:23-28/Ps 47:2-3, 8-9, 10 [8a]/Jn 16:23b-28 Next Sunday: Ascension: Acts 1:1-11/Ps 47:2-3, 6-7, 8-9 [6]/Eph 1:17-23/Mt 28:16-20 7th Sunday of Easter: Acts 1:12-14/Ps 27:1, 4, 7-8 [13]/1 Pt 4:13-16/Jn 17:1-11a

2020 Annual Catholic Appeal – Seeing Christ in the Faces of Others In today’s Gospel, Jesus says to His disciples, “If you love me, you will keep my command-ments”. Scripture teaches us that serving Christ is a fundamental part of our Catholic faith and that serving the Lord means serving others. When we give of ourselves on behalf of others, the

Holy Spirit works through us and Jesus is served. In these continuing difficult times, it becomes clearer that our role as Church is more critical than ever in helping those in need. Bearing witness to poverty, illness and injus-tice and responding in the spirit of Christ are the hallmarks of the many ministries supported by the Annual Catholic Appeal. For those of you who have given to this year’s Appeal, thank you for your generosity. For those who have not, please prayerfully consider supporting this important effort. To learn more about the Annual Catholic Appeal, visit www.cdow.org/annualcatholicappeal. Be sure to view the brief video offering moving testimony from recipients of fea-tured Appeal supported ministries. A direct link to video can be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80gz5V5VaH8&t=2s.

MASS INTENTIONS

Sharing the Gospel If you love Jesus, you will do what he asks. If someone hurts your feelings, Jesus asks you to forgive. If some-one is hard to get along with, Jesus asks you to show love. If someone is sick, Jesus asks you to pray. Learn from Jesus. Follow his example. Love all people like God does. Prayer Jesus, help me to love you enough to do all that you ask. Something to Draw Draw a picture of yourself forgiving someone who hurt your feelings. Mission for the Week Make cards for the sick. Remind them how much Jesus loves them. ©2007 - PO Box 510817, New Berlin, WI 53151-0817 - 1-800-950-9952 x2469 - LPiResourceCenter.com

May 16 Holy Savior Saturday 5:15pm Carlo DiFilippo May 17 Holy Savior Sunday 10:00a.m. Parishioners

May 18 Monday 8:30am Mary Rosso May 19 Tuesday 8:30am Joe Elmo May 20 Wednesday 8:30am Rose Marie Robets May 21 Thursday 8:30am Helen Pirone May 22 Friday No Mass May 23 Holy Savior Saturday 5:15pm Carlo DiFilippo May 24 Holy Savior Sunday 10:00a.m. Parishioners

Although Masses are not open to the public at this time, Fr. Solomon will celebrate Mass each day for the intentions stated above. Mass is streamed live on our Facebook page and can be viewed later as well. The intentions from the 7 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. Masses will be celebrated by Fr. Solomon privately as time allows. If he cannot celebrate them all in a reasonable time frame, other priests will celebrate the Masses for those intentions.

If you would like a Sanctuary Candle lit for the week for a special intention or in memory of a loved one, please contact the parish office. A donation of $10.00 is appreciated. The candle this week is in loving memory of Rose Roberts from Kay Biondi

Don’t forget this easy opportu-nity to help your parish while you are shopping on line. All you need to do is click on Amazon

Smile and choose St. Mary Star of the Sea in Ocean City, MD and we will get a percentage of the money that you are spending. With so many stores closed this is a great oppor-tunity to help yourself and help us.

SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

We had a beautiful visit this week with our first Communi-

cants! Father Solomon spent some time speaking with

each child, socially distanced of course, and then gave

them each a beautiful blessing! In this confusing time, it

was so awesome to get to see their beautiful faces and to

hear about how their days are being filled with time with

their parents and brothers and sisters! It was also a joy to

remind them how much they mean to us and how much we

love them! We left them with a basket filled few small trin-

kets and the materials to make the banners we will use

when we get to celebrate with them! As of today’s writing,

we still have three more children to visit…I will share their

pictures next week! So, as you continue to prayer remem-

ber our young ones who are waiting so patiently and joyfully

to join us at the table! We are anxiously waiting with you!

Praying for Teaghan, Alessia, Nicolas, Beau, Nate,

Lorenzo, Ellie, Kylee, Lilly, Adam, Brooks and Yaretzi!

DivineMercyArt.org

E RESOURCEFrom the desk of Kathy Manns, Principal…

As I sit in on interactive and remote learning in-struction, I am thankful to our MBS teachers. Most Blessed Sacrament School is truly blessed for having the hardest working teachers, dedi-cated to academic excellence, teachers who model the virtues of faith and integrity while de-veloping life-long learners and leaders. I am im-pressed with the instruction that is being given, the hard work the students are putting in and the continual presence of their faith.

We are currently accepting enrollment applica-tions for the 2020-2021 school year for students entering pre-K 3 through eighth grade. There are limited openings throughout our grades and we want to first extend this information to our sup-porting parishes. Mrs. Amanda Evans, our Direc-tor of Admissions and Advancement, would love to walk you through the enrollment process and help you make a Catholic school education a vi-able reality. Mrs. Evans can be reached at 302-236-6703 or at aevans@mbscs.org. It is a great time to be an MBS Dolphin!

Please join us on Facebook every morning at 9:00 am for our MBS Morning Announcements and Prayers, Tuesday evenings at 7:15 pm for Tuesday Tales, a story and prayer before bed, and Friday evening at 7:00 pm to pray the Sor-rowful Mystery of the Rosary. All are welcome!

Have a wonderful week, stay safe God Bless our families!

Kathy Manns

THIRTY THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

FINANCE COUNCIL NEWS

Monthly Budget Update 7/1/19 – 3/31/20

Total Actual Revenue $532,212 Total Budgeted Revenue $529,411 Revenue Surplus $ 2,801

Total Actual Expenses $598,080 Total Budgeted Expenses $578,495 Expense Deficit $ -19,585

Actual Net Loss $ -65,868 Budgeted Net Loss $ -49,084 Net Income Deficit $ -16,784

Thank you for your continuing support!

Electronic Giving

Electronic giving (called WeShare) is the preferred way to make your weekly offertory. By giving electronically, it relieves the need for about 6 parishioners to count money every Sunday (about 10 hours total). Furthermore, the parish could eventually save money on envelope printing and mailing and you would not have to write checks. The Finance Council would also be able to budget more efficiently. Please consider making the switch; it is safe and secure. Cards are avail-able in the back of church with instructions to join WeShare and have your offering sent electronically. If you need assis-tance setting this up, please don’t hesitate to call the parish office (410-289-0652). Thank you for your continuing support.

Tax Free Charitable Distribution

Need a tax break? Congress has permanently enacted qualified charitable distributions from your traditional IRA accounts. These distributions can be used to satisfy all or a portion of your Required Minimum Distribution and are free of federal and state income tax. Also, these gifts help you avoid the Medicare high income surcharge and can help reduce your income taxes on your social secu-rity benefits. Distributions must be made directly from your IRA ac-count to St. Mary Star of the Sea Catholic Church. For questions, contact the parish office at 410-289-0652

“GO FUND ME” Capital Campaign Site

Please tell your family, friends, and neighbors and/or post on social media that St. Mary’s Star of the Sea has a Go Fund Me page to help us finance the Ex-panding Our Home capital campaign. This project not only expands and renovates historic St. Mary’s Church, but also improves Ocean City’s downtown. Please post this link on your social media sites. https://www.gofundme.com/f/expanding-our-home

Weekly Collections (Incl Electronic) First Collection 2020 2019 May:2nd Sunday $6,770 $12,614 May:1st Sunday $7,848 $ 8,854 Apr: 4th Sunday $5,243 $ 6,741 Second Collection May:2nd Sunday $ 498 $ 2,363 May 1st Sunday $ 166 $ 1,873 Apr: 4th Sunday $ 185 $ 2,531 Special Collections May:2nd Sunday $ 995 $ 2,301 May 1st Sunday $1,273 $ 1,770 Apr: 4th Sunday $ 595 $ 946 Total Collections May:2nd Sunday $8,263 $17,278 May 1st Sunday $9,287 $12,444 Apr: 4th Sunday $6,023 $10,218 Total $23,573 $39,940 41% Decrease