Youth Activities

Just a few notes on upcoming events:

First Reconciliation retreat and celebration is Dec. 5th at 9:30 am in the Cathedral.

CLOW and PSR classes will resume on December 6th.

There will be a Youth Christmas Party and white elephant gift exchange on December 6th in the gym. Price of admission will be a hygiene item for donation to Sammy’s Window.

The Confirmation Retreat is scheduled for Dec. 13th at C.C.M. It will be an all day retreat. The cost for the retreat is $25. A permission slip is required. Questions: email ibounds@sta-cathedral or call the office 831-3565 ext. 107.

If you reserved an advent Kit and have not yet picked it up, please do so at the Parish office.

HOW YOUR MONEY FOR THE POOR HAS BEEN SPENT

In the past month, through the St Vincent de Paul organization and our parish, at least $1800 has been spent to help 10 households with utility payments. Generally each household is helped no more often than once every 6 months. 17 gas vouchers were given out, 120 bus passes were given to the Well of Life for people to use if they have a doctor or work related appt. One person was helped with lodging. This is in addition to at least $500 a month that is given both to Well of Life and Crosslines for food purchases. Having these two organizations help the poor in this way, takes the burden off our church; we wouldn’t have room for an inventory of food anyway. Also our parish provides funds for 40 laundry vouchers for the poor each month and another $200 to help with the Breaking Bread Project at Grace United Methodist Church where two evening meals a week are provided. I have been taking used winter clothes over there as they come in, and will be taking some stocking caps, gloves and socks to Connecting Grounds this week.

You will be seeing my usual requests for the poor during Advent. Please help if you are able. Thank you for your generosity.

From the Pastor’s Desk:

Why do we go to Church? Why do we give money in the collection basket? Why did I choose to be a priest, giving up the choice to have a family? The answers to these questions are found in Jesus and what He told the Apostles and Disciples as He ascended, “Go and make disciples.”

The Church exists to go and make disciples of Jesus Christ. Anything we do that does not fit into that purpose is outside our mission and is a waste of time and money. If people are in a relationship with Jesus, the church’s mission is to help them grow closer to Him. If people do not know Jesus or have grown away from Him, it is the Church’s mission to introduce or reintroduce them to Jesus Christ. For people who already are on the discipleship path, it means helping them to go deeper in their relationship with Jesus Christ.

The Acts of the Apostles describes the church as a movement that “turned the world upside down.” The Church exists to be a movement establishing the kingdom of God in people’s minds and hearts and to manifest itself concretely in our world. To be a movement, the church must move, never to be satisfied. When we think of church we so often think of buildings, but church is the people of God. St. Agnes Cathedral can be destroyed in a tornado, but unless every single member of parish was inside and were killed, the church of St. Agnes would continue. Since we are the church, the people of God, it means that the people have to move into a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ.

When we read the Gospel, we find people coming to Jesus because they wanted something from Him: they came to hear him speak, they came to be healed, and they came because family or friends needed his help. They were simply consumers, focused on their needs. Even the apostles didn’t follow Jesus because they looked to him or believed in his mission. He was a rabbi who taught with authority and they felt good about themselves and he was popular. They were focused on being on Jesus’s left and right when he was made king. Even at the Last Supper the Apostles were arguing about who was the greatest.

Today with the virus rampaging through our country the Church’s mission is much harder to live out. Here at St. Agnes we are working in the school as well as in the church to be as safe as possible with the wearing of masks as well as the sanitizing. We are also trying to the best of our abilities to meet the sacramental needs of the people in these uncertain times. Our parishes exist to help move people to develop their own personal relationship with Jesus Christ, taking ownership of their own faith, and then, out of that relationship, taking ownership of the mission of the church to go and make disciples. And all of this is strengthened by uniting around the Eucharistic table on Sundays and being fed with the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.

Let us keep in prayer all those suffering from COVID-19.

ADVENT ACTIVITY KIT

Due to COVID 19 and being unable to meet as a parish for Advent Fair Activities or Breakfast With Santa etc, The Faith Formation program of St. Agnes Cathedral is offering an Advent Kit for families of

The Connecting Grounds Outreach Center

at 3000 W. Chestnut Expressway is looking for some help for the homeless:

 Volunteers to hand out hand warmers, blankets, coffee, gloves and hats to the homeless between Oct. 25-Mar 31 in the evenings.

 People to prepare and/or serve meals at the Outreach Center.

 You can join the TCG Outreach Volunteers Facebook, or theconnectinggrounds.com to learn more.

 Donate items such a gloves, bus passes, cups with lids, sleeping bags, hand warmers, socks, blankets and sweatshirts. Bring them to the church office. I will see that these are dropped off at the Center.

Thank you, Sr. Elizabeth Ann

MERCY IN A COVID TIME

COVID continues and continuing to follow the necessary guidelines for safety is sometimes wearying. I was thinking it would be a wholesome idea to add a new corporal/spiritual work of Mercy to your practices: Calling people whom we know are alone and staying at home. We have seen how small a world can become. You might set a goal of phoning one person a week and four different people a month. These could be relatives, or former co-workers or people you know from church. You may never know how much this means to the other person.

Sr. Elizabeth Ann

SECOND COLLECTION FOR CATHOLIC CHARITIES

Next Sunday, Nov. 22, is the annual Second Collection to support the work of Catholic Charities of Southern Missouri (CCSOMO). Thousands of individuals and families turn to CCSOMO every year for help. Due to COVID, the number of those CCSOMO is serving has increased dramatically-many have never before needed assistance.

CCSOMO responds to all with Christ-like compassion in the name of our entire Catholic community. Please be a partner this year by making a generous donation to the Second Collection in support of CCSOMO. This collection is an opportunity for Catholics throughout our diocese to unite to Reach Out, Provide Hope and Change Lives.

From the Pastor’s Desk:

Our government, along with the Supreme Court, seems to want to rewrite 3000 years of the Jewish/Christian understanding of marriage, and morality. What is morality? I was taught, granted 39 years ago, that morality is the rightness or wrongness of one’s actions. Within our Jewish/Christian background our morality is guided by the 10 Commandments, the Bible, and 2000 years of Christian teachings. Much of the Western World seems to want to rewrite the guiding principles of morality today.

Many human actions, which may be freely chosen, will always be unacceptable. These actions are referred to as “intrinsic evils” and are immoral regardless of circumstance. “I did not want to hurt their feelings, so I told a little white lie.” First of all, lies are not colored, according to the 8th Commandment it is either the truth or not. A person in a sad marriage without any physical contact, having physical relations with someone not their spouse is committing adultery. The list and the examples can go on endlessly. If we would but follow God’s 10 Commandments, the world would be a much better place.

Morality itself is, by its very nature, a code of black and white. Fixed moral values must always guide our decisions. If we begin to play the game of “gray” areas, the whole fabric of society begins to unravel. Robin Hood robbed from the rich and gave to the poor, but the 7th Commandment says, “do not steal”, it doesn’t say except from the rich. In the eyes of much of the world’s population Americans are all rich, therefore, it would be ok to come to our country and take whatever they wanted.

In rewriting what is marriage, our court system, and our governmental leaders are setting Christianity, as well as Judaism, and Islamism to the sideline and are stating they know better than the major world religions. When governments seek to trump what the major religions of the world believe, teach, and have held from their foundation, then those governments are seeking to take the role of religion itself. Study history, the human race never seems to learn from the past, thus we repeat the same mistakes.

It took Judaism and Christianity many centuries to come to the understanding that marriage needs to be between one man and one woman. We cannot allow modern society to form our conscience. Neither can we allow politicians or even courts of law to form our conscience. All of these change as the winds of time blow. For years our society has been driven by the news media, and Hollywood. It has become a society that centers around the “me, myself, and I” attitude. We have become a society that has spent our children’s future so we do not have to go without. We do not need everything shown on television, we do not need to continue to have the biggest, fastest, and newest of everything.

Pope Francis has been criticized with his stance of CIVIL UNION for gay couples, notice, that is not marriage. That is simply legal union giving them rights under the law. Civil union has nothing to do with the Sacrament of Matrimony. Stated by Canon Law, marriage takes place between a man and woman with the possibility of producing children. In France a couple must have a civil union before they can have a sacramental church marriage (separation of church and state). I have been asked if the Pope’s statement causes me concern, “No because for 4,000 years of human history marriage has been between men and women, a civil union is a legality for two people as I understand it.”

ADVENT ACTIVITY KIT

Due to COVID 19 and being unable to meet as a parish for Advent Fair Activities or Breakfast With Santa etc, The Faith Formation program of St. Agnes Cathedral is offering an Advent Kit for families of the parish. The kit will include supplies to make an advent wreath for your home. an Advent calendar, crafts, daily meditations and special activities to make the Advent season more meaningful for your families. This is also a great resource for all families, even grandparents who may wish to do something memorable with grandchildren. We do ask that you call the parish office 831-3565 to reserve a kit or email Iris at ibounds@sta-cathedral.org. Advent is fast approaching so we will have pickup Sunday, November 22nd through November 24th. Let's make the Advent season special even with the pandemic!

MERCY IN A COVID TIME

COVID continues and continuing to follow the necessary guidelines for safety is sometimes wearying. I was thinking it would be a wholesome idea to add a new corporal/spiritual work of Mercy to your practices: Calling people whom we know are alone and staying at home. We have seen how small a world can become. You might set a goal of phoning one person a week and four different people a month. These could be relatives, or former co-workers or people you know from church. You may never know how much this means to the other person.

Sr. Elizabeth Ann

Youth Activities

Upcoming Youth Service Project "Feeding the Hungry" Sat, Nov 14th, 10 AM-1:00 PM St. Agnes Cafeteria. Youth are needed to help prepare lunch boxes and hygiene packets for the unsheltered in our area. We will put together the food and hygiene items from 10 AM- 12:00 PM and serve outside under the tent from 12:00-1:00 PM. Masks are required! Gloves will be provided. Great service project for our Confirmation candidates. Contact Iris or Sister Grace for more details ibounds@sta-cathedral.org.

From the Pastor’s Desk::

In 1979, two years before I was ordained, St. Pope John Paul II in his homily in Washington DC stated: “I do not hesitate to proclaim before you and before the world that all human life, from the moment of conception and through all subsequent stages is sacred, because human life is created in the image and likeness of God. Nothing surpasses the greatness or the dignity of a human person.” Later in his homily he continued, “All human beings ought to value every person for his or her uniqueness as a creature of God, called to be a brother or sister of Christ….And so, we will stand up every time that human life is threatened.” He concluded by stating, “Everything aimed at banishing discrimination, in law or in fact, is a service to life. When the rights of minorities are fostered, when the mentally or physically handicapped are assisted, when those on the margin of society are given a voice, in all these instances the dignity of life and the sacredness of human life are furthered.

As I stated at the beginning of my letter, this was from a homily in 1979 and we are still struggling as a country and church to put into practice a culture of life. A culture of life which begins with protecting the unborn, but just as important is protecting children once they are born with adequate food, housing and medical care, to protecting the immigrant, the homeless and the elderly.

Throughout my life the rights of the individual have been held as a high standard, so much so, that now when the community suffers as a whole, too many individuals still do what they want, stating, “No one is going to tell me what to do.” There was a comic in the newspaper a few weeks ago which stated it well: It showed London during WWII, with all the windows blacked out except one, where a man in the window stated, “no one is going to tell me to black out my windows”, as bombs rained down. As I write this letter, the United States have had 228,590 deaths from Covid 19; the next country closest to us with Covid deaths is Brazil with 157,226. Lack of consideration for each other has led to more deaths because so many have lost sight of the common good which recognizes my rights end where everyone else’s begin.

We have open mass intentions in November. If you would like to schedule a mass for a beloved dead please contact the parish office at 831-3565.

HELP FOR OUR NEIGHBORS

St. Vincent DePaul Society of St Agnes parish has helped many people in the past with their utility bills to keep them from being shut off. City Utilities is now sending out many shut-off notices that have been delayed because of the virus epidemic. We are concerned due to the weather extremes that many of the elderly or otherwise compromised will be severely impacted. Thank you for your past support but with additional support we would be able to expand our help in this situation. Thank you for any help you may be able to give.

ENTERING THE HOSPITAL OR….?

Due to Covid restrictions we are unable to freely visit hospitals or nursing homes. If someone is seriously ill or dying at Cox, Fr. Allen of our parish can be notified by the family or one of the chaplains at Cox (417)269-6000. At Mercy, Fr. Jerome is the chaplain and can be called Sunday through Thursday by going through Mercy (417) 820-2000 to reach the chaplain on call. On Friday or Saturday the chaplain on call can call Fr. Colby Elbert.

Please notify the front desk or Sister Elizabeth Ann if you have a relative going to the hospital or a nursing facility and want their names put on the parish prayer line, and/or the sick list in the bulletin. (417) 831-3565.

Volunteer Outreach

The Connecting Grounds Outreach Center at 3000 W. Chestnut Expressway is looking for some help for the homeless:

 Volunteers to hand out hand warmers, blankets, coffee, gloves and hats to the homeless between Oct. 25-Mar 31 in the evenings.

 People to prepare and/or serve meals at the Outreach Center.

 You can join the TCG Outreach Volunteers Facebook, or theconnectinggrounds.com to learn more.

 Donate items such a gloves, bus passes, cups with lids, sleeping bags, hand warmers, socks, blankets and sweatshirts. Bring them to the church office. I will see that these are dropped off at the Center.

Thank you, Sr. Elizabeth Ann

From the Pastor’s Desk:

The last eight months have been terrifying in their own real-life ways and now Halloween is this coming weekend. It is a fun night for young people as well as for many adults. Parents want to let their kids celebrate, yet many are rightfully concerned, many cities are hoping to continue with holiday traditions to boost residents' spirits while many have cancelled events. At the same time medical experts caution that the threat of coronavirus still looms. I am disappointed, as many of you are, to know that many of our favorite events both secular and church have not and cannot take place this year. Each of us need to do our part to help protect one another and prevent the spread of COVID-19 in our parishes and in Springfield. With that said, do we hang our costumes back in the closet for another year or do we work to find a safe way to have Halloween fun? That is the question many are asking. In all the guidelines I have read wear masks, small groups under 6, outside, stay apart, hand sanitize over and over, possibly let your candy set or wipe it down. Many of these things we should be doing in our normal life. Perhaps this would be a good year to celebrate and understand the meaning behind the Halloween mania that has swept the country in the past years. Remembering saints and martyrs and dedicating a specific day to them each year has been a Christian tradition since the 4th century. In 609, Pope Boniface IV decided to remember all martyrs and originally May 13th was designated as the Feast of All Holy Martyrs. We know that Pope Gregory IV in 835 moved the commemoration of martyrs from May 13th to November 1st and extended the celebration to include all the saints, changing the name to the Feast of All Saints. The night before became known as All Hallows Eve, or “holy evening,” and eventually it became Halloween. Whether Pope Gregory was trying to simulate festivals of the pagan peoples of Ireland and England in order to attract them into the church will always be up for debate. There are no medieval writings which tell that the pagan peoples of these lands gathered and celebrated a major Celtic festival on the eve of winter. In contrast New Year was a huge pagan celebration. However, it was the Irish farmers living in Ireland hundreds of years ago which prepared for the All Saints Day and the following All Souls Day the night before, by going door-to-door collecting food and goods for a village feast and bonfire. Those who contributed were promised prosperity; those who didn’t received threats of bad luck. And yes you are right, the Irish Catholics who immigrated in the 1800’s brought this practice of “trick-or-treating” with them. The rest is the great United States use of advertising and commercialism. Next to Christmas, Halloween is the largest “money maker holiday” for businesses. Unfortunately our society has turned a night of prayer and celebration into one of haunted houses, witches and ghosts.

Volunteer Outreach

The Connecting Grounds Outreach Center at 3000 W. Chestnut Expressway is looking for some help for the homeless: • Volunteers to hand out hand warmers, blankets, coffee, gloves and hats to the homeless between Oct. 25-Mar 31 in the evenings. • People to prepare and/or serve meals at the Outreach Center. • You can join the TCG Outreach Volunteers Facebook, or theconnectinggrounds.com to learn more. • Donate items such a gloves, bus passes, cups with lids, sleeping bags, hand warmers, socks, blankets and sweatshirts. Bring them to the church office. I will see that these are dropped off at the Center. Thank you, Sr. Elizabeth Ann

Congratulations Sr. Elizabeth Ann

Sr. Elizabeth Ann Weiler renewed her vows after 60 years as an Adorer of the Blood of Christ on Saturday, Oct 24th at the 5:00 PM Mass. Sister also celebrates 10 years with St. Agnes Cathedral Parish. Because of Covid, we have been unable to have a celebration to thank Sister for her vocation and her service to our parish. We would love for parishioners to send cards of congratulations to Sister Elizabeth here at the parish office. Sister asks that no one send gifts, but instead humbly requests that any monetary donations be made to the St. Agnes Cathedral Building Fund for the building of a new parish center. Thanks to you Sister for your service and many blessings for the future.

Youth Activities

Join us for "A Night Out With the Saints" Sunday, Nov. 1st from 6:00-8:00 PM in the St. Agnes Gym. Come dressed as your favorite saint; Most authentic costume receives a prize; Go on a Saint Scavenger Hunt and share your knowledge of the saints in "The Saint Trivia Game" . There will also be a wiffle ball game between the "Saints" and the "Angels". Food and drink provided. No Cost, all are welcome! Please everyone, wear your masks!!!!

From the Pastor’s Desk:

My letter this week is going to be a mix of several different topics. First of all I want to express my sincere gratitude to God for Sr. Elizabeth’s vocation as a professed Sister of the Adorers of the Blood of Christ. On July 1, 1960 she made her first profession, with her final vows taken on July 1 of 1965. Her ministry in the church has been varied; from elementary teacher, parish organist, nurse, vocation director of the Ruma Province. The last 10 years Sr. Elizabeth has served as coordinator of ministry here at St. Agnes Cathedral, Saturday evening organist, along with Catholic Ministry at South Cox Hospital these last four years. We celebrate Sr. Elizabeth’s 60th anniversary. On October 10 at a Mass at the Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, a young Italian computer whiz kid who died of leukemia at the age of 15 offering his suffering for the pope and the Church was beatified. With the beatification of Carlo Acutis the catholic Church has its first Saint who loved Super Mario and Pokemon, but not as much as he loved the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. At the age of seven, Carlo wrote, “To be always united with Jesus, this is my life program.” Carlo was an ordinary boy, simple, spontaneous, likeable, he loved nature and animals, he played football, he had many friends of his age. Like many young people, he was attracted by modern means of social communication. He was passionate about computer science and, self-taught, he built websites to transmit the Gospel, to communicate values and beauty. One of Carlo’s most significant computer ventures was cataloguing all the Eucharistic miracles of the world. He started the project when he was 11 years old and wrote at the time, “The more Eucharist we receive, the more we will become like Jesus, so that on this earth we will have a foretaste of Heaven. Love for the Eucharist was the foundation that kept alive his relationship with God. He often said ‘The Eucharist is my highway to heaven.” Carlo died on October 12, 2006. The Church will celebrate his feast day on October 12. In the October 2nd addition of the Mirror, was an article covering Pope Francis’s releasing of his apostolic letter on Sacred Scripture. In his letter, the Holy Father wrote on the history of St. Jerome’s life and his love of the Scriptures. In my homily on September 30th I also spoke to our students of St. Jerome’s great work of translating the Old Testament from Hebrew, into Latin as well as showing his huge commentary on the scriptures. In his letter Pope Francis urged people to read the Bible, the inspired word of God. Just a reminder: I will never email you with a request for gift cards! This is a scam. The thieves that do this are very active this time of year.

PURIFIED

"Purified" An event for families (Ages 13+) Tuesday, Dec 1st to be held at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton from 7-9 PM. The speaker for the evening will be Jason Evert, a bestselling author who has brought the message of chastity to more than one million people on six continents. Tickets are $20 per person. For a limited time, buy 2 tickets, get 1 free. Seats will be limited so order tickets as soon as possible. For ticket information call 417-866-0841.