CONGRATULATIONS!

Michael Emmaus, son of Gary and Kelly Herman was baptized on Saturday, June 6th here at St. Agnes Cathedral. Michael was born on June 17th, 2020. Fr. Michael McDevitt officiated at Baptism. Congratulations and welcome to our St. Agnes Cathedral family.

From the Pastor’s Desk:

The transfer of priests next month was front page news in the mirror. I hope people can see and understand how few of us there are and how stretched we have become. I know this is God’s Church and He has asked us to pray that the harvest master would send more for the harvest. It is not good for a priest to celebrate multiple, multiple Masses and that comes from Canon Law as well as from my own experience. When I celebrate the 3rd mass in a row without a clear break it becomes very draining physically as well as emotionally and spiritually. As celebrant I put my whole self into leading the congregation in worship. I do not want to be a robot going through the motions.

Since the Mirror came I have been having questions concerning the titles of the different priests, so I will try and explain the three different titles. A Parochial Administrator is a priest that has the Administrative Authority in the parish. He is not a pastor, he is only the administrator. He has the same duties and authority as a pastor, however the bishop may place him under a neighboring pastor as he becomes accustomed to the dioceses and parish life. (Many of our foreign priests have been parochial administrators and have been named pastor this year).

Fr. Allen is a Parochial Victor. He is assigned to St. Agnes as my co-worker with all the sacramental authority under my guidance. In our Diocese newly ordained priests are usually given two assignments under the direction of two different pastors to experience two different styles of ministry.

It is hard emotionally and spiritually for priests to transfer to a different parish. After years of service, getting to know people, building a support group; a priest leaves all behind to begin all over again. It is hard for a parish to watch their pastor move to a different parish. Transfers take place to meet the needs of parishes and of the diocese.

I ask that you please keep all of the priests of our Diocese, along with our Bishop in prayer as we strive to meet the Sacramental needs of the people and still take the time to care for our own spiritual and physical needs. Masses of convenience, or parishes with masses of low attendance need to be consolidated to better meet the needs of all the people as well as presenting the best liturgies as possible without burning priests out.

UPDATING CHURCH MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION

It is time to update our database with any changes, additions, or deletions that may have occurred in your family over the past year. If you have not already informed our office of phone number changes, address changes, and e-mail address changes (will not be published in the book), please do so by June 15, 2021. You may call 417-831-3565 or send an e-mail to eschatz@sta-cathedral.org. We would also like to know about children who are no longer living at home.

Also, if you have been coming to church here and have not registered in the parish, please call the office for a registration form. Or you may complete a request on-line at www.sta-cathedral.org and we will send you a registration form. There is also a small form on the inside cover of the bulletin that can be used to update our parish database or request a registration form.

SENIOR LUNCHEON

On Tuesday June 15th we will have a lunch in the Dining Room, catered by As You Like it. Cost is $5 which will be donated to the Building Fund. We will seat fewer people at the tables than usual. We plan to do this once a month during the summer. You must sign up in the parish office so we know how much food to order. 831-3565.

We ask that you come only if you are vaccinated. ~ Sr. Elizabeth Ann

ST AGNES PARISH PICNIC

Sunday June 27th after the 5 pm Mass

St. Agnes will provide hamburgers and hotdogs.

Please bring a potluck dish to share!

Last names A-M bring desserts

N-Z bring a side dish

Bring a ball or lawn game to play!

Will be kicking off the “Soul Suppers” sign up

(more information to come)

Bring family, friends and loved ones!

See you there!

From the Pastor’s Desk:

On Tuesday June 1st we celebrated Justin Martyr. He was one of the early Church’s first apologists. In reading about St. Justin’s life, we find a seeker of knowledge. He was always asking questions and seeking deeper knowledge. His was an interesting journey, finding his way to the Eucharistic Table of the Lord through studying Stoicism, Peripatetism, Pythagoreanism and Platonism.

In Christianity Justin said he found the philosophy that satisfied his soul. Not only a Christian, but as an itinerant teacher, he found his way to Rome. Justin’s passion for philosophy and reason led him to call for a reasoned study and hearing for Christianity in the court system of pagan Rome.

To the emperor, Antoninus Pius, he made a serious charge: “you do not examine the charges made against us; but, yielding to unreasoning passion, and to the instigation of evil demons, you punish us without consideration or judgment.” Rather, he proclaimed, “Justice requires that you inquire into the life both of him who confesses and of him who denies, that by his deeds it may be apparent what kind of man each is”.

Justin’s claim was that a man should be respected for the value he brings to the society around him, whether he was a pagan or a Christian. With this as his starting point, Justin argued for the social value of Christians and Christianity. He made the point that Christian morality stood as a sign of contradiction against the Roman culture of selfishness, domination and sexual excess. Justin’s teaching on a number of moral topics made him an enemy to some. His strong defense of the truth and value of Christian morality ultimately sealed his fate. He was scourged and beheaded for refusing to worship the Roman gods and goddesses.

As we celebrate Corpus Christi this weekend, we can read Justin’s writings on the Mass and his defense of the Eucharistic Meal, important since the Roman courts saw the Eucharist as cannibalism. They were not studying the theology of the Mass, only the literal interpretation.

Garage Sale News:

We will still be accepting drop off items for the garage sale this weekend after all Masses. Please go to the St. Agnes gym next to the Pallotti Center. Beginning Wed, June 2nd-Wed June 9th, you will be able to drop off items in the morning from 8:00-10:00 AM or in the evening from 6:30-8:30 PM. If you need special help with dropping off items, please call the parish office at 831-3565. We also need workers during these times who will help with set up, organization and pricing. You can call the parish office to help or you can just show up one of those times to assist. We will also need workers who will be available the days of the sale. Extra help will also be needed on Sat, June 12th as we will be packing up & cleaning up. Remember, this is a great opportunity for youth to get service hours for school, Confirmation, Scouting or other programs.

Garage Sale Dates:

Thursday June 10th 6:30 -8 pm (parish and family only)

Friday June 11th 7 am -4 pm

Saturday June 12 7 am -11 am

SENIOR LUNCHEON

On June 15th I plan to have a lunch in the dining room, catered by As You Like It. Cost is $5 which will be donated to the Building Fund. We will seat fewer people at the tables than usual. Hopefully we can do this once a month during the summer. You must sign up in the parish office so I know how much food to order. 831-3565 -Sr. Elizabeth Ann

UPDATING CHURCH MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION

It is time to update our database with any changes, additions, or deletions that may have occurred in your family over the past year. If you have not already informed our office of phone number changes, address changes, and e-mail address changes (will not be published in the book), please do so by June 15, 2021. You may call 417-831-3565 or send any e-mail to eschatz@sta-cathedral.org. We would also like to know about children who are no longer living at home.

Also, if you have been coming to church here and have not registered in the parish, please call the office for a registration form. Or you may complete a request on-line at www.sta-cathedral.org and we will send you a registration form. There is also a small form on the inside cover of the bulletin that can be used to update our parish database or request a registration form.

From the Pastor’s Desk:

This weekend, but especially Monday we celebrate Memorial Day. To many it means a 3 day weekend at the lake or the beginning of the summer season. Memorial Day was born out of the Civil War a desire to honor our dead of both the North and the South

Today we hold in special memory all who have died in all our wars to keep our country free; in the Civil war, the two World Wars, Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq.

Let us also hold in memory all who have met death through senseless violence both on streets and in their homes.

We hold in memory the millions whose lives have been snuffed out through willful abortions.

We hold in memory all whose lives have been offered up on the altars of prejudice, hunger, neglect and hatred.

We hold in memory all who have been slaughtered on the highways and streets of our country.

We hold in memory all whose lives have been terminated through the lethal effects of drugs, of all types and descriptions.

We hold in memory the martyrs’ blood of the past and now the martyrs today whose blood has been shed so that others might know the love and mercy of God the Father and our Redemption through his Son, Jesus.

We hold in memory all our dear loved ones, who now share the eternal vision of glory with the Father and the joy and peace of Christ’s resurrection.

I will celebrate an 8:30 Mass in the Cathedral on Memorial Day, since the Bishop will be at Immaculate Conception and not at Resurrection Cemetery.

The second collection this week is for the Catholic Cemeteries. It is very expensive to maintain our two cemeteries. Keeping everything mowed and trimmed, trees trimmed, dead trees removed, new trees planted, etc. The concrete sidewalk/platform at the altar area near the new cross at St. Mary’s was just replaced. This collection helps to keep our Catholic Cemeteries beautiful.

Garage Sale News:

Garage Sale Updates! You may drop off your items for the garage sale beginning this weekend after weekend Masses. Please bring your items to the St. Agnes gym next to the Pallotti center. You may also drop off items in the evenings beginning Wed, June 2nd from 6:30 PM until 8:30 PM through June 9th. If you need to make alternative arrangements, please call the parish office. Please remember, we are not taking clothing this year due to space concerns. We also cannot take tires, tv's or computer monitors.

We also need volunteers: Wed evening June 2nd, 6:30 PM, we will set up additional tables so we will need help with setup. Beginning June 3rd, we will have a morning shift which begins at 7:00 AM and ends at 10:00 AM. Our evening shift will begin at 6:30 PM and go until 9:00 PM. You can call the parish office to sign up or you can feel free to join us on any day that works for you. You can work one hour or an entire shift. Volunteers are needed to setup, sort and price items. This is a great opportunity for students to get service hours for school, scouting, Confirmation or other organizations. Please call the parish office at 831-3565 if you have specific questions.

SENIORS UNLIMITED GAMES

We will begin with games at 1 p.m. on June 7th in the dining room. Since school will be out, please park behind the school and come in the hall from the west side. That way I only have to have one person at the door to let you in. Again, I ask that you come only if you are vaccinated.

-Sr. Elizabeth Ann

THANK YOU!

Dear St. Agnes Community- Thank you for all the prayers and support in my recent ordination to the Diaconate. Many thanks to Fr. Lewis, Mr. Kevin Otradovec, the Saint Agnes Bell Choir, musicians and volunteers who took time out of their normal schedules to prepare and present a beautiful Ordination ceremony. Sincerely, Jesse Hiett 1000 E Maple Drive. Mundelein, IL 60060

From the Pastor’s Desk:

This weekend in the Roman Catholic Church we celebrate one of the greatest feast days in our Liturgical calendar. Easter is at the top of the list followed by Christmas and right there is Pentecost Sunday. It comes 50 days after Easter and less than two weeks after the Ascension of Christ into the heavens. Pentecost celebrates the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles. For that reason, it is often called “the birthday of the Church.”

Pentecost Sunday is one of the most ancient feasts of the Church, celebrated early enough to be mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 20 and Saint Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians, chapter 20. It supplants the Jewish feast of Pentecost, which took place 50 days after the Passover and which celebrated the sealing of the Old Covenant on Mount Sinai.

Pentecost is the 50th day after Easter (if we count both Easter and Pentecost). That means that it is a moveable feast—a feast whose date changes every year, based on the date of Easter in that year. The earliest possible date for Pentecost Sunday is May 10; the latest is June 13.

After Christ's Ascension into Heaven, the Apostles knew that He had promised to send His Spirit, but they didn't know exactly what that would mean. Between Ascension and Pentecost, the Apostles and the Blessed Virgin Mary spent 9 days in prayer, waiting for the fulfillment of Christ’s promise to send His Spirit. This was the origin of the novena (nine-day prayer) that became one of the most popular forms of Christian intercessory prayer asking God for something.

On Pentecost when the Holy Spirit descended upon the Apostles, they were granted the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Those gifts helped them to fulfill their mission to preach the Gospel to all nations. On that first Pentecost over 3,000 people were converted and baptized. For us, too, those gifts, granted when we are infused with sanctifying grace the life of God in our souls, help us to live a Christian life. The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are: WISDOM, UNDERSTANDING, COUNSEL, FORTITUDE, KNOWLEDGE, PIETY AND FEAR OF THE LORD.

Annual Memorial Day Mass To Be Celebrated at Immaculate Conception Church

The board of the Catholic Cemeteries of Springfield made the difficult decision not to celebrate the annual Memorial Day Mass at Resurrection Cemetery this year due to Covid concerns and the limited amount of space under the tent—making social distancing too challenging. Instead, Bishop Rice will celebrate the Memorial Day Mass at 9:00 a.m. on May 31, at Immaculate Conception Church. The Mass will also be live streamed on Immaculate Conception Church’s Facebook page. Everyone is invited to attend.

Garage Sale News:

We will have drop-offs for garage sale items after weekend Masses May 29th & May 30th. Drop off items at the gym after the Sat 5:00 PM Mass, Sunday, 8:00 AM Mass or the Sunday 11:30 AM Mass. We will also have drop off Tues June 1st and Thurs, June 3rd from 5:00-7:00 PM. Please remember, this year, we will not be accepting clothing, tv's, tires or computer monitors as well as car seats or cribs.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED: We will begin working morning and evening shifts Wed, June 2nd through the garage sale sorting, pricing and arranging items. Please call the parish office to sign up and Pat or Iris will call you back. Please leave your number with the parish office. We will need lots of volunteers. Remember this is a great opportunity for youth to get service hours. Proceeds from the sale will benefit PCCW functions and our parish building fund to build a parish center. Thank you for your help!

SENIORS UNLIMITED GAMES

We will begin with games at 1 p.m. on June 7th in the dining room. Since school will be out, please park behind the school and come in the hall from the west side. That way I only have to have one person at the door to let you in. Again, I ask that you come only if you are vaccinated.

-Sr. Elizabeth Ann

From the Pastor’s Desk:

Springfield Catholic High’s graduation took place on Friday evening of last week. They will truly never be the same after Friday evening. They will be attending colleges and universities all over the country, from California to Ohio. Some may even study abroad to get a much larger view of life. Some may enter the armed forces of the United States. Regardless of where they end up for the next years of their lives, their lives will never be the same. They are moving into the adult world with adult consequences for their actions. For myself it was a solemn celebration. Several of the students I had baptized, and others have been on the theater stage since their fourth or fifth grade.

On Tuesday evening we will celebrate the 8th grade St. Agnes Graduation Mass. As those young people walk into the Church for the last time as a class, they will never be the same. A few will transfer to public high schools, while the majority will enter Springfield Catholic High. Wherever they go, they will be beginning a new life. They will be making new friends, having new teachers, studying new subjects, or subjects much more in depth, all the while struggling to figure out who they are and what they are really all about. It is an exciting time and a scary time. A time of discovery and a time of growth on a more adult level with more adult consequences for their actions. My prayers are with them as they begin this new life.

On Friday of this week, May 21st Jesse Hiett will be ordained to the Diaconate here at the Cathedral. I have known Jesse for years as he has been on his faith journey. I believe he would agree with me that it has been an interesting journey. We work and grow at the Lord’s pace. His ordination Mass will be at 7 pm and you are invited, masks required.

On Monday May 24th I will celebrate my anniversary to the priesthood at a 7pm Mass. It has been 40 years since I knelt before Bishop Law and placed my hands inside of his hands and promised Obedience, Prayer Life, A Spirit of Poverty and Celibacy to him and to his successors. I am working under my fourth bishop. These 40 years of my faith journey have been filled with joy, happiness, sadness and frustration. There have been days when I said, “Why did I ever answer the call to priesthood?” and then there are days when I say, “Thank you Lord for the vocation of my priesthood and for my parents who encouraged me.”

My life as a priest has been rewarding. I have always chosen to work in Catholic Schools and with young people. I have approached my ministry as all the people of my parish are a part of my family. I believe that is why I have never been homesick and I believe for the great majority of the time, always been happy. Whether it is daily Mass, funerals, weddings, baptisms, planning for something in the parish, teaching in the school, directing the musicals at the high school; I feel the presence of God here at St. Agnes every day. I want to thank each of you for your accepting of this strange Christmas over the top, musical director, singing, and traveling priest. I must admit, I have wondered where the years have gone. It seems like I have awakened to find that 40 years have all of sudden disappeared.

Garage Sale News:

We will have drop-offs for garage sale items after weekend Masses May 29th & May 30th. Drop off items at the gym after the Sat 5:00 PM Mass, Sunday, 8:00 AM Mass or the Sunday 11:30 AM Mass. We will also have drop off Tues June 1st and Thurs, June 3rd from 5:00- 7:00 PM. Please remember, this year, we will not be accepting clothing, tv's, tires or computer monitors as well as car seats or cribs. VOLUNTEERS NEEDED: We will begin working morning and evening shifts Wed, June 2nd through the garage sale sorting, pricing and arranging items. Please call the parish office to sign up and Pat or Iris will call you back. Please leave your number with the parish office. We will need lots of volunteers. Remember this is a great opportunity for youth to get service hours. Proceeds from the sale will benefit PCCW functions and our parish building fund to build a parish center.

Thank you for your help!

Annual Memorial Day Mass To Be Celebrated at Immaculate Conception Church

The board of the Catholic Cemeteries of Springfield made the difficult decision not to celebrate the annual Memorial Day Mass at Resurrection Cemetery this year due to Covid concerns and the limited amount of space under the tent—making social distancing too challenging. Instead, Bishop Rice will celebrate the Memorial Day Mass at 9:00 a.m. on May 31, at Immaculate Conception Church. The Mass will also be live streamed on Immaculate Conception Church’s Facebook page. Everyone is invited to attend.