Saint André Bessette Parish Fall River - Enfield - Middle Musquodoboit “An Incense Free Parish” Mass times: Saturday 4:00 pm - Holy Cross Sunday 9:00 am - St. Bernard 11:00 am - St. Rose of Lima Sacrament of Reconciliation: Holy Cross: As needed upon request. St. Bernard: 1st Saturday of the month: 9:30 am to 10:30 am. (location: outside of present Confessional room) St. Rose: 2nd Saturday of the month: 9:30 am to 10:30 am. (location: room outside the bathrooms, i.e. the crying room) Sacrament of the Sick: The Sacrament of the Sick will be made available upon request for individuals, following appropriate safety procedures. Present restrictions do not permit pastors going into the hospital to anoint sick parishioners, however there are designated priests to anoint parishioners in hospital. Communion to the Homebound/Sick by parishioners is not permitted at this time. This a request directly from Archbishop Dunn. Requests for viaticum (communion for the dying) should be made to Fr. Michael. October 24, 2020 Dear Friends in Christ: As the month of October comes to a close we continue to adjust our practices in light of the COVID pandemic. OFFICES REOPENING: Starting on Tuesday, October 27, our parish offices at St. Rose and St. Bernard will reopen. We have installed glass to protect our staff and ask you to observe the following procedures when visiting the parish office: 1) Only one visitor at a time is permitted in the office. 2) When waiting to go into the office, physical distancing must be observed. 3) Masks must be worn by staff when a visitor is in the office; visitors must wear a mask in the office. 4) Hand sanitizer must be used when entering the church office. MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS: Blessings upon parishioners Cathy Deagle-Gammon and Sandra Garden-Cole who will serve in our local municipal governments! CHILDREN’S CATECHETICS: Registration will take place in late October and details about this year’s program will be forthcoming once they are finalized. CONFIRMATION: The celebration of Confirmation will be postponed until 2021. Archbishop Brian Dunn will be the celebrant when the celebration of this sacrament resumes. PARISH NEWSLETTER: We expect to have a parish newsletter ready for the month of November. Watch for it! BEACON HOUSE 2020 Christmas Box Program: With the support of neighboUring churches and Feed Nova Scotia, Beacon House has Christmas food boxes available for families in need. Each family receives a turkey, fresh produce, pie, and a box that includes stuffing mix, cranberry sauce, canned gravy, pancake mix, syrup, juice, cookies and Kraft Dinner. This year, St. Rose of Lima Church has been asked to contribute 275 bottles/cartons of 1-liter apple or orange juice (N.B. from store shelves NOT refrigerator section). Please leave juice in the Beacon House Box by November 22, as Beacon House is packing up the boxes of non perishables the following week. Thank you. MASS IN PERSON: We continue to request that at the churches in Enfield and Fall River people register to indicate their wish to attend mass in person. Once you register, your name will remain on the list until you request its removal. Please indicate how many people you are registering when you contact us. Names will be accepted for the following weekend up until 10:00 am the Thursday before the weekend. If you wish to attend mass at St. Rose please contact Linda at 902-860-0475 or strose@eastlink.ca If you wish to attend mass at St. Bernard please contact Claire at 902-883-2660 or stbernardsenfield@gmail.com. Numbers at Holy Cross are limited to 24 and are sufficient for that church. We are presently close to COVID capacity at St. Rose and St. Bernard. We are watching this closely and will make adjustments when we regularly exceed our present capacity in the churches. MASS LIVE STREAMED: We are pleased to announce that starting this weekend we will live stream the 11:00 am mass at St. Rose of Lima. Look for it on Facebook at St. André Bessette Parish or go to our parish website strosefallriver.com and click on the live mass link/box. DISTRIBUTION OF COMMUNION: We have made an adjustment to the procedure for distributing communion at St. Rose and St. Bernard. We will now have two communion ministers at the masses in these churches. The ushers will give directions to parishioners on how to proceed to and from a communion station. SLIDE MINISTRY AND COMPUTER OPERATORS: We are looking for volunteers to operate the computer for the live streamed mass from St. Rose and for people to operate the slides during the 11:00 am mass. The Slide Ministry would be an excellent way for our younger parishioners to be involved in the liturgy. Computer operators make participation possible for those who are unable to come in person to mass. Training is provided. Please contact Phil Francis or leave your name at the St. Rose Church Office 902-860-0475. MASKS: Please remember that wearing a mask is now required at all masses. Only those who are speaking (readers, singers, priest, deacon) may do so without a mask. Communion ministers will wear a mask during the distribution of communion. Singing is permitted when a mask is worn. Following this email you will find my homily for this weekend. During this time of pandemic let us continue to pray for one another, find ways to care for one another, and do the best we can during the current COVID-19 pandemic. Yours in Christ, Fr. Michael J. P. Walsh, Pastor 30TH SUNDAY ORDINARY TIME A OCTOBER 25, 2020 Today is the 30th Sunday of ordinary time. As we gradually draw closer to the end of the year 2020, and the church’s liturgical calendar (year A), the church reminds us of the most important virtue in life – Love. In a most special way today, Jesus gives us the two dimensions of love; the vertical – love of God, and the horizontal – love of neighbour. When these two dimensions are perfectly harmonized or synchronized then, a Christian can conveniently say to self, I have loved well. The two are so perfectly interwoven to the extent that as Christians we are left with no choice between the two. A few years ago, a radio station ran a contest. Disc jockeys invited their listeners to tune in their clock radios. "Just for fun," they said, "when you wake up to the sound of FM-106, call and tell us the first words you spoke when you rolled out of bed. If you're the third caller, you'll win $100." It didn't take long for the contest to grow in enthusiasm. The first morning, a buoyant disc jockey said, "Caller number three, what did you say when you rolled out of bed this morning?" A groggy voice said, "Do I smell coffee burning?" Another day, a sleepy clerical worker said, "Oh no, I'm late for work." Somebody else said her first words were, "Honey, did I put out the dog last night?" A muffled curse was immediately heard in the background, and then a man was heard to say, "No, you didn't." It was a funny contest and drew a considerable audience. One morning, however, the third caller said something unusual. The station phone rang. "Good morning, this is FM-106. You're on the air. What did you say when you rolled out of bed this morning?" A voice with a Bronx accent replied, "You want to know my first words in the morning?" The bubbly DJ said, "Yes, sir! Tell us what you said." The Bronx voice responded, "Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might." There was a moment of embarrassed silence. Then the radio announcer said, "Sorry, wrong number," and cut to a commercial. Try to remember. What did you say when you rolled out of bed today? Chances are, those words set the tone for the rest of the day... What do we do the rest of the day? If I were to use one word to describe today’s gospel what would that word be? I believe that the word would be “relationships”. When Jesus was asked the most important commandment, He talked about one’s relationship with God the Father. He pointedly indicated that one’s relationship with his neighbour is a close second. Relationships are at the center of Christian living. Jesus indicated in today’s gospel that our first priority was to have a proper vertical relationship with God, and then, a proper horizontal relationship with our neighbour. You can’t have the first without the second. COVID 19 has placed new challenges before us. How does our relationship with God grow in an environment where there is a significant reduction of the availability of sacraments, especially the Eucharist? We have parishioners who cannot come to mass and have not received the Eucharist in months. How do we love our neighbour in this COVID reality? Every decision we make around church activities and meetings has the safety of our brothers and sisters at its core. If COVID has taught us anything it is to lead a more conscious life where we take nothing for granted and are grateful for what we do have. So we are left with two questions we must answer for ourselves: 1. Where are we in our relationship with God today? 2. What about our relationship with our fellow human beings? Jesus words today give us much to think and pray about. AMEN. -- Rev. Michael J. P. Walsh