THIRTIETH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME – October 23, 2022

RESPONSORIAL PSALM: The Lord hears the cry of the poor.

TODAY’S MASS INTENTION: Miklós Peller, by Ildikó Peller

MASS SCHEDULE & INTENTIONS FOR THE COMING WEEK:

FROM THE DESK OF FR. BONA: The month of October is a Respect Life Month. For this reason, I have decided to focus on this issue in my columns during this month. The reason for the church to have such a month is the fact that God’s gift of life is not only not respected in the many quarters of the society, but also outright trampled and abused. The chief issue is the wholesale murder of unborn children. Unfortunately, it seems that many people are getting used to it and do not raise objections or fight for justice in this regard. Moreover, they may even not consider it to be an important issue. Perhaps what could have contributed to the development of this viewpoint was the so-called “seamless garment” theory.

The “Seamless Garment” approach, also called consistent ethic of life, equated all the “life issues” and leveled any distinctions between them. Thus, abortion was placed on the same level as war, affordable housing, and care for elderly. Subsequently, the proponents of this philosophy pushed pro-lifers to avoid putting abortion issue above all the other ones and to stop being “single issue” activists and voters. But, what’s wrong with single issue movements? Many revered movements of the history (for example, abolitionists) have been entirely single-issue.

We must be clear; the “seamless garment” approach is not a Catholic approach. Its aim is to dilute the issue and confuse the people. The moral theology clearly teaches that certain acts are intrinsically evil, meaning that they are immoral irrespective of the circumstances. We may never condone, for any reason, these types of acts. Killing of an unborn child is one such act. There is no justification for it. The aim of the “seamless garment” philosophy is surreptitiously lead people into a compromise.

In the magisterial document Donum Vitae (The Gift of Life) the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith affirmed that, “The human being is to be respected and treated as a person from the moment of conception; and therefore from that same moment his rights as a person must be recognized, among which in the first place is the inviolable right of every innocent human being to life.” If we do not respect and uphold this very basic and most precious right, all the other efforts concerning the other human rights are worth nothing.

ALL SAINTS (Holy Day of Obligation): This year the Solemnity of the All Saints falls on Tuesday and we are bound to attend Mass for this solemnity. To fulfill this obligation, we will have following Masses: on Monday, October 31 at 6PM (in English); on Tuesday, Nov. 1 at 9AM and at 6:30PM (in Hungarian). An additional Mass will be said on Nov. 1^st at 12Noon at St. Elizabeth Church.

ALL SOULS DAY: On Wednesday, November 2, we will celebrate the All Souls Day. An extra Mass will be said in the evening where we will read the names of those who have died from our parish since the previous All Souls Day and pray for them. We will do this at the 6PM Mass that day. If you would like to add some other names, please let me know.

PRAYER INTENTION: Let us pray for those who gave their lives in the 1956 uprising of the Hungarian people against the communist dictatorship. May their souls rest in peace. We remain resilient only when our love for God is strong in our hearts.

WORLD MISSION SUNDAY is today; collection for the mission will be taken up next week.

OUR PATRONAL FEAST will be celebrated on November 6 and Fr. Péter Boksay, Administrator, St. Emilian, Brunswick, OH (byzantine Catholic parish) will be our homilist. We will begin with a Eucharistic Adoration. The Blessed Sacrament will be exposed at 10AM and a period of silence and prayers will follow. At 10:45AM we will have the Benediction. This will be followed by the Solemn Mass at 11AM. Following the Mass, we will have a sit down meal. The menu will be: traditional rich chicken soup, roast pork with mushroom sauce, rice pilaf, cucumber salad, bread, Hungarian style pastry, coffee. The cost of the meal will be $25 and $13 for students (free for children of six years of age or under) and you can register with Maria Zsula (216-676-5863) or Maria Meszaros (440-331-0391).

LAST WEEKEND’S COLLECTION: (10/16) – Sunday Collection: $1,595; special donation: $21. May God reward your generosity in supporting the church. Thank you for sending in your donations by mail or using our website https://stemeric.com/donations/.

PLEASE PRAY FOR THE SICK, especially for Bev Kimar, Rose Dudevszky, Teréz Kalász, Lajos Boday, Julius Skerlan, Márta Takács, and Zsuzsanna Hunyadi.

THIS SUNDAY the 11:15 AM Mass from St. Emeric church will be livestreamed at https://www.facebook.com/saintemeric/ and https://stemeric.com/

This post is also available in: Hungarian