Parafia p.w. Narodzenia Najświętszej Maryi Panny
ST. MARY’S POLISH PARISH
21 Wesley St., Sydney, NS, B1N 2M5
Tel.: (902) 564-4847
www.stmaryspolishparish.ca
Witamy wszystkich! Welcome to all!
St. Mary’s Polish Church is a heritage landmark designated by the Province of Nova Scotia
We are pleased to share our faith and rich traditions with the whole community.
Established in 1913. Church rebuilt in 2015-2016. Our second century of faith and service

PROBOSZCZ/PASTOR:  Father Dennis Lamey 902-564-4222; sttheresasydney@gmail.com

MSZY/MASSES: PLEASE NOTE: OUR CHURCH BUILDING IS TEMPORARILY CLOSED. MASSES AND IN-PERSON GATHERINGS AND ACTIVITIES ARE SUSPENDED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE DUE TO THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC. PLEASE PRAY FOR BETTER TIMES.
Please see bulletin for information about televised Masses and opportunities to gather for prayer by telephone or computer

SPOWIEDŹ:  Godzina do uzgodnienia z księdzem.
SACRAMENT OF RECONCILIATION: Anytime upon request to the priest.

SAKRAMENT CHRZTU ŚWIĘTEGO:  Prosimy o kontakt z księdzem conajmniej na 1 miesiąc przed planowaną datę.
SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM: Please contact the priest at least one month in advance.

SAKRAMENT MAŁZEŃSTWA:   Zapowiedzi powinny być ogłoszone conajmniej na 6 miesięcy przed planowaną datę.
SACRAMENT OF MATRIMONY: Intentions must be announced at least six months in advance.

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Zesłanie Ducha Świętego / Pentecost

CZYTANIA / READINGS:
Pierwsze czytanie: Dz 2,1–11
Psalm: Ps 104
Drugie czytanie: 1 Kor 12,3b–7.12–13
Ewangelia: J 20,19–23

First Reading: Acts 2: 1-11
Psalm 104
Second Reading: 1 Cor. 12:3B-7,12-13
Gospel: John 20: 19-23

RESPONSORIAL PSALM FOR PENTECOST SUNDAY: Niech zstąpi Duch Twój i odnowi ziemię / Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth

Uroczystość Zesłania Ducha Świętego / Pentecost: Pentecost – literally the fiftieth day (after Easter) – marks the descent of the Holy Spirit among the apostles and other followers of Jesus. Typical church images of the Pentecost show the Virgin Mary seated with the apostles. On this day, we pray for wisdom, piety, and discernment, among other virtues. “Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and enkindle in them the fire of your love.”  “Przyjdź, Duchu Święty, i zapal w nas płomień.”

An Excerpt from Pope Francis’s message for Pentecost Sunday, 2020: “The church is not a customs office.”
Pope Francis emphasized the mission and joy of the church on the ground. He emphasized respect for our differences and the dignity of everyone.
“The Church is not a customs office and anyone who participates in the mission of the Church is called not to impose unnecessary burdens on people already worn out or to require demanding programmes of formation in order to enjoy what the Lord gives easily, or to erect obstacles to the will of Jesus, who prays for each of us and wants to heal and save everyone.“Proximity to life “in progress”. Jesus met his first disciples on the shore of the Sea of Galilee while they were focused on their work. He did not meet them at a convention, a training workshop, or in the Temple.  … Especially given the times in which we live, this has nothing to do with designing “specialized” training programmes, creating parallel worlds, or constructing “slogans” that merely echo our own thoughts and concerns. I have elsewhere spoken of those in the Church who proclaim loudly that “this is the hour of the laity”, while in the meantime the clock seems to have stopped.”

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OGŁOSZENIA / ANNOUNCEMENTS

SUNDAY MASS WITH FR. DENNIS ON LINE: Mass may be viewed by going to: http://www.sainttheresasydney.com/

PRAYERS FOR HEALTH:  Katarzyna Farrell, granddaughter of Shirley Ardelli and niece of Marjorie and Carolyn Ardelli, was in the hospital due to ongoing health concerns. She is back home now. Katarzyna is graduating from high school and will be enrolling at Dalhousie on a major scholarship. Prayers and best wishes are with her and her family.

BIRTHDAY PRAYERS: Bernie LaRusic turned 85 on Friday. Wishing him continued health and happiness and many more years of dedicated service to our community, helping others. God bless! Sto lat!

Please send along other birthday and anniversary prayers – and any prayer intentions (eg. health-related) for the bulletin: tom_urbaniak@cbu.ca / 902-563-1226. Thanks, everyone, for the way we are supporting and encouraging each other as a parish during this challenging time, and the ways in which we are endeavouring to help out the broader community as well.

CAN YOU SPARE SOME TIME WEEKLY OR OCCASIONALLY TO HELP WITH MOWING/GARBAGE CLEAN-UP FOR THE CHURCH GROUNDS? Please contact Property Chair John Morykot at 564-9652 or e-mail jmorykot@eastlink.ca. Thanks so much for your help!

PLEASE MARK ON YOUR CALENDAR: Conference call to get ready for NOVA SCOTIA POLISH HERITAGE MONTH. Sunday, June 28, at 7:00pm. Please come with your ideas, including ideas for small projects. We will likely still be restricted by crowd size, but we want to make this September – the first N.S. Polish Heritage Month – very special! On October 3, 2019, the Nova Scotia House of Assembly, on our recommendation, voted unanimously to declare every September as Nova Scotia Polish Heritage Month.

HELPING OUT WITH FREE FOOD HAMPER PROGRAM / DELIVERIES: The St. Michael’s Polish Benefit Society is working with the United Way and New Dawn to deliver free food hampers (safe, no-contact delivery). The Society is looking after mainly the Pier. If you know someone who may benefit from a weekly hamper with some groceries, please call 902-563-1226 or e-mail tom_urbaniak@cbu.ca. Donations toward the program are also being gratefully received (via United Way of Cape Breton).  Please let us know if you might be able to help.  

FOOD CUPBOARD: Please check out the new Food Cupboard, attached to the front of the Polish Village Hall. Thanks so much to everyone who has been helping to stock it! The sign on the Food Cupboard says “Take what you need, leave what you don’t, give what you can. Thank you!”

DAILY RADIO SPOTS ABOUT POLISH CAPE BRETON CULTURE: The Coast Radio: Every weekday at 3:50pm and 7:50pm (FM 89.7). It’s called the “One Minute Polish Broadcast”. Learn a new Polish word, phrase, or cultural tradition. Presented by the St. Michael’s Polish Benefit Society. Would you consider sponsoring a whole week for $100? The Coast has kindly agreed to allow us to do this as a fund-raiser (they are not charging for air time). This will be a huge help to bridge the Society through the pandemic (the radio spots will continue afterwards as well), since hall revenues have dried up. Sponsors will be acknowledged on air (IMOs are welcome, birthday tributes, etc). Thanks so much! Dziekujemy!  And, we’re recruiting volunteers to go on air (pre-recorded). We’ll help you get ready. No previous experience required, and you do not have to be a Polish speaker. This will be a great way for us to bring forward members of our community, as well as promote and share Polish language and culture in our region. Our radio theme this coming week will be wycinanki (Polish paper art). Next week, we’ll have some information on June themes, our weekly sponsors, and voice animators!

OPPORTUNITY TO GATHER FOR PRAYER IN “REAL TIME” DURING THE WEEK BY TELEPHONE OR COMPUTER: Rev. Alison Etter (who is closely connected to our parish) extends a warm welcome to parishioners and friends of St. Mary’s to be part of prayer intentions/conversations in real-time by linking in by telephone or computer at any of the following times on Sunday:
10:00 am – for 30 minutes followed by virtual tea time
11:00 am - children's activities
11:30 am – for 30 minutes followed by virtual tea time
By phone call 1 647 374 4685. Enter the meeting ID: 941 052 1825
Or by computer by going to this link: https://zoom.us/j/9410521825
If an additional password is requested for telephone or computer, it is 227259#.

Fifteen-minute weekday prayer (opportunity to offer intentions) will be as follows: Tuesday, June 2 at 8:00pm; Thursday, June 4 at 10:30am
(link/passwords are the same as above)

ECUMENICAL SERVICES ON FACEBOOK AND RADIO: Alison is also working with a Roman Catholic colleague (Fr. Duaine Devereaux and Fr. Norm MacPhee), an Anglican colleague (Rev. Dorothy Miller), colleagues at the Salvation Army, and Pastor Dave Sawlor of Lighthouse Church to do ecumenical services every week for Facebook and radio. 
Facebook can be seen at 12 noon every Wednesday: https://www.facebook.com/GlaceBayChurches The recording then stays on-line.
And Sundays at 12 noon on The Coast Radio (89.7 FM)

“PEOPLE’S SCHOOL” ON CBC RADIO ONE: Theme – Community Resilience and Leadership: the COVID-19 edition. Every Tuesday and Friday at 4:35pm. This is a collaboration of CBC Radio and CBU Tompkins Institute.  This past week, we looked at the three “R’s” of healthy organizations: RESPECT (civility and kindness), RHYTHM (good procedures and patterns of activity) and RESILIENCE: https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-36-mainstreet-cape-breton . Or go to the Facebook page of CBC Cape Breton. Look for links that say “People’s School".

DONATIONS TO OUR PARISH DURING THE TEMPORARY SHUTDOWN: Thanks very kindly for any help you can provide toward our ongoing expenses. As we have not had weekly collections, we are very grateful for any support toward covering the expenses of our parish. Donations can be made securely on-line at Canada Helps (which will email you an instant tax receipt):   https://www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/st-marys-polish-parish/. (link to this site is provided on our parish website homepage). Or by regular mail to St. Mary’s Polish Parish, 21 Wesley St., Sydney, N.S. B1N 2M5. Thanks for your support! It’s really appreciated. Bog zaplac!
PLEASE NOTE: Next deposit will be this coming week – and then again in a few weeks. Thanks again for your support at this time.

ST. MICHAEL’S POLISH BENEFIT SOCIETY: Zarząd (Board) Meeting by Conference Call – today, Sunday, May 31, at 7:00pm. Society members who are not on the board are welcome to attend board meetings as well. For dial-in details, please call 902-563-1226 (tom_urbaniak@cbu.ca).

NEXT MEETING OF THE FINANCE COMMITTEE AND ENDOWMENT TRUSTEES: Teleconference on Saturday, June 20, at 10:00am. Also, any fellow parishioner who would like to periodically receive more detailed financial updates during the pandemic, or for any questions about finances, please don’t hesitate to be in touch (902-563-1226).

A CALL FOR PHOTOS – BOŻE CIAŁO (CORPUS CHRISTI) AT ST. MARY’S POLISH CHURCH: Boże Ciało is coming up soon. It’s an especially spiritual and colourful feast day for people of Polish heritage. If you have some photos from celebrations in past years – our processions with the Blessed Sacrament, side altars, ogródek (food garden) blessings – please don’t hesitate to send them along. Some photos will be included in the bulletin in two weeks.

A BEAUTIFUL POLISH HYMN ABOUT THE HOLY SPIRIT:  Przyjdź Duchu Święty, ja pragnę (I wish for the Holy Spirit). Here is a really nice rendition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_2eUpAUbGI
This hymn calls forth the Holy Spirit to strengthen us when we are weak, to be like a root in the desert, to come forth as wisdom for children, to heal us and the world.

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Pastoral Letter, Pentecost 2020
Bishop Wayne Kirkpatrick
Dear Clergy, Religious and Faithful of the Diocese of Antigonish:
In my Lenten Letter, I spoke of the need to have an attitude of gratitude, remembering where we have come from, and where we are going with Christ and most importantly because of Christ. The sacrificial offering of Lent is ongoing as we endure this COVID -19 pandemic, and our faith continues to sustain us. In addition to the suffering and deaths from this pandemic, we have witnessed wave upon wave of tragedy in our province. We have been isolating and we have felt isolated especially from our families and church communities.

I know it is a great sacrifice not to be able to receive Holy Communion. Social distancing has caused a kind of involuntary fasting from sacramental reception of the Eucharist, and like all fasting, it should increase our desire for its return. This time of fasting also provides an opportunity to understand the Eucharist more fully as an act of self-offering joined to the perfect offering of Christ, the immaculate Victim. The Mass is much more than just celebrating a ritual in order to receive Holy Communion; it is our participation in Christ’s perfect offering of himself and all of creation to the Father, and culminates in our reception of Holy Communion.

While we cannot now gather publicly, our priests continue to celebrate daily Masses, and I am grateful that so many pastors have been offering Mass through social media. We continue to pray for an end to the pandemic, as Pope Francis has encouraged. On May 1st, our clergy gathered in solidarity through social media with clergy from every other diocese in Canada to consecrate our country to Mary.

The doors of our churches are closed, but much has been happening in our Diocese and in the whole church. Since my Installation as Bishop in early February, we have had four Council of Priests Meetings through Zoom technology. I am pleased to announce the appointment of our new Vicar General, Father Thomas MacNeil who will assist in serving the Diocese. We have a new webmaster, Deacon Shawn Bigley and within a few weeks, we will launch a new, more user-friendly website. I have expressed our thanks to our retirees, our former Vicar General, Father Paul Abbass and our former webmaster, Deacon Art Riley. I have also written several pastoral letters, mostly informing and encouraging our clergy.

I have participated in six Zoom meetings with the Atlantic Bishops including our Spring Plenary on May 29. We have discussed common issues, including protocols for re-opening our churches. I want to assure you that we are getting closer to re-opening our churches. Our public celebrations of the sacraments were suspended, not out of fear, but out of the deepest respect for human life and health. We are a pro-life church and this pandemic is a pro-life issue. I participated in a Zoom meeting with Doctor Robert Strang, our Provincial Medical Officer of Health, the two archbishops of Halifax, and several members of other religious traditions to share our concerns and ideas for moving forward; we plan to meet again on June 15. As a Diocese, we are currently working on a plan to establish safety guidelines and protocols when we re-open our churches. All of our parishes will follow a common plan of action. We will wait to open our churches when it is safe and when we are prepared to do so.

Unfortunately, this will not happen on Pentecost Sunday. Pentecost is an important feast day and I have learned that the Mi’kmaq people especially were saddened to cancel their Pentecost celebrations. They have a special affinity to the gift of Holy Spirit at work in our lives. I hope that we can all celebrate the gift of Holy Spirit.

As we know, Jesus had promised his Apostles that "the Advocate, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you" (John 14:26). That promise was fulfilled when the Spirit of God came down on that first Pentecost in wind and fire (cf. Acts 2:14). We should remember though, that what happened on that first Pentecost was not a one-time event. That was only the beginning. This mystery, the coming of the Holy Spirit, continues in our own day because, while the Spirit does not always come in great signs and wonders as it did for Mary and the Apostles, the Holy Spirit is always present and active in our hearts and in the life of the church.

We may struggle to understand the gift of the Holy Spirit. We cannot see wind. We can only see or feel or hear the effects that tell us the wind is there, all around us. We know the wind by its effects that sometimes comfort and at other times, refresh and still other times, destroy. Like the wind, fire can comfort, or refresh, or destroy. Wind and fire are sensual reminders of the power behind and beyond them, like the Spirit of God that we celebrate on Pentecost. The Holy Spirit transforms our minds, hearts and beings.

The coming of the Holy Spirit provided the apostles with the energy, momentum, enthusiasm, courage, and passion to get on with the task Christ had given them. The Holy Spirit would help them, but not do it for them. The change in them did not come about in an instant. It had to be a gradual thing. It had to be a growth process. As we know, growth can be slow and painful. We do not easily let go of our old ways, old habits, old attitudes.

We know people can change when they are given hope, when someone believes in them and gives them a task to do. Above all, people can change when they know they are loved. They come out of their shells and hidden energies are released in them. We too need someone to empower us so that we are able to take charge of our lives, and live them responsibly. This means being willing to change what needs to be changed in our lives. We need empowerment in order to witness to our Christian faith. The power that changed the apostles is available to us too. We need the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit energizes and strengthens our spirits and purifies our hearts. The Holy Spirit helps us to change our ways and we will need to change our ways as we move through this pandemic. It will not be back to normal but forward to normal.

Through the power of the Holy Spirit, may we become more Christ-like and continue to be open to the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives as we pray: Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and enkindle in them the fire of your love to renew the face of the earth. May the Holy Spirit continue to guide and direct us during these difficult days.

(Most Rev.) Wayne Kirkpatrick
Bishop of the Diocese of Antigonish

 

Życzymy błogosławionego tygodnia / Wishing you a blessed week!