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Our Lady of Peace Parish
Also Serving Our Lady of the Smile parish, Waterhen Lake and St. Jude’s Parish, Green Lake Office Hours: Closed Monday Tuesday - Friday 1-4:00 pm Office Phone: 306-236-5122 Cell Phone: 306-304-7271 Parish Email: olpsecretary@sasktel.net Pastor Email: olpmlpastor@sasktel.net Facebook: Catholic Church Meadow Lake Website: https://www.meadowlakecatholicchurch.com/ Address: 504-3rd Ave. East, Meadow Lake, SK S9X 1H5 Lord, come and save us. Psalm 146 Refrain December 11, 2022 - Third Sunday of Advent Our Vision: A Community of Disciples Our Mission We commit to form disciples who joyfully and faithfully live out the mission of Jesus Christ by enriching our relationship with God and neighbour through the intercession of Our Lady of Peace. Pastor: Fr. Doug Jeffrey, OMI Parish Secretary: Pat Bencharski Pastoral Council Chair: Mass Intentions When there is a funeral, the daily mass will normally be cancelled. Check Facebook for the most up-to-date information. On Tuesday to Friday and on Sunday, Our Lady of Peace masses will be livestreamed on Facebook. Mon., Dec. 12 – No mass Tues., Dec. 13 – 6:30 pm (Our Lady of Peace Church & Facebook) - +Louis, Germaine & Raymond Wilfing by Nick & Eileen Charney Wed., Dec. 14 – 6:30 pm (Our Lady of Peace Church & Facebook) - +Louis, Germaine & Raymond Wilfing by Nick & Eileen Charney Thurs., Dec. 15 – 9:30 am (Our Lady of Peace Church & Facebook) - +Louis, Germaine & Raymond Wilfing by Nick & Eileen Charney Fri., Dec. 16 – 7:00 pm (Our Lady of Peace Church & Facebook) Please note that our Simbang Gabi celebrations begin - +Louis, Germaine & Raymond Wilfing by Nick & Eileen Charney Sat., Dec. 17 – 9:00 am (Our Lady of Peace Church & Facebook) - Vincent Velayo (ISL exam) by Bernadette Velayo Sat., Dec. 17 – 5:00 pm (St. Jude Parish, Green Lake) - People of God Sun., Dec. 18 – 10 am (Our Lady of Peace Church & Facebook) - People of God THIS WEEK IN THE PARISH
Sunday Collection – December 4: Meadow Lake $3811.10 Green Lake – $166.00 The Pope’s Prayer Intention for December – For volunteer not-for-profit organizations: We pray for volunteer non-profit organizations committed to human development; may they find people dedicated to the common good and ceaselessly seek out new paths to international cooperation. Envelope Boxes will be available on Sunday, December 11 - Please pick them up and only begin using them for the New Year! Congratulations and Welcome to Jeremy Nightingale - Jeremey will be received into the Church at our Sunday Celebration, December 11th. Please join us for Coffee and Donuts after the 10:00 am mass. Please take the opportunity to wish him well and let him know that he is welcome in our parish community. Opportunities for confession December 15 beginning at 6:30pm – Fr. Doan from Goodsoil will be here with me to hear your confession. I ask that you pray for all who seek the healing mercy of God. December 20th beginning at 6:30 pm in St. Walburg December 21st from 5:00 pm – 6:30 pm here at Our Lady of Peace Parish ***Please feel free to call Fr. Doug for an appointment if these times do not work for you! December 12 – National Day of Prayer in Solidarity with Indigenous Peoples – The Canadian Catholic Indigenous Council, founded by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) in 1998, proposes that the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe (December 12) be a National Day of Prayer in solidarity with Indigenous Peoples. All are invited to join their Indigenous sisters and brothers in a special way this day through prayer and acts of solidarity. An appropriate intention may be added to the Prayer of the Faithful during Mass and at Morning and Evening Prayer. Taken from Ordo page 86 Reverse Collection – It is on! If you have not already done so, please pick up a few slips of paper, purchase the items on your paper and bring the items to the Church or purchase items that the Door of Hope needs. The food will be taken to the Door of Hope just before Christmas! CWL – This year the CWL members from our Our Lady of Peace Parish will be writing Christmas Cards to the “Residents” at The Lodge and in some of the Senior’s places in Meadow Lake. If you would like to join the CWL in this project, you can: Purchase or make 5 Christmas Cards. Write a thoughtful generic message to a Senior and then sign your name or Our Lady of Peace Parish. Do write your own message rather than leaving the card blank. Drop the cards off in the Sunday Collection or at the Parish Office or bring them with you on December 22 when we have our Christmas Carol Singalong! Last year the Seniors who received cards were so happy to do so! You can make someone’s day by doing this little act of kindness. You don’t have to be a CWL member – just a person with a generous heart. Knights of Columbus News – The Knights of Columbus will host a Ham/Turkey Bingo on Sunday, December 11 at 7:30 pm in our Parish Hall. Proceeds will go towards purchasing wheelchairs – some for The New Lodge and one for our Church. Come and enjoy a great game of bingo and take home a Christmas Ham or Turkey! Mark you calendars for another Pancake Breakfast on Sunday, December 18, in the Parish Hall after the 10:00 am Mass. Enjoy some good food and some visiting with fellow parishioners. Advent – We call the days and nights before the Nativity of the Lord (Christmas) Advent, which means “coming”. The church reads and sings about God’s promises. We tell the stories of many holy people: Mary and John the Baptist, Nicholas, and Lucy. We strive for the time when God’s love will be seen in all of us, when peace will come through people’s acts of justice and love for each other. But, primarily, we wait. We wait for the blessed hope, the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ, when all will be one, and the Kingdom of God will flourish. The Son of God already came to us, born in the city of David. This is what we celebrate at the Nativity of the Lord, and in Advent, we ready ourselves and our hearts for this birth. But we also wait for his coming again. We wait for his light to completely extinguish our darkness. Do you know what Simbang Gabi means? Simbang Gabi originated in the early days of the Spanish rule over the Philippines. It was a practical way for farmers, who began work before sunrise, to take part in the novena masses prior to Christmas. Farmers began work before sunrise so as to avoid working in the hottest part of the day. Rather than celebrating mass at the end of a long day, the priests celebrated the mass as the day began. Following the mass, traditional foods were sold outside the Church so people could eat and then go straight to work. The Simbang Gabi is a unique practice of the Filipino Culture. Simbang Gabi means “Night Mass”. To welcome and acknowledge the many Filipino parishioners in Our Lady of Peace, we will adjust our mass times and try to welcome a little change into our parish practice. The daily mass will be celebrated in English with perhaps a song or two in Tagalog. Please note that from December 16-23 our daily mass schedule will be altered. Be sure to check the mass schedule for mass times. Join us this Advent for Simbang Gabi, the “Night Mass” and get to know a little of the Filipino culture. Coats for Kids – The local Knights of Columbus are collecting good used coats which will be given to Green Lake School. If you have any good used coats, please drop them off in the box at the back of the church. Sung Advent Evening Prayer – Please join us on Sunday evening for our Sung Evening Prayer. It will take place at 6:30 pm. Our prayer will take about 30 minutes. I invite you to join us as we give thanks and praise to our God. Christmas Carol Sing-along - Everyone loves to sing Christmas Carols. We seldom get the chance to do it. But this year is different! On Saturday, December 18 after the 5:00 pm mass at Green Lake we will gather in the church to sing Christmas Carols. We will also enjoy some hot chocolate and squares as we sing some Carols and visit. Please join us. We will have booklets for everyone to follow along! God gave you a voice – it may not be perfect but let us give thanks and praise for all that God does in our lives. On Thursday, December 22nd from 7-8:00 pm at the Parish Hall in Meadow Lake, we invite you to join us as we sing Christmas carols and enjoy some hot chocolate and squares and the opportunity to visit. When you arrive, you will get a booklet of the song lyrics so you can sing along. Some of the carols have stories attached to them and they help us to celebrate some aspect of our faith. Join us for an hour of conversation, songs, and hot chocolate. Bishop’s Annual Appeal: “Walking Together in Hope” October 16, 2022 – December 31, 2022 - Every gift is greatly appreciated! Bishop’s Annual Appeal Youth, Evangelization and Catechesis: We honor God by passing on our faith to the next generation, teaching them the power of love, mercy, forgiveness and sacrifice. Solid faith formation programs provide lifelong and meaningful faith experiences that enrich our families, and our church communities in the diocese of Prince Albert. Thank you for supporting the 2022 Bishop’s Annual Appeal. As of December 5th, the diocese has received 29 pledges from Our Lady of Peace Parish for $8,999.00: 2 pledges from Green Lake for $700.00 and 926 pledges from the whole diocese for a total of $297,943.35 for the Bishop’s Appeal. DIOCESAN NEWS & BEYOND Ecumenical Advent Series: What Are We Waiting For? As Christmas and the holidays approach, Christians experience the season of Advent as a time of expectant waiting and preparation. This year, there will be a special ecumenical series of Advent meditations and conversations on the question: “What are we waiting for?” with Canadian church leaders, including:
I have looked at it and there is some really good information available. Enjoy! December 12 - National Day of Prayer in Solidarity with Indigenous Peoples This year, we have been blessed to have had a delegation of Indigenous people visit Pope Francis in Rome in order to receive his apology on behalf of the Roman Catholic Church, and again to welcome the Holy Father to this land to hear his words of sorrow as he embarked on his, self described, “Pilgrimage of Penance”. Let us take this opportunity to build on the reflections offered by Pope Francis. The Holy Father comments that he is struck by the Indigenous delegations’ wise and farsighted term “traditional wisdom” as it applies to the need to consider the impact of deliberations as far into the future as the seventh generation. Pope Francis’ understanding of the family bond over generations, and its importance in moving forward with reconciliation is instructive and it opens the door for all Catholics to learn about and apply understandings of the Indigenous world view towards reconciliation. In Rome, Pope Francis remarked, “The ties that connect the elderly and the young are essential. They must be protected lest we lose our historical memory and very identity”. At the Mass in Edmonton, celebrating the feast day of Saints Anne and Joachim, the Holy Father recognized the gift that is family and how, “No one comes into this life detached from others. The love that awaited us and welcomed us into this world are part of a unique history that preceded us. . . . we did not choose that history; we received it as a gift.” This is consistent with the insight from an Elder from Cold Lake, Alberta who responded to a question about why Indigenous parents were indulgent with their children, saying, “We must not injure the child’s spirit”. Children’s experiences of abuse at the hands of those who would shape their lives are contrary to this principle and that, in Indigenous settings, family ties are to be nurtured, protected, and cherished as the gift they are. As Catholics, we share this value of strengthening nuclear and extended family ties, but we often do not see the many ways that colonization continues to impact the very thing we cherish. Indigenous voices have expressed that “residential school” continues in other forms. Child welfare authorities remove Indigenous children from nuclear and extended family settings. Canada’s justice system also removes parents from children which seriously affects opportunities for continuity of relationships, identity formation and indeed wholesome human development. As Catholics concerned about reconciliation, can we advocate for changes to these contributors to continued intergenerational trauma? Maintenance and strengthening of family ties are very much in evidence in many Indigenous traditions from Powwows, which unite all generations in the gift of dance and feast, to the traditional wisdom demonstrated in the ‘pipe of peace’ smoking ceremony whose symbols teach the interdependence of all beings in creation. These are but a couple of examples from many traditions that can be further explored to help us acquire an understanding of Indigenous peoples, as part of the reconciliation journey. During his visit to Iqaluit, the last stop before his return to Rome, Pope Francis shared the words of an Elder who spoke of the beautiful spirit that reigned in Indigenous families before the advent of the Indian Residential School system. “He compared those days of grandparents, parents and children living harmoniously together as to springtime when the birds chirp happily around their mother. But then the singing stopped, families were broken up. Winter fell over everything”. As we grow in our knowledge of one another and move away from stereotypes toward an increased understanding of our unique and shared beliefs and values, may our journey of reconciliation bring the springtime back once again and may our winter of shame be banished forever. Canadian Catholic Indigenous Council
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Parish BulletinThis bulletin is prepared by the Parish Secretary and the Pastor Archives
November 2023
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