Church of St. Philip the Apostle est. 1898 Diocese of Charlotte

P.O. Box 882 525 Camden Drive

Statesville, North Carolina 28677

Office/Fax Phone (704) 872-2579 Rectory Phone (704) 380-3476

E-mail: stphilipapostle@bellsouth.net

Website: http://stphilipapostle.com

Rev. Fr. Thomas J. Kessler, Pastor

Rev. Mr. Charles Brantley, Deacon Mrs. Regina McCollum, Secretary

Mr. & Mrs. Jim Kermes, Food Closet

Mrs. Mary Brown, Faith Formation Director Mrs. Norma Echevarria, Faith Formation

Mrs. Raquel Swierczewski, R.C.I.A Mr. Ken Parker, Y outh Director

Marriage - Baptism Call the church office. Marriages, call at least 6 months in advance. Reconciliation

Pastoral Council Meetings are 2nd Monday of each month at 7:00 p.m. September thru June except National Holidays.

Religious Education Children, grades 1-Confirmation, are required to attend religious education classes. Call the office to register your children. Adult classes also available. Parish Registration We welcome new parishioners to the parish and we ask them to register as soon as possible. Parish registration is important and necessary. Also, if you move away from the Parish please notify the office. Thank you.

Come and See

from the pastor…

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time “Today is holy to the Lord your God. Do not be sad, and do not weep…” This instruction from this morning’s first reading was proclaimed to the people of God in Nehemi-ah’s time and again to us today. Nehemiah and Ezra read from the book of the law and understood what they read. In the 1960’s there was a comedy on TV called the Andy Grif-fith Show. It originated right here in Mount Airy, North Carolina, which is Andy Griffith’s home town. In one epi-sode, Barney Fife, the comical Sheriff’s deputy, who like to pretend that he was tough, was humbled. With his head hung low, he admitted that the Sheriff has always tried to teach him that when it comes to the law, you are dealing with people, and that it’s better to work from the heart ra-ther than the book. When it comes to our faith, the Book of the Law and the heart should be one and the same. In God, justice and mer-cy meet. Especially appropriate during this Jubilee Year of Mercy, in today’s Gospel Jesus quotes from Isaiah’s “Book of Consolation,” proclaiming glad tidings to the poor…liberty to captives…recovery of sight…a year acceptable to the Lord.” But Jesus omits Isaiah’s threat of God’s venge-ance and adds, from elsewhere in Isaiah, “let the oppressed go free” which Isaiah links to sharing bread with the hun-gry, clothing the naked, and sheltering the oppressed and homeless. “Go and do the same.”

This weekend we welcome Msgr. Richard M. Bellow, the celebrant at our 5 p.m. Vigil Mass on Saturday evening and the 8 & 10:30 a.m. Masses on Sunday. Monsignor is the retired Pastor of St. Mark’s Catholic Church in Hunt-ersville. We also welcome Fr. Camilo Cardenas Bonilla, or iginal-ly from Colombia, and who presently is serving in the Boone Vicariate Hispanic Ministry. Father Camilo is the celebrant at our 12:30 p.m. Spanish Mass. We thank both Monsignor and Father for their sacrifice and for sharing their priesthood with us this weekend.

Next Sunday we’ll celebrate the Fourth Sunday in Ordi-nary Time. The readings at Mass will be taken from Jere-miah 1: 4-5, 17-19; 1 Corinthians 12: 31-13:13, Luke 4: 21-30. It’s good to read ahead. There will be no daily Mass on Monday through Thurs-day this week, January 25th – 28th. Your pastor will re-turn this Thursday afternoon and will be here for the 9 a.m. Mass on Friday morning. I apologize for any inconven-ience this may cause you. For your spiritual growth this week, why not read up on the lives of the saints – Monday (1/25) The Conversion of St. Paul the Apostle, Tuesday (1/26) Saints Timothy and Titus, Bishops and Thursday (1/28) Saint Thomas Aquinas, Priest and Doctor of the Church.

Saturday, Jan 23rd 5:00 pm Jamilee Stoup † by M/M Stan Jashinski Sunday, Jan 24th 8:00 am James Ferron † by Elizabeth Bennett 10:30 am Frank Byers Jr. † by Music Ministry 12:30 pm Norma Echevarria by Maryann Rhodes

Monday, Jan 25th 9:00 am No Mass Wednesday, Jan 27th 6:00 pm No Mass Thursday, Jan 28th 9:00 am No Mass Friday, Jan 29th 9:00 am Adrienne Haggerty † by M/M Jack Kelley Saturday, Jan 30th 5:00 pm Al Upton † by M/M Herman Pekarek Sunday, Jan 31st 8:00 am Edwin Savage † by M/M Jack Kelley 10:30 am Patricia Rapiey † by Dianne Robinson 12:30 pm For all the souls of purgatory † by Zepeta Family READERS Jan 30 5:00 p.m. Dawn McGinn Jan 31 8:00 a.m. Joseph Chulick 10:30 a.m. Linda Ortiz EXTRAORDINARY MINISTERS OF HOLY COMMUNION Jan 30 5:00 p.m. M. Rhodes (H), K. Sparks, B. Bailey, S. Bauer, P. Daly Jan 31 8:00 a.m. P. Klvana, B. Papandrea, A. Simons 10:30 a.m. M. Freese (HM), L. Hardif (HA), S. McMurry, L. Ortiz, K. Parker, J. Rafols, B. Stickle ALTAR SERVER Jan 30 5:00 p.m. Patrick Ferguson, Beni Juarez Jan 31 8:00 a.m. Evie Staples, Jasmine Dessert 10:30 a.m. Jeremy Smith, Savannah Warren

Happy Birthday 1/24/2016– 1/31/2016 1/24 John Brantley, Matthew Johnson, Ryan Johnson, Krystyna Klecha, Dianne Robinson, Agustin Sanchez 1/25 Carina Basil-io, Elizabeth Moore 1/26 Rosalinda Barriga, Rosemary Kel-ley, Bryan Pedrazza, America Gregorio, Jose Wilches Garcia 1/27 Thomas Douglas, Julian Eldridge, Brianna Freese, Patrick Weber 1/28 Anita Fitzgerald 1/29 Semilla Foust, Sandra Guerrero, Lindsay Johnson, Anita Lund, Joleen Sadowski 1/30 Valentin Carlos, Matthew Grant, Michelle McMurry. Kristin Smith, Maria Stanley 1/31 David Eisele, Kyle Grant, Christo-pher Hafford

Happy Anniversary 1/24/2016-1/31/2016 1/28 Heberto & Renee Morron 1/31 Bret & Anita Lund

Mrs. Mary Brown: If you need to contact Mrs. Brown, Faith Formation Director, please call or text 704-929-0152 or email her at faithformationdir@att.net or if you need to contact Mrs. Norma Echevarria please call the office at 704-872-2579 or email her at echevarria_norma@yahoo.com. The Confirmation Retreat for all 2nd year Confirmation candi-dates will be Friday, Feb 12th at 5:00 pm—Saturday, Feb 13th at 6:00 pm following Mass. The retreat is mandatory for all candidates wishing to make their confirmation at St. Philip The Apostle this spring. Confirmation will be Friday, May 13th at 6:30 pm in the evening. Bishop Jugis will be celebrating the Confirmation Mass. Students need to be at the church by 4:30 p.m. with their sponsors. Any questions please call Mary Brown. First Reconciliation for First Communion candidates will be on Saturday, March 12th at 10:00 am. First Reconciliation is mandatory for all children who wish to receive First Com-munion on May 1st. The First Communion Mass for the English classes will be Sunday, May 1st at the 10:30 am Mass and for Spanish classes at the 12:30 pm Mass. There will be no Faith Formation Wednesday, February 10th as it is Ash Wednesday. Mark your calendars: Vacation Bible School will be Mon-day, June 20th-Thursday June 23rd from 6-8 p.m. The theme will be the Year of Mercy celebrated through interna-tional saints. Snacks and dinner will be provided. Additionally, there will be crafts, music, games and lessons. VBS will con-clude with water games and cake! Volunteers will be needed to plan, teach, provide music crafts, etc. Please consider volun-teering for VBS. VBS is open to all children 4-12 years of age. Children from outside of St. Philip’s are welcomed too!

Collections last week Regular 5:00 p.m….…………………………….……….……..$3,231.75 8:00 a.m…...…………………………………….……...1,163.00 10:30 a.m…………………...……………………………1,540.00 12:30 p.m…...…………………………………….………. 766.15 Total……..…………...………………………….……$6,700.90 Parish Improvement Total……..…...…………...………………………………$25.00 Food Closet Total...…..……………......……….……...……………..$953.00 Combined Mission Collection Total…………………………………………………..$2,065.00

Collections Year to Date Last year This Year Regular $246,536.56…...….…….........$238,222.33 Parish Improvements 11,740.00………...…...……...29,546.61 Food Closet 12,997.00...….…..……...……11,434.50

Thank you for returning some of God’s gift to you to His Church.

Third Sunday in Ordinary Time January 24, 2016

PARISH SUPPORT CHURCH YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 2016

Sunday, Jan 24th 9:00 am Faith Formation 11:00 am Faith Formation / Spanish Monday, Jan 25th 6:30 pm Bible Study (CDA room) Wednesday, Jan 27th 11:15 am Bible Study (Knights of Columbus Room) 6:30 pm No Faith Formation 6:45 pm RCIA 7:00 pm Family Life Book Group Thursday, Jan 28th 6:30 pm Youth Group 7:00 pm Choir practice 7:00 pm Family Life Meeting Sunday, Jan 31st 9:00 am Faith Formation 11:00 am Faith Formation / Spanish– Parent Meeting

THE WEEK AHEAD

The Family Life Book Club would like to announce the next two books they will be reading & discussing. January’s book selection will be “Face of Betrayal” by Les Wiehl. We will meet at 7:00 p.m. this Wednesday, January 27, 2016 and February’s book will be “Poor Banished Children” by Fiorella De Maria. We will meet at 7:00 pm on Wednesday, February 24, 2016. Please call Norma Gas-sett at 704-380-4125 with any questions.

Friday Soup and Substance star ts Fr iday, February 12th. Soup, bread and salad sign-ups will be on the door of the kitchen. The Knights of Columbus fish fry is scheduled for February 19th. Check the bulletin for more information. At home.. Lillian Alvey, Paul and Ber tha Summerville, Bill Parker, Betty Brostowski, Anna Eisele Shingleton, Rebecca Eisele, Jessica Allison, Jessica Crosso, Jim Ferron, Andrew Gulley, Jackie Mejia, Angela Moreno, Loretta Savage, How-ard Stewart, Rick Stoup, Robinette Tilley, Brookdale Peachtree.-Arthur & Marion Weber, Statesville Manor - Brenda Kelley. The Gardens- Anna Pettit. Please pray for the intentions on Our Prayer Tree. To place a name on the Prayer Tree, please sign the Prayer Book in the Lobby or e-mail; Jean Danckert - danckert5851@roadrunner.com. The flowers on the altar this weekend are in loving memory of Tom & Fran Harper from Patricia & Tony Petrozza.