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) 681-4860

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 Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Today we listen to Paul telling Timothy and us “But you, man of God, pursue righteousness, devotion, faith, love, patience, and gentleness. Compete well for the faith”. Go for it. Put God’s word and your faith into action. Next weekend is the 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time and observe Re-spect Life Sunday. The readings at Mass are from Habakkuk 1:2-3; 2:2-4; 2 Timothy 1:6-8, 13-14; Luke 17:5-10. The Blessing of Animals will take place next Saturday, October 1st, at 9:30 a.m. This tradition is in honor of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals, whose feast day will be celebrated on Tuesday, October 4th. Weather permitting the blessing will be outside in front of the church. Bring whatever pet or animals you wished to have blessed – but please be sure that they are safe for their own sake and the sake of the other people and animals. Thank you. October 1st is the First Saturday of the month. The rosary will be prayed at 8:40 a.m. followed by the 9 a.m. Mass. All are welcomed and encour-aged to pray with us. Thanks to all who par ticipated in the Family Life Committee’s Mass & a Meal on Saturday evening. It’s great to get together as God’s chil-dren and a Family of Faith. Respect Life Sunday will be celebrated next weekend, October 1st & 2nd. All are invited and encouraged to stand with thousands of pro-lifers throughout the USA and join us in the National Life Chain. The local gathering will be on Sunday, October 2nd from 2:15 – 3:30 p.m. Signs are distributed that proclaim “Abortion kills Children”, Adoption – the living option”, “Jesus forgives & Heals”, “Lord, Forgive Us and Our Nation”, “Abortion Hurts Women”, “El Aborto Mata Niños”, “Life – the first Inalienable Right”, Pray to End Abortion”. See you there? Good Bye Time Warner – I had a bundle with them in the Rectory for TV Cable and a land line telephone. I felt this company keeps raising their prices and the quality of their product is really poor so on Wednes-day, September 14th, I discontinued service and now I’m saving $145. a month. The cable was replaced with a $60 antenna that you put in your window. The reception isn’t always perfect, but there is no monthly payment. I know that St. Teresa of Calcutta would approve. Please note that I have a new rectory phone number on the front of this bulletin. This number is also repeated on the recorded message if you call the church office. Faithful Service, Grateful Hearts - The 2016 Priest’s Retirement Col-lection – was taken up at Mass last weekend. Our assessment this year is $15,960. Thanks to those who have contributed to the $7,781.25 which we have received. We will continue to beg until we are able to meet this assessment. I beg you to please be extra generous. Thank you so very much. Looking ahead to Sunday, October 9th. - The Knights of Columbus will hold their Annual Spaghetti Dinner from 3 – 7 p.m. Dinner includes spaghetti, meat sauce, garlic bread, salad and dessert and drinks. Adults are $6.50, Children ages 5 – 10 are $3.50 and under 5 are free. Dinner tickets may be purchased at the door, the day of the dinner. - October is the month of the Holy Rosary and October 7th is the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. Therefore, weather permitting, next Sunday afternoon, beginning at 1:45 p.m. we will have a Rosary Procession, whereby we will process from the Church, a little up the road on Harmony Drive to the entrance of the Montessori School (just a little past the rectory) and return, praying the rosary. The rosary will be lead by adults, but the children and all will participate in the responses and sing a few Marian hymns. Demonstrate you love for God, devotion to Mary and your Catholic faith by praying with us.

Saturday, Sept 24th 5:00 pm Warren Reese † by Mildred Savage Sunday, Sept 25th 8:00 am Antonia Bertuccio † by M/M Mark Vaglica 10:30 am Larry & Anne Martini † by Their Children 12:30 pm Montenegro Roa Family † M/M Guerrero Montenegro Families Monday, Sept 26th 9:00 am Bobby Scales † by M/M Bill McEvilly Wednesday, Sept 28th 6:00 pm James Ferron †

Thursday, Sept 29th 9:00 am Martha Wall by M/M Russell Haas Friday, Sept 30th 9:00 am Fr. Alphonse G. Rose † by Denise Long

Saturday, Oct 1 9:00 am Fr. Alphonse G. Rose † by Denise Long 5:00 pm Timothy Rutten † by Rutten & Lackey Families Sunday, Oct 2 8:00 am James Heberger † by M/M David Papandrea 10:30 am Mary Donahue † by Mary Ann Dietrich 12:30 pm Concepcion Ozaeta † by Ozaeta Family READERS Oct 1 5:00 p.m. Mike Hoffman Oct 2 8:00 a.m. Michele Woldman 10:30 a.m. Annie McGuire EXTRAORDINARY MINISTERS OF HOLY COMMUNION Oct 1 5:00 p.m. P. Daly (H), A. Eisele, I. Poston, C. Ries, B. Scales Oct 2 8:00 a.m. L. Klvana (H), P. Klvana, B. Papandrea 10:30 a.m. A. Sadowski (HM), C. Bennett (HA), J. Bennett (HC), J. Danckert, T. Douglas, J. Eisele, M. Freese ALTAR SERVER Oct 1 5:00 p.m. Oct 2 8:00 a.m. 10:30 a.m. Happy Birthday 9/25/2016-10/1/2016 9/25 Valeria Aguilar, Amelia Barnhardt, John Haneline, Olivia Ha-neline 9/26 Estrella Banitez, Jose Cuervo, Jillian Kelley, Patty Miller 9/27 Ramona Gutsch, Kimberly Helderlein, Aubrey Mehall, Edis Portillo, Kathleen Watson 9/28 Andrew Kershner, Willevaldo Ruiz Hernandez, Edwin Santibanez, Nicholas Scannella, Tatiana Wodecki Hencinski 9/29 Gerlinde Douglas, Brandon Reeves, Gary Rutten, Rafael Vargas 9/30 Irving Avila, Chase Levan, Gina Pfohler, Frances Robinette, Katie Swaney 10/1 Tanner Rutten, Emma Vega, Diana Zepeta

Happy Anniversary 9/25/2016—10/1/2016 9/26 James & Lisa Fierros 9/27 David & Ellen Edwards 9/29 Pedro & Carina Basilio

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. Parents of children making their First Communion or Confirmation must attend 2 parent meetings: The Spr ing parent meeting for Wed night First communion students is Jan 11th@ 6:45 pm. For Wednesday night Confirmation candi-dates is January 25th at 6:45 p.m. The spring parent meeting for Sunday Confirmation candidates is Sunday, January 29th at 9:15 am. Faith Formation students should have brought home a textbook order form for the new FF series, Faith and Life. Or-dering is optional. Order forms need to be turned in by Sun-day, October 2nd. Faith Formation students in 1st, 2nd, 8th & 9th grades will need to get mass cards signed. The Mass cards will be kept in the Faith Formation office. After each Mass there will be a representative in the lobby to sign cards. The student must be present to have the card signed. First Communion & Confirmation candidates who do not have 25 signatures by the end of the FF year will be unable to partici-pate in First Communion or Confirmation. The Protecting God’s Children workshop scheduled for Septem-ber 24th has been cancelled due to a death in the family of the pre-senter. We will reschedule as soon as possible. We need assistants for Wed nights in the 1st & 2nd grade classrooms. These are very important years in Faith Formation and the children need another dedicated adult to help them to develop their understanding of Reconciliation and the Eucha-rist in both grade levels. The Christmas Program committee will be meeting Thursdays at 6 p.m. in the parish hall. Please join us! The Christmas Program will be Sunday, December 18th at 3 p.m. followed by food and fellow-ship. All parish children are invited to be a part of this celebration of the nativity of our Lord.

Collections last week Regular 5:00 p.m….…………………………….…………...…$2,450.00 8:00 a.m…..…...……………………………….……….1,286.75 10:30 a.m…………………...……………………………2,223.53 12:30 p.m…...…………………………………….………..626.50 Total……..…………...……………………………….$6,586.78 Parish Improvement Total….....…...…………...…..…………………………...$55.00 Food Closet Total..……...……......……...….....……………...……$1,202.05 Military Collection Total………………………………………………….…..$40.00 Priest Retirement Total…………………………………………………..$7,781.25

Collections Year to Date Last year This Year Regular $89,767.19…...….….…..........$85,674.27 Parish Improvements 15,034.02...……...…...……….6,085.00 Food Closet 4,301.50...….…..……...……..4,319.05

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

Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary September 25, 2016

PARISH SUPPORT CHURCH YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 2017

THE WEEK AHEAD

As men and women of God we are to “pursue righteousness, devotion, faith, love, patience and gentleness.” We are called to keep his commandment to love one another as he has loved us. Is this evident in your lives and marriages? The next Worldwide Marriage Encounter weekends are: Sep 30 - Oct 2, 2016 in Myrtle Beach, SC and Nov 4-6, 2016 in Atlan-tic Beach, NC. Early sign up is recommended. For more in-formation visit our website at: https://NCMarriageDiscovery.org or contact us at appli-cations@NCMarriageDiscovery.org or 704-315-2144. At home.. Lillian Alvey, Paul and Ber tha Summerville, Bill Parker, Betty Brostowski, Anna Eisele Shingleton, Re-becca Eisele, David Eisele, Jessica Allison, Jessica Crosso, Andrew Gulley, Jackie Mejia, Angela Moreno, Loretta Sav-age, Howard Stewart, Rick Stoup, Robinette Tilley, Alan Eisele, Gail Byrd, Joe Stallings, Arthur & Marion Weber, Nelson LaClair, Martha Wall..Statesville Manor - Brenda Kelley. The Gardens- Anna Pettit. Please pray for the inten-tions 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.

Is this your year? Couples married 25 or 50 years this year will be honored at an Anniversary Mass held on Sunday, Nov 6, 2016 at St. John Neumann Catholic Church in Char-lotte. Mass begins at 2:00 p.m. followed by a reception. Please call the parish office 704-872-2579 asap.

Sunday, Sept 25th 9:00 a.m. Faith Formation—Confirmation meeting Monday, Sept 26th 9:30 a.m. Rosary Wednesday, Sept 28th 11:15 a.m. Bible Study 6:30 p.m. Faith Formation 6:45 p.m. RCIA Thursday, Sept 29th 6:30 p.m. Youth Group Saturday, Oct 1st 8:40 a.m. Rosary 9:30 a.m. Blessing of Animals 10:30 a.m. Baptisms 6:00 p.m. Family Life Social Sunday , Oct 2nd 9:00 a.m. Faith Formation 9:00 a.m. Family Life Social 11:30 a.m. Family Life Social