Historic St. James at Sag Bridge Church 10600 S. Archer Avenue | Lemont, Illinois 60439-9344

(Ph) 630.257.7000 | (Fx) 630.257.7912 | E-mail: stjames1833@att.net |Website: www.historicstjames.org Facebook: https://Facebook.com/Saint James At Sag Bridge

Mass Schedule

WEEKENDS: Saturdays: 5:00pm Sundays: 8:00, 9:30 & 11:30am

HOLY DAYS: 8:15am & 7:00pm

WEEKDAYS: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday 8:15am & Fridays 6:00pm

Wednesday: Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament at 5:00-7:00pm, w/Confessions at 6:15pm & Mass at 7:00pm.

CONFESSION SCHEDULE:

Saturdays, 9:30am-10:00am Wednesdays, 6:30pm Otherwise by appointment

BAPTISMS, WEDDINGS & FUNERALS:

Contact the rectory office (630.257.7000).

SICK & HOMEBOUND PASTORAL CARE:

Please notify rectory.

RECTORY OFFICE HOURS:

Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu & Fri: 9:30am to 1:00pm

FIRST SATURDAYS: Beginning in June until October there will be an 8:30am Mass.

Register with www.formed.org & use our St. James’ code: KFWMDB (ALL CAPS)

Baby shower items for The Women’s Center: Baby fur-niture (in good condition), health and hygiene prod-ucts, diapers. Drop off at Sag hall. Questions call: Mary, 708-839-8834.

July 2, 2017 Thirteenth Ordinary Sunday

JULY 4TH MASS WILL BE AT 9:00AM

Page Two July 2, 2017

FROM THE DESK OF THE PASTOR, FR. THOMAS KOYS, M.A.,S.T.L.

SAVE THE DATE: Sunday, August 20, 5:30pm. Support our Lemont area Youth Ministry by enjoying a toe tapping, hand clapping concert of “old time mu-sic” at beautiful Cog Hill. Will Kruger, the award winning singer-song-writer will lift your heart. St. James’ Vacation Bible School begins: Monday, July 17. Registration forms in back of church or online at www.historicstjames.com. Please let Fr. Koys know if you can help as a volunteer. There is a lot of work behind all those smiles.

Last month President Trump signed an Executive Order on Religious Freedom and Freedom of Speech. The order reaffirms our nation's commitment to reli-gious freedom. Alveda King, niece of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, and a convert to Catholicism was given one of the pens he used in the signing ceremo-ny. This is a very hopeful change in our national de-bate about life. In these days before the 4th of July, in which we are called upon to pray fervently for what Abraham Lincoln, called a new birth of freedom, we need to ask for God’s mercy as the heavy truth of our “social mistakes” creates a new birth of slavery. This executive order reverses the policy that pun-ished religious groups like the little Sisters of the Poor, and Priests for Life and individuals, like pro-life doctors, like St. James’ own, Dr. Robert Lawler

(who recently appeared on Fox News, hopefully, you received the link in your FLOCKnotes inbox) for re-fusing to include abortion in health insurance cover-age. This new policy also takes aim at the “Johnson Amendment”. In 1954, the government declared that tax exempt organizations could not speak their minds about politics. Now understandably, for many people this has become a rather welcomed rule because poli-tics is obviously an area of life full of controversy and strongly held opinions. Many people look forward to an hour in church, if for nothing else, it is a time free of heated political debate. However, we need to be sincere here, as annoying and uncomfortable as cer-tain topics can be, isn’t it a good thing that ministers, priests or rabbis, doctors and CEOs of businesses, not be jailed or fined simply for speaking about such things or refusing to pay for abortions? And while the topic of religious freedom is on the table, I ask you to listen to my latest YouTube chan-nel offering. This topic just won’t go away. It truly is one of today’s most compelling issues. Please sub-scribe to “Unlike Other Nations” on You Tube and take a listen to “A priest responds to Religious Toler-ance made in America”. I try to explain, how in our national pride, there is an oversight of the importance of Catholicism in the history of Christianity. The idea that the Protestant reformation created religious toler-ance, and that the United States rescued the very no-tion of freedom from the despotic Catholic leaders of Europe shows a view of history that brings new meaning to idea of “rewriting history”. Although the modern world needed a “new birth of religious free-dom” it must be acknowledged that Catholic and Protestant authorities alike were guilty of imposing this or that religious practice on their people. But, truth be told, it was the Pope that rejected the idea that a King has the power to declare a religion for his realm. We cannot pretend that Catholics always got it right. But neither should we spread the false idea that American Protestantism invented religious freedom. Indeed, must all agree that this is an unfinished story. Unfortunately, that’s the way life is. But this is exact-ly what we need to accept if we are play a part in the American story. One never becomes an actor in a play when the play is finished. We need participants in the drama we call America, not just spectators.

Thirteenth Ordinary Sunday Page Three

To Bury Saint Joseph by Marie Murphy Duess

My husband and I are selling our home. One of the first things our listing agent asked was, “Have you buried St. Joseph yet?” I’ve known about the “tradition” of burying a statue of St. Joseph for many years. No, we didn’t bury a statue of our patron of the Universal Church, patron of families and homes and a happy death. And even though he’s now also called the patron of real estate, chances are we won’t. As Catholics, we believe that as members of the Communion of Saints (both living and gone before us), it is all right to pray for our beloved saints’ intercession. I imagine St. Joseph has a very special place in heaven, close to Our Lord whom he loved and protected. I pray to him all the time. He was the adopted father of our Lord, and as adoptive parents, my husband and I have relied on him to guide us in our role as parents. After our realtor asked that question, I decided to look into how this prac-tice began and was surprised to learn that it had begun with St. Teresa of Avila in the 16th century. She was looking for land to build a new convent for her Carmelite nuns, and she asked them to bury medals of St. Joseph in the grounds around their present convent. Apparently, it worked. I don’t know how this morphed into burying statues upside down, but I know that after the home is sold, we are instructed to dig up the statue, bring it to the new home and put it in a place of honor. I also found out that there are actually kits for this practice—statue, instruc-tions, prayer and all. A few years ago, when my mother-in-law decided to move to an assisted living facility, it became my husband’s responsibility to arrange for the sale of her condominium. It was taking longer than we had hoped, but we rejected the urge to bury the statue she always kept on her dresser. Instead, we put the statue in one of the windows looking out, asking St. Joseph to intercede for us. In truth, the condo sold within three days of this after being on the market for many months. I don’t think this happened because the statue was or wasn’t buried, or even in the window, although it was quite a coincidence. I believe it hap-pened because we believe in God and in the power of prayer. Some would say that burying the statue (or even putting it in a win-dow) is superstitious, and we aren’t supposed to involve ourselves in superstitions. We risk giving the wrong impression to non-Catholics. There are already too many misconceptions about Catholicism. Howev-er, if it is done with a genuine spirit of prayer and true devotion, and we believe in the intercession of St. Joseph and that God answers our pray-ers, burying the statue demonstrates our love and faith. Yet, my husband and I probably won’t be burying the statue of St. Jo-seph. We will be praying to him, and as always, he will have a special and honored place in our hearts—in our home—no matter how long it takes to sell our house and find a new one. I think I’ll buy a kit, though...just in case.

Fifty-six men from each of the original 13 colonies signed the Declara-tion of Independence on July 4, 1776. Nine of the signers were immi-grants, two were brothers and two were cousins. One was an orphan. The average age of a signer was 45. Benjamin Franklin was the oldest delegate at 70. The youngest was Thomas Lynch Jr. of South Carolina at 27. Eighteen of the signers were merchants or businessmen, 14 were farmers, and four were doctors. Twenty-two were lawyers - although William Hooper of North Carolina was "disbarred" when he spoke out against the king - and nine were judges. Stephen Hopkins had been governor of Rhode Island. Forty-two signers had served in their coloni-al legislatures. John Witherspoon of New Jersey was the only active clergyman to attend. (Indeed, he wore his pontificals to the sessions.) Almost all were Protestants. Charles Carroll of Maryland was the lone Roman Catholic. Seven of the signers were educated at Harvard, four at Yale, four at William & Mary, and three at Princeton. Witherspoon was the president of Princeton, and George Wythe was a professor at William & Mary. His students included Declaration scribe Thomas Jefferson. Seventeen signers fought in the American Revolution. Thomas Nelson was a colonel in the Second Virginia Regiment and then commanded Virginia military forces at the Battle of Yorktown. William Whipple served with the New Hampshire militia and was a commanding officer in the decisive Saratoga campaign. Oliver Wolcott led the Connecticut regiments sent for the defense of New York and commanded a brigade of militia that took part in the defeat of General Burgoyne. Caesar Rod-ney was a major general in the Delaware militia; John Hancock held the same rank in the Massachusetts militia. The British captured five signers during the war. Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, and Arthur Middleton were captured at the Battle of Charleston in 1780. George Walton was wounded and captured at the Battle of Savannah. Richard Stockton of New Jersey never recovered from his incarceration at the hands of British Loyalists. He died in 1781. Thomas McKean of Delaware wrote John Adams that he was "hunted like a fox by the enemy - compelled to remove my family five times in a few months." Abraham Clark of New Jersey had two of his sons cap-tured by the British during the war. Eleven signers had their homes and property destroyed. Francis Lew-is's New York home was razed and his wife taken prisoner. John Hart's farm and mills were destroyed when the British invaded New Jersey, and he died while fleeing capture. Carter Braxton and Nelson, both of Virginia, lent large sums of their personal fortunes to support the war effort but were never repaid. Fifteen of the signers participated in their states' constitutional conven-tions, and six - Roger Sherman, Robert Morris, Franklin, George Cly-mer, James Wilson, and George Reed - signed the U.S. Constitution. After the Revolution, 13 signers went on to become governors. Eight-een served in their state legislatures. Sixteen became state and federal

judges. Seven became members of the U.S. House of Representatives. Six became U.S. senators. James Wilson and Samuel Chase became Supreme Court justices. Jefferson, Adams, and Elbridge Gerry each became vice president. Adams and Jefferson later became president. Five signers played major roles in the establishment of colleges and universities: Franklin and the University of Pennsylvania; Jefferson and the University of Virginia; Benjamin Rush and Dickinson College; Lewis Morris and New York University; and George Walton and the University of Georgia. Adams, Jefferson, and Carroll were the longest surviving signers. Adams and Jefferson both died on July 4, 1826, the 50th anni-versary of the Declaration of Independence. Carroll was the last signer to die in 1832 at the age of 95. Editor note: (Charles cousin, John Carroll, served as the first bishop and archbishop in the United States, Baltimore, Maryland. founder of Georgetown University (the oldest Catholic university in the U.S.).

INDEPENDENCE?

Our Weekly Offertory collection from the

weekend of June 25, 2017 was $3,4059.00. Sec-ond collection for Peter’s Pence was $1,025.00.

The number of envelopes was 101.

OUR MANY THANKS TO OUR REGISTERED FAMILIES USING ENVELOPES & THE

CASH-AND-CARRY FOLKS.

Our CHURCH CLEANERS FOR FRIDAY 7/07/17 Are Diane, Sandy & Bronislawa & volunteer. If you

are interested in volunteering, please contact the rectory office at 630.257.7000.

14TH ORDINARY SUNDAY

7/08 & 7/09/17

Celebrant

Altar

Servers

Lectors

8:00 AM Fr. Tom Koys

S. Carver F. Casiple Dillenburg

M. Dillenburg

9:30 AM Fr. Tom Koys

A. Bertucci J. Strzelczyk J. Strzelczyk

D. LaSota

11:30 AM Fr. Tom Koys

J. Jacobek J. Ramirez J.P. Ramirez

S. Kelly

5:00 PM Fr. Tom Koys

Dooley J. Szarzynski T. Szarzynski

L. Pieprzyca

VOTIVE OFFERINGS FOR THE WEEK OF 7/02/17

St. James Altar & Rosary Society In memory of Lillian Simanavicius

Our beautiful bouquets of flow-ers surrounding our altar were

made available by the generosity of

JANE HOPSON

Monday July 3rd-St. Thomas 9:00 AM Special int. for Wayne & Pam Drust

Tuesday July 4th-Independence Day 9:00 AM 75th Birthday Thanksgiving (No Name Given)

Wednesday July 5th-Sts. Anthony Zaccaria & Elizabeth of Portugal 7:00 PM Birthday Blessing for Kristin Walsh

Thursday July 6th-St. Maria Goretti 8:15 AM Marian Sexton

Friday July 7th 6:00PM Blessings & Thanksgiving for the Raj Family

FOURTEENTH ORDINARY SUNDAY Saturday July 8th 5:00 PM (Blessing & Health for Edward Richards) & Michael Regan) Sunday July 9th 8:00 AM Healing for Louise Le Bron 9:30 AM Living & Deceased Members of the A&R Society 11:30 AM Marian Sexton