Historic St. James at Sag Bridge Church 10600 S. Archer Avenue | Lemont, Illinois 60439-9344 | (Ph) 630.257.7000 | (Fx) 630.257.7912

Email: stjames1833@att.net | Website: www.historicstjames.org Facebook: https://Facebook.com/Saint James At Sag Bridge

Mass Schedule WEEKENDS: Saturdays: 5:00pm Sundays: 8:30, 10:00 & 11:30am HOLY DAYS: 8:15am & 7:00pm

WEEKDAYS: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday 8:15am & Fridays 6:00pm WEDNESDAY: Adoration at 5:00 & Mass at 7:00pm.

CONFESSION SCHEDULE: Wednesdays 6:00-7:00pm & Saturdays 9:30-10:15am otherwise by appointment

BAPTISMS, WEDDINGS & FUNERALS: Contact the rectory office.

SICK & HOMEBOUND PASTORAL CARE: Please notify rectory.

RECTORY OFFICE HOURS: Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu & Fri: 9:30am to 1:00pm.

CLERGY: Fr. Tom Koys, M.A.,S.T.L., Pastor, Fr. Edward Gleeson, Pastor Emeritus Fr. Robert Coleman, Resident Deacon John Wilkinson, C.K.M. Deacon Doug Szarzynski

ALTAR & ROSARY SOCIETY INFORMATION

SAT–5/12 & SUN-5/13 (MOTHERS’ DAY): Fundraiser – Women's’ Center Flower Sale after all the Masses. SAT–5/19 & SUN–5/20: Our BAKE SALE – All parishioners are welcome to donate “homemade” baked goods! Please bring your baked goods to the Bake Sale Table before any of the Masses or drop them off on Saturday afternoon at the Rectory. All donations are greatly appreciated! Contact Dottie @ 708.403.0805.

Pres: Barbara Wood—708.257.9129 V.P: Irene—773.366.2185 Treas: Judi Lakner—630.243.9414

SIXTH SUNDAY OF

Easter MAY 6, 2018

Page Two May 6, 2018

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

Could it actually be Spring? After what has been just a “won’t give up” colder than normal March and April, May is finally making her presence known. That means beauty, warmth and fresh air. It also means it’s time to make a special place in our hearts for the gift of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Our annual May crowning will take place this weekend which is a sure sign that Summer is just around the corner. Ob-viously, August 15, the feast of the Assumption of Mary into heaven and the October 8th, Mary’s birth-day are a far off. In anticipation of these Marian Feasts days and because this year is our 185th anni-versary, I wish to ask of you a great favor. The pic-ture here is, of course from our beautiful grotto. Nothing witnesses to our precious Catholic faith as a statue of Our Blessed Mother.

Therefore, I am asking that everyone who has their own little shrine to our Lady, and a digital camera (or knows someone who has a digital camera) to send me a picture of your Blessed Mother statue and shrine. (hint: wait till the flowers are just right to take your photo) I will put them into a PowerPoint presentation and post it on our website. If it turns out good, I’ll show it on Aug 15 and at our 185th anniversary ban-quet (Oct 28th) Send your photos to me at un-likeothernations@gmail.com. I am so anxious to see all our beautiful shrines.

(from Marian Consecration for Children, by Carrie Gress)

“Most people think of Mary as little more than a beautiful figure who can inspire beautiful art, or even as just someone who is very sweet but not very helpful when it comes to the real world. If we look to history,

though, we can see that Mary has done a great many things to help Christians.

One of many examples of helping her children in need happened in the little town of Pontmain, France, in 1871. At about 9:00pm, four children saw an appa-rition of Mary in the sky. They could see her, but the adults could not. The people of Pontmain knew that an invading army, the Prussians, was going to attack the next day. When the children walked out of their barn, they could see Our Lady high in the sky smiling at them and wearing a dress covered in stars. During the apparition, Mary held up a banner that said the children’s prayers had been heard by Jesus and were being answered. The next day, the invasion never came. The Prussians packed up, went home and left France alone after that. What happened? The invad-ing general wrote to his superiors that an “invisible Madonna” was blocking the road as they marched toward Pontmain. That was enough for the army to forget their battle in Pontmain and end the whole war with France.”

Several teens and adults, including Fr. Joshua and Fr. Jason, will be heading to Puebla Mexico this summer as part of the Mission Youth team building a house for a family in need. In addition to needing your prayers, the group is charged with raising $6,000 to cover the costs of building supplies. They will be having a bake sale after all of the Sunday masses this weekend to help raise the needed funds. As they did last year, the group will be hosting a re-ception after their trip to share pictures an stories with all who supported them in their mission. Thank you very much for your generosity and prayers!

Sixth Sunday of Easter Page Three

BAVARIAN BISHOPS RESPOND TO PUSH FOR MORE PUBLIC CROSSES

Munich, Germany, A recent decision by the government of Bavaria to mandate that a cross be displayed in all state buildings has garnered global attention, while prompting both criticism and praise from local Catholic bishops.

The requirement that every entrance to state buildings dis-play up a Christian cross – though not necessarily in the form of a crucifix – was announced by the office of Markus Söder, Bavaria’s premier. The directive to hang the cross-es by June 1st has sparked a public debate in Germany, tapping into deeper angst about culture, values and Chris-tian roots in a country divided by questions of heritage, religion and identity.

The move has come under criticism from Cardinal Rein-hard Marx, Archbishop of Munich and Freising, while being welcomed by Bishop Rudolf Voderholzer of Bavaria’s Re-gensburg diocese.

Cardinal Reinhard Marx, who as recently as 2015 asserted that crosses should be displayed in classrooms and court-rooms, roundly criticized the April decision to display them in public entranceways.

Speaking to Munich’s Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, the archbishop said that the cross is "a sign of opposition to violence, injustice, sin and death, but not a sign [of ex-clusion] against other people." The cross can be misunder-stood as purely a cultural symbol, he said, and thus mis-used by the state. It is not up to the state to explain what a cross means, the Cardinal emphasized, saying that Bavaria's government has triggered “division, unrest and adversity" with the move.

Bavarian Premier Markus Söder and other politicians of the state’s governing CSU party disagreed with Cardinal Marx's interpretation of the government's decision.

The accusation that the government would attempt to mis-appropriate the cross or designate it as a purely cultural symbol was flatly rejected by Söder, a Lutheran who hails from the Protestant region of Franconia in northern Bavar-ia. "Of course, the cross is primarily a religious symbol," Söder told German news media. However, the premier continued, the cross, in the wider sense, also carries with it basic foundations of a secular state.

This aspect was also emphasized by Catholic commenta-tor Birgit Kelle in an editorial for the newspaper Die Welt: "Every Muslim, every atheist, and every other believer can feel safe under this cross, which does not constitute a

5116 N. Cicero Avenue, Chicago, IL 60630 773-794-1313 www.GoTwc.org

MOTHER’S DAY FLOWER SALE MAY 12TH & 13TH

Flowers are a Mother’s favorite! On Saturday, May 12th and Sunday, May 13th, the Altar & Rosary Society will be selling beautiful bouquets of fresh-cut flowers after all Masses. Choose the perfect bouquet from a variety of colors and assortments.

The proceeds will be used to help young women facing a crisis preg-nancy situation and in need assistance. Please support this life-saving work of The Women’s Centers of Greater Chicagoland. Since its founding in 1984, The Women’s Centers have helped saved more than 39,500 babies–and their mothers–from the tragedy of abortion. For more information, please visit their website at www.GoTwc.org . Thank you for your generous support!

claim to power, but a commitment to treat each person equally and decently, regardless of their background, faith, ability, or gender."

In a similar vein, Bishop Voderholzer of the Bavarian dio-cese of Regensburg asserted that: "the cross is the epito-me of Western culture. It is the expression of a culture of love, compassion and affirmation of life. It belongs to the foundations of Europe."

Its public presence - which in traditionally Catholic Bavaria is near ubiquitous - should be seen as such, welcomed and appreciated, he said.

This is the reason, Voderholzer said, Christians have placed crosses atop the peaks of Bavarian mountains: "Not the national flag or other symbols of human rule, as others might have liked to see at other times, but the cross. It should be widely visible, the cross, the sign of sal-vation and life in which Christ is heaven and earth, God and reconciled people, victims and perpetrators.”

Our weekly Offertory collection from April 29th was $2,648.00. The number of envelopes received was 104.

OUR MANY THANKS TO OUR REGISTERED FAMILIES USING ENVELOPES & THE CASH-AND-CARRY FOLKS.

Our CHURCH CLEANERS FOR FRIDAY – 5/11/18 Are Grace, Margaret G., Bronislawa & volunteer.

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

VOTIVE OFFERINGS FOR THE WEEK OF 5/06/18 St. James Altar & Rosary Society

Health & Healing for Cathy A’Hearn Special int. for Mr. & Mrs. Adalfino

Get Well for Karyn Cimaroli For the Soul of Jennie Dizon Special int. for Dennis Slowik

Health & Healing for Donald Wilkinson

Our beautiful bouquets of

flowers surrounding our altar were made available for the

special int. of GARY & SUE ROY

MONDAY MAY 7th 8:15 AM Ronald Marsik

TUESDAY MAY 8TH 8:15 AM Health & Healing for Jim & Rita Wall

WEDNESDAY MAY 9TH 7:00 PM James Macfarlane & 20th Anniversary for Walt & Ann Noonan

THURSDAY MAY 10TH – St. Damien de Veuster 8:15 AM Ronald Marsik

FRIDAY MAY 11TH 6:00 PM Jozef Dziaba

ASCENSION OF THE LORD SATURDAY MAY 12TH – Sts. Nereus & Achilles 5:00 PM Barbara & Leon John Pieprzyca

SUNDAY MAY 13TH – MOTHERS DAY 8:30 AM Jozef Dziaba 10:00 AM Zofia Plata & Julia Raj Joanne Sherman 11:30 AM Edward & Virgina Yorke & Dick Sarlo, Lena DiSalle & all Deceased.

ASCENSION OF THE LORD 5/12 & 5/13/18

Celebrant

Altar

Servers

Lectors

8:30 AM Fr. Edward Gleeson

S. Carver Dillenburg Dillenburg

C. Stach-Pearman

10:00 AM Fr. Tom Koys

A. Bertucci M. Lawler T. Lawler

S. Kelly

11:30 AM Fr. Tom Koys

N. Akroush J. Jacobek B. Zabilka

S. Hagen

5:00 PM Fr. Tom Koys

Ramirez Ramirez Ramirez

C. Zarzycki