Rev. Jacek MarchewkaPastor

Rev. Marek Bokota

Vicar

Tim Malone Parish Catechetical Leader

Elaine Kownacki Office Manager

Mary McCarrick

Confirmation Coordinator

Szymon Gil Director of Music Ministry

Helen Soboleski

Cantor

Lauren D’Imperio Cantor of Contemporary Worship

Arthur Yankowski

Parish Council Chair

Sal Tralongo Safe Environment Coordinator

Mary Molinelli, John Sulikowski

Trustees

SACRAMENTS Baptism

Last Sunday of each month.

Reconciliation After all daily Masses and Saturday, 4pm to 4:45pm, or by appointment.

Marriage

Arrangements should be made one year in advance. Contact Rectory for appointment.

Annointing of the Sick

Contact Rectory for appointment for home bound or infirmed.

MASS SCHEDULE

Weekdays: 8am & 12 Noon Saturday: 8am

Saturday Vigil: 5pm Sunday: 7:30am, 9am (Polish), 10:30am,

12 Noon and 6pm Youth Mass

CChurch of the Immaculate Heart of Mary

Roman Catholic Community

47 Island Road Mahwah, NJ 07430 Rectory Phone: 201- 529-3517

Parish Website: www.ihmcmahwah.org Parish Email: pastor@ihmcmahwah.org

Parish Office Hours

Monday – Friday: 9am to 4pm Weekends: Emergency calls only

Christmas Sunday, December 25, 2016

WORSHIP MASS INTENTIONS

Saturday, December 24 - Christmas Eve 8am +Michele Szwed by the Family 3:30pm +Adam E. Suleski by grandchildren Robert, Megan & Adam 5:30pm +Edward Garza, Sr. by Agnes & Family 10pm +Michael & Stephanie Remo by the Family 12Midnite +45th Wedding Anniv. of Natalie & Boleslaw Halka by the Family

Sunday, December 25 - Christmas 7:30am For our Parishioners 9am +Wieslaw Szuler by sister Grazyna & Family 10:30am +Lisa Zembriski by Mom & aunt Irene 12pm +Joseph Suleski by sister Wanda

Monday, December 26 – St. Stephen 9am +Rose Leahy by Donna Gera-Marozin +Ignacy Kowal by Katarzyna & Stanley Kowal 12pm +Lou Molinelli & Lou Molinelli, Sr. from wife Mary & children 7pm +Marianna Winiarski

Tuesday, December 27 8am +Alfreda & Warren Junium by daughter Donna 12pm +Julia, Edward & Michael Cleary by Julia Cleary, Shannon, Kelly & Ryan Hall

Wednesday, December 28 8am +Henry Baker by Darlene McCloud 12pm +Ann & Henry Medler by the Bruce Family

Thursday, December 29 8am +Lorraine Wiener by husband Hank 12pm +Stephanie Spiech by Darlene & Audrey

Friday, December 30 – Feast of the Holy Family 8am +Michele Szwed by the Family 12pm +Mary, Stanley & Roger Suleski by Anne, Christine, George, Carol & John

Saturday, December 31 8am +James Miles by the Family 5pm +Barbara Tie, Sr. by Tie, Briell & Kasting Families +Catherine & Paul Sokol by the Sokol Family

Sunday, January 1- Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God 7:30am +Albin & Tillie by Kownacki Family 9am +Jan & Wieslawa Wisniewski by son Mark & Family 10:30am +Thomas Quinn by the Freeley Family 12pm +Dorothy Ginger Almeida by Michael Almeida 6pm +Youth Mass – Nicholas Lauerwald

MEMORIAL CANDLES

Host & Wine In memory of Vito Nappo my loving husband from Rose Blessed Sacrament (Sanctuary) In memory of Camilo Cabig from wife Fe Blessed Mother (Sanctuary) In memory of Mary Strysko from George & Linda Jones St. Joseph (Sanctuary) In memory of Bill & Frances McCloud from daughters Darlene & Debbie Sacred Heart (Alcove) In memory of Cynthia my loving wife from husband Ed Plicinski Blessed Mother (Alcove) Blessings on the Gerling Family DEVOTIONS

Rosary Every Saturday following the 8am Mass Miraculous Medal Novena Every Monday following the 12 noon Mass Exposition of Blessed Sacrament Every Friday following 12 noon Mass - 7pm Chaplet of Divine Mercy Every Friday at 3pm

PRAYERS FOR PARISHIONERS

For those who are ill: Christine Sanese-Brett, Joan Malone, JoAnn Best, Stella Moran, Jaclyn Best, Nora Dempsey, Tara Arbia, Peter Rice, Maryann Titko, John LaPlaca, Ed Pretko, Frances Konior, James & Barbara Straut, Richard Sito, Allison Healy, , Nancy Mayer, Dave Conklin, Carol Zarcone, MaryAnn Malone, Fred Bader, Roberta Drozdowski.

For the recently deceased: Andrew O’Sullivan, Robert Moris, John Freeburn, James Coty, Anna Caponegro, Martha Mazurkiewicz, Maryann Outwater, Lucille Poplawski, Henry Baker, Patricia Radesky Brennan, Rev. Floyd Rotunno, Teresa Maretzo, Jerzy Pontus, Stanley Strysko, Nicholas Lauerwald, Margaret Borish, Michael Cardinale, Albert Kozakiewicz.

December 25, 2016

Message from the Pastor:

“Christ is born for us, let us rejoice in the day of our salvation!”

“Let us open our hearts to receive the grace of this day, which is Christ himself. Jesus is the radiant “day” which has dawned on the horizon of humanity. A day of mercy, in which God our Father has revealed his great tenderness to the entire world. A day of light, which dispels the darkness of fear and anxiety. A day of peace, which makes for encounter, dialogue and, above all, reconciliation. A day of joy: a “great joy” for the poor, the lowly and for all the people (cf. Lk 2:10).”

“On this day, Jesus, the Savior is born of the Virgin Mary. The Crib makes us see the “sign” which God has given us: “a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger” (Lk 2:12). Like the shepherds of Bethlehem, may we too set out to see this sign, this event which is renewed yearly in the Church. Christmas is an event which is renewed in every family, parish and community which receives the love of God made incarnate in Jesus Christ. Like Mary, the Church shows to everyone the “sign” of God: the Child whom she bore in her womb and to whom she gave birth, yet who is the Son of the Most High, since He “is of the Holy Spirit” (Mt 1:20). He is truly the Savior, for He is the Lamb of God who takes upon himself the sin of the world (cf. Jn 1:29). With the shepherds, let us bow down before the Lamb, let us worship God’s goodness made flesh, and let us allow tears of repentance to fill our eyes and cleanse our hearts.”

I would like to say a special thank you to all those who worked so hard in making our annual Children’s Nativity Pageant and our Parish Christmas Celebration a great success and good time for all. From the Youth Group and Confirmation candidates, Pageant directors and all the wonderful children, choirs, and all the groups, parents and families who helped decorate the gym, bake a dessert or helped in so many ways – my heartfelt thank you! It’s all of you – our wonderful Parish Community – that make us the loving, vibrant and growing Parish that we are today.

I also want thank everyone for your generosity and volunteering in decorating our Church for

Christmas; and for your Christmas donations which are so important overall for our Parish Community. May the excerpts above from Pope Francis’ Christmas message “Urbi Et Orbi” from last year

resonate in each one of us this Christmas and in the days ahead. With these thoughts, I wish you, your families and friends, a Blessed and Merry Christmas!

God Bless You and keep you always in His tender loving care! Fr. Jacek

FAITH FORMATION

FEAST OF SAINT STEPHEN FIRST MARTYR

December 26

On the second day within the octave of Christmas the Church celebrates the Feast of St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr. The deacon Stephen, stoned in Jerusalem two years after the death of Christ, has always been the object of very special veneration by the faithful. He is the first martyr. The account in the Acts

of the Apostles relating his arrest and the accusations brought against him emphasize the parallel with our Savior's trial; he was stoned outside the city wall and died, like his Master, praying for his executioners. Stephen belongs to the group of seven deacons whom the Apostles associated with their work in order to lighten their load. He was "filled with faith and with the Holy Spirit”; he showed himself as a man of God, radiating divine grace and apostolic zeal. As the first witness to Christ he confronted his opponents with quiet courage and the promise made by Jesus was fulfilled (Mark 13:11). In St. Stephen, the Liturgy emphasizes the imitator of Christ even to the extent of the complete gift of self, to the extent of that great charity which made him pray in his suffering for his executioners. By establishing the feast on the day after Christmas the Church draws an even closer comparison between the disciple and the Master and thus extends his witness to the whole mission of the redeeming Messiah.

Prayer to St. Stephen

O glorious St. Stephen, first Martyr for the Faith, filled with compassion for those who invoke you,

with love for those who suffer, heavily laden with the weight of my troubles.

I kneel at your feet and humbly beg you to take my present needs under your special protection.

Cease not to intercede for me until my request is granted. Above all, obtain for me the grace to one day meet God face to face,

and with you and Mary and all the angels and saints praise Him through all eternity.

O most powerful Saint Stephen, Deacon and Martyr, do not let me lose my soul,

but obtain for me the grace of winning my way to heaven, forever and ever. Amen.

FEAST OF THE HOLY FAMILY OF JESUS, MARY AND JOSEPH

December 30

Scripture tells us practically nothing about the first years and the boyhood of the Child Jesus. All we know are the facts of the sojourn in Egypt, the return to Nazareth, and the incidents that occurred when the twelve-year-old boy accompanied his parents to Jerusalem. In her Liturgy the Church hurries over this period of Christ's life with equal brevity. The general breakdown of the family, however, at the end of the past century and at the beginning of our own, prompted the popes, especially the far-sighted Pope Leo XIII, to promote the

observance of this feast with the hope that it might instill into Christian families something of the faithful love and the devoted attachment that characterize the family of Nazareth. The Church established this feast to present the Holy Family as the model and exemplar of all Christian families.

The importance of the Holy Family’s example of faith and love is essential for families as the feast of the Holy Family reminds us. In 1981, St. John Paul II wrote in his Apostolic Exhortation, Familiaris Consortio (The Role of the Christian Family in the Modern World):

“I wish to invoke the protection of the Holy Family of Nazareth. It is therefore the prototype and

example for all Christian families….

St. Joseph was a “just man”, a tireless worker, the upright guardian of those entrusted to his care.

May he always guard, protect and enlighten families….

May the Virgin Mary, who is the Mother of the Church, also be the Mother of ‘the Church of the home’….

May Christ the Lord, the Universal King,

the King of Families, be present in every Christian home

as He was at Cana, bestowing light, joy, serenity, and strength.”

OUR FUTURE PICASSOS!

PARISH & COMMUNITY

A Note of Thanks

I would like to express a huge thank you to everyone involved in making our Annual Christmas Celebration a phenomenal success. First, to Mrs. Irene Conte who directed our Children’s Nativity Pageant; and to all her assistant directors, without you the Pageant would not have been able to happen. To Matthew Lauerwald, for building and donating a new Inn for our Nativity - it looks amazing! To the multitude of teens and parents who helped decorate our gym as well as serve our meal. And lastly, to everyone who baked a delicious desert for all to enjoy. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart. Have a very blessed Christmas. God Bless, Tim Malone, Parish Catechetical Leader

SERVING OTHERS

AND BUILDING COMMUNITY

Many of our Confirmation candidates, representing the Youth Group Ministry, came together to help set up the tables and chairs for the Christmas Celebration and returned to serve at the buffet luncheon on Sunday, Dec. 11th. Many thanks to them for their help and for their participation in building up our Parish community!

CONGRATULATIONS AND

GOD BLESS OUR NEWLY BAPTISED!

CCassandra Peng-Yue Matarazzo Daughter of

Jennifer Wei-Jen Chang & Mark William Matarazzo

Jasmina Elzbieta Halina Filipowska Daughter of

Jagoda Sokolska & Marcin Krzysztof Filipowski

PARISH CALENDAR, CONTACTS & STEWARDSHIP

DECEMBER 12/24 Christmas Eve – see Mass schedule 12/25 Christmas Day – see Mass schedule 12/26 Feast of St. Stephen 12/30 Feast of the Holy Family 1/1/17 Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God

STAFF CONTACT INFORMATION Rectory: 201-529-3517 Pastor: Rev. Jacek Marchewka, Ext. 12 pastor@ihmcmahwah.org Vicar: Rev. Marek Bokota, Ext. 11 Office Manager: Elaine Kownacki 201-529-3517 Fax: 201-529-4401 parishoffice@ihmcmahwah.org Parish Catechetical Leader: Tim Malone 201-529-3517 Ext.20 or 201-529-2294 religiouseducation@ihmcmahwah.org Confirmation Coordinator: Mary McCarrick confirmation@ihmcmahwah.org Women’s Spirituality Leader: Eileen Matarazzo ermatarazzo@gmail.com Youth Ministry: youthministry@ihmcmahwah.org Bulletin Editor: bulletin@ihmcmahwah.org

STEWARDSHIP Due to short Bulletin deadlines for the holidays, collections for Dec. 18, 25 and Jan. 1, will be reported early in the New Year.

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