Text Box: RITE OF CHRISTIAN INITIATION OF ADULTS (R-C-I-A) The Rite of Chrisitan Inititation of Adults (RCIA) is a process of learning about the Catholic Christian tradition and growing in prayer. During this process, adults commit themselves to prepare intensely for the three sacraments that initiate them fully into the life of Jesus Christ and the Church: Baptism, Confirmation, and the Holy Eucharist. The RCIA journey reaches its fulfillment during the Sacred Triduum in Holy Week (Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and the Easter Vigil. Perhaps you may know someone—it may even be YOU—who is not baptized, or is baptized in another Christian tradition, and desires to respond to God through the grace of the Catholic Faith. If so, please call our Pastoral Associate—Gary Cushing at the rectory at 718-625-1161 or email gary.cushing@gmail.com to make your interest known. We will contact you and arrange for you to take the next step on this important journey. Text Box: HOLY HOUR On Saturday, September 6th we will have our monthly Holy Hour after the 8:00 A.M. Mass. Please join us for Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, Morning Prayer and the Rosary. All are invited to this special monthly devotion. SEPTEMBER 11 - MEMORIAL On Thursday, September 11th, our parish will celebrate a special Memorial Mass at 10:00 A.M. The firemen from Middagh Street, along with the family and friends of those who died, have been invited. All are welcome to this special tribute. MASS SCHEDULE We will resume our fall Mass schedule on Sunday, September 7th. Starting that Sunday Mass will be celebrated at 10:00 A.M. and 12:15 P.M. Text Box: Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time Text Box: BVM Text Box: Assumption Text Box: From the Pastor’s Desk Dear Friends: We have to admit it. Some of Christ’s followers reject others. Humans have disagreed about religion for millennia. Christians have persecuted other monotheists. Some of the worst cases of hate and misunderstanding have been toward those who are close to us in faith. Can we do better? Where do we start? The prophet Isaiah sees a time when God’s house of prayer will be a house for all people. The Second Vatican Council document Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions (Nostra Aetate) embraces the tension the Church must live in. Addressing other faiths, it says, “the Catholic Church rejects nothing of what is true and holy in these religions.” Two sentences later, the same document “proclaims, and ever must proclaim Christ “the way, and the truth, and the life.’” In today’s Gospel story, Jesus heals several people at once. It is not quick or easy. He challenges the Canaanite woman who is following Him; she challenges Him back. And Jesus then acts. The disciples see a foreigner who is a pest. Jesus sees a woman of great faith. The message of the Gospel is sophisticated. It is difficult. It is freeing. Yours in Christ, Rev. Michael A. Carrano