Text Box: SUMMER SCHEDULE Our Summer Mass Schedule has begun. For the summer we will have the 5:00 P.M. on Saturday and just the 10:00 A.M. Mass on Sunday. Thank you for your cooperation HELP NEEDED We need more group leaders for the Children’s Liturgy of the Word on Sundays which will resume again in the Fall. This is indeed, a very meaningful ministry. For any questions, please call Sister Maria or Father Carrano at 718-625-1161. Text Box: ANNUAL CATHOLIC APPEAL We thank everyone who has made a pledge to the Bishop’s Annual Catholic Appeal. Just a reminder to please fulfill your obligation. Not only does your pledge support the needs of the diocese, it also helps our parish. As we noted, all monies collected after our goal is met will be given back to Assumption. Each year we use these funds to pay our parish assessment to the diocese and our annual insurance. These two bills total $31,000. In the past we were fortunate to be able to pay these bills partially because of your goodness to the Annual Appeal. Please help. Thank you for your generosity! Text Box: Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Text Box: BVM Text Box: Assumption Text Box: From the Pastor’s Desk Dear Friends: There are many words we use at Mass which seem to speak for themselves. However, there is a depth of meaning to some of these words. The word catholic for example means “universal,” but that doesn’t mean the Church is supposed to look exactly the same everywhere in the world. As the Vatican II documents Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (Sacrosanctum Concilium) says, “The Church has no wish to impose a rigid uniformity…; rather does she respect and foster the genius and talents of the various races and peoples.” (37) The Church is universal in that the great truths given voice in liturgies and sacraments are expressed in all manner of ways by all manner of people. Some parts of liturgy “can be changed… to adapt to the culture of recently evangelized peoples.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1205). As Pope John Paul II said, “a faith that does not become culture is a faith not fully accepted, not entirely thought out and not faithfully lived.” God’s people will continue to fashion their response to God’s plentiful redemption in the Mass. Our response to this will, in faith, show our catholicity. Yours in Christ, Rev. Michael A. Carrano