Church of St. Philip the Apostle est. 1898 Diocese of Charlotte

P.O. Box 882 525 Camden Drive

Statesville, North Carolina 28677

Office/Fax Phone (704) 872-2579 Rectory Phone (704) 380-3476

E-mail: stphilipapostle@bellsouth.net

Website: http://stphilipapostle.com

Rev. Fr. Thomas J. Kessler, Pastor

Rev. Mr. Charles Brantley, Deacon Mrs. Regina McCollum, Secretary

Mr. & Mrs. Jim Kermes, Food Closet

Mrs. Mary Brown, Faith Formation Director Mrs. Norma Echevarria, Faith Formation

Mrs. Raquel Swierczewski, R.C.I.A Mr. Ken Parker, Y outh Director

Marriage - Baptism Call the church office. Marriages, call at least 6 months in advance. Reconciliation

Pastoral Council Meetings are 2nd Monday of each month at 7:00 p.m. September thru June except National Holidays.

Religious Education Children, grades 1-Confirmation, are required to attend religious education classes. Call the office to register your children. Adult classes also available. Parish Registration We welcome new parishioners to the parish and we ask them to register as soon as possible. Parish registration is important and necessary. Also, if you move away from the Parish please notify the office. Thank you.

The Ascension of our Lord

from the pastor The Ascension of our Lord – in the Gospel of John, Jesus says that he is going to prepare a place for us, so that where he is, we also may be. The Gospel really is good news!

Happy Mothers Day!

In the Spanish language, to have a baby is “a dar luz” = to give light. Mary gave birth to Jesus who is the light of the world. We thank God for Mary, for our own biological Mothers, and for the all the light they have shared with us.

Next weekend we will celebrate Pentecost Sunday. The read-ings at the Masses on Saturday and Sunday will be taken from Sunday’s readings - Acts 2:1-11, Corinthians 12:3-7, 12-13, John 14: 15-16, 23-26. Thanks to the Knights of Columbus for the special breakfast and for the carnations in honor of our Mothers on this their spe-cial day. The last Parish Council Meeting pr ior to the summer break will be held this Monday, May 9th at 7 p.m. Confirmation will be celebrated this Fr iday, evening at 6:30 p.m. with the visit of Bishop Peter J . Jugis. A mandatory practice will be held this Wednesday, May 11th at 7 p.m. All of our Faith Formation Teachers are invited to an apprecia-tion dinner in our Social Hall on Wednesday, May 18th at 6:30 p.m. Please inform Mary Brown, Norma Echeverria or Regina McCollum in our Parish Office if you will or will not able to hon-or us with your presence. A sincere Thank You to the eight volunteers who, week after week, faithfully, accurately and confidentially tabulate and docu-ment our collections at Mass. Thanks also to our charitable and faithful parishioners whose generosity necessitates the afore-mentioned volunteers. The new microwave in the kitchen of our Social Hall is a gift from the Royal Oldies Hat Club, all who are members of our par-ish. Thank You.

Lectors The new schedules are available in the Usher’s Room in the rear of the church. We wish to thank our Lector’s for their dedicated service and for their collaboration with Linda (704-871-0857). Mrs. Anita Lund (704-450-6495) is the new Coordinator for the Altar Server’s schedule.

Joyce A. Eckart is our new advocate for annulments. If you are in need an annulment, you are welcome to contact Joyce at 704-662-0389 or jaeckart65@gmail.com. Joyce is very willing to meet with you in our parish offices. You are also always wel-come to speak with Fr. Kessler. LAST CALL -St. Philip’s Graduates – St. Philip’s Family Life Commit-tee and Parish would like to recognize this year’s Post graduate degrees, College, High School and Middle School graduates. We’d like to recognize their achievements at the weekend Masses on May 21st & 22nd. If you know someone from our parish who is graduating this spring please call Ann Simons by Tuesday, May 10TH at 704-871-1074 and leave the graduate’s name, phone number, graduate level and school name.

Saturday, May 7th 9:00 am Fr. Thomas Kessler by the Music Ministry 5:00 pm Harris Family by Carol Micalizzi Sunday, May 8th 8:00 am Aloysisus & Agnes Gillet † by Papandrea Family 10:30 am Josephine Ortiz † by Linda Ortiz 12:30 pm Maria Urrea † by Pablo Oviedo Monday, May 9th 9:00 am Marie DeWald † by Diana Jashinski Wednesday, May 11th 6:00 pm Donald Thurston † by Carol Micalizzi Thursday, May 12th 9:00 am Alma Berry † by M/M Russ Haas Friday, May 13th 9:00 am Pam Gasparec † by M/M Russ Haas Saturday, May 14th 5:00 pm Barbara Schillinger † by Mildred Savage Sunday, May 15th 8:00 am Patty Bowles † by Elizabeth Bennett 10:30 am John Tymon † by Maryann Rhodes 12:30 pm All Mothers of St. Philip’s by Catholic Daughters READERS May 14 5:00 p.m. Mickey Brantley May 15 8:00 a.m. Joe Archibald 10:30 a.m. Jason Wodecki EXTRAORDINARY MINISTERS OF HOLY COMMUNION May 14 5:00 p.m. M. Rhodes (H), A. Simons, I. Poston, B. Bailey, P. Daly May 15 8:00 a.m. C. DiFulvio (H), R. Swierczewski, B. Papandrea 10:30 a.m. S. McMurry (HA), L. Ortiz (HA), K. Par ker (HC), J. Phillips, J. Rafols, J. Rapiey, S. Rapiey ALTAR SERVER May 13 6:30 p.m. Savannah Warren, Patrick Ferguson, Hunter Jones, Jocelyn Jones May 14 5:00 p.m. Joseph McCollum, Mark McCollum May 15 8:00 a.m. Evie Staples, Paul Calderone 10:30 a.m. Jeremy Smith, Savannah Warren Happy Birthday 5/8/2016– 5/14/2016 5/8 Leonor Eldridge, Courtney Hanna, Bret Lund, Jesse Taub 5/9 Andrew DeRiso, Donald Eldridge, Terri Greenwood, Jocelyn Jones, Lana Valdez 5/10 Donald Armlin, Luz Maria Cruz Alvarez, Alexis Gibson 5/11 David Edwards, Ellen Edwards, Richard Seme 5/12 Carissa Bennett, Veronica Martinez, Gonzalo Pedrazza 5/13 Mike Freese, Joyce Martucci, Carrie Moore, Ken Parker, Loretta Savage 5/14 Barbara McCarthy, Thomas McCoy, Donald Miller

Happy Anniversary 5/8/2016—5/14/2016 5/8 Valentin & Yolanda Carlos 5/9 Robert & Frances Kelly 5/11 Luis & Emma Vega 5/12 David & Celeste Stevens, James & Gloria Masquef 5/13 Nathan & Shelly McElwee, Michael & Rebecca Cleaves 5/14 Anthony & Sally Ferguson, Kenneth & Connie Jewell

The flowers on the altar this weekend are in loving memory of Crystal Archibald requested by her children and grandchildren.

Mrs. Mary Brown: If you need to contact Mrs. Brown, Faith For-mation Director, please call or text 704-929-0152 or email her at faithformationdir@att.net or if you need to contact Mrs. Norma Echevarria please call the office at 704-872-2579 or email her at echevarria_norma@yahoo.com. There will be a mandatory Confirmation practice on Wednesday, May 11th at 7:00 p.m. All Confirmandi and their sponsors or a spon-sor proxy must attend. Confirmation will be Friday, May 13th at 6:30 pm in the evening. Bishop Jugis will be celebrating the Confirmation Mass. Students need to be at the church by 4:30 p.m. with their sponsors. Any ques-tions please call Mary Brown. Registration forms for the 2016/2017 Faith Formation year are now available in the Faith Formation office. We will have new books next year. The series we have been using, Faith First, is no longer being published. We will be going with a new program entitled Faith and Life. We will order enough books so every child will be able to use one in the classroom during class. We are also offering the par-ents the option of buying books for their children. The cost is $10 per book. Purchasing the book is optional during 2016/2017 school year. Children whose parents have purchased books will be able to bring them home weekly. They will also be able to write in them. Parents will be required to purchase the books 2017/2018 school year. There is an additional activity book that we will be using next year. There will be training sessions over the summer for teachers so that they will learn how to best use the Faith and Life series. There are books available for parents to review in the Faith Formation office. Faith Formation is in need of teachers and teacher assistant for the 2016-2017 school year. This is a great way to share your time and talents with the community of St. Philip’s. Please email Mary Brown if interested. All lessons are planned and materials provided for all grade levels. Teachers and assistants are needed for both Wed & Sun. Congratulations to the following children who received First com-munion on May 1, 2016—Geremias Acosta, Stephanie Garcia, Alan Vallejo, Jesus Bermudez Garcia, Kevin Grimaldi, Baltazar Bermudez Garcia, Anddy Cruz, Liz Alina Garcia Lopez, Yuliana Aguirre Abeja, Diego Lopez-Hernandez, Yazlin Aguilar-Ulloa, Joselyn Moreno, Enrique Arreola, Ashley Chavez, Sandra Rosas-Cruz, Kenia Mejia, Jennifer Rosas-Cruz, Kimberly Nunez, Giovanni Baltin, Angelo Al-varez, Giovani Chavez, Bryant Parra, Kaleigh Arreola, Lesley Chavez, Glen Arellano, Danilo Pina, Christopher Vallejo, Daniel Pina, Jaslene Gonzalez, Madison Elizabeth Boris.

Collections last week Regular 5:00 p.m….…………………………….…………...…$3,650.00 8:00 a.m…..…………………………………….………2,223.00 10:30 a.m…………………...……………………………2,143.00 12:30 p.m…...…………………………………….……...1,154.68 Total……..…………...……………………………….$9,170.68 Parish Improvement Total….....…...…………...……………………………$1,822.00 Food Closet Total.…..……...……......……….….....……………...…..$70.00

Collections Year to Date Last year This Year Regular $368,722.66…...….….….........$358,782.03 Parish Improvements 17,964.52………...…...……...37,621.61 Food Closet 18,659.33...….…..……...……17,120.00

Thank you for returning some of God’s gift to you to His Church.

The Ascension of the Lord May 8, 2016

PARISH SUPPORT CHURCH YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 2016

The Family Life Book Group will meet on Wednesday, May 25th @ 5:30p.m. The May book will be “Water For Ele-phant’s”. All are welcomed to join us , we will have an Ital-ian dinner and a viewing of the movie version before we discuss the book. Contact Norma Gassett @ 704-380-4125 for any ques-tions and for the meeting location.

THE WEEK AHEAD

The Catholic Daughters will be doing their sewing project on Tuesday, May 17th from 9:00 am—12:00 pm. Bring your sewing machine and fabric to help make pillow cases for local organizations. Any questions please contact Becky Scales at 704-872-3469 At home.. Lillian Alvey, Paul and Ber tha Summerville, Bill Par-ker, Betty Brostowski, Anna Eisele, Shingleton, Rebecca Eisele, David Eisele, Jessica Allison, Jessica Crosso, Andrew Gulley, Jackie Mejia, Angela Moreno, Loretta Savage, Howard Stewart, Rick Stoup, Robinette Tilley, Alan Eisele, Lisa Jordan Brookdale Peachtree.-Arthur & Marion Weber, Statesville Manor - Brenda Kelley. The Gardens- Anna Pettit. Please pray for the intentions on Our Prayer Tree. To place a name on the Prayer Tree, please sign the Prayer Book in the Lobby or e-mail; Jean Danckert - danckert5851@roadrunner.com. The Knights of Columbus Mother’s Day Breakfast– After the 8 a.m. & 10:30 am Masses. All mothers that attend eat free and receive a carnation. Menu options are eggs, sausage, bacon, potatoes, bis-cuits, coffee, juice & donut. $5.00 per plate. The 50 Plus Club will meet Thursday, May 12th at 12 p.m. The meal will be pizza at $5 per person. Dessert will be provided. Enter-tainment will be provided by line dancers who meet every week at the senior center. Please call Marilyn at 704-873-5123 to RSVP.

Sunday, May 8th 9:00 am Knights of Columbus Mother’s Day Breakfast Monday, May 9th 9:30 am Rosary 7:00 pm Parish Council Meeting Wednesday, May 11th 11:15 am Bible Study (Knights of Columbus Room) 7:00 pm Mandatory Confirmation practice Thursday, May 12th 12:00 pm 50 Plus Club Luncheon 6:30 pm Youth Group 7:00 pm Catholic Daughters and Knights of Columbus Mtg’s Friday, May 13th 6:30 pm Confirmation Mass Saturday, May 14th 8:00 am Food Closet Distribution