Saint Stephen the Martyr Catholic University Chapel

1515 Twelfth Avenue South • Birmingham, Alabama 35205 (205) 933-2500 • http://www.stsbhm.org

May 3, 2020 • Fourth Sunday of Easter

The Cathedral of Saint Paul Mother Church of the Catholic Diocese of Birmingham in Alabama

Most Reverend Robert J. Baker, S.T.D., Apostolic Administrator Very Reverend Bryan W. Jerabek, J.C.L., Rector

2120 Third Avenue North • Birmingham, Alabama 35203 Mailing: P.O. Box 10044 • Birmingham, Alabama 35202-0044

(205) 251-1279 • http://www.stpaulsbhm.org

Holy Mass Saturday Anticipated 5:00pm (Cantor) Sunday 8:30am (Cantor) and 11:00am (Choir/Incense) Monday–Friday 6:30am and 12:10pm • Saturday 8:30am

Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament (concludes with Benediction)

Once monthly between Sunday Masses. See bulletin for date.

Confession/Reconciliation—ON THE RECTORY PORCH Monday—Friday 11:30am to 12:00pm Saturday 3:00 to 4:00pm • Other times by appointment

Anointing of the Sick For those who have reached the use of reason and are in danger of death from sickness or old age. Anointing is ordinarily preced-ed by Confession. Contact a priest. In emergencies, call anytime.

Baptism The Church instructs parents to seek baptism for their child within the first few weeks after birth. First-time parents ordi-narily must attend a pre-baptismal class. Contact the office, preferably during the pregnancy, to make the arrangements.

Holy Matrimony Contact the Wedding Coordinator at least six (6) months in advance. Subject to the Cathedral’s wedding guidelines.

Funerals and Columbarium Contact the office prior to making arrangements with the fu-neral home. To learn about the columbarium, call the office.

Parish Office Hours Monday—Friday 8:00am to 3:00pm • (205) 251-1279 Staff List with Phone Extensions (when applicable)

Pastor & Rector: Very Rev. Bryan W. Jerabek, J.C.L., x103

Parochial Vicar: Rev. Joshua M. Altonji

Priest-in-Residence: Rev. Patrick P. Cullen

Permanent Deacons: Rev. Dr. G. Neal Kay Rev. Mr. Wally Zieverink Rev. Mr. Gerald Zukauckas

Parish Secretary: Mrs. Krista Rataj, x100

Director Religious Ed.: Mrs. Barbara Doran, x108

Director of Music: Mr. Bruce Ludwick, x107

Assistant Organist: Mr. Mark Hayes

Seniors & Shut-Ins: Mrs. Priscilla Davis, x117

Youth & Family Life: Miss Sophie Duvall, x133

Bookkeeper: Mrs. Katie Baker, x102

Wedding Coordinator: Mrs. Megan Wyatt, x116

Maintenance: Mr. Philipp Szabo

Housekeeper: Ms. Rose Rouss

To update your membership record, please contact the Parish Secretary.

Rev. Joshua M. Altonji, Chaplain • Rev. Mr. Danny Rodgers, Deacon

Mass Schedule: Sunday 10:00am and 8:00pm (Adoration 7:00pm)

Thursday 5:30pm

Confession: During Adoration and 30 minutes before each Mass

Student Lounge/Chapel: Available to students daily

Catholic Family Services: Office Hours: 8am-5pm Monday-Thursday

Chaplain Email: fraltonji@stephenthemartyr.com

Follow us on Facebook! Cathedral: http://www.facebook.com/stpaulsbhm St. Stephen: http://www.facebook.com/receivemyspirit

"Like Us On Facebook" You can follow Cathedral events and items of interest on Facebook now - go to http://www.facebook.com/stpaulsbhm and "like" our page!

Rector’s Homilies Online Fr. Jerabek’s homilies for Sundays and Solemnities are posted online in PDF format. Go to http://www.stpaulsbhm.org, choose the “Parish Info” menu, and then select “Homilies” to access them.

The Knightly News...

Fr. James E. Coyle

Council #9862

Interested in learning more about the benefits of joining the Knights of Columbus?

Please visit www.KOC9862.org or contact Jack Boggan at 706-1209.

We are a group of dedicated men who are joined together by faith and community support.

PARISH REGISTRATION

Please remember, children are considered members with their parents until they turn 18 years old. Once they are 18, it is their responsibility to attend church and to register as a member inde-pendent of their parents. What a great way to honor their 18th birthday! This is very important when they want to schedule a wedding where registration is required for the bride or groom (and not the parents!)

UPDATED FORMED INFORMATION

Often referred to as the “Netflix for Catholics”, the Cathedral Parish offers this great resource (free of charge!) to our parishion-ers. Many of you have already taken advantage of this wonderful way to grow in the Catholic Faith. For those who haven’t availed themselves of this opportunity, go to www.FORMED.org, sign up and use our Parish code (CW4J7P). FORMED has apps for both IOS (Apple) and Android devices. You can also hook FORMED up to you TV. Contact Barbara Doran: dre@stpaulsbhm.org or 205-725-8163 (direct line at the Cathedral) for more information.

WeShare Online Giving https://stpaulsbhm.churchgiving.com

If you are interested in making your contributions stress-free through automatic deductions, consider trying our online giving program – WeShare. If you need assistance to set up, activate, or update your account, please contact our bookkeeper, Katie Baker at bookkeeper@stpaulsbhm.org, and she will be happy to assist!

Baptismal Preparation \\

The Baptismal Preparation Class schedule has been made for 2020. (April session cancelled due to COVID-19). Sessions are scheduled for June 14, August 16, October 18, and December 13, 2020 at 9:45am. Please call the office to sign up and for more in-formation before your baby is born!

This week please remember in your prayers the sick, the shut-ins and hospitalized, especially: Charlotte Fitzgerald, Ed Konczeski, John Grant, Delia Kidd, Michael Gollehon, all suffering from COVID-19, Carol Brown, Luca & Carmen Scotti, Frank Pavesic, Linda Kay, Fr. Peter Dittus, Riley Wippert, Jack Bisson, Sister Mary Juliana Cox, OP, Louise McGough, Norma & Dave Ryan, Paulette Popovitch, Michael Peeples, Kirsten & Ed Burdick, George Ford, Terri Dorman, Donna Mealer, William Greene, John Goltz, Anika Smith, Cathy Turner, Aileen Kilburn, Ralph Thompson, Jon Lindberg, Betty Hill, Micky & Phillip Naro, Brian Naro, Janet Joseph, Tyrone Slatsky, Cindy Ramsey, Hector Caucutt, David Peeples, Joyce Goltz, Margaret Kay, Cynthia Murry, Suzanne Miles, Jessica Jones, Dorothy Levesque, Leonard Jerabek, Mary Jerabek, Louis Stalnaker, Neil Stalnaker, Michael Howell, Ila Shenk, John Fay, Tony Traficante, Henry Hardin, Carrie Towle, Ian McLaughlin, Sam Moore, An Nguyen, James Harry Douglas, Maureen Angelini, Donna Speegle, Thomas Perna, Jr., Suzanne Dillon, Kayla Garraway, Walter Jackson, Doris Robertson, Jon Serio, Bonnie Godhigh, Larry Dye, Susannah Blackstone, Dee Bissett, Dolly Carroll, Barbara Delhomme, June Little, Nina Youngblood, Robbie Roy, Leah Jane Rovey, Candice Boyland, Brandon Fisher, Mary Ann Johnson, Hans Lang, Grace Detling, Anna DeLeon, Christi Ingram, Nancy Hudson, Fr. Henry Thorsen, Patrick Coyle, Rose Antonio, Laura Cornell, Kayla Perry, Jeanne Wright, Peter Scheetz, Addison Cox, as well as all those who have died.

— • —

Let us pray for all of our parish family members who have been deployed.

Neighbors in Need

Please consider helping our parish continue to assist our NEIGH-BORS IN NEED by putting money in our poor pipe in the back of the Church, dropping it in the collection basket earmarked “neighbors in need” or bringing it to the Church Office. Your donations go into a fund to purchase bus passes, buy supplies used for our Snack Bag project and help with other needs that come to Father Je-rabek’s attention. WE ARE ALWAYS SO APPRECIATIVE OF YOUR SUPPORT AND GRATEFUL FOR YOUR GENEROSITY!

Happy Easter!

THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH IS OPEN EVERY DAY, 7:00am—7:00pm!

Public worship suspended currently through 4/30/20.

Be sure to stop by the Cathedral to pray before the Most Blessed Sacrament, present in the tabernacle; to pick up a bottle of holy water if you don’t have one (subject to availability) or refill the one you have (tank in back corner); and to light a

candle and enjoy a few moments of quiet!

We continue to beg our Lord to deliver us from the COVID-19 pandemic and to grant that may soon be reunited in prayer and fellowship in our beloved church. Lord, hear our prayer!

Be sure to check the Cathedral web site or social media regularly for the most up-to-date schedule information.

2120 THIRD AVENUE NORTH | BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA 35203 | HTTP://STPAULSBHM.ORG | +1 (205) 251-1279

MAILING: POST OFFICE BOX 10044 | BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA 35202

THE CATHEDRAL OF SAINT PAUL

May 1, 2020

Saint Joseph the Worker

Beginning of the Marian Month

Dear Cathedral Parishioners and Friends:

There is an old saying, “No Mary – No Jesus. Know Mary – Know Jesus!” She always

leads us to her Son. We rejoice to honor her and give thanks that she is our Mother, too.

At the conclusion of the 8:30am livestreamed Mass this Sunday, May 3, one of the young

ladies who will receive her First Holy Communion this year will serve as May Queen and

present the floral crown that I will place upon our Blessed Mother statue. (We will of course do

so in a way that respects social distancing requirements.)

But since we cannot yet all be together again in worship, devotion, and fellowship, I am

writing to encourage you to make special efforts to honor our Blessed Mother this May.

Pray the Holy Rosary Daily: Pope Francis has written to all the faithful, encouraging the

daily recitation of the Holy Rosary (letter follows below). If you do not regularly pray the rosary,

please start! If you live with family, please have them join in! (This brief web page gives tips for

how to get started with the family rosary.)

Bring Flowers for Our Lady: I invite all to bring flowers from their home gardens (or

purchased flowers) to leave before the statue of Our Lady in our church during this month. I will

have some extra vases with water out on a table nearby; you can use these or bring your own (we

cannot keep track of and return vases, however). I will remove any wilted flowers each morning.

Our church remains open for prayer daily, 7am-7pm. I am grateful to our Altar Sodality for

pledging once again this year to provide a fresh flower arrangement each week as well.

Honor Her in Your Homes: With businesses starting to open back up, if you do not have a

statue of the Blessed Mother in your garden, perhaps now is the time to purchase one from a

garden center (or online) and place it there. And if you do not have a beautiful image of her

prominently displayed inside your home, please see if you can do so!

Our Blessed Mother has been so good to our parish – hence the votive heart that is on her

statue and the moving devotion that is evident whenever we honor her in our liturgies. May our

love for her ever grow, so that knowing her, we may know more fully her Son, our Lord Jesus

Christ. Amen.

Very Rev. Bryan W. Jerabek, J.C.L., Pastor & Rector

1

LETTER OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS

TO THE FAITHFUL FOR THE MONTH OF MAY 2020

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

The month of May is approaching, a time when the People of God express with particular

intensity their love and devotion for the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is traditional in this month to

pray the Rosary at home within the family. The restrictions of the pandemic have made us come

to appreciate all the more this “family” aspect, also from a spiritual point of view.

For this reason, I want to encourage everyone to rediscover the beauty of praying the Rosary at

home in the month of May. This can be done either as a group or individually; you can decide

according to your own situations, making the most of both opportunities. The key to doing this is

always simplicity, and it is easy also on the internet to find good models of prayers to follow.

I am also providing two prayers to Our Lady that you can recite at the end of the Rosary, and that

I myself will pray in the month of May, in spiritual union with all of you. I include them with

this letter so that they are available to everyone.

Dear brothers and sisters, contemplating the face of Christ with the heart of Mary our Mother

will make us even more united as a spiritual family and will help us overcome this time of trial. I

keep all of you in my prayers, especially those suffering most greatly, and I ask you, please, to

pray for me. I thank you, and with great affection I send you my blessing.

Given from Rome, from the Papal Basilica of Saint John Lateran, 25 April 2020

Feast of Saint Mark the Evangelist

Pope Francis

First Prayer to Our Lady

O Mary,

You shine continuously on our journey

as a sign of salvation and hope.

We entrust ourselves to you, Health of the Sick,

who, at the foot of the cross,

were united with Jesus’ suffering,

and persevered in your faith.

“Protectress of the Roman people”,

you know our needs,

and we know that you will provide,

so that, as at Cana in Galilee,

joy and celebration may return

after this time of trial.

2

Help us, Mother of Divine Love,

to conform ourselves to the will of the Father

and to do what Jesus tells us.

For he took upon himself our suffering,

and burdened himself with our sorrows

to bring us, through the cross,

to the joy of the Resurrection.

Amen.

We fly to your protection,

O Holy Mother of God;

Despise not our petitions

in our necessities,

but deliver us always

from every danger,

O Glorious and Blessed Virgin.

The second Prayer

“We fly to your protection, O Holy Mother of God”.

In the present tragic situation, when the whole world is prey to suffering and anxiety, we fly to

you, Mother of God and our Mother, and seek refuge under your protection.

Virgin Mary, turn your merciful eyes towards us amid this coronavirus pandemic. Comfort those

who are distraught and mourn their loved ones who have died, and at times are buried in a way

that grieves them deeply. Be close to those who are concerned for their loved ones who are sick

and who, in order to prevent the spread of the disease, cannot be close to them. Fill with hope

those who are troubled by the uncertainty of the future and the consequences for the economy

and employment.

Mother of God and our Mother, pray for us to God, the Father of mercies, that this great

suffering may end and that hope and peace may dawn anew. Plead with your divine Son, as you

did at Cana, so that the families of the sick and the victims be comforted, and their hearts be

opened to confidence and trust.

Protect those doctors, nurses, health workers and volunteers who are on the frontline of this

emergency, and are risking their lives to save others. Support their heroic effort and grant them

strength, generosity and continued health.

Be close to those who assist the sick night and day, and to priests who, in their pastoral concern

and fidelity to the Gospel, are trying to help and support everyone.

Blessed Virgin, illumine the minds of men and women engaged in scientific research, that they

may find effective solutions to overcome this virus.

3

Support national leaders, that with wisdom, solicitude and generosity they may come to the aid

of those lacking the basic necessities of life and may devise social and economic solutions

inspired by farsightedness and solidarity.

Mary Most Holy, stir our consciences, so that the enormous funds invested in developing and

stockpiling arms will instead be spent on promoting effective research on how to prevent similar

tragedies from occurring in the future.

Beloved Mother, help us realize that we are all members of one great family and to recognize the

bond that unites us, so that, in a spirit of fraternity and solidarity, we can help to alleviate

countless situations of poverty and need. Make us strong in faith, persevering in service, constant

in prayer.

Mary, Consolation of the afflicted, embrace all your children in distress and pray that God will

stretch out his all-powerful hand and free us from this terrible pandemic, so that life can serenely

resume its normal course.

To you, who shine on our journey as a sign of salvation and hope, do we entrust ourselves, O

Clement, O Loving, O Sweet Virgin Mary. Amen.