August 16, 2020

Twentieth Sunday In Ordinary Time

Welcome to . . .

Recognizing the Canaanite woman’s great faith, Jesus tol d her, “It shall be done as you wish”

Saint Aidan Parish “Grow in Jesus, engage in community, and go forth to make disciples.”

From Father Dave

In 1992 during my fourth year of priesthood, I went on my annual retreat. During one of the five days, the retreat master called for a “Sabbath Day.” Essentially that meant a day in which we simply celebrated Holy Mass and then prayed and rested. There were no conferences or activities planned.

To begin the day, the retreat director quoted the great Rabbi Abraham Heschel who said, “On the Sabbath, we try to become attuned to holiness in time. It is a day which we are called upon to share in what is eternal in time, turn from the results of creation to the mystery of creation; from the world of creation to the creation of the world.”

As the day unfolded, I remember finding this experience difficult and to a certain extent unnatural. And yet, the more I entered into the spirit of the day the more it became a wonderful grace.

In today’s first reading the prophet Isaiah addresses the people about the Sabbath. He says that those who keep the Sabbath holy and without any sense of the profane, he will bring them to his holy mountain with the promise of joy. The beauty of the Sabbath is that it slows us down and helps us to rest and reflect on who we are and whose we are. We are God’s beloved children. All that we are and all that we have comes from him. The Sabbath is a special time to offer thanks for all of the blessings he showers upon us.

The world in which we live makes it increasingly difficult to observe the Sabbath. Stores are open, people work, and sports are prominent on Sundays. People’s lives are so busy during the week that Sunday becomes the only time to do chores. How do you observe the Sabbath?

Some years ago, the monk, Thomas Merton, once said, “The greatest form of violence today is busyness.” Every Sunday we are challenged to let go of the busyness and rest in the Lord. This rest also includes being with family and enjoying each other’s company. I fondly remember coming home from Sunday Mass and having breakfast with the family. We sat around the table for a long time and just talked and laughed. And later in the day, we all got in the car to see the grandparents.

In addition to Sunday being the Lord’s Day, it is also a great family day. Take time this week and create a space to celebrate the Sabbath. Rest in the Lord and enjoy the gift of family.

We continue our celebrations of First Holy Communions this week on Monday and Wednesday evenings in Saint Alexis Church. We congratulate all of our First Communicants and their families. Thanks to all of our catechists for teaching as Jesus did.

Thanks to Scout Brandon Vicheck and his team of co-workers for building a retaining wall behind the Parish Center at the Saint Alexis site as part of an Eagle Scout Project. The wall will reroute drain water to avoid erosion of the small hillside. It already has enhanced the aesthetic beauty of the area. Thank you so much!

Finally, beginning this Tuesday, August 18, 2020, the Holy Hour will take place in the Saint Alexis Church at 7:00 p.m. There will be music, a reading, silence, and benediction. All are welcome! People are still welcome to pray anytime day or night outside of the old church as the Eucharist will still be reposed within the tabernacle near the window. Praying before the Eucharist in Adoration can be a true rest stop for the soul. I am so grateful to our Deacons Al and Jeff for leading these Holy Hours in the old church.

Have a wonderful week!

To love is to learn to follow Christ with others. LOVE

WE PRAY FOR THE SICK

We entrust to the care of Christ the Divine Physician, those members of our parish families of Saint Aiden who are in need of healing in body, mind or spirit, especially: Brian Bart Rachel Borck Jeannie Bukaukus Emma Bullick Rick Collins Andy Cooke Connor Cunic Diane Depp Don Depp Gloria Dudowski Julie Ewell Nancy Greer Patricia Gross Stanley Hofstetter David Hoza Gilbert Huckestein

John Hunsinger Al Korade Lois Leahy Shari Lennon Eugene Mancino Gerard McArdle Liz McArdle Michelle Mehok Ron Mehok Diane Miller G. James Neelan Irene Schultz Janice Spowal Amber VanVickle David Zappa Prayer Shawl Recipients

If you know of a parishioner or have a loved one who is ill, please contact the Parish Center and let us know. We will place that person’s name on the prayer list for four weeks. Intentions may return to the list upon monthly requests. Contact the Parish Center at 724.935.4343 or 724.935.1151 to add a loved one onto the list.

SCRIPTURE READINGS

Today’s Readings First Reading — Thus says the Lord: “Stand firm in justice; do what is right” (Isaiah 56:1, 6-7). Psalm — O God, let all the nations praise you! (Psalm 67). Second Reading — The gifts and the calling of God are unable to be revoked (Romans 11:13-15, 29-32). Gospel — Recognizing the Canaanite woman’s great faith, Jesus told her, “It shall be done as you wish” (Matthew 15:21-28). The English translation of the Psalm Responses from Lectionary for Mass © 1969, 1981, 1997, International Commission on English in the Liturgy Corporation. All rights reserved. Readings For The Week Monday: Ez 24:15-24; Dt 32:18-21; Mt 19:16-22 Tuesday: Ez 28:1-10; Dt 32:26-28, 30, 35cd-36ab; Mt 19:23-30 Wednesday: Ez 34:1-11; Ps 23:1-6; Mt 20:1-16 Thursday: Ez 36:23-28; Ps 51:12-15, 18-19; Mt 22:1-14 Friday: Ez 37:1-14; Ps 107:2-9; Mt 22:34-40 Saturday: Ez 43:1-7ab; Ps 85:9ab, 10-14; Mt 23:1-12 Sunday: Is 22:19-23; Ps 138:1-3, 6, 8; Rom 11:33-36; Mt 16:13-20

UPCOMING WEDDING

BANNS III:

Cara Hovan Saint Aidan Parish

and Gabriel Hartman

Saint Aidan Parish

CONGRATULATIONS! Saint Aidan Parish joyfully celebrated with the second grade children from Religious Education programs and Blessed Francis Seelos Academy who have received the Sacrament of the Eucharist for the first time on August 10 and August 12, 2020.

Monday August 10, 2020 at 6:30 p.m.

Noah Bailey Abby Hannan

Daniella Julian James Kopec

Kaitlyn Lindenfelser Madeline McHugh Catherine McElroy

Cecilia Phipps Alaina Vargo Macie Wahal

Wednesday, August 12, 2020 at 6:30 p.m.

Mia Barkley Maria Hiserodt Freya Klueber Allison Koziol Lorenzo Leone Victor Montes Kate Nguyen

Ella Schweikert Parker Skrastins

OUR ADVERTISERS

Thanks to our bulletin advertisers for supporting our parish this week:

Please offer your patronage to our sponsors or

be sure to thank them when you have the opportunity to do so. It is through their support

that our weekly bulletin is made possible!

George Thoma Funeral Home, Inc.

See the full list of our advertisers on our website under “Our Current Bulletins.”

Mass Intentions

2020 Parish Share Assessment: $ 285,076 Collected: $ 185,410

July August 3 through August 9, 2020 Regular Electronic Total

Offertory $ 12,425 $ 10,737 $ 23,162

Parish Share $ 863 $ 746 $ 1,609

Maintenance $ 300 $ $ 300

Mary Fund $ 133 $ 20 $ 153

Catholic Education $ 177 $ 30 $ 207

Other Holy Days $ $ 192 $ 192

Future Diocesan Collection $ $ 285 $ 285

General Donation $ 2,100 $ $ 2,100 Votives $ 43 $ $ 43

TOTAL $ 16,103 $ 12,046 $ 28,149

Assumption $ 62 $ 16 $ 78

Flowers $ $ 20 $ 20

Offices Remain Closed We continue to have our parish offices remain closed to the public until further notice. Our staff is still working and will return calls or emails during regular office hours. If you have an emergency you may call the office at 724.935.4343 or 724.935.1151 ext. 221. .

Saturday, August 15 - The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary 4:00 p.m. † Mary Ann Merzlak - The Family

Sunday, August 16 - Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time 7:00 a.m. 8:00 a.m. 9:00 a.m.

10:00 a.m.

For the Living and Deceased Members of St. Aidan Parish † Alice Obringer - Marilyn, Jack and Amy Schuler † The Deceased of the Saint Alphonsus Golf League † Nicholas Dolinay - Rita Mueller

8:00 a.m. † William and Elizabeth Cronen - Carolyn and Dick Voll Tuesday, August 18 - Weekday

8:00 a.m. † Lawrence Janicko - Sons, Raymond and Mark Wednesday, August 19 - St. John Eudes, Priest

8:00 a.m. † Patricia Bowman - The Phipps Family Thursday, August 20 - St. Bernard, Abbot and Doctor of the Church

8:00 a.m. † Andrew Posey - The Posey Family Friday, August 21 - St. Pius X, Pope

8:00 a.m. The Saint Aidan Clergy and Staff - Maureen Kelly Saturday, August 22 - The Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary

8:00 a.m. 4:00 p.m.

† Larry Sampietro - Kathy and Pat Connell † Joseph and Margaret Ritenour - Steve and Joyce Heckmann

Sunday, August 23 - Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time 7:00 a.m. 8:00 a.m. 9:00 a.m.

10:00 a.m.

† Angela Amrhein - Paul Amrhein † Barbara Ann Sites - Saint Aidan Ladies of Charity † Father Marcin Zahuta - Carolyn and Joe Augustine For the Living and Deceased Members of St. Aidan Parish

Monday, August 17 - Weekday

Saint Aidan Income

Please DO NOT leave religious items, Kentucky mission trip items or used clothing outside of either Church. We have no way to store these items at the present time.

Making a Spiritual Communion

If you do not have the ability to drive to our outdoor Masses, it is important to still keep the Lord’s Day holy! You can do this by intentionally praying the rosary, singing hymns or praise and worship songs, praying with Scripture, and making a spiritual communion, like the one below.

My Jesus, I believe that you are present in the most Blessed Sacrament. I love You above all things and I desire to receive You into my soul. Since I cannot now receive You sacramentally, come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace You as if You were already there, and unite myself wholly to You. Never permit me to be separated from You. Amen.

We need you! Between all Masses at both Saint Alexis and Saint Alphonsus, we had roughly 240 cars for Mass this past weekend, which is incredible! We would like to get a crew of “Parking Lot Greeters” for each Mass. If you are willing to commit to helping each week, please contact Marty Heim at 412.443.8606 or marty.heim@icloud.com Please keep in mind that all clearances must be current.

OUR NEW MASS SCHEDULE

SATURDAY: 4:00 p.m. Live Anticipated Mass Outside – Saint Alexis parking lot

SUNDAY: 7:00 a.m. Live Stream Mass – Saint Alphonsus Church. Due to multiple other opportunities to receive the Eucharist, there will be no distribution of Communion following live streamed Mass. 8:00 a.m. Live Mass Outside - Saint Alexis parking lot 9:00 a.m. Live Mass Outside - Saint Alphonsus parking lot 10:00 a.m. Live Mass Outside – Saint Alexis parking lot

WEEKDAY MASS SCHEDULE

MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY 8:00 a.m. – Saint Alexis Church Face masks are required.

CONFESSIONS Saturdays from 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m., Confession will be offered out-doors at the Saint Alexis location.

ADORATION Every Tuesday evening in the parking lot of Saint Alexis by the old bell tower from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Radio Masses in the Parking Lot

Stay in your car in the parking lot and tune your radio to 89.5 to listen to Mass in the comfort of your car. Receive Holy Communion outside just like normal. Just get out of your car and walk up!

Live Streamed Masses Watch our live streamed liturgies from home. The latest live streamed Masses are on the website and available all day. We are not always able to live stream Masses during our weekday liturgy at 8:00 a.m., but we always will have the Sunday, 7:00 a.m. live streamed from Saint Alphonsus.

MASS INTENTION REQUESTS The practice of requesting a Mass to be offered for loved ones, living or deceased, is a beautiful part of our Catholic tradition. The Mass is the greatest prayer; it is the sacrifice of Christ. Masses may be offered for the living as well as for the repose of the soul of someone who has died, for family difficulties, for sickness, birthdays, anniversaries, as well as in thanksgiving. We are currently in need of many Masses for the coming months. We cannot assign a specific date or a Mass time due to the fluidity of COVID-19 changes, but the Masses will be listed online in the bulletin the week prior to that Mass under “Current Bulletin.” Mass Intention Requests may be found on our website by clicking this link: saintaidanparish.org and then look under “Liturgy”. You must pay for the Mass request online. If you have any questions, please contact the Parish Center at 724.935.4343 ext. 221.

ADDICTION RECOVERY MINISTRY Addiction Recovery Ministry and CALIX sponsor a Holy Hour for Recovery the second Tuesday of every month at 7:00 p.m. in Madonna of Jerusalem Church, 9th Street, Sharpsburg, PA 15215. The Holy Hour this month is on Tuesday, August 11. The Holy Hour consists of:

• Exposition • Period of Silence – 5 minutes • Rosary for addiction – 5 minutes • Scripture • Reflection • Period of Silence • Benediction

Hope to see you there as we spend an hour before the Blessed Sacrament praying for all those who struggle with a substance abuse disorder, those who love them, those currently in recovery, and especially all those who have lost their lives as a result of their substance addiction.

God’s Word for Children

BLESSED SEELOS ACADEMY

Congratulations to Blessed Seelos School and principal Robert Reese who are recipients of a grant in the amount of $125,000 from the Gaming

and Economic Development Tourism Fund (GEDTF). The monies based on the application submitted are to be used to improve the physical plant by updating the HVAC system for the cafeteria, kitchen, and lower level classrooms, enhancing the security at the entrance and replacing windows in the building. This is great news not only for Blessed Seelos Academy, but for Saint Aidan Parish who owns the building. We are grateful to Mike Turzai, former member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives who served as Speaker of the House for facilitating this effort. Thank you Mr. Turzai!

Pastor Reverend David J. Bonnar, STB/ dbonnar@saintaidanparish.org/x 224 Senior Parochial Vicar Reverend William D. Wuenschel/ wwuenschel@saintaidanparish.org/ x 233 Deacons Deacon Albert Heiles/aheiles@diopitt.org Deacon Jeffrey J. Ludwikowski/jludwikowski@diopitt.org

Director of Parish Operations/Business Manager Chuck Goetz/cgoetz@saintaidanparish.org/x 223

Office Manager MaryEllen Pendel/mependel@saintaidanparish.org/x 221

Bookkeeper/Safe Environment Coordinator Mary King / mking@saintaidanparish.org/ x 212

Director of Faith Formation Darcy Osby / dosby@saintaidanparish.org/x 213 Religious Education Program Manager

Paula Green /pgreen@saintaidanparish.org/x 225 Coordinator of Youth Ministry /Young Adults David Piccirilli / dpiccirilli@saintaidanparish.org/x 227 Directors of Music Ian Brown/ibrown@saintaidanparish.org/x 226 Assistant Music Director - Lisa Hoffman lisachoffmann@gmail.com Mary Heagy / mheagy@saintaidanparish.org

A Parish of the Diocese of Pittsburgh - diopitt.org

SERVED BY OFFICE HOURS Monday - Friday, 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. (temporarily closed)

JOIN US!

To become a registered member of the parish family, please visit our website at www.saintaidanparish.org. Introduce yourself to us at Mass!

MARRIAGE

Arrangements must be made with a priest at least six months in advance of the desired wedding date.

HOLY ORDERS For information about the priesthood or the vowed religious life, please contact Fr. Dave or the Vocation Office of the diocese at 412.456.3131 or visit pghpriest.com.

BAPTISM Celebrated on Sundays at 11:30 a.m. or at 1:00 p.m. at Saint Alexis during the COVID-19 by appointment. Arrangements should be made through the Parish Center several months in advance. Parents need to be registered parishioners and complete a pre-baptism class before scheduling a baptism.

MINISTRY TO THE SICK AND HOMEBOUND

Communal anointing is celebrated periodically. Anyone who is anticipating surgery is encouraged to request this sacrament prior to being admitted to the hospital. Individuals who are unable to attend Sunday Mass and want to receive the sacraments are asked to please call the Parish Center.

Website: saintaidanparish.org Phones - 724.935.1151 or 724.935.4343 Fax - 724.935.1270

A Pennsylvania Charitable Trust

* Bulletin announcements and flyers are due by 12:00 p.m. Friday, a week in advance of publication. *

We Welcome You Home!

North Hills Regional School Board - www.nhrces.org

BLESSED FRANCIS SEELOS ACADEMY

S A P D Parish Office: 10090 Old Perry Highway Wexford, PA 15090

PRAYER

Eucharistic Adoration Every Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. at the Saint Alexis old bell Tower during COVID-19.

Prayer Ministry- To initiate a request for urgent prayers contact the following people: Barb Busi at 412.366.4829, Norma Heyl at 724.935.1094 or Jo Labrise at 724.935.3826. If you would like to be a part of this important ministry to pray for others, please contact them.

RECONCILIATION

Saturday from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at Saint Alexis. Confessions will be held outside during COVID-19.

Principal Robert Reese - rreese@seelosacademy.org

School Secretary K-8 Patty Anfang - panfang@seelosacademy.org 724.935.1152

School Secretary Pre-K Chris Schlieper - cschlieper@seelosacademy.org 724.935.3940

DIOCESAN VICTIM ASSISTANCE COORDINATOR 412.456.3093 (Office)

1.888.808.1235 (Hot Line) PA Child Line - 1.800.932.0313

Call 911 immediately if a child is in danger.