June 2015 Newsletter – Strong, Determined, Brave, and Faithful Servants

June – and the newsletter is on-time (even a day-and-a-half early).

June marks Sacred Vocations month in our Holy Church. Take time this month to pray for the Church’s faithful and dedicated bishops, priests, and deacons. They daily kneel and pray for all of us in submission to God and as true servant leaders. They make sacrifice and oblation for the needs and good of all of us. They don’t want to be raised up on pedestals, but only wish to raise all of us up to God.

Pray too for an increase in vocations to the priesthood and diaconate – for strong, determined, brave, and faithful men to set to work for the Kingdom of God:

O Almighty God, look mercifully upon Thy Church and incline the hearts of many of Her sons to offer themselves for the work of the sacred ministry, so that by their labors Thy light may shine in the darkness of the world and the coming of Thy kingdom may be hastened by the perfecting of Thine elect. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.


June also marks Father’s Day and the start of our summer series of programs. Please join us for our new monthly Holy Mass and Anointing for Healing to be held on June 15th at 6:15pm. Read more and reflect on what it means to be Church and get updates on Church-wide events for this year of regeneration.

You may view and download a copy of our June 2015 Newsletter right here.

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Holy Mass of Healing – May 18th

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On Monday, May 18th we will hold our first Holy Mass for Healing with Anointing of the Sick at 6:15pm. We expect to hold this Holy Mass at least once a month. We welcome all to take part. The Sacrament of Anointing is for all who seek the Lord’s healing, whether due to physical or mental distress, temporary or chronic disease, or for other reasons. All are welcome to attend.

Seniorate Lenten Retreat – Year of Regeneration

lent-inviteLenten Retreats in parishes and Seniorates all over the country and Canada are scheduled for this season. The retreats are only one of eight initiatives set forward by this past national Synod for “each and every parishioner to play a role in bringing about a renewed and active spiritual life in the parishes and in the entire Church” as Prime Bishop Anthony wrote in January’s God’s Field. Our Mohawk Valley Seniorate will conduct its Lenten Retreat on Saturday, March 7th at at All Saints Parish, 801 Hickory Street, Rome, NY from 10am to 2:30pm. All our parishioners are invited to participate in this national and international effort for a program built around the theme: Return to Me with Your Whole Heart. There is no charge for this spiritual exercise.

The program outline for this day of reflection and recollection is given here:

Adult Program:

  • 10:00 – Welcome! Presentation in the Temple – The Mission of the Church, Fr Sr. Marian Pociecha
  • 10:30 – Coffee break
  • 11:00 – Penitential Service, The Sacrament of Penance will be administrated in the end and private confession will also be available, Fr. Mark Gnidzinski
  • 12:00 – Lunch served by All Saints Parish
  • 1:00 – Concelebrated Holy Mass, Fr. Sr. Walter Madej – Homilist
  • 2:30-3:00 – Quick Seniorate Meeting (Calendar for 2015 in Mohawk Valley Seniorate)

For Children and Youth:

  • 10:00-12:00 Program for children will be running in parish hall and office if necessary, Fr. Rafal Dadello and Fr. Jim Konicki
  • 11:00 – Children who have already received their First Holy Communion will join the adults for the Penitential Service, younger children will remain in the hall
  • 12:00 – Lunch
  • 1:00 – Holy Mass (those who are altar servers in their parishes, please bring your liturgical vestments)

Lent in Schenectady

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Lent began with Ash Wednesday, February 18th. Holy Mass with the blessing and distribution of ashes took place at 7pm on the 18th. We invite you to join with us in fellowship and worship throughout Lent in Schenectady as we have the opportunity to not only look back, but look forward. We will explore these important questions throughout Lent: Am I living the way I should really live? and How can I come to new life? This Lent Christ calls us to discover a new motive for living. To answer those questions.

We are called to live as people challenged to be changed. We have the opportunity this Lent to change through faith in Jesus. The answer to: Am I living the way I should really live? is living as:

  • changed to no longer live for myself.
  • changed to no longer see with worldly eyes.
  • changed because I am reconciled and forgiven.
  • changed because I can truly see and recognize what God is doing in my life.
  • changed and empowered to take action and bring the challenge to be changed to others.

As we not only look back but truly focus forward let us allow our Lenten practices to come to grips with God’s challenge to be changed:

  • In small ways by fasting and abstinence on Wednesdays and Fridays during Lent as we abstain from meats on those days as an act of sacrifice. By charity through our directed giving program that provides gifts of food helping those in our local community. By prayer at Stations of the Cross prayed every Friday in Lent at 7pm. By worship at Holy Mass every Sunday at 9:30am or 11:30am.
  • In seeing that sin and the world hold no more power over us because we have God’s grace.
  • In big ways by changing the direction of our lives and coming to understand what life is really all about. It is life fully lived in Jesus’ Good News. Repented, believing, having faith in Jesus and through living the way I really must live. Coming to new life.

Thank You Lord for the Year Past and Bless Us in the Year Ahead

We give Thee our most humble and hearty thanks O God, for blessings without number which we have received from Three in 2014, for all Thy goodness and loving kindness, for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life. And, we beseech Thee, give us that due sense of all Thy mercies, that our hearts may be truly thankful for all things, and that we show forth Thy praise, not only with our lips, but in our lives, by giving up ourselves to Thy service and by walking before Thee in holiness and righteousness all our days. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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Lord, we pray for all mankind in 2015, that we may brought to know, love and serve Thee. We pray for Thy Holy Church throughout all the world and especially for our own part of the Church, for our Bishops, Priests, Deacons and People.

We pray for the employed, that they may work as unto Thee and not unto men. We pray for the unemployed, that they may find work and be saved from despondency. Be Thou their strength in adversity.

We pray that the sick be healed, the hungry fed, the mourners comforted, the poor succored and the afflicted in mind and body be firmly held in Thy deep peace, that peace which passeth all understanding.

Bless our friends and enemies and grant us all the spirit of penitence, that we may be forgiven through the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ or Savior, who liveth and reigneth for ever and ever. Amen.

We wish you every blessing in the year ahead.

Fr. Jim and the Parish Committee of Holy Name of Jesus

Advent and Christmas Holy Mass and Event Schedule

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Keeping Advent and the forty days of Christmas at your neighborhood church. All are welcome to join in prayer and celebration as we come to know, love, and serve the Lord and each other. He came to give us abundant life!

Advent

  • December 14: 3rd Sunday of 
 Advent: Holy Mass at 9:30 am. Parish Vigil Pot-luck dinner and Youth Christmas Performance
  • December 21: 4th Sunday of 
 Advent: Holy Mass and Confirmation at 9:30am. Greening of the Church and Free Lunch on Sunday

Christmas

  • December 24: Vigil of the Nativity
  • December 25: Nativity of the Lord, Holy Mass at Midnight and Morning Holy Mass at 10:30am. Festive Repast follows each Holy Mass
  • December 26: Feast – St. Stephen, Proto-Martyr
  • December 27: Feast – St. John, Apostle & Evangelist. Holy Mass at 5pm with the Blessing of Wine
  • December 28: Solemnity of the Humble Shepherds. Holy Mass at 9:30am
  • December 31: New Year’s Eve
  • January 1: Solemnity of the Circumcision. Holy Mass at 9:30am. Happy 2015
  • January 2: Solemnity of the Holy Name of Jesus. Holy Mass at 7pm
  • January 4: Feast of the Holy Family. Holy Mass at 9:30am
  • January 6: Solemnity of the Epiphany of our Lord. Holy Mass with blessing of chalk, charcoal, and incense at 7pm.
  • January 11: Solemnity of the Baptism of the Lord. Holy Mass at 9:30am

Prayers for our Bishop

When the crowds learned it, they followed him; and he welcomed them and spoke to them of the kingdom of God, and cured those who had need of healing. — Luke 9:11

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Eternal Father, in Whose hands are hidden the ultimate mysteries of life, we call upon Thee in this hour of Thy servant and bishop’s affliction. Thou art concerned for the physical welfare of Thy children, for Thy Son did not hesitate to show compassion to those who were weighed down with physical ills and suffering. Our minds do not understand why some must endure such hardships while others escape them, but we pray that a lack of understanding will not cause faith to grow less. Instead, may this illness cause us to realize more surely our frailty and need for utter dependence upon Thee.

It is Thou who has made us and not we ourselves, and therefore we place all trust and confidence in Thy loving care and mercy. We ask that if it be thy will, this servant of Thine, +Bernard, may be healed of this present affliction and that he may continue to be a blessing to Your Holy Church and his fellow men. We beg these bequests in the name of Him, Who was Himself the great Physician. Amen.

Åš+P Edward Panfil

EdwardPanfilLifelong parishioner and member of our Holy Polish National Catholic Church, śp. Edward Panfil, 95, passed away peacefully at his home with family by his side on Friday, November 14th, 2014.

238Born and raised in Schenectady, NY, he was the son of the late śp. Lawrence and śp. Catherine (Mortka) Panfil. In addition to his parents, Edward was predeceased by his wife, śp. Josephine (Kopec) Panfil; and his sisters, śp. Florence Panfil, śp. Gladys Ordyk, śp. Emily Kopec, and śp. Nellie Kosiba.

Ed was a gentle, caring man who loved his family. He enjoyed working in his woodworking shop, designing and building many wonderful things out of wood. He also enjoyed playing pool, bocci ball, and darts, and he looked forward to his daily bourbon manhattan and watching his NY Giants and Mets.

Edward is survived by his sons, Lawrence E. Panfil (Donna) of Saratoga Springs, NY, Allen C. Panfil (Anne) of Chalfont, PA; his grandchildren, Laurie Woodworth and Lawrence A. Panfil (Beth); his great-grandchildren, Jessica, Jack, Shawn and Tyler; and several nieces and nephews who all loved him dearly. He will also be missed by his longtime friend, Edith Derico.

Ed grew up in Schenectady, graduated from Nott Terrace High School, and then entered the Apprentice Training Program at the Watervliet Arsenal. In 1943 he joined the army and served as a technician fourth grade with the Fifth Army, 350th Infantry, in Italy during WWII. Post war he was employed as a toolmaker first class at ALCO Products in Schenectady. Two years later he became a planner with General Electric’s Guided Missile Dept., working on the development of rocket engines. GE then moved Ed and his family to San Jose, CA, in their Atomic Power Equipment Department which was at the forefront in the manufacturing of nuclear fuel. After moving back East, he served as a manufacturing engineer with GE’s ordinance dept. in Pittsfield, MA, with responsibility for numerically controlled machine tools used in the manufacture of Polaris Guided Missile Systems. Ed was a founding member of the National Numerical Control Society and cofounder and twice chairman of the GE Numerical Control Group which was dedicated to the sharing of information among various company departments. He then left GE to be the Eastern Regional Sales Representative for numerical controlled machines with the Burgmaster Corporation. Four years later he returned to General Electric in Schenectady where he retired as a senior manufacturing engineer in 1979 with 27 years of service. After retirement he worked briefly for Gordon Light at Light’s Funeral Home. Ed was part of The Goose Hill Gang, a group of men who grew up together in that section of Schenectady and gathered weekly in their later years to have lunch together at various restaurants. His friend, former Mayor Frank Ducci, is now the last survivor of the group.

Å›p. Edward was a lifelong communicant of The Holy Name of Jesus Polish National Catholic Church where he was a member of the HarmoniacChoir (an occasional soloist), and a past member of the Parish Committee. He was also a member of the GE Quarter Century Club, the Colonie Elks, and the Son’s of Italy where he had many friends. A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated on Wednesday, Nov. 19th at the Holy Name of Jesus Church. Interment followed in Holy Name of Jesus Cemetery, Donald Ave., Schenectady.

Contributions may be made in his memory to the Holy Name of Jesus Church, 1040 Pearl St., Schenectady, NY 12303 or to a charity of one’s choice.

Eternal rest grant unto him O Lord and may the perpetual light shine upon him.
May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed rest in peace. Amen.

A Prayer for Veteran’s Day

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We thank Thee, Lord, for America, our home. We bless Thee for the liberty, the opportunity, and the abundance we share. But above all we praise Thee for the traditions which have made our country great, and for the patriots who have laid the foundations through faith, courage, and self-sacrifice. Teach us in our own day the meaning of citizenship, and help us to be faithful stewards of the responsibility which Thou entrusted to us. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. — A Prayer for our Country from A Book of Devotions and Prayers According to the Use of the Polish National Catholic Church