SAINT AGATHA

SAINT WILLIAM

CHURCH of the

EPIPHANY

Fr. Chester Murtha Office – (605) 772-5564 Cell - (605) 940-1034

Send bulletin information to Nancy Erickson nrerickson2000@yahoo.com or 605-770-5944

Bulletin Deadline: Monday at 3pm

SACRAMENTS Engaged? Call at least six months before the wedding date regarding marriage instructions. New parents or expecting? Call for pre-baptism class and to schedule a baptism. Going in for surgery or for a procedure? Call so I can give you the Sacrament of the Sick. Cemetery Questions? In Howard, contact Tim or Karla Neises at 772-4832. In Epiphany contact Joe Zens at 523-2644. In Ramona contact Tammy Lembcke at 482-8652.

202 W Washington Avenue ● Howard, SD 57349 Bookkeeper - Nancy Feldhaus

Phone: (605) 772-4543 Fax: (605) 772-5179 Email: stagatha@alliancecom.net

P.O. Box 100 Howard, SD 57349-0100

106 Jackson Street ● Epiphany, SD P.O. Box 100 Howard, SD 57349-0100

120 W 3rd Street ● Ramona, SD P.O. Box 100 Howard, SD 57349-0100

MASS TIMES

Saturday: 5:00pm Ramona Sunday: 8:30am Epiphany 10:30am Howard Daily Mass: See Inside Holy Day Mass times: TBA

CONFESSIONS

Saturday 2:00-3:00pm Howard Before Mass in Epiphany. Before Mass in Ramona. Also, by appointment.

LIVE THE LITURGY - INSPIRATION FOR THE WEEK When we lose our ability to trust, we become afraid. When we are afraid, we may begin to grumble and question whether where we are is where we need to be. For us who have faith, we even question whether God is who God says He is. Trust is so important to our success on our journey. Often, the road of our lives can become a bit treacherous. We may find ourselves feel-ing more unsettled than comfortable and less fulfilled than we would like to be. As much as we try, the pieces of our puzzle don’t quite fit together as they ought. We wonder if we will ever experience happiness again. Then, something reminds us that God is very much present in this mess we call life. God is still bringing hope out of despair and life out of death. After all, God is the true bread that comes down from heaven to give life. All that is necessary is for us to trust in this truth, even when we may be lacking in some of life’s essentials. The God who gives life is the same God who sus-tains it. He is also the same God who assures us that we will not perish. ©LPi

18th Sunday in Ordinary Time / August 1, 2021

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Fr. Murtha’s Musings: I am a person that does not like change. Most often I do not like it because I do not see the need for the change. Maybe some of you are the same way. Nev-ertheless, change is something you and I have had to deal with it all through life. In my teenage years I went through the trauma of the change in fashions.

As a junior and senior in high school I remember wearing hip hug-ging, bell bottom pants. One pair I had was a standard brown color except for the back pockets which were a charcoal brown. Another pair of pants was also hip hugging, bell bottoms but it had multi-colored stripes going vertically up the pant. Man, I thought those pants were cool! But in just a very short time the styles changed and hip huggers and bell bottoms were nowhere to be found. Thank God as a priest I can wear the same black clothing that I could get back 30 years ago. Of course the electronics industry has seen a huge change. My earliest exposure to the audio side of things were the 45 RPM singles that we had in the sixties and then the larger vinyl 78 speed albums; 8-track tapes were overtaken by cassettes, and cassettes by CD’s (compact discs). I’m not sure where we are at now. Personally, not being an “audiophile,” I could have been happy if nothing had ever changed. The same thing happened with the TV industry where things changed from black and white to color (which actually was a nice change). However, then we were forced out of our analog sets to digital TV. And I have absolutely no clue with regards to the so-cial media platforms that have surfaced in recent years other than perhaps some names. Change has occurred in these areas of life and in so many others, even in the area of religion. A book Bishop DeGrood distributed to every priest in the diocese is called From Christendom to Apostolic Mission. It is a book he also recommended to be brought to the attention of parishioners. Some parishes ordered a bunch of them and had discussion groups on the book. I think the diocesan website also had a site where people could go to hear discussions of the book. One point of the book is that the Christian view of human progress was based upon an understanding of God, of evil and of redemption. The invisible God created all things good and all things were to have communion with God. However, certain invisible beings chose to rebel against God (the fallen angels) who contributed in turn to the Fall of Man and creation. Christ entered the world for the redemp-tion of people and for creation and through God’s grace lead humani-ty to union again with God and eternal happiness. Ultimately though, humanity contends with evil and the effects of sin until the Second Coming of Christ. Human progress is made through faith in God and living Jesus’ command to love one’s neighbor. In contrast, the modern progressive view of the world as stated in the book is that man is responsible for shaping his own society and the future of society. There is still the belief in working toward the good of mankind – solving the problems of hunger, poverty, illness and such. But humanity acts of its own accord, independently of God. Our thinking has been perverted by the advances made in tech-nology so that the current modern day culture believes that today’s social and moral norms have necessarily advanced from the norms of the past (as technology has done). The moral and social engineers of today consider their ways of dealing with problems in society as the right way and often they think the right way of acting is to eradicate the problem without regard of the God-given dignity of the human person. Therefore if society judges the problem of poverty and hun-ger to be caused by overpopulation; the answer is to eradicate a por-tion of the population (perhaps by abortion, consider the Chinese course of action for population control). If too many elderly are suf-fering from the effects of old age, the solution is to euthanize the elderly. If too many people are living with diseases that have no cure, the solution to the problem is to eliminate the people having the disease. Under the modern progressive vision there is no recourse to God to determine if an action is right or wrong. They believe they are not bound by conventional norms and profess to operate with an enlightened view. The book suggests humanity is in need of a new Apostolic pres-ence in a godless era. Come Holy Spirit! Keep the Faith!

2021 Days of Recollection: August 17- “The Gift of Forgiveness” directed by Te-resa Henrickson September 14- “Saint Paul at Athens- Talking to an Unbelieving World” directed by Fr. Paul King Broom Tree Days of Recollection begin at 10 a.m. and include conferences, time for Adoration, Mass, and an opportunity for the Sacrament of Reconciliation. The day ends in mid-afternoon. Because lunch is served, we ask that you please register. A prayerful donation is requested.

The Catholic Foundation for Eastern South Dakota is offering at auction high quality room ready antique and primitive furniture and collectibles previously owned by Fr. Ed Anderson, including 33 original paintings by notable wildlife artist, Mark Anderson, bronze sculptures, Notre Dame memorabilia, and much more. Live and online auction via proxibid held in Cathedral of St. Joseph School Gymnasium on Sat-urday, August 7 at 10:00 am. Go to www.suttonauction.com for listing Broom Tree Silent Retreats: Women’s: August 12-15, September 16-19, October 7-10, November 4-7 Men’s: August 19-22, September 23-26, October 21-24, November 18-21

Announcements

“Taste the Goodness” event, benefitting the Bishop Dud-ley Hospitality House, will take place on Saturday even-ing, August 14, 2021 from 5:00 to 9:00 p.m. outdoors in downtown Sioux Falls. Come with your friends to enjoy tastings of a wide variety of foods, craft beers, wine, bourbon and much more. Mu-sic and fun will be provided along with a great mobile bid-ding silent auction! For on-going event updates or to purchase your ticket to Taste the Goodness, visit our website www.ccfesd.org or call 605-988-3765. Now more than ever, the mission of the Dudley House needs our support.

3 Visit parishesonline.com to view a copy of the Bulletin

Ministry Schedule– August 7 & 8 5:00pm—Ramona Lector: Sue Pederson EM: Nancy Dinges Server: Addison Stewart Offertory: Carol Fischer & Volunteer Usher: Craig Lembcke & Dan Riedel 8:30am-Epiphany Lector: Stacy Kampshoff EM: Kelli Endorf Servers: Chloe Schmitt & Rachel Brown Offertory: Troy Loudenburg Family Usher: Ted Gosmire, Terry Kampshoff, Marlon Koepsell, Dick Krempges Rosary: Eichs Music: Pat Koepsell & Pat Zens 10:30am—Howard Lector: Abby Connor & Briar Feldhaus EM: Jill Calmus & Lisa Walter Servers: Kate, Tom, & Ann Connor Greeters/Off./Bulletins: W. & C. Mentele Family Rosary: D. & MK. Schlim Music: Pat Koepsell & Carrie Mentele

Mass Intentions for August 2-8 Mon. 8/2 No Mass Tues. 8/3 5:30pm For Rain Wed. 8/4 10am HNH dRalph Grode Thurs. 8/5 8am H dJoseph Esser 10am E dGloria Kunkel Fri. 8/6 10am WW Special Intention Sat. 8/7 5pm R For Parishioners Sun. 8/8 8:30am E dOrville Barringer 10:30am H dRosie Mentele

Weekend Support for July 24 & 25

5:00pm Ramona Reg: $350 Loose: $34 Total: $384 8:30am Epiphany Reg: $480 Loose: $52 Total: $532 10:30am Howard Reg: $1,020 Loose: $105 Total: $1,125

EVERYDAY STEWARDSHIP - RECOGNIZE GOD IN YOUR ORDINARY MOMENTS

Practicing Graciousness in the Desert Looking back over my journey of parenthood, I know there were days when I traveled the extra mile for my children. I made their toast the way they like it, let them play in the park an extra ten minutes, or let them go to the movies with their friends and I finished up the chores on my own. And then, it happened: the attitude. The request for the smallest thing from one of them is met with disdain or bewilderment. Sometimes you can be made breathless with the ingratitude of another person who takes so much and with so little shame, only to scoff at the idea that they, too, give even the smallest amount. But if we’re being honest with ourselves, we will admit that we do the exact same thing to God. Haven’t we all been the Israel-ites in the desert at one point or another? God has parted our Red Sea in some way. He’s led us out of some great trial, given us some great blessings. But then we run into a little resistance somewhere along the way and we throw up our hands. How could you do this to us, Lord? How could you ask this of us? No, I can’t go any further. No, I won’t do any more. Persisting in the blindness to the many ways God continues to protect us is nothing short of a temper tantrum. It robs our Everyday Stewardship of its graciousness, of our ability to ac-cept with joy the trials of life because we are also constantly aware of its blessings. — Tracy Earl Welliver, MTS ©LPi

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