St. John the Evangelist 306 St. John Drive Latrobe, PA 15650

Weekday Masses: Monday & Friday 8:00am

Weekend Masses: Saturday—5:00pm Sunday—8:30am

Confession: 1st, 3rd & 5th Saturday @ 11:30am

St. Rose 4969 Route 982

Latrobe, PA 15650

Weekday Masses: Tuesday & Thursday 8:00am Weekend Masses: Saturday—4:00pm

Sunday—10:30am

Confession: 2nd & 4th Saturday @ 11:30am

Mass Intentions Saturday, July 4 - Blessed Virgin Mary 4:00PM Dirk McCallen (Ginny Schober) SR 5:00PM In honor of Rose Tulenko (Children) SJ Sunday, July 5—Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time 8:30AM Mass for the People SJ 10:30AM Scott Brighenti (Sheri, Joe, Michael & Jared Vadas) SR Monday, July 6 8:00AM John Nelson (Helen Opsitnick) SJ Tuesday, July 7 8:00AM Helen Knapp (Jefferey Meidinger) SR Wednesday, July 8 8:00AM NO MASS Thursday, July 9 8:00AM Barbara Hudock (Son Richard & Family) SR Friday, July 10 8:00AM Stan Yourish (Rose & Ed Ray) SJ Saturday, July 11—Saint Benedict 4:00PM Betty Piantine (M/M Bill Krinock) SR 5:00PM Leonard D’Angelo (Diane & Alan Neff) SJ Sunday, July 12—Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time 8:30AM Diane Fagan (Carol & Diana) SJ 10:30AM Mass for the People SR If there is a funeral Mass at either St. John or St. Rose, there will be NO 8:00AM Mass at THAT Church that day.

As the Sanctuary Light burns to remind us of the Real Presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, we remember Barbara Hudock (SR) and Tony Zabkar (SJ). The candles were provided for us this week by son, Richard & Family (SR) and Dom & Cathie Camarote (SJ). *Please note that each of our churches will re-main open for private prayer until 3:00pm dur-ing the week on the days that Mass is celebrated at that parish (M, F—St. John / Tu, Th—St. Rose)

We would like to thank the Tulenko Children for their kindness in providing the flowers on the Altar for this weekend in honor of their mother, Rose.

FROM THE DESK OF FATHER DINGA

A happy and blessed Fourth of July weekend to all! I would first like to offer my heartfelt congratula-tions on behalf of our Partner Parishes to the newly elected Archabbot of St. Vincent Archabbey, Fr. Martin de Porres Bartel, O.S.B. As our neighbor, we pledge him our prayers and support as he begins his role of leadership in the Benedictine community and in the many different capacities that will go along with this. May the Holy Spirit strengthen him in this new task ahead. This week, we officially welcome Fr. Dan Mahoney as our new resident at St. Rose rectory and congratu-late him on his retirement after 50 years of priestly ministry in the Diocese of Greensburg. At the same time, we welcome another new neighbor, Fr. Rick Kosisko, as Pastor of Holy Family Parish. We wish him well as he begins his ministry here in the Latrobe community as well as all of the other priests around the diocese who will be beginning their new assignments this week. I would also like to thank the anonymous donor who has generously provided our parishioners with a copy of the book “Rediscovering Catholicism,” by well-known Catholic author and promoter of the New Evangelization Matthew Kelly. We had planned to make these available as an Easter gift to our parishes, but due to the surrounding circum-stances, we of course were unable to do so. I hope you enjoy this book as we seek to grow as a commu-nity of faith in our task of spreading the Good News and doing our part in calling others back to the Lord’s fold. Next Sunday, July 12, we will celebrate First Holy Communion for our second grade faith formation students. This was supposed to occur at the begin-ning of May, but like most other events, had to be rescheduled for a later time. We are excited for our six children and their parents as they make this next step in their journey of faith and we promise to pray for them as they grow more fully as members of the Body of Christ into the people God has called them to be.

Father Dinga

Due to the early submission of the bulletin, the collections will be listed next week.

READINGS FOR THE WEEK

Sunday, July 5 First Reading Zechariah 9:9-10 Responsorial Psalm 145:1-2, 8-9, 10-11, 13-14 Second Reading Romans 8:9, 11-13 Gospel Matthew 11:25-30 Monday, July 6 First Reading Hosea 2:16, 17C-18, 21-22 Responsorial Psalm 145:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9

Gospel Matthew 9:18-26 Tuesday, July 7 First Reading Hosea 8:4-7, 11-13 Responsorial Psalm 115:3-4, 5-6, 7AB-8, 9-10 Gospel Matthew 9:32-38 Wednesday, July 8 First Reading Hosea 10:1-3, 7-8, 12 Responsorial Psalm 105:2-3, 4-5, 6-7 Gospel Matthew 10:1-7 Thursday, July 9 First Reading Hosea 11:1-4, 8E-9 Responsorial Psalm 80:2AC and 3B, 15-16 Gospel Matthew 10:7-15 Friday, July 10 First Reading Hosea 14:2-10 Responsorial Psalm 51:3-4, 8-9, 12-13, 14 and 17 Gospel Matthew 10:16-23 Saturday, July 11 First Reading Isaiah 6:1-8 Responsorial Psalm 93:1AB, 1CD-2, 5 Gospel Matthew 10:24-33 Sunday, July 12 First Reading Isaiah 55:10-11 Responsorial Psalm 65:10, 11, 12-13, 14 Second Reading Romans 8:18-23 Gospel Matthew 13:1-23

Guidelines for Prayer List From this point on, names that are placed on the prayer list will remain on the list for one month’s time unless specifically requested otherwise. Thank you.

Prayer List In your charity of prayers, please pray for: Kristen No-vosel, Brent Smetanka, Regina Aniballi, Al & Bill Steinmetz, John Belsick, Rita D’Angelo, Shane Os-trosky, Frankie & Paul Guzik, Amy Newhouse, Ron Lekawa, Dorothy Wanichko, Joanne Zimmerman, “Toots” Harvey, Andy Noel, Mary Price, Joe Strazzera, Polly, Betty Quick, Janet Franks, Lily Chung, Lauren Wilkins, Sam Fowler, Carol Perna, Moonie Deguffroy, Patsie S., Jack Munchinski, Jim Spillar, Susan Daly, Jim Schoming, Steve Yandrick, Mary Margaret Palek, and Robbie Japalucci. Please call either office to place a name on the prayer list.

Pathways Registration Open for 2020-21

Registration is open for Pathways, which is the diocese’s commitment to adult faith formation and nurturing ma-ture discipleship. There are 12 evening sessions, three workshops and a closing retreat. Pathways is tentatively scheduled for Tuesdays from 6:30-9:00pm at St. John the Baptist Parish, Scottdale. To register online, go to www.dioceseofgreensburg.org/pathways. Or email: pathways@dioceseofgreensburg.org or call the Office of Faith , Family and Discipleship at 724-552-2598. Finan-cial assistance is available from the Francis Fund. For information or to apply for a scholarship, call 724-837-0901, x1249. The schedule is tentative, pend-ing restrictions on gatherings that might be in place in September.

Greensburg Central Catholic Virtual Open House Learn more about Greensburg Central Catholic Junior-Senior High School by joining a Virtual Open House where you can meet administrators, faculty and staff; learn about the school’s college-prep curriculum; see how Catholic identity is at the center of the school’s mis-sion; and get a taste of the school’s many extracurricular and athletic offerings. Visit www.gcchs.org and com-plete the short registration form, and the Virtual Open House link will be sent to you immediately. Make a Centurion Connection today!

St. Rose Parishioners Since we had to cancel our fundraisers, we are ask-ing you to please remember to use your Festival Do-nation Envelope dated July 12. Your generosity is appreciated. Thank you. “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,

and I will give you rest.”

Matthew 11:28

The History of America’s Independence Day "Taxation without representation!" was the battle cry in America’s 13 Colonies, which were forced to pay taxes to England's King George III despite having no representation in the British Parliament. As dissatisfaction grew, British troops were sent in to quell the early movement toward re-bellion. Repeated attempts by the Colonists to resolve the crisis without military conflict proved fruitless. On June 11, 1776, the Colonies' Second Continental Congress met in Philadelphia and formed a committee whose express purpose was drafting a document that would formally sever their ties with Great Britain. The committee included Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Ad-ams, Roger Sherman and Robert R. Livingston. Jefferson, who was considered the strongest and most eloquent writer, crafted the original draft document (as seen above). A total of 86 changes were made to his draft and the Continental Congress officially adopted the final version on July 4, 1776. The following day, copies of the Declaration of Inde-pendence were distributed, and on July 6, The Pennsylvania Evening Post became the first newspaper to print the ex-traordinary document. The Declaration of Independence has since become our nation's most cherished symbol of liberty.

Bonfires and Illuminations

On July 8, 1776, the first public readings of the Declara-tion were held in Philadelphia's Independence Square to the ringing of bells and band music. One year later, on July 4, 1777, Philadelphia marked Independence Day by adjourn-ing Congress and celebrating with bonfires, bells and fire-works. The custom eventually spread to other towns, both large and small, where the day was marked with processions, ora-tory, picnics, contests, games, military displays and fire-works. Observations throughout the nation became even more common at the end of the War of 1812 with Great Britain. In June of 1826, Thomas Jefferson sent a letter to Roger C. Weightman, declining an invitation to come to Washing-ton, D.C. to help celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Dec-laration of Independence. It was the last letter that Jefferson, who was gravely ill, ever wrote. In it, Jefferson says of the document: “May it be to the world, what I believe it will be ... the signal of arousing men to burst the chains ... and to assume the blessings and security of self-government. That form, which we have substituted, restores the free right to the un-bounded exercise of reason and freedom of opinion. All eyes are opened, or opening, to the rights of man. ...For our-selves, let the annual return of this day forever refresh our recollections of these rights, and an undiminished devotion to them."

- Thomas Jefferson June 24, 1826 Monticello

Congress established Independence Day as a holiday in 1870, and in 1938 Congress reaffirmed it as a paid holiday for federal employees. Today, communities across the na-tion mark this major midsummer holiday with parades, fire-work displays, picnics and performances of "The Star-Spangled Banner" and marches by John Philip Sousa.

Saint Benedict’s Story

It is unfortunate that no contemporary biography was written of a man who has exercised the greatest influ-ence on monasticism in the West. Benedict is well rec-ognized in the later Dialogues of Saint Gregory, but these are sketches to illustrate miraculous elements of his career.

Benedict was born into a distinguished family in cen-tral Italy, studied at Rome, and early in life was drawn to monasticism. At first he became a hermit, leaving a depressing world—pagan armies on the march, the Church torn by schism, people suffering from war, morality at a low ebb.

He soon realized that he could not live a hidden life in a small town any better than in a large city, so he with-drew to a cave high in the mountains for three years. Some monks chose Benedict as their leader for a while, but found his strictness not to their taste. Still the shift from hermit to community life had begun for him. He had an idea of gathering various families of monks into one “Grand Monastery” to give them the benefit of unity, fraternity, and permanent worship in one house. Finally he began to build what was to be-come one of the most famous monasteries in the world—Monte Cassino, commanding three narrow valleys running toward the mountains north of Naples.

The Rule that gradually developed prescribed a life of liturgical prayer, study, manual labor, and living to-gether in community under a common abbot. Benedic-tine asceticism is known for its moderation, and Bene-dictine charity has always shown concern for the peo-ple in the surrounding countryside. In the course of the Middle Ages, all monasticism in the West was gradu-ally brought under the Rule of St. Benedict.

Today the Benedictine family is represented by two branches: the Benedictine Federation encompassing the men and women of the Order of St. Benedict, and the Cistercians, men and women of the Order of Cis-tercians of the Strict Observance.

Reflection The Church has been blessed through Benedictine de-votion to the liturgy, not only in its actual celebration with rich and proper ceremony in the great abbeys, but also through the scholarly studies of many of its mem-bers. Liturgy is sometimes confused with guitars or choirs, Latin or Bach. We should be grateful to those who both preserve and adapt the genuine tradition of worship in the Church.