Ss. Francis & Clare Parish

WORSHIP SITES

PARISH

Holy Assumption Church (HA)1290 Hornberger Ave. Roebling

Saint Clare Church (SC)232 East Front St. Florence

Location: 1290 Hornberger Ave. Roebling, NJ 08554Office hours: Monday through Friday 9:00 am - 3:00 pm

Phone: 609-499-0161 Email: sfncpo@gmail.com Website: www.stsfnc.org

Rev. Joseph Hlubik, Pastor Rev. Daison J. Areepparampil, Parochial Vicar

Gary Richardson, Deacon Ronald Schwoebel, Deacon Thomas Shea, Deacon

Ronald Zalegowski, Deacon (Ret.) Lawrence Finn, Deacon (Ret.)

Larry Denney, Business Manager Peggy Schwoebel, Office Manager Robert Scara, MusicMargaret Zola, Religious Education Coordinator ( www.stmarysre.org )

We are God's people empowered by the sacraments

to become a servant community. We remember our diverse heritage, embrace our Christian discipleship, and seek a lifelong spiritual growth by following the gospel of Christ. May Saints Francis and Clare

guide all our efforts to build God’s kingdom in our midst.

invites you to celebrate:

EUCHARIST: Monday through Friday at 8:00 am in HA. Weekend Masses in HA: 4:00 pm (Saturday) and 10:30 am (Sunday). Holy days of obligation schedules are published in our bulletin. Holy Hour devotion is held every Thursday from 8:00 to 9:00 am in HA.

BAPTISM: is celebrated every third Sunday of the month during 10:30 am Mass. We offer a Baptism Preparation Class to assist parents. Please contact the PO to register. Godparents are required to ob-tain a Certificate of Eligibility from a parish where they are currently practicing their faith.

MARRIAGE: Our parish family supports those who wish to celebrate their love in the sacrament of matrimony. Arrangements are to be made with the Pastor a year in advance. At least one person needs to be a registered parishioner. To schedule an initial meeting please call the PO.

ROSARY & NOVENAS: These prayers are said weekly before and after our weekday masses in HA.

RECONCILIATION: Confessions are heard every Saturday at 3:00 pm in HA or by appointment.

ANOINTING OF THE SICK: Any seriously ill Catholic who needs the comforting prayer of the Church may be anointed. Please contact the parish office to invite the Pastor to celebrate this sacrament without delay.

FUNERALS: In all cases the family should contact a funeral home directly. They will contact us to make further arrangements. Shortly afterwards, a consolation minister will meet with some family members to finalize the funeral liturgy.

MASS INTENTIONS

Monday 11, at 8:00 am

✝ John Irwin from Virginia Csik

✝ Fred N. Totten from the family

Tuesday 12, at 8:00 am

✩ In thanksgiving for answered prayers from

Kathleen & Joe DiFilippo

✩ Aleks Hasegawa from Paul Brown

Wednesday 13, at 8:00 am

✝ Claude Cardi from JoAnn & David Foulks

✩ Bob Scara from Helen Totten

Friday 15. at 8:00 am✩ Tristan DiFillipo from Jane & Brad Ingham

✝ Nicholas Pratico from Mr. & Mrs. Russ Woolston

Saturday 16 , at 4:00 pm

✝ Theresa Karpac from the family✝ Patricia Stojinski from Marge Rusnak

Sunday 17, at 10:30 am

✝ Russell & Jacqueline Hendricks from the family

✝ James Hendricks from the Hendricks family

STEWARDSHIP REPORT

December 3, 2017

Weekend offerings: $5,574.00

Thank you for your donations!

RETIREMENT OF BOB SCARA

Robert Scara, Our Music Coodinator of Sts. Francis & Clare Parish, is retiring after seventy (70) years as an organist in Catholic parishes. Bob will be missed by all, and we thank him for his years of dedicated service to the Catholic citizens of our township.

OFFERTORY ENVELOPES

During December, all families of our community are encouraged to pick up a box of offertory envelopes. Please note because we will be a merged parish and our name will change as of July 1, 2018, the boxes contain envelopes up to June 30, 2018. Envelopes for July 1st thru December 31st with our new name will be available in May.

IHM SISTERS

The IHM Sisters invite single young women ages 18-35 to join them for "Sisters' Night" on December 15 (6:00-9:00 pm) at the IHM Motherhouse in Im-maculata, PA. This is a great opportunity for young women who are curious about religious life to spend a little time with the sisters in an informal setting. The evening includes a Christmas movie, refresh-ments, Christmas Carol Trivia, and concludes with Night Prayer in the Motherhouse chapel. For more information or to RSVP, please contact Sister Mari-anne at ihmvoc@gmail.com or 610-889-1553

JOHN KARPAC

Recently Fr. Joe presented John Karpac with an ap-preciation plaque at the 4pm Mass, in which Fr. Joe and Dcn. Ron expressed their grateful appreciation for John’s volunteer service as the Bingo director & coordinator. Also he was recognize for being part of the bingo (calling numbers) since 1945!

God Bless you John and thank you for your many years of service to our parish community!

SIMBANG GABI

On Wednesday, December 20th at 7pm in Holy as-sumption Church, everyone is invited to a Filipino Mass honoring the Blessed Virgin Mary in Anticipa-tion of Christmas with Fr. Daison and other priests in the Diocese.

Schedule of Events

12/15/17 - Friday - 7:00pmIncarnation/St. James, 1545 Pennington Rd. Ewing, NJ 08618

12/16/17 - Saturday - 7:00pmSt. Raphael Church, 3500 South Broad St., Hamil-ton, NJ. 08610

12/17/17 - Sunday - 7:00pmSt. Anthony of Padua, 251 Franklin St., Hightstown, NJ. 08520

12/18/17 - Monday -7:00pmSt. David the King, 1 New Village Rd., Princeton Jct., NJ. 08550

12/19/17 - Tuesday - 7:00pmSt. Gregory the Great Church, 4620 Nottingham Way, Hamilton, Nj. 08610

12/20/17 - Wednesday - 7:00pmHoly Assumption Church, 1290 Hornberger Ave., Roebling, NJ. 08554

12/21/17 - Thursday - 7:00pmSt. Vincent DePaul, 555 Yardville-Allentown Rd., Yardville, NJ. 08620

12/22/17 - Friday - 7:00pmSt. Paul’s Church, 214 Nassau St., Princeton, NJ. 08542

12/23/17 - Saturday - 7:00pmChurch of St. Ann, 1253 Lawrenceville Rd., Lawrenceville, NJ. 08648

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HOLY HOUR

Due to the decreasing early morning temperatures, and other concerns regarding the impending winter, this Thursday morning service has been discontinued until after Easter.

CAN YOU NAME OUR PARISH?

As you may know, when our parishes of St. Mary’s and Ss. Francis & Clare are officially merged next July, the combined parish will be known by a new name (while retaining the names of each church).  You are invited to suggest your favorite name to our parish office staff, either via mail or phone, prior to Dec. 31st. Below are the names that have been sug-gested so far:

1) Mary Mystical Rose2) Mary Mediatrix of Grace3) Holy Church of Jesus, Mary & Joseph4) Our Lady of Mary5) Mother Catherine McAuley6) Our Lady of the Rosary7) Ss. Mary and Clare8) Mary Mother of Mercy9) Mary Mother of Hope10) Parish of the Divine Mercy11) Ss. Francis, Clare and Mary12) Holy Mary Queen of Saints13) Holy Mary Queen of All Saints14) Our Lady of the Holy Rosary15) St. Teresa of Calcutta16) St. John Paul II17) Mother of Mercy18) Holy Mary of Grace19) Holy Mary of the Rosary20) Holy Nativity21) St. Mary of the Assumption22) Parish of the Holy Trinity23) Parish of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel24) Mary Mother of God25) Holy Assumption of Mary

I will be responsible for recommending three (3) parish names to Bishop O’Connell in January, and he will select the new name prior to our merger.  Everyone’s opinion matters, and while there are so many good possibilities, try not to put forth a name that already exists in our diocese or that would con-fuse us with a neighboring parish.

~ Fr. Joe Hlubik, Pastor

ORGANIST NEEDED!

Any interested organist should contact the Director of Music, Jac Madson at St Mary’s Rectory - 609-298-9261

ARS NEWS

We are hosting a "Baby Shower for Jesus" dinner at Casa Gangone (Rocco's) on December 14th at 6:00 pm. Cost is $30 for a delicious dinner. A mother from Good Counsel will be available to speak and tell her story. If you would like to attend , please contact me at dmfrappolli@yahoo.com or call (609) 221-1957.

The ARS continues to collect household and baby items this weekend for Good Counsel Home in Riverside that supports mothers and babies in dire need. A tub will be available on either side of the vestibule where you can place your items. Look for a suggested list of needed items by the Bulletin ta-bles in each foyer.

SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT

December 10, 2017

“The Lord does not delay in keeping His promises, though some consider it ‘delay.’ Rather He shows you generous patience since He wants no one to per-ish but all to come to repentance… I send my mes-senger before you to prepare your way, a herald voice in the desert crying, ‘Make ready the way of the Lord clear him a straight path.’”

The letter of Peter and Isaiah’s message in the gospel of Mark, provide a wonderful opportunity to begin this second week of advent. Somehow it is easy, or convenient, to forget or presume why Jesus came two thousand years ago. A lost people needed a sav-ior, to bring them back to union with their creator. He came, revealed the Father’s love for us and still invites us to respond to that love. Do I see my need today, and the needs of my family and our world?

Let’s face it, our messed up world needs a savior, not a political leader or powerful military strength, but someone to free us from sin and all that divides us, the barriers which keep us from growing in holiness,

in grace, or love of God and neighbor. Advent in-vites us to focus on our need from the Lord today.  Advent, the great time of hope and expectation calls us to make ready, the way of the Lord, to have Him come into our hearts and the hearts of others.‘Come Lord Jesus.’

TODAY’S READINGS

1st Reading: Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11

Isaiah emphasizes that from the desert to the moun-tains, all people must prepare for “the glory of the Lord to be revealed.” Rather than looking only at God’s power, Isaiah focuses on God’s kindness, comparing it to a shepherd who feeds and cares for his flock.

2nd Reading: 2 Peter 3:8-14

For those who are impatient for the Second Coming, Peter explains that time is different to God than to people. He reminds them that they should be grateful for the extra time to prepare, and concentrate on striving to become all that God would want them to be.

Gospel: Mark 1:1-8

In this passage, John the Baptist stressed the impor-tance of the coming of the Messiah. He acknowl-edged that he was only the messenger, and unfit to “stoop and untie his sandal straps.” John urged them to prepare for one far holier than he, who would walk among them.

“The Word of the Lord endures forever.” (1 Peter 1:25)

DAN’S ATLANTIC

AUTOMOTIVE SERVICE

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407 Broad StreetFlorence, NJ

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Boyd’s Pharmacy306 Broad Street • Florence

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KOSCHEK AND PORTERFUNERAL DIRECTORS, INC.

499-0640 Dorothy Koschek Porter NJ Lic. No. 3170 Donald L. Porter, Mgr. NJ Lic. No. 3278

Parishioners of Sts. Francis & Clare Parishwww.koschekandporterfuneralhome.com

Anna’sbuds, blooms& blossoms

1448 Hornberger Ave.Roebling

(609) 499-1515annasbudsbloomsblossoms.com

OPEN FOR LUNCH & DINNER

609-499-3366310-312 West Front Street, Florence

www.ROCCOS.us

RICHARD S. DENNISONFuneral Director

ManagerN.J. Lic. No. 2796

609-499-2900FLORENCE

1200 Hornberger AvenueRoebling, NJ

609-499-0896

Delicious pub fare, cocktails and

cra� beers all week.

Open Tuesday - Sunday

Now featuring a fresh, updated menu with

our new Chef Giovanni!

See our latest events on Facebook!

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Dr. Ivone Fernandes-MaiaP 609-499-5800

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