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LECTOR
The
lector proclaims the readings at Mass, along with the Prayer of the Faifthul. Lectors serve at Sunday Mass and weekday
Mass.
Requirements:
A love of the Scriptures, a good speaking voice, frequent participation in the Mass, an interview with one of the priests,
and formal training in proclaiming biblical texts. Participation in the Diocesan Lector Training Process.
EUCHARISTIC
MINISTER
The
Eucharistic Minister assists the priest in offering Communion to fellow congregants at Mass and inbringing Communion to the
sick and shut in parishioners.
Requirements:
A devotion to the Eucharist, frequent participation at Mass, the desire and time to serve the sick and homebound of the parish,
an interview with one of the priests, and some formal training in serving at the altar.
HOSPITALITY
MINISTRY (Ushers)
Open
to men and women, Ushers create a welcoming spirit by greeting people at Sunday Mass. Ushers also help in setting up
and cleaning up after receptions (fellowship/hospitality) that follow certain Masses through the year.
Requirements:
Frequent participation in the Mass, a cheerful dispotion, a desire to help others, an interview with one of the priests.
CHILDREN'S LITURGY OF THE WORD
The Children's Liturgy of the Word provides a wonderful opportunity for children to hear and understand each
Sunday's Scripture readings in a child's language. Each week, we emphasize a "kids eye" point of view. Using biblical
and church history, we share our love for God's word with each child. We gather in the either the Upper Church
or Lower church for the 10a.m. Mass. We aim the Children's Liturgy for children between the ages
of 5 and 12. Because our assembly- though smaller, is still "church" we ask each child to sit quietly, listen attentively
and be able to participate in scripture discussions. The children are dismissed during the Gloria, celebrate their
Liturgy in the Narthex of the Lower Church, and return to their families after the Prayer of the Faifthul.
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"The liturgy is the summit toward which
the activity of the Church is directed; at the same time it is the fountain from which all her power flows."
Vatican II: Constitution on the Liturgy |
Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in their midst.
Matthew 18:20
The OFFICE OF READINGS is usually prayed before Morning Prayer and contains Psalms, a Scripture Reading and a reading from
one of the Saints, Church documents or Doctors of the Church. Click-here to view today's Office of Readings.
Want to pray MORNING PRAYER? Click here.
Want to pray EVENING PRAYER (Vespers)? CLick here.
Want to pray NIGHT PRAYER (Compline)? Click here.
LITURGY COMMITTEE
The Liturgy Committee meets seasonally to plan and evaluate
major celebrations. The group enables a better coordination of ministries to provide lively and meaningful worship experiences.
Click here for a DAILY reflection on the scriptures.
"Each church gathers regularly to praise and thank
God, to remember and make present God's great deeds, to offer common prayer, to realize and celebrate the kingdom of peace
and justice. That action of the Christian assembly is liturgy."
Environment and Art in Catholic Worship
The liturgy of the church
provides a framework within which the deepest mysteries of Christianity await discovery.
In the early years of the Church, a bishop
in Syria wrote a little instruction book for himself and other bishops. Here is one crucial task he set for bishops:
Exhort
the people to be faithful to the assembly of the Church. Let them not fail to attend, but let them gather faithfully together. Let no one deprive the Church by staying away; if they do, they deprive the Body of Christ of one of its members!
Didascalia, Chapter 13
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CHOIRS
Choirs
provide music at Sunday Mass and major feast days of the year.
Requirements:
Pleasant singing voice that blends with others, an ability to sight read music is an asset but NOT a requirement. Auditions
with each Choir Director.
CANTORS
Lead
the congregation in singing various hymns and sung responses during Mass and other celebrations.
To learn more about Music Ministry opportunities, please click here.
ALTAR
AND SANCTUARY PREPARATION
Members
of the Rosary-Altar Society prepare the altar linens, clean the sanctuary and decorate the Church for Sunday Mass and major
feasts of the year.
ALTAR
SERVERS
Altar
servers assist the priest at the altar, lead processions and enable the Liturgy to be an experience of prayer and in a reverent
atmosphere. Men, women and students serve in this capacity. Training is provided a few times during the year and
training sessions are announced in the bulletin.
To read TODAY'S SCRIPTURE READINGS FOR MASS, Click here. You can also use an online version of the New American Bible. TO
view the readings for today's Mass, click on today's date on the calendar.
FOR MORE SCRIPTURE RESOURCES, INCLUDING REFLECTIONS ON THE SUNDAY SCRIPTURES IN ENGLISH, ITALIAN & SPANISH, CLICK HERE TO
BE BROUGHT TO OUR PASTORAL MINISTRY'S BIBLE STUDY PAGE.
FAMILY MASS COMMITTEE
The family Mass Committee helps in planning and providing monthly liturgical
celebrations that involve the whole
family.Meetings are held several times a year and are announced here and in the Bulletin.The committee works
with the Children's Liturgy of the Word Committee and the Pastoral Ministry Office.
"The Sunday Liturgy is not the church assembled to address itself. This Sunday Liturgy
does not cater to the assembly. It summons the assembly to enact itself publicly for the life of the world. The litugy
presumes that the world is always present in the summoned assembly, which lives under God in Christ. What one witnesses in
the liturgy is the world being done as the world's Creator and Redeemer will the world to be done. The liturgy does
the world and does it as its very center, for it is here that the world's malaise and its cure well up together, inextricably
entwined."
Aidan Kavangh
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| THE BOOK OF THE GOSPELS |
What else are the sacraments...if
not the action of Christ in the Holy Spirit?...when the Church celebrates the Eucharist, it is Christ who celebrates it. All
the sacraments are an action of Christ, the action of God in Christ.
Pope John Paul, Crossing the Threshold
of Hope, 1994
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