Given the reality that we are a large parish (over 700 registered families) with three Masses on the weekend which creates "three worship communities" in one, it is almost always the case that not every parishioner will be able to put a face or faces to the name or names of our V.I.P.'s for any given month. Fortunately, we have a pictorial directory that is helpful in this and other instances (as with a parishioner's death).
With regard to our V.I.P.s for the month of September, Jim and Patricia Goodson, I'll bet at least some of you can put a face to their names when I tell you they are the couple who often are color-coordinated in the clothes they wear to church with Patricia wearing a hat. Their coordination shows itself in many other ways (like their passion for the pro-life ministry) and the fact that they have shared their lives as husband and wife for 50 years! Throughout their years together, amid various moves (including to the island of Kauai in Hawaii) they got involved in parish life in the church communities they joined. Besides his life as a police officer in San Diego (for 14 years) and a real estate career, Jim also spearheaded as president of the parish council at St. William's Church in Hanalei, the challenging effort to rebuild and furnish that church after it sustained severe damage from Hurricane Iniki. Later he coordinated The Extraordinary Eucharistic Ministry at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Litchfield Park which included training over 200 E.M.s. At a growing parish, St. Henry in Buckeye, Arizona, he arranged for the acquisition of a rectory for the priest of that parish. It was there that he and Patricia were first involved in pro-life ministry which included prayer in front of the abortion clinic in Phoenix. Jim and Patricia carried this passion as well as their ministry as extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion to Sacred Heart Parish when they moved to Hot Springs Village in 2010. Health issues have forced both Jim and Patricia to reluctantly back off from these ministries, but they still rarely miss Mass on Saturday evenings and Jim, daily Mass as often as his health allows. For years they were both stalwarts when it came to participating in daily Mass here at Sacred Heart Church. Jim served as the pro-life director for the Knights of Columbus for 9 years and began the "Baby Bottle Campaign" which continues in our parish and provides needed funds for our area pregnancy help centers. Both Jim and Patricia served under the parish's pro-life committee under both Rosemary Monarque and then Mary Costello. For years they were faithful at attending the annual March for Life in Little Rock and the "Life-Chain" in downtown Hot Springs. Their commitment to pray for this and other causes inspired them to start and lead the annual "Rosary in the Public Square" that often took place outside of the Wal-Mart parking lot, and pray at the abortion clinic in Little Rock during the "40 Days for Life". They served a total of 40 years as extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion and Jim over 25 years as a lector at Mass. Jim has been a Knight of Columbus for over 25 years and Patricia has been in the St. Elizabeth Guild since she and Jim have lived in Hot Springs Village.
Please give thanks to God in your prayers this week for Jim and Patricia, our V.I.P.'s for September and thank them too personally if you are a Saturday evening Mass participant and see them (in their color-coordinated outfits)!
With regard to our V.I.P.s for the month of September, Jim and Patricia Goodson, I'll bet at least some of you can put a face to their names when I tell you they are the couple who often are color-coordinated in the clothes they wear to church with Patricia wearing a hat. Their coordination shows itself in many other ways (like their passion for the pro-life ministry) and the fact that they have shared their lives as husband and wife for 50 years! Throughout their years together, amid various moves (including to the island of Kauai in Hawaii) they got involved in parish life in the church communities they joined. Besides his life as a police officer in San Diego (for 14 years) and a real estate career, Jim also spearheaded as president of the parish council at St. William's Church in Hanalei, the challenging effort to rebuild and furnish that church after it sustained severe damage from Hurricane Iniki. Later he coordinated The Extraordinary Eucharistic Ministry at St. Thomas Aquinas Church in Litchfield Park which included training over 200 E.M.s. At a growing parish, St. Henry in Buckeye, Arizona, he arranged for the acquisition of a rectory for the priest of that parish. It was there that he and Patricia were first involved in pro-life ministry which included prayer in front of the abortion clinic in Phoenix. Jim and Patricia carried this passion as well as their ministry as extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion to Sacred Heart Parish when they moved to Hot Springs Village in 2010. Health issues have forced both Jim and Patricia to reluctantly back off from these ministries, but they still rarely miss Mass on Saturday evenings and Jim, daily Mass as often as his health allows. For years they were both stalwarts when it came to participating in daily Mass here at Sacred Heart Church. Jim served as the pro-life director for the Knights of Columbus for 9 years and began the "Baby Bottle Campaign" which continues in our parish and provides needed funds for our area pregnancy help centers. Both Jim and Patricia served under the parish's pro-life committee under both Rosemary Monarque and then Mary Costello. For years they were faithful at attending the annual March for Life in Little Rock and the "Life-Chain" in downtown Hot Springs. Their commitment to pray for this and other causes inspired them to start and lead the annual "Rosary in the Public Square" that often took place outside of the Wal-Mart parking lot, and pray at the abortion clinic in Little Rock during the "40 Days for Life". They served a total of 40 years as extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion and Jim over 25 years as a lector at Mass. Jim has been a Knight of Columbus for over 25 years and Patricia has been in the St. Elizabeth Guild since she and Jim have lived in Hot Springs Village.
Please give thanks to God in your prayers this week for Jim and Patricia, our V.I.P.'s for September and thank them too personally if you are a Saturday evening Mass participant and see them (in their color-coordinated outfits)!
While it, thankfully, doesn't happen very often, it was indeed quite a challenge a few weeks ago when we had four funeral Masses in a ten-day period. Firstly, I want to thank all those who are involved with our bereavement ministry in the immediate time before, during and after funerals. This includes liturgical ministers (ushers, altar servers, sacristans and lectors), our group of ladies headed up by Chris Frantz who work with the families in the set-up in the narthex of pictures and memora-bilia of the deceased person, and attending the guest book (and other actions of hospitality toward the families of the deceased, our Resurrection choir led by Kathleen Kinney, and our Ladies of the Sacred Heart who host wonderful receptions afterward with food and drink for those who come. I and the families can always count on these people to step up and bless the bereaved families and all who come to our funeral liturgies (including as needed our Knights of Columbus honor guard). And I almost forgot Shawn Clark and Mike Miller who make themselves available to livestream our funeral liturgies (and they do so every Sunday for our shut-ins at the Sunday 8:00 a.m. Mass). As you can see it is clearly a team effort that is appreci-ated by me, the family of the deceased and all who participate in our funeral liturgies! I am ALWAYS grateful when I have a completed and filed funeral planning sheet that contains much of what the deceased person wants at his or her funeral such as songs, readings, and people who they want to take on various roles (as lectors, gift bearers, remarks of remembrance), which make our Resurrection Masses beautiful and meaningful. If any-one reading this has not taken the time to fill out some or all of the funeral planning forms (that can be accessed at the church office or in one of the slots over the credenza leading from the narthex into the Administration/Classroom wing of our parish building). Please consider doing so and drop off the form at the church office. Even if you don't fill out the whole thing, it is helpful for me to have on hand (and you a copy of what you want after you depart from this world). Recently I was aware of a local parishioner who died whose family didn't contact me about ANY funeral liturgy for their mother. This dear lady was at Mass every Saturday night for years with her husband and deserved, as all Catholics do, a funeral Mass for brothers and sisters in the Lord (and family members) to lift them up to the Lord with the most powerful prayer we have, the Mass! Finally, I want to remind everyone that if a person is cremated (preferably after the funeral Mass) his or her cremains (in an urn) should be interred as soon after the cremation is done either in the ground or in a columbarium. It is NEVER okay to divide cremains among family members. The entire person's cremains need to be in blessed grounds or in a niche in a columbarium that has been blessed. That is another decision that should be made (if at all possible) before a person dies and followed through by the family as soon after the funeral Mass as is practically possible. I am ready to answer any questions you have and even sit down to discuss the funeral planning form with you and help you in addressing some or all the choices you have for your funeral liturgy. Get it done! your family (and I) will thank you for doing so!
I would like to start this pastor's column with two scripture passages that are certainly worthy of reflection. The first is Psalm 139:13-14 which says "For you created my inmost being: you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well." My sister, Judy has recently become a grandmother for the third time and is now in
Texarkana helping her son and daughter-in-law with ittle Evelyn (who they named after my mother). This morning she wrote "I love these little newborns; it reminds you what a miracle birth is." The author who wrote Psalm 139 and my sister would both agree with the statement that a child is a remarkable and wonderful gift from God! The second scripture passage is from the Gospel of Luke when the child, John the Baptist leaped in his mother's womb as Mary, who was pregnant with Jesus, "entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth" (Luke 1:40). Elizabeth, filled and inspired by the Holy Spirit, spoke of the child in Mary as the "fruit" of your womb (Lk 1:42), referred to Mary as the "mother of my Lord" (Lk 1:43), and believed that the child in her womb was "leaping for joy". (Lk 1:44). It is sad indeed that so many mothers-to-be throughout history have not felt as the Psalmist, Elizabeth, Mary and Rebecca (Becca) the mother of newborn Evelyn did about the child in their womb and/or the child in other women's wombs. If they all did, aborting (ending the life of the child in their womb) would not be
contemplated, much less be done. It is the call of every generation to impress upon its young people just how precious a child is inside and outside of a mother's womb and do all that it can to support a mother-to-be after she finds out she is pregnant. How far we are from such a society when the concept of abortion is "out there" so much and the right to life of all babies in their mother's womb is ignored and really trampled on when abortion is presented as an option and a "right" for these mothers-to-be to exercise if they wish to do so. How sad it is that in the society we live in whose technology is more and more advanced to the point where we can see and support the child in the mother's womb, that instead of puttng more dollars into prenatal screening and support, some are suggesting that more money (including tax money) should be going to support the killing of the child while in its mother's womb and promoting no limits on when she can do this at any time during her pregnancy. If, outside of the context of this pastor's column I or you or anyone posed or were asked to answer this question: "of the three unalienable rights that all humans are given by their creator" according to the Declaration of Independence, life liberty and the pursuit of happiness, which of these MUST come first and of most importance, you would hear or I hope, say life, because without the right to life, these other two could not happen.
Texarkana helping her son and daughter-in-law with ittle Evelyn (who they named after my mother). This morning she wrote "I love these little newborns; it reminds you what a miracle birth is." The author who wrote Psalm 139 and my sister would both agree with the statement that a child is a remarkable and wonderful gift from God! The second scripture passage is from the Gospel of Luke when the child, John the Baptist leaped in his mother's womb as Mary, who was pregnant with Jesus, "entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth" (Luke 1:40). Elizabeth, filled and inspired by the Holy Spirit, spoke of the child in Mary as the "fruit" of your womb (Lk 1:42), referred to Mary as the "mother of my Lord" (Lk 1:43), and believed that the child in her womb was "leaping for joy". (Lk 1:44). It is sad indeed that so many mothers-to-be throughout history have not felt as the Psalmist, Elizabeth, Mary and Rebecca (Becca) the mother of newborn Evelyn did about the child in their womb and/or the child in other women's wombs. If they all did, aborting (ending the life of the child in their womb) would not be
contemplated, much less be done. It is the call of every generation to impress upon its young people just how precious a child is inside and outside of a mother's womb and do all that it can to support a mother-to-be after she finds out she is pregnant. How far we are from such a society when the concept of abortion is "out there" so much and the right to life of all babies in their mother's womb is ignored and really trampled on when abortion is presented as an option and a "right" for these mothers-to-be to exercise if they wish to do so. How sad it is that in the society we live in whose technology is more and more advanced to the point where we can see and support the child in the mother's womb, that instead of puttng more dollars into prenatal screening and support, some are suggesting that more money (including tax money) should be going to support the killing of the child while in its mother's womb and promoting no limits on when she can do this at any time during her pregnancy. If, outside of the context of this pastor's column I or you or anyone posed or were asked to answer this question: "of the three unalienable rights that all humans are given by their creator" according to the Declaration of Independence, life liberty and the pursuit of happiness, which of these MUST come first and of most importance, you would hear or I hope, say life, because without the right to life, these other two could not happen.