COMMUNITY BULLETIN - January 12, 2014

FROM FATHER WIESLAW'S DESK

Dear Friends and Parishioners,

As every year, this first Sunday after Epiphany officially closes Christmas Season.

However, in many countries and churches the usual attributes of Christmas will still be left on

to attract us with its glimmering lights until February the 2nd, the feast of Presentation. This is

perhaps because in the New Year we feel the need to continue reflecting on the mystery of

Christ’s Birth.

The reason for the Christmas Season being so short in the official liturgical calendar is

quite of a different nature. It is historically well proven that the Church, for over 300 hundred

years since its beginnings did not celebrate Christ’s Birth as much as his Passion, Death and

Resurrection. It is only later, as the gap between Christianity and its Jewish seedbed begun to

widen, and Christianity became more and more a public religion, that the leaders of the

Church, together with the lay men and women, discerned a voice of the Holy Spirit which

inspired them to introduce many more of the mysteries of Christ’s earthly mission into the

calendar of annual festivities. Moreover, the Church came up with an idea that with the spread

of Christianity the pagans' festivities, especially the winter solstice, should be “baptized”.

Thus Christianity cultured itself giving a new identity to the culture within which it

developed. From this follows that the Church, throughout the year, commemorates the

mysteries of the dynamism of the history of salvation, while holding in its center the most

Holy Eucharist, which is the Body and Blood of the Risen Lord. This is also why in many

churches, including our parish, on the feast of Epiphany Deacons solemnly proclaim the

upcoming dates of the major solemnities. What is public must be publicly announced.

I write all of this, for we all notice nowadays a somewhat different movement. In our

postmodern and post-Christian world we are told that these ancient Christian feast don’t

belong any longer in the broader dimension of our societies. In our multicultural societies we

feel sometimes ashamed to speak about our own religious identity. We find it difficult to

speak about what we actually celebrate: Christmas or winter season, Easter or spring

holidays? We feel lost. Confused.

The feast of the Baptism of the Lord teaches us that our baptism influenced us and in a

long run influenced our way of living. Our Lord Jesus did not need to be baptized, but he

decided to share with humanity the path of atonement. And this baptism changed everything

in his life. He stopped being a “private person” and became a public figure.

I guess this is the fight the Pope Francis fights. While he stays open for the dialogue

with the contemporary culture, he is not ashamed to rebuke people in St. Peter’s Square:

Don’t cry out “Francis!” Cry out “Jesus!” Cry out “Mary the Immaculate!” Well, he does it

for he is not a private person. He is the Pope.

But the same is true for us: as baptized Christians we are not “private persons”, we are

public figures.

Happy New Year! Have a great January and the upocoming feast of St. Paul!

Sincerely Yours,

Fr. Wiesław Dawidowski, OSA

PARISH BRUNCH!!! - 26TH

JANUARY, 2014

We have a great annual custom of commemorating the Feast Day of our Patron Saint St. Paul,

the Apostle of Nations, with a parish brunch. It will be held on Sunday 26th

January at the

Novotel Hotel in the centre of Warsaw (just by the intersection of Aleje Jerozolimskie and

Marszalkowska). It will start at 13.00/13.30 and end around 16.00 in two large adjoining

rooms (Lilia and Róża).

There will be a buffet lunch with a good selection of hot and cold dishes with a separate

special menu for the children. Tea, coffee and soft drinks are included.

The cost will be 90 zl. per adult and 60 zl per child up to the age of 14. However, you can

have a family ticket, 2 adults and 2 children, for 260 zl while 2 adults and 3 children would

pay 300 zl. If a family is blessed with more children, then the next ones are free!! In case you

wish to sponsor a ticket for some less afluent members of our community please let us know

as you sign up for yourself and your family members – such help is very appreciated every

year by those receiving the sponsorship!

You can pay in advance or at the door, however we would ask you to indicate your

commitment to attend so we can communcate the numbers to the hotel in order for them to

plan for our event. The ticket sale and/or sign-up will begin on Sunday, January 12, and will

continue on the following two Sundays.

There will be supervised entertainments for the children in the adjoining room so that their

parents can relax and chat with parishioners whom they see at Mass but would like the chance

to get to know them better.

COME ALONG AND HAVE A GREAT SUNDAY AFTERNOON!!

DATES TO REMEMBER:

* 16th of January – day of Judaism in the Catholic Church. Meet our older Brothers in Faith.

For those who understand Polish there is an open invitation to the Church of Artistic Circles

(Kościół Środowisk Twórczych) at 6:30 PM to pray with the representatives of Jewish

religion.

* 19-25th of January - a week of prayer for Christian unity. A guest preacher from an

Episcopalian Community may join us in Radna on that day to share a reflection on the word

of God.

* January 26th – our annual Parish Brunch in honor of St. Paul, at the Novotel Hotel

(downtown). All are welcome! Please see other announcement for details.

* February 1st – the start of Pre-Cana instruction at 4pm.

ADVENT 2013 CHARITY UPDATE

Victims of Typhoon Haiyan

The outpouring of generosity from the parish has

been amazing. The horrendous typhoon in the

Philippines caused us to refocus our charity efforts

and we all quickly pulled together to assist the

families of our fellow parishioners living in the

areas ravaged by the typhoon. The three second

collections as well as the three bake sales brought in

a total of 11, 437.20 PLN to help these families.

Thank you very much for your response to this action and for your generosity!

The Insulin Pump Collection

A generous thank you to the CCD classes for their special collection. Through their efforts

1,374.30 PLN has been raised toward the goal of 15,000 PLN needed to purchase an insulin

pump for the pre-novice member of the Augustinians, Tomasz Antoniak. We will continue

with this fund raising project throughout the new year until we have raised enough funds to

support Tomasz’s medical needs.

Collection Boxes for the Holy Mother of Mercy Rehabilation Center

The boxes have been filled with many of the items needed by the Felician Sisters, so thank

you to all who particiated. Also a special thank you to the CCD classes for their extra efforts

to make donations to the Center. We will be continuing our efforts thoughout Advent. Each

Sunday there will be two baskets next to the altar where you can continue to donate items.

Some of the items most needed are: cleaning supplies, glue sticks, copy paper, boxes of tissue,

band-aids,Vitamin C and soap. A more complete list of items is posted on the bulletin board at

the entrance to the Church.

Thank you all for your continuing support and for sharing so generously your blessings with

others in need!

SEASONAL GOODBYES & WELCOME!

Our Parish is a transient one and every summertime we see significant

shift in membership - parishioners leaving Warsaw at the end of the

school year in June and new ones arriving by September. However, at

the end of each calendar year, Christmas time, and January we see

similar trends on somewhat smaller scale. This past holiday season we

bade farewells to a number of parishioners wishing them blessed

Christmas holidays and smooth arrivals to their new destination. At

the same time we would also like to welcome those who might have

joined our community over the last month. We encourage you to

register so we could include you more actively in the life of the

parish. Please talk to Fr. Wieslaw or see Tanja Kusanovic

(tanja210@live.com) or Christopher Uden (viceprincipal@ias.edu.pl) in

order to receive electronic registration form.